Ben Franklin's World
Rásarupplýsingar
Ben Franklin's World
This is a multiple award-winning podcast about early American history. It’s a show for people who love history and who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world. Each episode features conversations with professional historians who...
Nýlegir þættir
492 þættir
437 Civilian Life in America's Occupied Cities
The British Army is at your door. They need a room. What do you do? For thousands of civilians living in cities occupied during the American War for I...
BFW Revisited: Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site
250 years ago, the British evacuated Boston: driven out by cannon that had traveled 300 miles from Fort Ticonderoga. But where did the plan for those...
436 Fort Ticonderoga & Henry Knox's Noble Train of Artillery
On March 17, 1776, the British evacuated Boston, driven out by cannon hauled 300 miles through winter wilderness from a crumbling fort in upstate New...
435 Common Sense at 250: The Unfinished Work of Democracy, A Live Conversation
In January 1776, Thomas Paine told the American colonies to break free from their king. But what was supposed to come next? 250 years later, that ques...
434 Freeborn Black Soldiers in the American Revolution
What would you fight for if you were free but still not equal? In 1777, brothers William and Benjamin Frank answered that question by enlisting in the...
BFW Revisited: The American Revolution's African American Soldiers
More than 6,000 Black men—free and enslaved—served in the Continental Army during the American Revolution. Yet their stories remain some of the least...
433 Entangled Revolutions: Haiti, France, and the American Revolution
What if the American Revolution was never just an American story?
Historian Ronald Angelo Johnson helps us uncover the deep connections b...
BFW Revisited: The Marquis de Lafayette
What does it take to become a revolutionary in more than one revolution? In this revisited conversation with Mike Duncan, we explore the life of the M...
432 How France and Spain Helped Win the American Revolution
The American Revolution wasn’t just a colonial rebellion; it was a global conflict shaped by European rivalries and high-stakes diplomacy. Without the...
BFW Revisited: The Common Cause
Before Common Sense could ignite a revolution, colonists had to be convinced they shared a cause worth fighting for. So how did Revolutionary leaders...
431 Common Sense at 250: The Pamphlet That Sparked a Revolution
Thomas Paine’s Common Sense turned a colonial rebellion into a full-blown revolution. But how did one pamphlet move so many minds in 1776—and why does...
BFW Revisited: The Power of the Press in the American Revolution
Common Sense didn’t just make an argument for independence—it moved through a world of newspapers, pamphlets, and personal networks that carried revol...
430 The Founding Father of American Medicine: Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Rush was one of early America’s most fascinating figures. He was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, a leading Philadelphia physicia...
BFW Revisited: Smuggling and the American Revolution
British officials had a problem: Their American colonists wouldn't stop smuggling. Even after Parliament slashed tea prices and passed laws to make le...
429 Coffee in Early America: Why Americans Really Drink Coffee
Think the Boston Tea Party made America a coffee-drinking nation? Historian Michelle McDonald reveals the truth: colonists were already choosing coffe...
428 America's Forgotten Quest to Link Two Oceans
In the 1820s, American entrepreneurs, engineers, and politicians dared to dream big. They believed they could cut a canal, not through Panama, but thr...
427 How States Are Planning the 250th: Commemorating the American Revolution in 2026
As we look ahead to the 250th anniversary—the semiquincentennial—of the Declaration of Independence in 2026, communities and commissions across the Un...
BFW Revisited: The Mayflower
Each November, we Americans come together to celebrate Thanksgiving, a holiday that invites us to reflect on gratitude, community, and the stories we...
426 Indigenous Agriculture and the Hidden Science of Native Foodways
As Thanksgiving approaches, many Americans are gathering to reflect on gratitude, family—and of course—food.
It's the time of year when...
425 Ken Burns' The American Revolution
What does it take to bring the American Revolution to life?
How can an event that took place 250 years ago be conveyed to us through mode...
424 Dunmore's Proclamation & the American Revolution in Virginia
In November 1775, as tensions between the British Empire and its rebellious colonies continued to escalate, Virginia’s royal governor made a radical—a...
BFW Revisited: Disruptions in Yorktown
What did it take to end the War for Independence?
When we think of the American Revolution’s final chapter, we think of the Siege of York...
423 The Forgotten Artists of the American Revolution
Have you ever noticed how conversations about the American Revolution often center on great battles, founding documents, and famous statesmen?
<...
BFW Revisited: The World of John Singleton Copley
What does it mean to be caught between two worlds? Between loyalty and liberty, artistry and commerce, and between the British North American colonies...
422: Plantation Goods: How Northern Industry Fueled Slavery
When we talk about slavery in Early America, we often focus on plantations: their large, fertile fields, their cash crops, and the people who labored...
BFW Revisited: Origins of American Manufacturing
When we picture the early United States, we often imagine a young nation fighting for political independence. But what about economic independence—and...
421 Loyalism and Revolution in Georgia
What if loyalty, not rebellion, was the default position in revolutionary British North America?
It’s easy to forget that before 1776, mo...
BFW Revisited: Loyalism in the British Atlantic World
When we think of the American Revolution, we often focus on the patriots who fought for independence. But what about the Loyalists—those who chose to...
420: Creating the U.S. Federal Government
When we think about the founding of the United States, we often focus on the Constitution, the Founding Fathers, and those first landmark elections.
BFW Revisited: Women & the Constitutional Moment of 1787
Each September, Constitution Day marks the signing of the U.S. Constitution on September 17, 1787.
But beyond celebration, this commemora...
419 The North Carolina Regulator Movement
What happens when the very people meant to uphold justice become the ones exploiting it?
In the 1760s, North Carolina farmers watched she...
BFW Revisited: The Tory's Wife
Revolutionary upheaval didn't just reshape governments—it transformed daily life for ordinary families across colonial America.
In this...
418 The Driver's Story
We often learn about slavery in early America through broad economic or political terms—cotton, sugar, markets, revolutions. But what happens when we...
BFW Revisited: The Business of Slavery
When we think about slavery in early America, we often rightfully focus on the human toll–the violence, the exploitation, the dehumanization that defi...
417 Roger Williams, Rogue Puritan
When we think of early American champions of religious liberty, one name often rises above the rest: Roger Williams.
Best known as the fo...
BFW Revisited: The History of Genealogy
Why do we trace our family histories? What drives our desire to know who our ancestors were and how we’re connected to past people and events?
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416: Lineage: Genealogy in Early America
Have you ever wondered why genealogy captivates so many people?
Whether it’s tracing a family tree back generations or holding on to stor...
BFW Revisited: A Declaration in Draft
The Declaration of Independence is one of the most iconic documents in United States history. But what do we really know about how it came to be?
Lineage Book Preview
Preview of Karin Wulf’s book, Lineage: Genealogy and the Power of Connection in Early America.
In eighteenth-century Ameri...
415: The Many Declarations of Independence
When you picture the Declaration of Independence, what comes to mind?
Most people envision a single, iconic document–parchment, signature...