American Revolution

Politics of Tea During the American Revolution

November 22, 2017 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

How did early Americans go from hosting social tea parties to hosting protests like the Boston Tea Party?

Tea played a central role in the economic, cultural, and political lives of early Americans. As such, tea came to serve as a powerful symbol of both early American culture and of the American Revolution.

In this episode of Ben Franklin’s World: A Podcast About Early American History, Jane Merritt, Jennifer Anderson, and David Shields take us on an exploration of the politics of tea during the era of the American Revolution. You can listen to the podcast here: www.benfranklinsworld.com/160

North American Economy on the Eve of the Revolution

November 15, 2017 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

How much merit do the economic factors behind the cry “No Taxation Without Representation” have when we consider the origins of the American Revolution?

In this episode of Ben Franklin’s World: A Podcast About Early American History, we begin a 3-episode exploration of different aspects of the early American economy and what roles these economic aspects played in causing the American Revolution. Serena Zabin, a Professor of History at Carleton College and author of Dangerous Economies: Status and Commerce in Imperial New York (Penn Press, 2011), helps us survey the economic scene by guiding us through the British North American economy on the eve of the American Revolution. You can listen to the podcast here: www.benfranklinsworld.com/159

The Revolutionaries’ Army

November 8, 2017 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

Between 1775 and 1783, an estimated 230,000 men served in the Continental Army with another approximately 145,000 men serving in state militia units.

Who were the men who served in these military ranks? What motivated them to take up arms and join the army? And what was their military experience like?

In this episode of Ben Franklin’s World: A Podcast About Early American History, we explore the development of the Continental Army, partisan militia groups, and Native American scouting parties. Our guides for this exploration are Fred Anderson, Randy Flood, and Brooke Bauer. You can listen to the podcast here: www.benfranklinsworld.com/158

General Herkimer’s Death at Oriskany

November 3, 2017 by Bob Cudmore 1 Comment

This week on The Historians Podcast, Leader Herald newspaper history columnist Peter Betz reports on how American General Nicholas Herkimer died after being wounded in the Battle of Oriskany. Plus a story about a discouraged author and a tale about Sunday baseball.

Listen to the podcast here. [Read more…] about General Herkimer’s Death at Oriskany

Pauline Maier’s American Revolution

October 18, 2017 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

How much can the work of one historian impact how we view and study the American Revolution?

In this episode of Ben Franklin’s World: A Podcast About Early American History, we investigate the answer to this question by exploring the life and work of Pauline Maier, a historian who spent her life researching and investigating the American Revolution. Over the course of her lifetime, Maier wrote four important books about the American Revolution: From Resistance to Revolution (Knopf, 1973), The Old Revolutionaries (Knopf, 1980), American Scripture (Knopf, 1997), and Ratification (Simon & Schuster, 2010).

Mary Beth Norton, Joanne Freeman, Todd Estes, and Lindsay Chervinsky join us as we journey through Maier’s body of work to better understand the American Revolution and how one historian can impact how we view and study history. You can listen to the podcast here: www.benfranklinsworld.com/155

Freedoms We Lost in the American Revolution

October 11, 2017 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

Declaring independence from Great Britain required the formation of new governments.

But why did Americans want and need new governments? And how did their interactions and experiences with their old, colonial governments inform their decisions to create new governments?

In this episode of Ben Franklin’s World: A Podcast About Early American History, Barbara Clark Smith, a curator in the division of political history at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and the author of The Freedoms We Lost: Consent and Resistance in Revolutionary America (The New Press, 2010), leads us on an exploration of how Americans interacted with their government before the American Revolution and how the Revolution changed their interaction and ideas about government. You can listen to the podcast here: www.benfranklinsworld.com/154

Committees and Congresses: Governments of the American Revolution

October 4, 2017 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

How did the American revolutionaries organize and coordinate local, provincial, and intercolonial action?

How did the revolutionaries form governments?

In this episode of the Ben Franklin’s World Doing History: To the Revolution podcast series we explore governance and governments of the American Revolution with three scholars: Mark Boonshoft, Benjamin Irvin, and Jane Calvert. You can listen to the podcast here: www.benfranklinsworld.com/153

Abigail Adams, Revolutionary Speculator

September 13, 2017 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

Abigail Adams lived through and participated in the American Revolution. As the wife of John Adams, she used her position to famously remind Adams and his colleagues to “remember the ladies” when they created laws for the new, independent United States.

In this episode of the Ben Franklin’s World podcast, Woody Holton, a Professor of History at the University of South Carolina and author of Abigail Adams (Free Press, 2009), helps us explore a different, largely unknown aspect of Adams’ life: Her financial investments. You can listen to the podcast here: www.benfranklinsworld.com/150

The Common Cause of the American Revolution

August 2, 2017 by Liz Covart 4 Comments

How do you get people living in thirteen different colonies to come together and fight for independence?

What ideas and experiences would even unite them behind the fight?

Patriot leaders asked themselves these very questions, especially as the American Revolution turned from a series of political protests against imperial policies to a bloody war for independence. What’s more, Patriot leaders also asked themselves once we find these ideas and experiences, how do we use them to unite the American people?

In this episode of the Ben Franklin’s World podcast, Robert Parkinson, an Assistant Professor of History at Binghamton University and author of the award-winning book, The Common Cause: Creating Race and Nation in the American Revolution (UNCPress, 2016), has some ideas for how patriot leaders answered these questions. You can listen to the podcast here: www.benfranklinsworld.com/144

Revolutionary Camp Night in New Windsor August 5th

July 17, 2017 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The New Windsor Cantonment State Historic Site and National Temple Hill Association will present a night of Revolutionary War military drills, musket firings and other period activities on Saturday August 5, from 7 to 9:30 pm.

The authentically-constructed log huts were commissioned by the Town of New Windsor, New York during the Bicentennial of the American Revolution to highlight their historic property, encompassing a large portion of the 1782-83 final winter encampment of the northern Continental Army. This property is currently managed by the National Temple Hill Association on behalf of the Town of New Windsor. Primarily responsible for the preservation of a large portion of this encampment site, the National Temple Hill Association also operates the mid-18th century stone house owned by James Edmonston that was used for a short time as a headquarters by Major General Horatio Gates. [Read more…] about Revolutionary Camp Night in New Windsor August 5th