Alan Taylor, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and historian at the University of Virginia, shares his insights on early American history. He explores why Canada didn’t join the American revolution and how American Tories relocated post-revolution. The conversation delves into the fears surrounding the stability of the Republic, Texas/Mexico tensions, and the implications of the Mexican-American War. Taylor also reflects on Haiti's struggles and the evolving nature of historical academia amid technological advancements.
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insights INSIGHT
Why Thirteen Colonies?
The thirteen colonies declared independence due to their larger populations and interconnectedness, fostering confidence in military resistance.
Smaller colonies and islands remained loyal due to dependence on the British Royal Navy and fear of isolation.
insights INSIGHT
Land Prices Post-Revolution
The American Revolution ironically made land cheaper in British Canada and more expensive in the US.
War debt forced the US to raise funds through land sales and taxes, while Britain subsidized Canadian land to attract settlers.
insights INSIGHT
British-Native Alliance
The British found it easier to mobilize Native American allies due to the Americans' rapid population growth and expansionist tendencies.
Native Americans saw the British as a means to protect their lands and resist American encroachment.
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In 'American Civil Wars: A Continental History, 1850-1873', Alan Taylor presents a pivotal twenty-year period where the United States, Mexico, and Canada transformed into nations. The book focuses on the American Civil War, its military history, and the drama of emancipation, while also detailing the French invasion of Mexico and Canada's confederation efforts. Taylor's narrative highlights the interconnectedness of these events across North America.
Uncle Tom's cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Published in 1852, 'Uncle Tom’s Cabin' is a seminal work by Harriet Beecher Stowe that depicts the harsh realities of slavery in the United States. The novel follows the story of Uncle Tom, a dignified and religious enslaved man, and Eliza, a fugitive slave, among other characters. It highlights the cruelty and injustices of the slave system and the emotional toll on enslaved individuals and their families. The book was a massive success, selling over 300,000 copies in its first year and becoming the second-best-selling book of the 19th century after the Bible. It played a significant role in fueling the abolitionist cause and is credited with influencing public opinion on slavery[2][3][5].
Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Alan Taylor is Tyler’s pick for one of the greatest living historians. His many books cover the early American Republic, American westward expansion, the War of 1812, Virginian slavery, Thomas Jefferson, the revolutionary settlements in Maine, and more. He’s currently the Thomas Jefferson Chair of History at the University of Virginia.
Tyler and Taylor take a walking tour of early history through North America covering the decisions, and ripples of those decisions, that shaped revolution and independence, including why Canada didn’t join the American revolution, why America in turn never conquered Canada, American’s early obsession with the collapse of the Republic, how democratic the Jacksonians were, Texas/Mexico tensions over escaped African American slaves, America’s refusal to recognize Cuban independence, how many American Tories went north post-revolution, Napoleon III’s war with Mexico, why the US Government considered attacking Canada after the Civil War, and much more.
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