“Men who look upon themselves born to reign, and others to obey, soon grow insolent; selected from the rest of mankind their minds are early poisoned by importance; and the world they act in differs so materially from the world at large, that they have but little opportunity of knowing its true interests, and when they succeed to the government are frequently the most ignorant and unfit of any throughout the dominions.”--Thomas Paine, Common Sense (1776)

In this episode, Dr. Nora Slonimsky, Director the the Institute for Thomas Paine Studies at Iona U., walks you through the life and ideas of one of the most influential figures in American history, Thomas Paine, author of the bestselling political pamphlet Common Sense (1776).

Topics include:

-Thomas Paine's early life

-The massive popularity of Common Sense

-Similarities between Common Sense and the Declaration of Independence

-Paine's savage critiques of King George and hereditary monarchy

-His support for republicanism, democracy, and egalitarianism

-His role in the creation of many founding myths in America

-His warnings about the dangers of unchecked power

"He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation."

In this episode, we explore grievance #25 in the Declaration of Independence, which laments the deployment of the notorious Hessian mercenaries to the Colonies in order to fight the American rebels. We also look at reactions to the Declaration in various German-speaking provinces in what is now the Federal Republic of Germany. Next, we ponder the significance of the Declaration of Independence on German political history. Lastly, we examine the Muhlenberg Legend, which claims that the Congress nearly chose German to be the national language of the USA.

Dr. Lerg's German-language textbook is as follows:

Die Amerikanische Revolution. 2nd Ed. (Narr Francke Attempto Verlag, 2022).

The cover image for this episode is The Capture of the Hessians at Trenton, December 26, 1776, which depicts General Washington ordering medical treatment for the Hessian Colonel Johann Rall.

How did the indigenous people of Chicagoland understand what was happening in the Colonies in 1776?

Did the Declaration of Independence affect them in any way?

Of course, the City of Chicago was not founded until 1837, but this episode explores the lives of the inhabitants of the Chicago area and the effect of European colonization on their way of life during the Revolutionary War.

Our expert guest, Prof. Theodore Karamanski, walks us through the history of Chicagoland, focussing on the following points:

-Chicagoland during the Seven Years' War (French and Indian War)

-The differences in French and British methods of imperial control over the Indians

-The Consequences of the Treaty of Paris (1763) for native peoples in the Interior

-Pontiac's War (Native Confederation vs. Britain)

-The Anishinaabe people, who inhabited the Great Lakes region

-The Three Fires Confederacy (Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi Tribes)

-An explanation of the concept of the Village World, which means every tribal village makes its own independent foreign policy decisions

-The consequences of the Proclamation of 1763 for both colonists and natives

-The alliance between some Chicagoland tribes and American officer George Rogers Clark, who fought together against the British during the Revolutionary War

-The alliance between some tribes and the Spanish Empire, who controlled St. Louis, against the British during the Revolutionary War

-The period after the Revolutionary War until the founding of Chicago in 1837

The image is of Chief Pontiac picking up the war hatchet.

Mastering the Inland Seas: How Lighthouses, Navigational Aids, and Harbors Transformed the Great Lakes and America (University of Wisconsin Press, 2020)

Civil War Chicago: Eyewitness to History with Eileen M. McMahon (Ohio University Press, 2014)

Blackbird's Song: Andrew J. Blackbird and the Odawa People (Michigan State University Press, 2012)

North Woods River: The St. Croix River in Upper Midwest History (University of Wisconsin Press, 2009)

Rally 'Round the Flag: Chicago and the Civil War (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2006)

In this episode, Andrew Sola and Tobias Brinkmann explore the history of the earliest Jews in the Colonies.

Topics include the following:

-The arrival in 1654 of the first Jewish ship in New Amsterdam, which was governed by Peter Stuyvesant (who is featured in the photo, arriving in New Amsterdam for the first time)

-The story of Asser Levy, perhaps the first Jewish inhabitant of the North American colonies

-The status of early Jews in Spanish, Dutch, and Portuguese colonies

-Jew and Puritans in the Massachusetts Bay Colony

-Roger Williams, the founder of Rhode Island, where religious freedom for Jews and Muslims was established

-Newport, the first Jewish community in the American colonies

-The involvement of Jews in the slave trade

-George Washington's Letter to the Jews of Newport in 1790 (text below)

"The Citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support."

Prof. Brinkmann's books are below:

Between Borders: The Great Jewish Migration from Eastern Europe (Oxford UP, 2024)

Sundays at Sinai: A Jewish Congregation in Chicago (U. of Chicago Press, 2012)

"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men AND WOMEN are created equal." Declaration of Sentiments, Seneca Falls Convention

In this episode, Prof. Rosemarie Zagarri explores the legal, social, and political status of women from the Colonial Era through the Revolutionary War, the Seneca Falls Convention (1848), and beyond.

Topics include:

-The tensions between the ideals of the phrase "all men are created equal" and the lived reality of women

-"Coverture" and the legal status of women in the Colonies

-The evolving trans-Atlantic dialogue about women's rights from the Enlightenment through the Revolutionary War

-The incorporation of Colonial women into the political resistance to King George

-Female literacy and early American female authors, including Mercy Otis Warren and Phillis Wheatley

-An exploration of the concept of "Republican Motherhood"

-Women's contribution to the Revolutionary War effort

-The brief period from 1790 to 1807 when women could vote in New Jersey

A selection of Rosemarie Zagarri's publications is below:

Revolutionary Backlash: Women and Politics in the Early American Republic (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007; paperback, 2008).

A Woman’s Dilemma: Mercy Otis Warren and the American Revolution (Wheeling, Ill.: Harlan-Davidson, Inc., 1995; 2nd. ed. Wiley, 2015).

David Humphreys’ ‘Life of General Washington’ with George Washington’s ‘Remarks’ (edited, with an introduction) (Athens, Ga.: The University of Georgia Press, 1991; paperback, 2006).

The Politics of Size: Representation in the United States, 1776 - 1850 (Ithaca, N.Y: Cornell University Press, 1987; paperback, 2010).

"He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures."

This Pride Month episode focuses on two questions.

First, why were American colonists increasingly frustrated with the presence of British troops in the Colonies?

Second, to what extent were Thomas Jefferson and the Founders aware of LGBTQ+ issues at the nation's founding?

Topics include the following:

-Grievances 11, 12, and 14 in the Declaration of the Independence

-The Quartering Act of 1774

-Evidentiary problems when trying to access LGBTQ+ history

-'Disordered' sexuality in the Colonies, including gay sex and master-slave sexual relations

-Similarities and differences in the treatment of homosexuals in Great Britain and the Colonies

-Reasons for the low number of executions of gay men in the Colonies

-Molly Houses and Macaronis

-Concepts of Masculinity in the Colonies

Prof. McCurdy's books are listed below:

-Vicious and Immoral: Homosexuality, the American Revolution, and the Trials of Robert Newburgh (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2024)

-Quarters: The Accommodation of the British Army and the Coming of the American Revolution (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2019)

-Citizen Bachelors: Manhood and the Creation of the United States (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2009)

The Declaration of Independence uses the words 'God,' 'the Creator,' and 'Divine Providence,' but many of the Founders were highly skeptical of both Christianity and also organized religion, preferring the scientific and rational ideals of the Enlightenment.

In this episode, we explore the tensions between religion and reason in the Declaration of Independence.

Topics include the following:

-Theistic and deistic beliefs in the Founders, including Franklin and Jefferson

-The different religious groups in the Colonies, from Baptists and Catholics to Anglicans and Quakers

-Biblical and theological arguments for and against revolution as well as submission to the King

-Grievance #20 in the Declaration, which references the Quebec Act of 1774, which allowed for the establishment of Catholicism in the Canadian colony of Quebec

-Jefferson's Act for Establishing Religious Freedom (1779)

-The Establishment Clause in the First Amendment

An assortment of Dr. Kidd's books are listed below:

Thomas Jefferson: A Biography of Spirit and Flesh (Yale University Press, 2022)

Who Is an Evangelical?: The History of a Movement in Crisis (Yale University Press, 2019)

Benjamin Franklin: The Religious Life of a Founding Father (Yale University Press, 2017)

American Colonial History: Clashing Cultures and Faiths (Yale University Press, 2016)

Baptists in America: A History, with Barry Hankins (Oxford University Press, 2015)

George Whitefield: America's Spiritual Founding Father (Yale University Press, 2014)

"He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of the new Appropriation of Lands"

…"for cutting off trade with all parts of the world."

In this episode, Steven Pincus explores grievances against King George for restricting free trade and for preventing immigration to the colonies.

Topics include the following:

-The importance of the trans-Atlantic Patriot Party, which existed both in Great Britain and throughout the Empire and which criticized the policies of King George for ruling as the King of England alone, rather than the King of the whole Empire

-Economic justifications and criticisms of the Stamp Act (1765), the Townshend Acts (1767), and the Fairfax Resolves (1774)

-The evolving splits in the Patriot Party that led some like Thomas Paine to advocate for independence others like Governor John Wentworth of New Hampshire to for advocate reform while remaining loyal to the King

-Reasons behind the pro-immigration beliefs of the Patriot Party

Steven Pincus' select publications are below:

The Heart of the Declaration: The Founders’ Case for Activist Government.Yale University Press, 2016.

1688:The First Modern Revolution. Yale University Press, 2011.

Protestantism and Patriotism: Ideologies and the Making of English Foreign Policy, 1650–1668. Cambridge University Press, 1996.

"He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions."

How are we supposed to understand the phrase "merciless Indian Savages" in the Declaration of Independence?

In this episode, expert in American Indian history Prof. Matthew Kruer (U. of Chicago) gives a thorough analysis of indigenous-colonial relations from the Seven Years' War (1756-1763) through the Declaration of Independence (1776).

Topics include the following:

-The enormous diversity of the 574 indigenous nations recognized by the US Federal government

-The Great Dying, which led to the death of 90% of the indigenous population of North America due to war, disease, and enslavement

-The complexity and size of indigenous urban centers and trade networks

-The consequences of the Seven Years' War (or the French and Indian War), which ended in 1763, for native peoples and colonists

-The Proclamation of 1763, which demarcated settler country and Indian country

-Pontiac's War (1764) and settler-Indian violence

-The rise of the Black Boys, arguably the first violent anti-British imperial militia

-Dunmore's War (1774), the conflict between Mingo and Shawnee against the Virginia Militia

-Indigenous reactions to the Declaration

The episode ends with a reflection on the tension between the ideals expressed in the Declaration and the characterization of native peoples as "merciless Indian savages."

The books discussed in the episode are:

Kruer, Matthew. Time of Anarchy: Indigenous Power and the Crisis of Colonialism in Early America. (2021, Harvard UP).

Blackhawk, Ned. The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of US History. (2023, Yale UP).

Who was Thomas Jefferson and how did he come to write the Declaration of Independence at the tender age of 33?

In this episode, historian Robert McDonald (US Military Academy) discusses the genius of Thomas Jefferson. Topics include the following:

-Jefferson's evolution into a revolutionary

-The long tradition of self government in the Colonies

-The process of composing the Declaration of Independence

-The deletion of the passage condemning slavery (see the full passage below)

-Jefferson's reputation in his own time

Here is the deleted passage about slavery from Jefferson's first draft of the Declaration:

"He [King George] has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating & carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither. This piratical warfare, the opprobrium of infidel powers, is the warfare of the Christian King of Great Britain. Determined to keep open a market where Men should be bought & sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or restrain this execrable commerce. And that this assemblage of horrors might want no fact of distinguished die, he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived them, by murdering the people on whom he has obtruded them: thus paying off former crimes committed again the Liberties of one people, with crimes which he urges them to commit against the lives of another."

Robert McDonald's publications are listed below.

Ed. (with Peter S. Onuf), Revolutionary Prophecies: The Founders and America's Future (University of Virginia Press, 2021).

Ed., The American Revolution: Core Documents (Ashbrook Press, 2019).

Ed., Thomas Jefferson's Lives: Biographers and the Battle for History (University of Virginia Press, 2019).

Confounding Father: Thomas Jefferson's Image in His Own Time (University of Virginia Press, 2016).

Ed., Sons of the Father: George Washington and His Protégés (University of Virginia Press, 2013).

Ed., Light and Liberty: Thomas Jefferson and the Power of Knowledge (University of Virginia Press, 2012).

Ed., Thomas Jefferson's Military Academy: Founding West Point (University of Virginia Press, 2004).