Ben Franklin's World

Liz Covart

Ben Franklin’s World is an award-winning podcast about early American history. It is a show for people who love history and for those who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world. Each episode features a conversation with a historian who helps us shed light on important people and events in early American history. It is produced by Colonial Williamsburg Innovation Studios. read less

Our Editor's Take

Despite the title, the Ben Franklin's World podcast discusses much more than this Founding Father. This captivating podcast history podcast talks about America in the late 18th century. Liz Covart hosts the show. She is a historian who works in colonial Williamsburg. Franklin is more identified with Philadelphia than Virginia. But the host is adept at talking about all 13 original American colonies. The podcast debuted in 2014. The show is much more than a walk through history. It ties the past to the present and future. Covart says she chose the podcast name because Franklin is still remembered today.

With each episode, listeners get treated to engaging conversations with renowned historians. The guests provide valuable insights on important people and events from America's past. The Ben Franklin's World podcast host says she enjoys curling up and reading history books much more than novels. She says that going through original documents is like "a treasure hunt."

The podcast talks about great figures like George Washington and Benjamin Franklin himself. But it also discusses average Americans during this time in history. It also reveals what was happening in Africa, the Caribbean, and Europe in that era. Sometimes, the timeframe goes earlier than the American Revolution. Other times, the show gets into the 19th century. But Covart ties it all together in an engaging fashion.

One standout feature of the podcast is its ability to make complex topics accessible. Covart gives clear explanations and relatable anecdotes. She also interviews authors and historians to share their expertise. Past guests include Stacy Schiff, David Hildebrand, and David M. Rubenstein. Other experts on the show are Catherine O'Donnell and Jan Calvert. This podcast provides fresh perspectives on familiar stories. It also introduces lesser-known tales worth exploring further.

Listeners can expect episodes covering many issues. Topics include Native Americans' experiences during colonization efforts. Enslaved people also get their due on this podcast. All episodes have easy-to-follow narratives. The show both educates and entertains. This thought-provoking podcast explains America's rich cultural heritage. Ben Franklin's World has new episodes several times a month.

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Our History Has Always Been Spoken: Trailer for Massachusetts, 1620 Series

Our History Has Always Been Spoken: Trailer for Massachusetts, 1620 Series

Join the Omohundro Institute and Mass Humanities for a special two-episode series about the World of the Wampanoag before and after 1620. The Wampanoag’s history has always been spoken. Hear it on Ben Franklin’s World in December 2020.

Episodes

398 The Shawnee-Dunmore War, 1774

398 The Shawnee-Dunmore War, 1774

After the Seven Years’ War (1754-1763), Great Britain instituted the Proclamation Line of 1763. The Line sought to create a lasting peace in British North America by limiting British colonial settlement east of the Appalachian Mountains. In 1768, colonists and British Indian agents negotiated the Treaties of Fort Stanwix and Hard Labour to extend the boundary line further west. In 1774, the Shawnee-Dunmore War broke out as colonists attempted to push further west. Fallon Burner and Russell Reed, two of the three co-managers of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation’s American Indian Initiative, join us to investigate the Shawnee-Dunmore War and what this war can show us about Indigenous life, warfare, and sovereignty during the mid-to-late eighteenth century. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/398 Sponsor Links Colonial Williamsburg FoundationColonial Williamsburg American Indian Initiative Complementary Episodes Episode 223: A Native American History of the Ohio River Valley & Great Lakes RegionEpisode 310: History of the BlackfeetEpisode 353: Women and the Making of Catawba IdentityEpisode 367: Brafferton Indian School, Part 1Episode 368: Brafferton Indian School, Part 2 Listen! Apple PodcastsSpotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook GroupBen Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcastBen Franklin's World Facebook PageSign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter

BFW Revisited: World of the Wampanoag, Pt. 1

BFW Revisited: World of the Wampanoag, Pt. 1

It’s November, the time of year when we Americans get ready for the Thanksgiving holiday. Although the federal holiday we know and honor today came about in 1863, Thanksgiving is a day that many modern-day Americans associate with the Indigenous peoples and religious separatists of Plymouth, Massachusetts. What do we know about the Indigenous people the so-called Pilgrims interacted with? This month, in between our new episodes about Indigenous history, the Ben Franklin’s World Revisited series explores the World of the Wampanoag. The World of the Wampanoag originally posted as a two-episode series in December 2020. This first episode will introduce you to the life, societies, and cultures of the Wampanoag and Narragansett peoples the Plymouth colonists interacted with before the colonists’ arrival in December 1620. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/290 Sponsor Links Colonial Williamsburg FoundationMass HumanitiesNational Endowment for the HumanitiesOmohundro Institute Complementary Episodes Episode 104: The Salwater Frontier: Native Americans and Colonists on the Northeastern CoastEpisode 132: Indigenous LondonEpisode 184: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of Native AmericaEpisode 220: New England indians, Colonists, and the Origins of SlaveryEpisode 235: A 17th-Century Native American LifeEpisode 267: Snowshoe CountryEpisode 291: The World of the Wampanoag, Pt. 2 Listen! Apple PodcastsSpotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook GroupBen Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcastBen Franklin's World Facebook PageSign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter

397 Native Nations: A Millennium in North America

397 Native Nations: A Millennium in North America

The North American continent is approximately 160 million years old, yet in the United States, we tend to focus on what amounts to 3300 millionths of that history, which is the period between 1492 to the present. Kathleen DuVal, a Professor of History at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, asks us to widen our view of early North American history to at least 1,000 years. Using details from her book, Native Nations: A Millennium in North America, DuVal shows us that long before European colonists and enslaved Africans arrived on North American shores, Indigenous Americans built vibrant cities and civilizations, and adapted to a changing world and climate. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/397 Sponsor Links Colonial Williamsburg FoundationBen Franklin’s World Listener CommunityColonial Williamsburg Native American Heritage Month Programs Complementary Episodes Episode 037: Independence LostEpisode 189: The Little Ice AgeEpisode 223: A Native American History of the Ohio River Valley & Great Lakes RegionEpisode 264: The Treaty of CanandaiguaEpisode 286: Native SovereigntyEpisode 310: History of the BlackfeetEpisode 323: American Expansion and the Political Economy of PlunderEpisode 362: Treaties Between the U.S. & Native Nations Listen! Apple PodcastsSpotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook GroupBen Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcastBen Franklin's World Facebook PageSign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter

BFW Revisited: Committees & Congresses of the American Revolution

BFW Revisited: Committees & Congresses of the American Revolution

Ben Franklin’s World Revisited is a series where Liz surfaces one of our earlier episodes that complements and adds additional perspectives to the histories we discuss in our new episodes. Given the conversation we just had in Episode 396 about Carpenters’ Hall & the First Continental Congress, Liz would like to offer you an episode she produced in 2017 as part of our Doing History: To the Revolution series. Episode 153: Committees and Congresses: Governments of the American Revolution, furthers the discussion we just had about the First Continental Congress by helping us investigate how the American revolutionaries formed governments as imperial rule in British North American disintegrated and the American Revolution turned to war.

396 Carpenters' Hall & the First Continental Congress

396 Carpenters' Hall & the First Continental Congress

“Monday, September 5, 1774. A number of the Delegates chosen and appointed by the Several Colonies and Provinces in North America to meet and hold a Congress at Philadelphia assembled at the Carpenters’ Hall.” That statement begins the Journals of the Continental Congress, the official meeting minutes of the First and Second Continental Congresses. Between September 1774 and March 1789, the congressmen filled 34-printed volumes worth of entries. Join Michael Norris, the Executive Director of the Carpenters’ Company of the City and County of Philadelphia, for a tour of Carpenters’ Hall, the meeting place of the First Continental Congress, and discover more about this historic building and the historic work of the First Continental Congress. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/396 Sponsor Links Colonial Williamsburg FoundationBen Franklin's World Listener Community Complementary Episodes Episode 001: The Library Company of PhiladelphiaEpisode 153: Committees and Congresses: Governments of the American RevolutionEpisode 207: Young Benjamin FranklinEpisode 229: The Townshend MomentEpisode 292: Craft in Early AmericaEpisode 294: 1774: The Long Year of Revolution Listen! Apple PodcastsSpotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook GroupBen Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcastBen Franklin's World Facebook PageSign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter

395 The Great New York Fire of 1776

395 The Great New York Fire of 1776

When we think about the American Revolution, textbooks, documentaries, and historic sites have trained most of us to think about American triumphs in battles or events when American revolutionaries overcame moments of despair, when all seemed lost, to triumph in the cause of American independence. Benjamin L. Carp will help us look at the American Revolution differently. The Daniel M. Lyons Chair of History at Brooklyn College, Ben will use details from his book The Great New York Fire of 1776: A Lost Story of the American Revolution to help us consider the strategic military importance of New York City and its capture by the British Army and how both armies used fire as an instrument of war. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/395 Sponsor Links Colonial Williamsburg FoundationBen Franklin's World Facebook Community Complementary Episodes Episode 113: Building the Empire StateEpisode 123: Revolutionary AllegiancesEpisode 185: Early New York City and Its CultureEpisode 306: The Horse’s Tail: Revolution & Memory in Early New York CityEpisode 325: Everyday People of the American RevolutionEpisode 330: Loyalism in the British Atlantic WorldEpisode 332: Experiences of Revolution: Occupied PhiladelphiaEpisode 333: Experiences of Revolution: Disruptions in Yorktown Listen! Apple PodcastsSpotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook GroupBen Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcastBen Franklin's World Facebook PageSign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter

394 The Pursuit of Happiness

394 The Pursuit of Happiness

What did Thomas Jefferson and the members of the Second Continental Congress mean when they wrote “the pursuit of Happiness” into the United States Declaration of Independence? And why is pursuing happiness so important that Jefferson and his fellow Founding Fathers included it in the Declaration of Independence’s most powerful statement of the new United States’ ideals? Jeffrey Rosen, the President and CEO of the National Constitution Center and a law professor at George Washington University Law School, joins us to investigate and answer these questions with details from his book, The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/394 Sponsor Links Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Complementary Episodes Episode 061: The Retirement of George WashingtonEpisode 123: Revolutionary AllegiancesEpisode 117: The Life and Ideas of Thomas JeffersonEpisode 145: Mercy Otis Warren and the American RevolutionEpisode 150: Abigail Adams: Revolutionary SpeculatorEpisode 203: Alexander HamiltonEpisode 231: The Religious Lives of the Adams FamilyEpisode 207: Young Benjamin FranklinEpisode 307: History and the American RevolutionEpisode 377: Phillis Wheatley & the Playwright Listen! Apple PodcastsSpotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook GroupBen Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcastBen Franklin's World Facebook PageSign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter

393 Politics & Political Culture in the Early American Republic

393 Politics & Political Culture in the Early American Republic

The Constitution is a document of “We the People.” The ways Americans have supported, debated, and interpreted the Constitution since 1787 have played a vital role in the rise of politics and political parties within the United States. What kind of political culture did the United States Constitution and its interpretations help establish? What were the expectations, practices, and cultural norms early Americans had to follow when debating the Constitution or its interpretation in the early American republic? In honor of Consitution Day on September 17, the day the United States commemorates the signing of the United States Constitution, we speak with two historians–Jonathan Gienapp, an Associate Professor of History and Associate Professor of Law at Stanford University and Rachel Shelden, Director of the Richard Civil War Era Center and an Associate Professor of History at Penn State University– about early American political culture and political civility in the early American republic. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/393 Sponsor Links Colonial Williamsburg FoundationThe Power of Place: The Centennial Campaign for Colonial WilliamsburgConstitution Day Resources Complementary Episodes Episode 078: Washington Brotherhood: Politics, Social Life, and the Coming of the Civil War Episode 160: The Politics of TeaEpisode 202: The Early History of the United States CongressEpisode 210: Considering John Marshall, Part 1Episode 211: Considering John Marshall, Part 2Episode 285: Election & Voting in the Early Republic Listen! Apple PodcastsSpotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook GroupBen Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcastBen Franklin's World Facebook PageSign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter

392 Religion and Race in Early America

392 Religion and Race in Early America

What does history have to tell us about how we, as Americans, came to define people by their race; the visual ways we have grouped people together based on their skin color, facial features, hair texture, and ancestry? As you might imagine, history has a LOT to tell us about this question! So today, we’re going to explore one aspect of the answer to this question by focusing on some of the ways religion shaped European and early American ideas about race and racial groupings. Kathryn Gin Lum is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Stanford University. She’s also the author of Heathen: Religion and Race in American History. Show Notes:https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/392 Sponsor Links Colonial Williamsburg FoundationThe Power of Place: The Centennial Campaign for Colonial WilliamsburgConstitution Day Resources Complementary Episodes Episode 047: Christian Imperialism: Converting the World in the Early American RepublicEpisode 109: The American Enlightenment & Cadwallader ColdenEpisode 139: Indian Enslavement in the AmericasEpisode 311: Religion and the American RevolutionEpisode 334: Missions and Mission Building in New SpainEpisode 367: The Brafferton Indian School, Part 1Episode 376: Cotton Mather’s Spanish Lessons Listen! Apple PodcastsSpotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook GroupBen Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcastBen Franklin's World Facebook PageSign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter

391 Government in Colonial Virginia

391 Government in Colonial Virginia

Do you ever wonder how governments met and worked in colonial British America? Williamsburg, Virginia, served as the capital of Virginia between 1699 and 1779. During its 80 years of service as capital, Williamsburg represented the center of British authority in Virginia. This meant the Royal Governor of the colony lived in Williamsburg. Indigenous, colonial, and other delegations came to Williamsburg to negotiate treaties and trade with Virginia. And, the colonial government met in Williamsburg’s capitol building to pass laws, listen to court cases, and debate ideas. Katie Schinabeck, a historian of historical memory and the American Revolution and the Digital Projects Researcher at Colonial Williamsburg’s Innovation Studios, takes us on a behind-the-scenes tour of Williamsburg’s colonial capitol building to explore how the government of colonial Virginia worked and operated. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/391 Sponsor Links Colonial Williamsburg FoundationThe Power of Place: The Centennial Campaign for Colonial WilliamsburgColonial Williamsburg Foundation Civics Resources Complementary Episodes Episode 084: How Historians Read Historical SourcesEpisode 099: Pirates & Pirate Nests in the British Atlantic WorldEpisode 153: Committees and Congresses: Governments of the American RevolutionEpisode 202: The Early History of the United States CongressEpisode 259: American Legal History & the Bill of RightsEpisode 315: History and American DemocracyEpisode 328: Warren Milteer, Free People of Color in Early AmericaEpisode 389: Nicole Eustace, Indigenous Justice in Early America Listen! Apple PodcastsSpotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook GroupBen Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcastBen Franklin's World Facebook PageSign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter

390 Objects of Revolution

390 Objects of Revolution

When we think about the American Revolution, the French Revolution, or the Haitian Revolution, we think about the ideals of freedom and equality. These ideals were embedded and discussed in all of these revolutions. What we don’t always think about when we think about these revolutions are the objects that inspired, came out of, and were circulated as they took place. Ashli White, an Associate Professor of History at the University of Miami in Florida, joins us to investigate the “revolutionary things” that were created and circulated during the American, French, and Haitian Revolutions with details from her book Revolutionary Things: Material Culture and Politics in the Late Eighteenth-Century Atlantic World. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/390 Sponsor Links Colonial Williamsburg FoundationThe Power of Place: The Centennial Campaign for Colonial WilliamsburgFriends of Lafayette Grand Tour Re-enactment Complementary Episodes Episode 124: James Alexander Dun, Making the Haitian Revolution in Early AmericaEpisode 136: Jennifer Van Horn, Material Culture and the Making of AmericaEpisode 164: The American Revolution in the Age of RevolutionsEpisode 165: The Age of RevolutionsEpisode 177, Martin Brückner, The Social Life of Maps in AmericaEpisode 306: The Horse’s Tail: Revolution & Memory in Early New York CityEpisode 319: Cuba: An Early American History Listen! Apple PodcastsSpotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook GroupBen Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcastBen Franklin's World Facebook PageSign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter

389 Indigenous Justice in Early America

389 Indigenous Justice in Early America

Early North America was a place that contained hundreds of distinct Indigenous nations and peoples who spoke at least 2,000 distinct languages. In the early sixteenth century, Spain began to establish colonies on mainland North America, and they were followed by the French, Dutch, and English, and the forced migration of enslaved Africans who represented at least 45 different ethnic and cultural groups. With such diversity, Early North America was full of cross-cultural encounters. What did it look like when people of different ethnicities, races, and cultures interacted with one another? How were the people involved in cross-cultural encounters able to understand and overcome their differences? Nicole Eustace is an award-winning historian at New York University. Using details from her Pulitzer-prize-winning book, Covered with Night: A Story of Murder and Indigenous Justice in Early America, Nicole will take us through one cross-cultural encounter in 1722 between the Haudenosaunee and Susquehannock peoples and English colonists in Pennsylvania. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/389 Sponsor Links Colonial Williamsburg FoundationThe Power of Place: The Centennial Campaign for Colonial WilliamsburgFriends of Lafayette Grand Tour Re-enactment Complementary Episodes Episode 080: Liberty’s Prisoners: Prisons and Prison Life in Early America Episode 171: Native Americans, British Colonists, and Trade in North AmericaEpisode 220: New England Indians, Colonists, and the Origins of Slavery Episode 264: Treaty of CanandaiguaEpisode 356: The Moravian Church in North AmericaEpisode 362: Treaties Between the US and American Indian Nations Listen! Apple PodcastsSpotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook GroupBen Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcastBen Franklin's World Facebook PageSign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter

388 John Hancock

388 John Hancock

Happy Fourth of July! We’ve created special episodes to commemorate, celebrate, and remember the Fourth of July for years. Many of our episodes have focused on the Declaration of Independence, how and why it was created, the ideas behind it, and its sacred words: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” This year, we examine a different aspect of the Declaration of Independence: the man behind the boldest signature on the document: John Hancock. Brooke Barbier is a public historian and holds a Ph.D. in American History from Boston College. She’s also the author of the first biography in many years about John Hancock, it’s called King Hancock: The Radical Influence of a Moderate Founding Father. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/388 Sponsor Links Colonial Williamsburg FoundationThe Power of Place: The Centennial Campaign for Colonial Williamsburg Friends of Lafayette Grand Tour Re-enactment Complementary Episodes Episode 018: Our DeclarationEpisode 129: John Bell, The Road to Concord, 1775Episode 141: A Declaration in DraftEpisode 245: Celebrating the FourthEpisode 277: Whose Fourth of July?Episode 306: The Horse’s Tail: Revolution & Memory in Early New York CityEpisode 309: Merchant Ships of the Eighteenth CenturyEpisode 360: Kyera Singleton, Slavery & Freedom in Massachusetts Listen! Apple PodcastsSpotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook GroupBen Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcastBen Franklin's World Facebook PageSign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter

387 California and Slavery

387 California and Slavery

When we think of California, we might think about sunny weather, Hollywood, beaches, wine country, and perhaps the Gold Rush. What we don’t usually think about when we think about California is the state’s long history of slavery. Jean Pfaelzer, a Californian and a Professor Emerita of English, Asian Studies, and Women and Gender Studies at the University of Delaware, joins us to lead us through some of California’s long 250-year history of slavery with details from her book, California: A Slave State. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/387 Sponsor Links Colonial Williamsburg FoundationAmerican Friends of Lafayette Grand Tour Re-Enactment Complementary Episodes Episode 014: West of the Revolution: An Uncommon History of 1776Episode 067: An Environmental History of Early California and Hawaii Episode 115: The Early American History of TexasEpisode 139: The Other Slavery: Indian Enslavement in the AmericasEpisode 233: A History of Russian America Episode 277: Whose Fourth of July?Episode 312: The Domestic Slave TradeEpisode 371: An Archive of Indigenous Slavery Episode 384: Making Maine: A Journey to Statehood Listen! Apple PodcastsSpotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook GroupBen Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcastBen Franklin's World Facebook PageSign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter

386 Sleeping with the Ancestors

386 Sleeping with the Ancestors

In this special Juneteenth episode, as we honor the emancipation of enslaved African Americans, we delve into the work of those working to preserve slave dwellings across the United States, safeguarding the essential stories these structures embody. In our conversation, Joseph McGill, the Executive Director and Founder of the Slave Dwelling Project, joins us to share why former slave dwellings are vital to our nation's history and what they reveal about the lives of those who once lived in them. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/386 Sponsor Links Colonial Williamsburg FoundationJuneteenth at Colonial Williamsburg Complementary Episodes Episode 075: How Archives WorkEpisode 079: What is a Historic Source?Episode 089: Slavery & Freedom in Early MarylandEpisode 312: The Domestic Slave TradeEpisode 331: Discovery of the Williamsburg Bray SchoolEpisode 360: Kyera Singleton, Slavery & Freedom in MassachusettsEpisode 378: Everyday Black Living in Early America Listen! Apple PodcastsSpotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook GroupBen Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcastBen Franklin's World Facebook PageSign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter

385 Did George Washington Have Heirs?

385 Did George Washington Have Heirs?

The United States Constitution of 1787 gave many Americans pause about the powers the new federal government could exercise and how the government's leadership would rest with one person, the president. The fact that George Washington would likely serve as the new nation’s first president calmed many Americans’ fears that the new nation was creating an opportunity for a hereditary monarch. Washington had proven his commitment to a democratic form of government when he gave up his army command peacefully and voluntarily. He had proven he was someone Americans could trust. Plus, George Washington had no biological heirs–no sons–to whom he might pass on the presidency. But while George Washington had no biological heirs, he did have heirs. Cassandra A. Good, an Associate Professor of History at Marymount University and author of First Family: George Washington’s Heirs and the Making of America, joins us to explore Washington’s heirs and the lives they lived. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/385 Sponsor Links Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Complementary Episodes Episode 027: A History of Stepfamilies in Early AmericaEpisode 033: George Washington and His Library Episode 061: George Washinton in Retirement Episode 074: Martha Washington Episode 137: The Washingtons’ Runaway SlaveEpisode 183: George Washinton’s Mount Vernon Episode 222: The Early History of Washington, D.C. Episode 265: An Early History of the White House Listen! Apple PodcastsSpotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook GroupBen Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcastBen Franklin's World Facebook PageSign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter

384 Making Maine: A Journey to Statehood

384 Making Maine: A Journey to Statehood

Article IV, Section 3 of the United States Constitution establishes guidelines by which the United States Congress can admit new states to the American Union. It clearly states that “no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State…without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.” Five states have been formed from pre-existing states: Vermont, Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Maine. How did the process of forming a state from a pre-existing state work? Why would territories within a state want to declare their independence from their home state? Joshua Smith, the interim director of the American Merchant Marine Museum in Kings Point, New York, and author of the book Making Maine: Statehood and the War of 1812, leads us on an exploration of Maine’s journey to statehood. Show Notes:https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/384 Sponsor Links Colonial Williamsburg FoundationJuneteenth at Colonial Williamsburg Complementary Episodes Episode 030: Northern New England’s Religious GeographyEpisode 057: Money and the American StateEpisode 098: Birth of the American Tax ManEpisode 103, James Monroe and & His Estate HighlandEpisode 134: Pulpit and NationEpisode 309: Merchant Ships of the Eighteenth Century Listen! Apple PodcastsSpotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook GroupBen Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcastBen Franklin's World Facebook PageSign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter

383 Aquatic Culture in Early America

383 Aquatic Culture in Early America

If you will recall from Episode 331, the Williamsburg Bray School is the oldest existing structure in the United States that we know was used to educate African and African American children. As the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation prepares the Bray School for you to visit and see, we’re having many conversations about the history of the school, its scholars, and early Black American History in general. During one of these conversations, the work of Kevin Dawson came up. Kevin is an Associate Professor of History at the University of California, Merced and author of the book, Undercurrents of Power: Aquatic Culture in the African Diaspora. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/383 Sponsor Links Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Complementary Episodes Episode 104: The Saltwater Frontier: Europeans & Native Americans on the Northeastern CoastEpisode 241: Pearls and the Nature of the Spanish EmpireEpisode 250: Virginia, 1619Episode 277: Who's Fourth of July?Episode 331: Discovery of the Williamsburg Bray SchoolEpisode 347: African and African American MusicEpisode 352: James Forten and the Making of the United States Listen! Apple PodcastsSpotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook GroupBen Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcastBen Franklin's World Facebook PageSign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter

382 Hessians in the American Revolutionary War

382 Hessians in the American Revolutionary War

Within the Declaration of Independence, the founders of the United States present twenty-seven grievances against King George III as they declare their reasons for why the thirteen British North American colonies sought their independence from Great Britain. Their twenty-fifth grievance declares that King George III “is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat [sic] the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun.” What do we know about the “Armies of foreign Mercenaries” King George III sent to his rebellious American colonies? Friederike Baer, an Associate Professor of History at Penn State Abbington College, joins us to explore the lives and wartime experiences of the 30,000 German soldiers the British Crown hired and dispatched to North America during the American War for Independence. Frederike is the author of the award-winning book Hessians: German Soldiers in the American Revolutionary War. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/382 Sponsor Links Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Complementary Episodes Episode 046: Whirlwind: The American Revolution & the War That Won It Episode 048: Dangerous Guests: Enemy Captives During the War for Independence Episode 081: After YorktownEpisode 144: The Common CauseEpisode 147: British Soldiers, American War Episode 157: The Revolution’s African American SoldiersEpisode 252: The Highland Soldier in North AmericaEpisode 375: Misinformation Nation Listen! Apple PodcastsSpotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook GroupBen Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcastBen Franklin's World Facebook PageSign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter

381 Texas in the Spanish Empire

381 Texas in the Spanish Empire

The vast and varied landscapes of Texas loom large in our American imaginations. As does Texas culture with its BBQ, cowboys, and larger-than-life personality. But before Texas was a place that embraced ranching, space flight, and country music, Texas was a place with rich and vibrant Indigenous cultures and traditions and with Spanish and Mexican cultures and traditions. Martha Menchaca, a Professor of Anthropology at the University of Texas, Austin, is a scholar of Texas history and United States-Mexican culture. She joins us to explore the Spanish and Mexican origins of Texas with details from her book, The Mexican American Experience in Texas: Citizenship, Segregation, and the Struggle for Equality. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/381 Sponsor Links Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Complementary Episodes Episode 037: Kathleen DuVal, Independence Lost: Lives on the Edge of the American RevolutionEpisode 115: Andrew Torget, The Early American History of TexasEpisode 178, Karoline Cook, Muslims & Moriscos in Colonial Spanish AmericaEpisode 241: Molly Warsh, Pearls & the Nature of the Spanish EmpireEpisode 334, Brandon Bayne, Missions and Mission Building in New SpainEpisode 358: Charles Tingley, St Augustine and Early FloridaEpisode 371: Estevan Rael-Gálvez, An Archive of Indigenous Slavery Listen! Apple PodcastsSpotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook GroupBen Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcastBen Franklin's World Facebook PageSign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter