Ben Franklin's World

La Presidente? The Presidentess? The First Lady of the Land? The Second Article of the United States Constitution defines the Executive Branch of the government, the powers it has, and the role of the chief executive, the President of the United States. But what about the position of the President’s spouse? Jeanne Abrams, a Professor at the University Libraries and the Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Denver, joins us to explore the lives and work of the first First Ladies of the American Republic with details from her book, First Ladies of the Republic: Martha Washington, Abigail Adams, and Dolley Madison and the Creation of an Iconic American Role. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/205   Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute OI Special Events   Complementary Episodes Episode 005: Jeanne Abrams, Revolutionary Medicine Episode 074: Mary Wigge, Martha Washington Episode 137: Erica Dunbar, The Washingtons’ Runaway Slave, Ona Judge Episode 150: Woody Holton, Abigail Adams: Revolutionary Spectator Episode 193: Partisans: The Friendship & Rivalry of Adams & Jefferson   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

Aaron Burr: Revolutionary War hero, talented lawyer, Vice President, and Intriguer of treason? Between 1805 and 1807, Aaron Burr supposedly intended to commit treason by dividing the American union. How did Americans learn about and respond to this treasonous intrigue? James Lewis Jr., a Professor of History at Kalamazoo College and author of The Burr Conspiracy: Uncovering the Story of an Early American Crisis, guides us through what we know and don’t know about about Aaron Burr’s supposed plot to divide the American union. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/204   Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute Cameron Strang, Frontiers of Science: Imperialism and Natural Knowledge in the Gulf South Borderlands, 1500-1750 (Use promo code 01BFW to save 50 percent)   Complementary Episodes Episode 091; Gregory Dowd, Rumors, Legends, & Homes in Early America Episode 167: Eberhard Faber, The Early History of New Orleans Episode 177: Martin Bruckner, The Social Life of Maps in America Episode 200: Everyday Life in Early America Episode 202: Early History of the United States Congress Episode 203: Joanne Freeman, Alexander Hamilton   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

Hamilton the Musical hit Broadway in August 2015 and since that time people all around the world have been learning about a man named Alexander Hamilton. Or, at least they’ve been learning about the musical’s character Alexander Hamilton. But who was Alexander Hamilton as a real person? Joanne Freeman, a Professor of History and American Studies at Yale University, and one of the foremost experts on the life of Alexander Hamilton, joins us to explore this large question so we can discover more about the man who helped to create the United States. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/203   Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute The History List (Use promo code BEN to save $5)   Complementary Episodes Bonus: The Marquis de Lafayette and the Hermione Episode 094: Cassandra Good, Founding Friendships Episode 153: Committees and Congresses: Governments of the Revolution Episode 179: George Van Cleve, Governance During the Critical Period Episode 180: Kate Elizabeth Brown, Alexander Hamilton and the Making of American Law Episode 202: Early History of the United States Congress     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

On September 17, 1787, a majority of the delegates to the Constitutional Convention approved the new form of government they had spent months drafting and submitted it to the 13 states for their ratification and approval. On June 21, 1788, New Hampshire became the 9th state to ratify the Constitution, which prompted the transition to the government of the United States Constitution. Matt Wasniewski, the Historian of the United States House of Representatives and Terrance Rucker, a Historical Publications Specialist in the Office of the Historian at the United States House of Representatives, lead us on an exploration of why and how the United States Constitution established a bicameral Congress and how and why the House of Representatives took the shape and form that it did during its early meetings. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/202   Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute The Great Courses Plus (Free Month Unlimited Trial)   Complementary Episodes Episode 040: Kata Bartoloni-Tuazon, For Fear of an Elective King Episode 078: Rachel Shelden, Washington Brotherhood: Politics, Social Life, and the Coming of the Civil War Episode 112: Mary Beth Norton, The Tea Crisis of 1773 Episode 153: Committees and Congresses: Governments of the American Revolution Episode 179: George Van Cleve, Governance During the Critical Period Episode 180: Kate Elizabeth Brown, Alexander Hamilton and the Making of American Law   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 kind of character should Americans have? Is it possible to create a shared sense of national character and identity that all Americans can subscribe to? Americans grappled with many questions about what it meant to be an American and a citizen of the new republic after the American Revolution. They grappled with these questions because the people who made up the new United States hailed from many different cultural and ethnic backgrounds. So they wondered: How do you unite the disparate peoples of the United States into one national people? Catherine Kelly, author of Republic of Taste: Art, Politics, and Everyday Life in Early America, joins us to explore the world of art, politics, and taste in the early American republic and how that world contributed to the formation of American character and virtue. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/201   Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute Babbel (Use promo code BFWorld to save 50 percent off your first 3 months) OI Books Flash Sale (Use promo code 01BFW before September 4, 2018 to save 50 percent)   Complementary Episodes Episode 024: Kimberly Alexander, 18th-Century Fashion & Material Culture Episode 076: Nathan Perl-Rosenthal, Citizen Sailors: Becoming American in the Age of Revolution Episode 084: Zara Anishanslin, How Historians Read Historical Sources Episode 127: Caroline Winterer, American Enlightenments Episode 136: Jennifer Van Horn, Material Culture and the Making of 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

What would you like to know about Early American History? It turns out, you wanted to know about the establishment of schools, how the colonial postal service worked, and about aspects of health and hygiene in early America. In this listener-inspired Q&A episode, we speak with Johann Neem, Joseph Adelman, and Ann Little to explore these aspects of early American history and to get answers to your questions about them. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/200   Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute Babbel (Use promo code BFWorld to save 50 percent off your first 3 months) The Great Courses Plus (Free Trial) Episode Bibliography Complementary Episodes Episode 008: Greg O’Malley, Final Passages Episode 083: Jared Hardesty, Unfreedom: Slavery in Colonial Boston Episode 108: Ann Little, The Many Captivities of Esther Wheelwright Episode 156: Information and Communication Episode 161: Smuggling and the American Revolution Episode 190: Jennifer Goloboy, Origins of the American Middle Class   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

When we explore the history of early America, we often look at people who lived in North America. But what about the people who lived and worked in European metropoles? What about Native Americans? We explore early American history through a slightly different lens, a lens that allows us to see interactions that occurred between Native American peoples and English men and women who lived in London. Our guide for this exploration is Coll Thrush, an Associate Professor of History at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver and author of Indigenous London: Native Travelers at the Heart of the Empire. This episode originally posted as Episode 132. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/199   Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute BFWorld Newsletter Signup   Complementary Episodes Episode 079: Jim Horn, What is a Historic Source? (Jamestown and Pocahontas) Episode 104: Andrew Lipman, The Saltwater Frontier Episode 170: Wendy Warren, New England Bound: Slavery in Early New England Episode 184: David J. Silverman, Thundersticks: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of Native America Episode 191: Lisa Brooks, A New History of King Philip’s War     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

When we think of Native Americans, many of us think of inland dwellers. People adept at navigating forests and rivers and the skilled hunters and horsemen who lived and hunted on the American Plains. But did you know that Native Americans were seafaring mariners too? Andrew Lipman, an Assistant Professor of History at Barnard College, Columbia University and author of The Saltwater Frontier: Indians and the Contest for the American Coast, leads us on an exploration of the northeastern coastline and of the Native American and European peoples who lived there during the seventeenth century.  This episode originally posted as Episode 104. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/198   Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute BFWorld Newsletter Signup   Complementary Episodes Episode 079: James Horn, What is a Historical Source? (Colonial Jamestown) Episode 121: Wim Klooster, The Dutch Moment in the 17th-Centur Atlantic World EpIsode 132: Coll Thrush, Indigenous London: Native Travelers in the Heart of the Empire Episode 185: Joyce Goodfriend, Early New York City and Its Culture Episode 191: Lisa Brooks, A New History of King Philip’s War Episode 196: Alejandra Dubcovsky, Information Exchange in the Early Southeast     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

When we think about early American slavery, our minds evoke images of plantations where enslaved men and women were forced to labor in agricultural fields and inside the homes of wealthy Americans. These images depict the practice of chattel slavery; a practice where early Americans treated slaves as property that they could buy, sell, trade, and use as they would real estate and draught animals. But, did you know that some early Americans practiced a different type of slavery? We investigate the practice of Native American or indigenous slavery, a little-known aspect of early American history, with Brett Rushforth, author of Bonds of Alliance: Indigenous and Atlantic Slaveries in New France. This episode originally published as Episode 064.   Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/197   Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute BFWorld Newsletter Signup Bonds of Alliance: Indigenous and Atlantic Slaveries in New France (Listener-Only 40-Percent Discount Code 01BFW)   Complementary Episodes Episode 021: Eugene Tesdahl, Smuggling in Colonial America & Living History Episode 108: Ann Little, The Many Captivities of Esther Wheelright Episode 139: Andrés Reséndez, The Other Slavery: Indian Enslavement in the Americas Episode 170: Wendy Warren, New England Bound: Slavery in Early New England Episode 184: David J. Silverman, Thundersticks: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of Native 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We live in an age of information. The internet provides us with 24/7 access to all types of information—news, how-to articles, sports scores, entertainment news, and congressional votes. But what do we do with all of this knowledge? How do we sift through and interpret it all? We are not the first people to ponder these questions. Today, Alejandra Dubcovsky, an Associate Professor at University of California Riverside and author of Informed Power: Communication in the Early South, takes us through the early American south and how the Native Americans, Europeans, and enslaved Africans who lived there acquired, used, and traded information. This episode originally published as Episode 082. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/196   Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute BFWorld Newsletter Sign up   Complementary Episodes Episode 139: Andrés Reséndez, The Other Slavery: Indian Enslavement in the Americas Episode 168: Andrea Smalley, Wild By Nature: Colonists and Animals in North America Episode 171: Jessica Stern, Native Americans, British Colonists, and Trade in North America Episode 178: Karoline Cook, Muslims & Moriscos in Colonial Spanish America Episode 184: David J. Silverman, Thundersticks: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of Native 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