Ben Franklin's World

Was the early United States a “Christian nation?” Did most of its citizenry accept God and the Bible as the moral authority that bound them together as one nation? Scholars have taken a binary stance on these questions. Some argue that early America was a thoroughly religious place and that even those who didn’t attend church were on the same basic page as those who did. While others argue early America boasted an increasingly secularized society. Christopher Grasso, a professor of history at William & Mary and the author of Skepticism and American Faith: From the Revolution to the Civil War, challenges and complicates these two ideas by offering a third explanation: the religious landscape of early America was a continuum where many people experienced both faith and doubt over the course of their lives. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/214   Seattle Meet Up Details Alaskan Sourdough Bakery and Restaurant 3pm  Copperworks Distilling Company Distillery Tour 5pm   Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute Babbel (Use Promo Code BFWorld to save 50% off your first 3 months)   Complementary Episodes Episode 117: Annette Gordon-Reed, The Life and Ideas of Thomas Jefferson Episode 127: Caroline Winterer, American Enlightenments Episode 134: Spencer McBride, Pulpit and Nation Episode 169: Thomas Kidd, The Religious Life of Benjamin Franklin Episode 182: Douglas Winiarski, Darkness Falls on the Land of Light, the Great Awakening in New England   Helpful Show Links Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Ben Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcast Join the Ben Franklin's World Community Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App   *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

In 1621, the Pilgrims of Plimoth Colony and their Wampanoag neighbors came together to celebrate their first harvest. Today we remember this event as the first Thanksgiving. But what do we really know about this holiday and the people who celebrated it? So much of what we know about the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving comes to us through myth and legend, which is why Rebecca Fraser, author of The Mayflower: The Families, The Voyage, and the Founding of America, joins us to help suss out fact from fiction. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/213   Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute Babbel (Use promo code BFWorld to save 50% on first 3 months)   Seattle Meet Up Details Alaskan Sourdough Bakery and Restaurant 3pm  Copperworks Distilling Company Distillery Tour 5pm   Complementary Episodes Episode 095: Rose Doherty, A Tale of Two Bostons Episode 104: Andrew Lipman, Saltwater Frontier: Native Americans and Colonists on the Northeastern Coast Episode 121: Wim Klooster, The Dutch Moment in the 17th-Century Atlantic World Episode 182: Douglas Winiarski, When Darkness Falls On The Land of Light Episode 191: Lisa Brooks, A New History of King Philip’s War Episode 209: Considering Biography     Helpful Show Links Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Ben Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcast Join the Ben Franklin's World Community Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App   *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 do historians and biographers reconstruct the lives of people from the past? Good biographies rely on telling the lives of people using practiced historical methods of thorough archival research and the sound interrogation of historical sources. But what does this practice of historical methods look like? In this final episode of the Omohundro Institute’s Doing History series about biography, Erica Dunbar, the Charles and Mary Beard Professor of History at Rutgers University and author of Never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave Ona Judge, takes us into the archives to show us how she recovered the life of Ona Judge. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/212   Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute John Marshall Foundation Babbel (Use Code BFWorld to save 50% off first 3 months) OI Reader App Nastassia Parker-Gross   Complementary Episodes Episode 137: Erica Dunbar, The Washingtons’ Runaway Slave, Ona Judge Episode 173: Marisa Fuentes, Colonial Port Cities and Slavery Episode 183: Douglas Bradburn, George Washington’s Mount Vernon Episode 209: Considering Biography Episode 210: Considering John Marshall, Part 1 Episode 211: Considering John Marshall, Part 2   Helpful Show Links Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Ben Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcast Join the Ben Franklin's World Community Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App   *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

As part of the Omohundro Institute's Doing History series on biography, Episode 212 offers us a new conversation with Erica Dunbar, the author of Never Caught: The Washington’s Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave Ona Judge. The new episode will explore how historians and biographers reconstruct the lives of people from the past using the story of Ona Judge. In preparation for this new episode, here is our original conversation with Erica Dunbar about Ona Judge. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/137   Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute Doing History Series   Complementary Episodes Episode 209: Considering Biography Episode 210: Considering John Marshall, Part 1 Episode 211: Considering John Marshall, Part 2   Helpful Show Links Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Ben Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcast Join the Ben Franklin's World Community Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App   *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 a biography help us explore big historical questions? Can knowing about the life of John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, help us better understand the Supreme Court and how it came to occupy the powerful place it has in the United State government? The Doing History: Biography series continues and explores these questions with Richard Brookhiser, author of John Marshall: The Man Who Made The Supreme Court. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/211   Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute John Marshall Foundation Richard Brookhiser’s Virginia Museum of History & Culture Talk OI Reader App for Bonus Content   Complementary Episodes Episode 055: Robb Haberman, John Jay: Forgotten Founder Episode 068: Richard Brookhiser, Founders’ Son: A Life of Abraham Lincoln Episode 180: Kate Elizabeth Brown, Alexander Hamilton and the Making of American Law Episode 203: Joanne Freeman, Alexander Hamilton Episode 204: James Lewis Jr., The Burr Conspiracy Episode 209: Considering Biography Episode 210: Considering John Marshall, Part 1   Helpful Show Links Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Ben Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcast Join the Ben Franklin's World Community Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App   *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

For 34 years, John Marshall presided as the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. During his service, Marshal transformed the nation’s top court and its judicial branch into the powerful body and co-equal branch of government we know it as today. The Doing History: Biography series continues as Joel Richard Paul, a professor of law at the University of California, Hastings Law School and author of Without Precedent: Chief Justice John Marshall and His Times, joins us to explore the life of John Marshall and how he wrote his biography. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/210   Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute John Marshall Foundation John Marshall Papers (Use 01BFW to save 40 percent) OI Reader App for Bonus Content   Complementary Episodes Episode 107: Mary Sarah Bilder, Madison’s Hand: Revising the Constitutional Convention Episode 117: Annette Gordon-Reed: The Life and Ideas of Thomas Jefferson Episode 143: Michael Klarman, The Making of the United States Constitution Episode 179: After the Revolution: Governance During the Critical Period Episode 193: Partisans: The Friendship & Rivalry of Adams & Jefferson Episode 209: Considering Biography     Helpful Show Links Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Ben Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcast Join the Ben Franklin's World Community Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App   *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

Biography. Since the earliest days of the United States, and even before the thirteen colonies came together to forge a nation, Americans have been interested in biography. But why? What is it about the lives of others that makes the past so interesting and fun to explore? This episode marks the start of the Omohundro Institute’s 4-episode Doing History series about biography. This series will take us behind-the-scenes of biography and how historians and biographers reconstruct the lives of people from the past. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/209   About the Series The Doing History: Biography series explores the genre of biography, how it relates to and is different from the genre of history, and how historians and biographers can best uncover and understand the lives of people from the past. The Doing History series explores early American history and how historians work. It is part of Ben Franklin’s World, which is produced by the Omohundro Institute.    Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute John Marshall Foundation OI Reader App for Bonus Content   Complementary Episodes Episode 055: Rob Haberman, John Jay: Forgotten Founder Episode 074: Mary Wigge, Martha Washington Episode 117: Annette Gordon-Reed, The Life and Times of Thomas Jefferson Episode 150: Woody Holton, Abigail Adams: Revolutionary Speculator Episode 183: Douglas Bradburn, George Washington’s Mount Vernon Episode 193: Partisans: The Friendship & Rivalry of Adams & Jefferson Episode 205: Jeanne Abrams, First Ladies of the Republic   Helpful Show Links Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Ben Franklin's World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcast Join the Ben Franklin's World Community Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

2018 marks the 241st anniversary of the American victory at the Battle of Saratoga and the 240th anniversary of the Franco-American Alliance. But was the victory that prompted the French to join the American war effort, truly the "turning point" of the War for Independence? National Book Award-winner Nathaniel Philbrick joins us to explore the two events he sees as better turning points in the American War for Independence: Benedict Arnold’s treason and the French Navy’s participation in the war. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/208   Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute Babbel (Free Trial) Follow Us onTwitter: @BFWorldPodcast   Complementary Episodes Episode 026: Robert Middlekauff, George Washington’s Revolution Episode 037: Kathleen DuVal, Independence Lost Episode 071: Bruce Venter, Saratoga and Hubbardton, 1777 Episode 081: Don Glickstein, After Yorktown: The Final Struggle for American Independence Episode 122: Andrew O’Shaughnessy, The Men Who Lost America Episode 161: Smuggling and the American Revolution     Helpful Show Links Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Join the Ben Franklin's World Community Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What in the first 40 years of his life made Benjamin Franklin the genius he became? Benjamin Franklin serves as a great window on to the early American past because as a man of “variety” he pursued many interests: literature, poetry, science, business, philosophy, philanthropy, and politics. But one aspect of Franklin’s life has gone largely unstudied: his childhood and early life. Nick Bunker, author of Young Benjamin Franklin: The Birth of Ingenuity, joins us to explore Benjamin Franklin’s early life and how family, childhood, and youthful experiences shaped him as a scientist and diplomat. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/207   Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute Babbel.com (Free Trial) Follow Us onTwitter: @BFWorldPodcast   Complementary Episodes Episode 086: George Goodwin, Benjamin Franklin in London Episode 112: Mary Beth North, The Tea Crisis of 1773 Episode 160: The Politics of Tea Episode 169: Thomas Kidd, The Religious Life of Benjamin Franklin Episode 175: Daniel Mark Epstein, The Revolution in Ben Franklin’s House     Helpful Show Links Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Join the Ben Franklin's World Community Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App   *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

Between 1500 and the 1860s, Europeans and Americans forcibly removed approximately 12 million African people from the African continent, transported them to the Americas, and enslaved them. Why did Europeans and Americans enslave Africans? How did they justify their actions? Katherine Gerbner, an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Minnesota and author of Christian Slavery: Conversion and Race in the Protestant Atlantic World, leads us on an exploration of ways Christianity influenced early ideas about slavery and its practice. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/206   Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute The OI Reader App (Android | iOS) Babble (Free Trial)   Complementary Episodes Episode 047: Emily Conroy-Krutz, Christian Imperialism Episode 064: Brett Rusthforth, Native American slavery in New France Episode 135: Julie Holcomb, Moral Commerce Episode 139: Andrés Reséndez, Indian Enslavement in the Americas Episode 170: Wendy Warren, Slavery in Early New England Episode 173: Marisa Fuentes, Colonial Port Cities and Slavery Episode 178: Karoline Cook, Muslims & Moriscos in Colonial Spanish America   Helpful Show Links Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Join the Ben Franklin's World Community Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App   *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