Half the population in Revolutionary America was made up of immigrants and their descendants. Germans, Irish, enslaved Africans, indentured servants, and even foreign soldiers shaped the politics, land conflicts, and violence of the American Revolution. Colonists demanded more land, pushed into Native territories, and clashed with British imperial limits after 1763. This is the story of migration, loyalty, citizenship, expansion, and revolution in early America.

📄 ⁠⁠⁠Interview transcript & takeaways⁠⁠⁠

🚩About My 216th Guest Scholar: Dr. Aaron Fogleman

Dr. Aaron Fogleman is a Distinguished Research Professor at Northern Illinois University. His work focuses on (1) the Atlantic World, (2) transatlantic migration, and (3) the intersection of religion and culture in early America. He has published extensively about these subjects, including the following books:

—"Two Troubled Souls: An Eighteenth-Century Couple's Spiritual Journey in the Atlantic World",

—"Jesus Is Female: Moravians and Radical Religion in Early America",

—"Five Hundred African Voices", and

—"Hopeful Journeys: German Immigration, Settlement, and Political Culture in Colonial America, 1717-1775".

Dr. Fogleman is also working on “Immigrant Voices: European and African Stories of Freedom, Unfreedom, and Identity through Four Centuries of Transatlantic Migrations to the Americas,” a project that is supported by a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship.

You can learn more about Dr. Fogleman here: Academic Homepage:

⁠⁠

*****

🧭 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Explore AAR⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

🖼️ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Image Gallery⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

🗂️⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Thematic Collection⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

📝 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Take the AAR IQ Quiz⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

*****

🔔 Follow AAR:

🎞️ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

🎞️🎧 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

📰⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠AAR's Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

*****

📑 Video Chapters:

00:00 Selected Highlights

01:33 Guest Introduction

03:34 Forced and Free Migrants in Colonial America

06:05 Indentured Servants and Paying for Passage

07:58 Immigration Growth in the 18th Century

09:57 Why Immigrants Came to America

11:54 Colonial Recruitment Projects and Imperial Expansion

14:30 "Hopeful Journeys" and German Immigration

18:44 Catholic Immigrants and Anti-Catholic Restrictions

20:18 Germans, Irish, and Immigration Numbers

24:07 Recruiting Immigrants to the Colonies

30:24 Immigration Processing and Oaths of Allegiance

33:53 Citizenship, Naturalization, and Property Rights

38:52 German Political Participation in Colonial America

40:36 Hyphenated Identities in Early America

43:45 Immigration Backlash and Land Pressure

45:59 The Proclamation of 1763 and Westward Expansion

49:00 Immigrants and the American Revolution

51:19 Hessians, Desertion, and Revolutionary America

52:34 German Regiments in the Continental Army

54:06 Loyalists, Patriots, and Immigrant Communities

55:53 German Newspapers and Revolutionary Politics

58:42 “No Immigrants, No America”

*****

📽️This video is made with Filmora.

☑️Image Attributions:

All images are in the Public Domain

🎵Music Attributions:

"Yankee Doodle" in our videos:

►⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Choral, U.S. Army Band (Public Domain) ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

We incorporate parts of this fabulous performance in the beginning and end of our videos.

✅⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to our YouTube channel ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

🫶⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Support AAR⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠:

We appreciate your⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠financial support ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠of our program.

*****