Stay ConnectedThis 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 help shed light on important people and events in early American history.
Copyright: © Liz Covart 2024
What battle proved to be the turning point of the American War for Independence?
If you answered Saratoga, you are in general agreement with most scholars of the American Revolution.
General John Burgoyne’s surrender to the Continental Army on October 17, 1777 demonstrated to France that the American had what it took to defeat the British Army and France entered the war on the behalf of the United States.
And with France came Spain.
Today, we explore the consequences of Spanish involvement in the War for American Independence with Kathleen DuVal, professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and author of Independence Lost: Lives on the Edge of the American Revolution.
Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/037
Helpful Show Links
*Books purchased through this link will help support the production of Ben Franklin's World.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
How and where did the colonies of North America and the Caribbean fit within the British Empire?
The answer to this question depends on whether you explore the views of a British imperial officer, such as the King of England, or a colonist who lived in one of the North American or Caribbean colonies.
In today’s episode, Abigail Swingen, professor of history at Texas Tech University and author of Competing Visions of Empire: Labor, Slavery, and the Origins of the British Atlantic Empire, leads us on an exploration of how colonists and British imperial officers viewed the colonies and their place within the British Empire during the late 17th and early 18th centuries.
Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/036
Helpful Show Links
*Books purchased through this link will help support the production of Ben Franklin's World.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Who was the Marquis de Lafayette? How did he make the Patriots’ success in the American Revolution possible? And why did a group known as the Friends of Hermione-Lafayette in America build an exact replica of the French frigate that brought Lafayette to the United States?
These are just some of the questions that Miles Young, President of the Friends of Hermione-Lafayette in America, will answer in this listener-requested episode.
Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/lafayette
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Washington Irving was an historian and writer. Some historians and biographers have called him the first great American author.
Today, Michael Lord, Director of Education at Historic Hudson Valley, joins us to explore the life of Washington Irving, his home, Sunnyside, and the historic Hudson Valley region that he immortalized in stories such as Diedrich Knickerbocker’s History of New York, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” and “Rip Van Winkle.”
Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/035
Helpful Show Links
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Hero of New Orleans. Old Hickory. General. President of the United States. Andrew Jackson held and embodied all of these titles and nicknames.
During his lifetime, Jackson served as one of the most popular presidents and yet, today we remember him as a controversial figure given his views on slavery, Native Americans, and banks.
Mark R. Cheathem, professor of history at Cumberland University and author of Andrew Jackson, Southerner, leads us on an exploration of the life and times of Andrew Jackson.
Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/034
Helpful Show Links
*Books purchased through this link will help support the production of Ben Franklin's World.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
When you think about George Washington, what image comes to mind?
Washington the general?
Washington the president?
Perhaps, Washington the gentleman farmer of Mount Vernon?
But did you know that George Washington loved to read?
In this episode, we chat with Douglas Bradburn, the Founding Director of the Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington, which serves as the George Washington Presidential Library.
Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/033
Helpful Show Links
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What was everyday life like for average men and women in early America?
Listeners ask this question more than any other question and today we continue to try to answer it.
Michelle Marchetti Coughlin, author of One Colonial Woman's World: The Life and Writings of Mehetabel Chandler Coit, joins us to explore the life of an average woman who lived in early New England.
Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/032
Helpful Show Links
*Books purchased through this link will help support the production of Ben Franklin's World.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Benjamin Franklin’s life spanned almost the entire 18th century.
Between his birth on January 17, 1706 and his death on April 17, 1790, Franklin lived well-traveled and accomplished life.
Michael D. Hattem, research assistant for the Papers of Benjamin Franklin documentary editing project, leads us on an exploration of the life and deeds of Benjamin Franklin.
Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/031
Helpful Show Links
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
You may know the stereotype of the “busibody New Englander,” the person who knows all about their neighbors’ private affairs.
This stereotype comes from the New England town-church ideal: The idea that ministers and congregants of the town church had a responsibility to maintain civic and moral order in their town.
Shelby M. Balik, Assistant Professor of History at Metropolitan State University of Denver and author of Rally the Scattered Believers: Northern New England’s Religious Geography, joins us to explore the New England town-church ideal, how it helped New Englanders organize their towns, and why the post-Revolution migration into northern New England forced New Englanders to change and adapt how they maintained civic and moral order in their towns.
Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/030
Helpful Show Links
*Books purchased through this link will help support the production of Ben Franklin's World.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Can you name the battle that took place between the United States Army and the Miami Confederacy on November 4, 1791?
It's a trick question. You can’t name the battle because the victory has no name.
Colin Calloway, Professor of History and Native American History at Dartmouth College, joins us to discuss how American settlement in the Ohio Valley led to The Victory with No Name: The Native American Defeat of the First American Army.
Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/029
Helpful Show Links
*Books purchased through this link will help support the production of Ben Franklin's World.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
