The History of the Americans

This episode starts at the end of the story of the Pilgrims at Plymouth by looking at the famous "Mayflower Compact," and how Americans have spoken and written about it for more than 200 years. Was it a "document that ranks with the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution as a seminal American text," or merely an expediency for heading off the possibility of mutiny? Everybody from John Adams to historians writing today - and now the History of the Americans Podcast! - have debated that first grassroots American social contract. Twitter: @TheHistoryOfTh2 Facebook: The History of the Americans Podcast Selected references for this episode (If you buy any of these books, please click through the links on the episode notes on the website.) Nathaniel Philbrick, Mayflower: Voyage, Community, War George Bancroft, A History of the United States From the Discovery of the American Continent to the Present Time (Vol 1) Winston Churchill, A History of the English-Speaking Peoples: The New World Samuel Eliot Morison, The Oxford History of the American People Paul Johnson, History of the American People Howard Zinn, A People's History of the United States Alan Taylor, American Colonies: The Settling of North America Walter A. McDougall, Freedom Just Around the Corner: A New American History 1585-1828 Jill Lepore, These Truths: A History of the United States Louis P. Masur, The Sum of Our Dreams: A Concise History of America Wilfred M. McClay, Land of Hope: An Invitation to the Great American Story The American Yawp (Vol 1) Mark L. Sargent, "The Conservative Covenant: The Rise of the Mayflower Compact in American Myth," The New England Quarterly, June 1988.

This year’s Independence Day "Sidebar" episode is about 18 year-old Daniel Webster’s first public speech, on the 4th of July, 1800, in front of an audience of good citizens in Hanover, New Hampshire.  The speech is interesting for a number of reasons, including that it shows how early in our history the 4th of July became the national holiday for ordinary Americans, and also that it is an early indicator that Webster would go on to become perhaps the greatest orator in American history. References for this episode Daniel Webster, "An oration, pronounced at Hanover, New-Hampshire, the 4th day of July, 1800; being the twenty-fourth anniversary of American independence." Robert V. Remini, Daniel Webster: The Man and His Time Dierks Bentley, "Home"

The first Africans arrive at Jamestown

The year 1619 is a famous one in the history of Virginia. There were two big moments -- the introduction of the "Great Charter," which brought representative government to the future United States for the first time, and the first importation of enslaved Africans in English North America. This episode, Part 1, looks at the innovation of the Great Charter, the invention of the "General Assembly," and the context in which representative government, if that is what it was, first came to the future United States. Please subscribe on your favorite podcast app and tell all your friends! Twitter: @TheHistoryOfTh2 Facebook: The History of the Americans Podcast Selected references for this episode James Horn, 1619: Jamestown and the Forging of American Democracy W. W. Henry, "The First Legislative Assembly in America: Sitting at Jamestown, Virginia, 1619," The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Jul., 1894) Sir Edwin Sandys (1561–1629) The Graves of the Powhatan "The Dutch"

This episode looks at the kidnapping of Squanto - Tisquantum - in 1614, along with 26 other Wampanoags, in the context of the extraordinarily robust trade between northern Europeans and the tribes along the northeastern Atlantic Coast of North America. Tisquantum would become one of the most important "cosmopolitan" Indians of the era, and in a horrifying twist of fate would become one of the last of his people to survive. Twitter: @TheHistoryOfTh2 Facebook: The History of the Americans Podcast References for this episode Charles C. Mann, 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus David Hackett Fischer, Champlain’s Dream Neal Salisbury, "Treacherous Waters: Tisquantum, the Red Atlantic, and the Beginnings of Plymouth Colony," Early American Literature, Vol 56 (2021) John Booss, "Survival of the Pilgrims: A Reevaluation of the Lethal Epidemic Among the Wampanoag," Historical Journal of Massachusetts, Winter 2019. Squanto (Wikipedia) The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (Gold) Narragansett Beer commercial

It is 1614. John Smith of Jamestown fame is now looking for a new gig, and he sets his gimlet eye on the northeast coast of North America. He travels the coast in a small boat, and by 1616 has produced a tract called "A Description of New England" with an accompanying map. He gives New England its name, and makes the case for the English settlement of the region. He would not get his gig, but his writing and fund-raising campaign would change the course of history. Along the way we notice that Smith has something quite important to say about Francis Drake. And we enthusiastically recommend Jacob Mchangama's new book, Free Speech: A History from Socrates to Social Media. Twitter: @TheHistoryOfTh2 Facebook: The History of the Americans Podcast References for this episode Walter W. Woodward, "Captain John Smith and the Campaign for New England: A Study in Early Modern Identity and Promotion," The New England Quarterly, March 2008. A Description Of New England Or The Observations And Discoveries Of Captain John Smith Melissa Darby, Thunder Go North: The Hunt for Sir Francis Drake’s Fair & Good Bay The Wizard of Oz (Melting)

On May 30, 1931, the Saturday after Memorial Day, the beleaguered President Herbert Hoover addressed a crowd of 20,000 people under sweltering heat at Valley Forge. This episode looks at that speech in the context of Hoover's life and times. Contemporary listeners will see much that is familiar in Hoover's speech -- politicians are in many ways similar across generations -- and also sentiments that we have not heard from our presidents in a long time. Twitter: @TheHistoryOfTh2 Facebook: The History of the Americans Podcast References for this episode William E. Leuchtenburg, Herbert Hoover Herbert Hoover Memorial Day Address at Valley Forge, May 30, 1931 New York Times coverage Jessie De Priest tea at White House Men at Work - "Down Under" Theme song to "All In The Family" Herbert Hoover speech of November 4, 1932

We are on the road to Plymouth. There are several strands that weave together in 1620, when the Pilgrims on the Mayflower land at an abandoned Indian village known as Patuxet, at a site John Smith had named Plymouth. One of those strands is the rise of dissident Protestantism in England, and the idea that it might best be dealt with by transplanting early Separatists to the New World. The first such project, an attempt in 1597 to make a Separatist colony on islands at the mouth of the St. Lawrence River, would fail spectacularly. But it would also be an important precursor of the settlement that many -- not all, but many -- Americans identify as the national origin story. Twitter: @TheHistoryOfTh2 Facebook: The History of the Americans Podcast References for this episode David B. Quinn, "The First Pilgrims," The William and Mary Quarterly, July 1966. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (Pilgrim)

Samuel de Champlain returns to New France in 1615, and leads an alliance of Huron and Algonquin tribes into western New York State to attack Onondaga, the heavily fortified heart of Iroquois territory on the site of today's Syracuse. Along the way Champlain goes fishing on Lake Huron and Lake Ontario, and we learn that he was not the first European to do. The battle itself is dramatic. The French and their allies build a huge siege tower that requires two hundred men to move in position. But not all ends well. Champlain is injured, and endures unbelievable pain in the retreat to Huronia. The outcome is a matter of some historical controversy. Twitter: @TheHistoryOfTh2 Facebook: The History of the Americans Podcast Selected references for this episode David Hackett Fischer, Champlain’s Dream Étienne Brûlé (Wikipedia) Étienne Brûlé (Dictionary of Canadian Biography) Susquehannock (Wikipedia) Casablanca ("There are certain sections of New York...") The Fifth Column Podcast Map of Champlain's route through Huronia and into Iroquoia: Map of Champlain's route in 1615, from Champlain's Dream

We're back after our week off! In this episode we touch on our vacation driving the Natchez Trace, and then proceed briskly to the career of Samuel Argall - Pocahontas's kidnapper - in the service of the Virginia Company and himself. Most importantly, we look at the hilariously devious ruse that Argall deployed in 1613 to "displant" the French colony on Mt. Desert Island, Maine. Twitter: @TheHistoryOfTh2 Facebook: The History of the Americans Podcast Selected references for this episode Seymour V. Connor, "Sir Samuel Argall: A Biographical Sketch," The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, April 1951. Casablanca (Your papers please) Pierre Biard Natchez Trace