Ben Franklin's World

2019 marks the 400th anniversary of two important events in American History: The creation of the first representative assembly in English North America and the arrival of the first African people in English North America. Why were these Virginia-based events significant and how have they impacted American history? Cassandra Newby-Alexander, a scholar of African American and American History and the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Norfolk State University, helps us find answers. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/250 Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute The Ben Franklin's World Shop The Roller-Bottimore Foundation Bibliography: 1619 and Virginia Virginia 1619: Slavery and Freedom in the Making of English America (Save 40 percent with promo code 01BFW) Complementary Episodes Episode 079: Jim Horn, What is a Historical Source?  Episode 206: Katherine Gerbner, Christian Slavery Episode 212: Erica Dunbar, Researching Biography Episode 220: Margaret Ellen Newell, New England Indians, Colonists, and Origins of Slavery Episode 224: Kevin Dawson, Aquatic Culture in Early America Episode 226: Ryan Quintana, Making the State of South Carolina Listen! Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook Group Ben Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcast Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter *Books purchased through the links on this post will help support the production of Ben Franklin's World. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Between 1789 and 1825, five men would serve as President of the United States. Four of them hailed from Virginia. Many of us know details about the lives and presidencies of Washington, Jefferson, and Madison. But what do we know about the life and presidency of the fourth Virginia president, James Monroe? Sara Bon-Harper, Executive Director of James Monroe’s Highland, joins us to explore the public and private life of James Monroe. This episode originally posted as Episode103. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/249      Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute The Ben Franklin's World Shop   Complementary Episodes Episode 094: Cassandra Good, Founding Friendships Episode 150: Woody Holton, Abigail Adams: Revolutionary Speculator Episode 167: Eberhard Faber, The Early History of New Orleans Episode 183: Douglas Bradburn, George Washington’s Mount Vernon   Listen! Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App   Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook Group Ben Franklin’s WorldTwitter: @BFWorldPodcast Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Not all historians publish their findings about history in books and articles. Some historians convey knowledge about history to the public in public spaces and in public ways. We conclude the “Doing History: How Historians Work” series with a look at how historians do history for the public with guest historian Lonnie Bunch, the Founding Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. This episode originally posted as a Bonus Episode in 2016. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/248     Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute The Ben Franklin's World Shop   Complementary Episodes Episode 137: Erica Dunbar, The Washingtons’ Runaway Slave, Ona Judge Episode 157: The Revolution’s African American Soldiers Episode 166: Freedom and the American Revolution Episode 176: Daina Ramey Berry, The Value of the Enslaved from Womb to Grave Episode 212: Researching Biography   Listen! Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App   Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook Group Ben Franklin’s WorldTwitter: @BFWorldPodcast Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A “little short of madness.” That is how Thomas Jefferson responded when two delegates from New York approached him with the idea to build the Erie Canal in January 1809. Jefferson’s comment did not discourage New Yorkers. On January 4, 1817, New York State began building a 363-mile long canal to link the Hudson River and Atlantic Ocean with the Great Lakes and the Midwest. Janice Fontanella, site manager of Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site in Fort Hunter, New York, joins us to discuss the Erie Canal, its construction, and the impact that this waterway made on New York and the United States. This episode originally posted as Episode 028.   Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/247    Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute The Ben Franklin's World Shop   Complementary Episodes Episode 035: Michael Lord, Historic Hudson Valley & Washington Irving Episode 051: Catherine Cangany, Frontier Seaport: A History of Early Detroit Episode 071: Bruce Venter, Saratoga and Hubbardton, 1777 Episode 113: Brian Murphy, Building the Empire State Episode 239: Joseph Adelman, Post & Travel in Early America   Listen! Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App   Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook Group Ben Franklin’s WorldTwitter: @BFWorldPodcast Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Did Canada almost join the American Revolution? Bruno Paul Stenson, a historian and musicologist with the Château de Ramezay historic site in Montréal, joins us to discuss how the American Revolution played out in Canada. This episode originally posted as Episode 041. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/246   Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute The Ben Franklin's World Shop   Complementary Episodes Episode 037: Kathleen DuVal, Independence Lost: Lives on the Edge of the American Revolution Episode 038: Carolyn Harris, Magna Carta & Its Gifts to North America Episode 039: Eric Nelson, The Royalist Revolution: Monarchy and the American Founding Episode 040: Kathleen Bartoloni-Tuazon, For Fear of an Elective King: George Washington and the Presidential Title Controversy of 1789   Listen! Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App   Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook Group Ben Franklin’s WorldTwitter: @BFWorldPodcast Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It wasn’t always fireworks on the fourth. John Adams predicted Americans would celebrate the Second of July, the day Congress voted in favor of independence, "with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other." He got the date wrong, but he was right about the festivities in commemoration of Independence Day. And yet July Fourth events have changed a great deal since 1776. How do our fireworks displays, barbecues, parades, and sporting events compare to the first and earliest celebrations of independence? How and why do we celebrate the United States and its independence as we do? Three historical experts take us through the early American origins of Fourth of July celebration. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/245 Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute The Ben Franklin's World Shop Doing History series Emily Sneff, "The Sounds of Independence" blog post Complementary Episodes Episode 018: Danielle Allen, Our Declaration Episode 141: A Declaration in Draft Episode 119: Steve Pincus, The Heart of the Declaration Episode 166: Freedom and the American Revolution Episode 175: Daniel Epstein, The Revolution in Ben Franklin’s House Episode 193: Partisans: The Friendship and Rivalry of Adams & Jefferson Episode 230: Mitch Kachun, First Martyr of Liberty Episode 243: Joseph Adelman, Revolutionary Print Networks Listen! Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook Group Ben Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcast Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There’s a saying that tells us we should walk a mile in someone else’s shoes. It’s a reminder we should practice empathy and try to understand people before we cast judgement. As it happens, this expression is right on the mark because it seems when we use shoes as historical objects, we can learn a LOT about people and their everyday lives and actions. Kimberly Alexander, museum specialist, lecturer at the University of New Hampshire, and author of Treasures Afoot: Shoe Stories from the Georgian Era, joins us to help us better understand shoes and what they can tell us about the everyday lives of early Americans. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/244 Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute The Ben Franklin's World Shop Complementary Episodes Episode 024: Kimberly Alexander: Eighteenth-Century Fashion & Material Culture Episode 084: Zara Anishanslin, How Historians Read Historical Sources Episode 153: Committees and Congresses: Governments of the American Revolution Episode 160: The Politics of Tea Episode 201: Catherine E. Kelly, Art, Politics, and Everyday Life in Early America Episode 209: Considering Biography Listen! Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook Group Ben Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcast Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter *Books purchased through the links on this post will help support the production of Ben Franklin's World. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the American Revolution to be successful, it needed ideas people could embrace and methods for spreading those ideas. It also needed ways for revolutionaries to coordinate across colonial lines. How did revolutionaries develop and spread their ideas? How did they communicate and coordinate plans of action? Joseph Adelman, an Assistant Professor of History at Framingham State University and author of Revolutionary Networks: The Business and Politics of Printing the News, 1763-1789, joins us to investigate the roles printers and their networks played in developing and spreading ideas of the American Revolution. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/243 Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute The Ben Franklin's World Shop Complementary Episodes Episode 112: Mary Beth North, The Tea Crisis of 1773 Episode 144: Robert Parkinson, The Common Cause of the American Revolution Episode 200: Everyday Life in Early America Episode 207: Nick Bunker, Young Benjamin Franklin Episode 227: Kyle Courtney, Copyright & Fair Use in Early America Episode 229: Patrick Griffin, The Townshend Moment Listen! Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook Group Ben Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcast Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter *Books purchased through the links on this post will help support the production of Ben Franklin's World. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Delaware may be the second smallest state in the United States, but it has a BIG, rich history that can tell us much about the history of early America. David Young, the Executive Director of the Delaware Historical Society, joins us to explore the early American history of Delaware from its Native American inhabitants through its emergence as the first state in the United States. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/242 Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute The Ben Franklin's World Shop Complementary Episodes Episode 059: Eric Foner, The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad Episode 121: Wim Klooster, The Dutch Moment in the 17th-Century Atlantic World Episode 138: Patrick Spero, Frontier Politics in Early America Episode 177: Martin Brückner, The Social Life of Maps in America Episode 217: Jessica Millward, Slavery & Freedom in Early Maryland Episode 234: Richard Bushman, Farms & Farm Families in Early America   Listen! Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook Group Ben Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcast Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter *Books purchased through the links on this post will help support the production of Ben Franklin's World. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Spain became the first European power to use the peoples, resources, and lands of the Americas and Caribbean as the basis for its Atlantic Empire. How did this empire function and what wealth was Spain able to extract from these peoples and lands? Molly Warsh, an Associate Professor of History at the University of Pittsburgh and author of American Baroque: Pearls and the Nature of Empire, 1492-1700, helps us investigate answers to these questions by showing us how Spain attempted to increase its wealth and govern its empire through its American and Caribbean pearl operations. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/241   Meet Ups Pittsburgh Meet Up, June 15, 2:30pm Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute The Ben Franklin's World Shop Save 40 percent on American Baroque (Use Promo Code 01BFW) Complementary Episodes Episode 015: Joyce Chaplin, Round About the Earth Episode 082: Alejandra Dubcovsky, Information & Communication in the Early American South Episode 139: Andrés Reséndez, The Other Slavery: Indian Enslavement in the Americas Episode 167: Eberhard Faber, The Early History of New Orleans Episode 178: Karoline Cook, Muslims & Moriscos in Colonial Spanish America Episode 224: Kevin Dawson, Aquatic Culture in Early America   Listen! Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook Group Ben Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcast Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter *Books purchased through the links on this post will help support the production of Ben Franklin's World. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices