Revolution 250 Podcast

June 14, 2025 will be the 250th anniversary of the formation of the US Army by the 2nd Continental Congress.  In preparation to celebrate the Army's birthday and to comemmorate the 250th Anniversary of the American Revolution, the National Museum of the United States Army at Fort Belvoir will debut a new exhibit on April 19, 2025.  Bringing together more than 200 artifacts from around the nation, the Army Museum will commemorate the leaders and men who formed the first army.  We talk with Chief Curator of the National Museum of the United States Army, Paul Morando.

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A conversation with award-winning author Ray Anthony Shepard, who is introducing young readers to stories from American history focused on race.  He has written on the the vaunted 54th Regiment of Massachusetts Infantry, as well as a book about Ona Judge, a seamstress who escaped from the Washington household, and is has just finished The Forgotten: Patriots of Color at Lexington & Concord,,  focusing on the 19th of April 1775 from the perspective of African-Americans who were there that day fighting or observing---alarm-rider Abel Benson, soldiers Prince Estabrook and Peter Salem, Hartwell Tavern keeper Violet Thayer.  We talk about the challenges of engaging younger readers and the importance of understanding the American story in all its complexity. 

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The Sons of Liberty exulted over the Boston Tea Party, but they also would have been familiar with the proverb "he who dances must pay the piper."  The "piper" in this case turned out to be General Thomas Gage who arrived in Boston in May of 1774 to replace Thomas Hutchinson as Royal Governor of Massachusetts.  With Gage arrived several regiments of British soldiers and several punitive acts of Parliament.  Join Professor Allison as he narrates the British imperial response to American defiance of parliament.

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Few images of the Battle of Bunker Hill are as evocative as Colonell William Prescott striding up and down the walls of the redoubt, his sword drawn, his banyan fluttering in the breeze as the British regiments marched up the hill.  The stalwart defense of Prescott and his troops at the Battle of Bunker Hill established the American army as a formidable foe for the British army.  For all this, there is much about Prescott's life we don't know.  Author Don Ryan is completing a biography of Prescott wherein he will bring to life Colonel Prescott and all of his services to the people of Massachusetts in their effort to secure independence.

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Thomas Jefferson contained multitudes.  Like the nation he helped to create, Jefferson was a fascinating man of contradictions:  a party leader who did not believe in political parties, an apostle of liberty who owned others, and a "man of the people" who lived atop a mountain.  His mountaintop home, Monticello, since 1923 has been maintained by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, which presents all of Jefferson's legacy to visitors, scholars, students.  We talk with historian Jane Kamensky, President of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, about Monticello and its architect.

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The Mullica River in southern New Jersey was a haven for American privateers, who in the fall of 1778 had eighteen captured British vessels at anchor, their cargoes delivered to Washington's army.  Sir Henry Clinton sent a raiding party from New York, which burned the ships and the town of Chestnut Neck.  The town rebuilt quickly, but the wrecks lay undisturbed on the river bottom until archaeologists discovered them.  We talk with Captain Steve Nagiewicz, mariner, faculty member at Stockton University, diver, and underwater archaeologist about the search for these vessels (he has enlisted his Stockton University students in the search) and what we can learn about the maritime Revolution from the wrecks beneath the surface.  Captain Nagiewicz is also the author of the Hidden History of Maritime New Jersey, which tells the story of other New Jersey shipwrecks.   

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 Ruthanne Paulson and Deborah Potee have created a musical, "Oh, That Dreadful Tea," designed to allow kids to experience the thrill of performing and telling the story of the Boston Tea Party through song and drama.  Their musical is designed to make this pivotal event more memorable and impactful for elementary and middle school students. Find out more in our conversation! 

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2024 marks the bicentennial of the return of the Marquis de Lafayette to the United States. In 1824, President James Monroe invited Lafayette, the last surviving Major General of the Revolution,  to be the guest of the nation as a way to celebrate the nation’s 50th anniversary. Lafayette's arrival in New York inspired four days and nights of continuous celebration—a response replicated throughout the country, as what started out as a 3 month tour turned into a 13-month marathon as Lafayette visited each of the 24 United States. We discuss the tour with Elizabeth Reese, a public historian and author of Marquis de Lafayette Returns: A Tour of America's National Capital Region.  Elizabeth Reese is also deeply involved with plans for the bicentennial of Lafayette's visit being planned by the American Friends of Lafayette--see if he is coming to your town!

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Since 1889 the Sons of the American Revolution have been working to preserve the memories of those who fought and supported the American Revolution.  While the national headquarters is in Louisville, Kentucky, there are over 550 chapters world-wide, dedicated to commemorating the service and sacrifice of the men and women who fought to establish an independent United States of America.  Join Revolution 250 Executive Director in conversation with T. Brooks Lyles, current Registrar General and former Historian General of the SAR on the work of the Sons of the American Revolution and their plans for a new museum and educational center at the national headquarters.

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In the summer of 1787, 55 delegates assembled at Philadelphia to write a new Constitution for the new United States of America.  The document that was finally agreed upon on September 15, 1787 was not without controversy.  The completed document was filled with compromises, particularly around how representation would be calculated, and lacked a Bill of Rights.  Join Professor Robert Allison & Revolution 250 Executive Director Jonathan Lane in conversation with Professor Carol Berkin, Baruch Presidential Professor emerita at the City University of New York on her book A Brilliant Solution; Inventing the American Constitution.

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