Ben Franklin's World

How did the framers draft the Constitution of 1787? What powers does the Constitution provide the federal government? Why do we elect the President of the United States by an electoral system rather than by popular vote? These are some of the many questions you’ve asked since November 2016. And today we’re going to explore some answers. Michael Klarman, the Kirkland & Ellis Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and author of The Founders’ Coup: The Making of the United States Constitution joins us to discuss the United States Constitution and how and why the framers drafted it. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/143   Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture Georgian Papers Programme   Complementary Episodes Episode 057: Max Edling: War, Money, and the American State, 1783-1867 Episode 061: Edward Larson, George Washington in Retirement Episode 087: Sean Condon, Shays’ Rebellion Episode 098: Gautham Rao, Birth of the American Tax Man Episode 107: Mary Sarah Bilder, Madison’s Hand: Revising the Constitutional Convention Episode 141: A Declaration in Draft   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

Most histories of American abolitionism begin just before the Civil War, during the Antebellum period. But the movement to end chattel slavery in America began long before the United States was a nation. Manisha Sinha, a professor of history at the University of Connecticut and author of the award-winning book The Slaves Cause: A History of Abolition, takes us through the early American origins of the the abolition movement. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/142 Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture Georgian Papers Programme   Complementary Episodes Episode 055: Robb Haberman, John Jay: Forgotten Founder Episode 096: Nicholas Guyatt, The Origins of Racial Segregation in the United States Episode 124: James Alexander Dun, Making the Haitian Revolution in Early America Episode 127: Caroline Winterer, American Enlightenments Episode 135: Julie Holcomb, Moral Commerce Episode 137: Erica Dunbar, The Washingtons’ Runaway Slave Ona Judge   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

The Declaration of Independence stands first in a series of documents that founded the United States. It also stands as an early step in the long process of establishing a free, independent, and self-governing nation. Since 1776, more than 100 nation-states and freedom organizations have used the Declaration of Independence as a model for their own declarations and proclamations of independence. Given the Declaration of Independence’s important place in the hearts and minds of peoples around the world, we need to go behind its parchment and explore just how the Declaration of Independence came to be. In this preview episode of the Doing History: To the Revolution! Series, we explore how the Second Continental Congress drafted the Declaration of Independence. Show Notes:https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/141   About the Series The mission of episodes in the Doing History: To the Revolution series is to ask not just “what is the history of the American Revolution?” but “what are the histories of the American Revolution?” Episodes in this series will air beginning in September 2017. The Doing History series explores early American history and how historians work. It's produced by the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture. Be sure to check out Doing History season 1, Doing History: How Historians Work.   Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture Doing History: To the Revolution! series OI Reader App   Complementary Episodes Episode 007: John Adams & the Adams Papers Documentary Editing Project Episode 018: Danielle Allen, Our Declaration Episode 062: Carol Berkin, The Bill of Rights Episode 086: George Goodwin, Benjamin Franklin in London Episode 096: Nicholas Guyatt, The Origins of Racial Segregation in the United States Episode 107: Mary Sarah Bilder, Madison’s Hand Episode 117: Annette Gordon-Reed, The Life and Ideas of Thomas Jefferson Episode 119: Steve Pincus, The Heart of the Declaration   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

Nathaniel Bowditch worked as a navigator, mathematician, astronomer, and business innovator. Over the course of his lifetime, his fellow Americans hailed him as the “American Sir Isaac Newton.” Tamara Thornton, a professor of history at the University of Buffalo and author of Nathaniel Bowditch and the Power of Numbers: How a Nineteenth-Century Man of Business, Science, and the Sea Changed America, leads us on a detailed exploration of the life of Nathaniel Bowditch. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/140   Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture Georgian Papers Programme   Complementary Episodes Episode 057: Max Edling, War, Money, and the American State, 1783-1867 Episode 098: Gautham Rao, Birth of the American Tax Man Episode 113: Brian Murphy, Building the Empire State Episode 109: John Dixon, The American Enlightenment & Cadwallader Colden Episode 127: Caroline Winterer, American Enlightenments   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

In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. He also played a central role in the European adoption of Indian or Native American slavery. When we think of slavery in early America, we often think of the practice of African and African-American chattel slavery. However, that system of slavery wasn’t the only system of slavery that existed in North America. Systems of Indian slavery existed too. In fact, Indians remained enslaved long after the 13th Amendment abolished African-American slavery in 1865. In this episode, Andrés Reséndez, a professor of history at the University of California, Davis and author of The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in Americas, leads us on an investigation of this “other" form of American slavery. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/139   Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture Georgian Papers Programme   Complementary Episodes Episode 008: Greg O'Malley, Final Passages: The Intercolonial Slave Trade of British America Episode 064: Brett Rushforth, Native American Slavery in New France Episode 067: John Ryan Fischer, An Environmental History of Early California & Hawaii Episode 082: Alejandra Dubcovsky, Information and Communication in the Early American South Episode 115: Andrew Torget, The Early American History of Texas   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

Did you know that Connecticut and Virginia once invaded Pennsylvania? During the 1760s, Connecticut invaded and captured the northeastern corner of Pennsylvania just as Virginia invaded and captured parts of western Pennsylvania. And Pennsylvania stood powerless to stop them. In this episode, Patrick Spero, the Librarian of the American Philosophical Society and author of Frontier Country: The Politics of War in Early Pennsylvania, takes us through these invasions and reveals why Pennsylvania proved unable to defend its territory. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/048   Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture Georgian Papers Programme   Complementary Episodes Episode 029: Colin Calloway, The Victory With No Name: The Native American Defeat of the First American Army Episode 048: Ken Miller, Dangerous Guests: Enemy Captives During the War for Independence Episode 056: Daniel J. Tortora, The Anglo-Cherokee War, 1759-1761 Episode 079: Jim Horn, What is a Historical Source? (Colonial Jamestown) Episode 104: Andrew Lipman, The Saltwater Frontier: Europeans & Native American on the Northeastern Coast   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

George Washington was an accomplished man. He served as a delegate to the First and Second Continental Congresses, Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, first President of the United States, and on top of all that he was also a savvy businessman who ran a successful plantation. George Washington was also a slaveholder. In 1789, he and his wife Martha took 7 slaves to New York City to serve them in their new role as First Family. A 16 year-old girl named Ona Judge was one of the enslaved women who accompanied and served the Washingtons. Erica Dunbar, a Professor of Black American Studies and History at the University of Delaware and author of Never Caught: The Washington’s Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave Ona Judge, leads us through the early American life of Ona Judge. 
 Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/137   Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture William and Mary Quarterly Episode 105: Joshua Piker, How Historians Publish History (Behind-the-scenes of the William and Mary Quarterly)   Complementary Episodes Episode 026: George Washington’s Revolution Episode 033: George Washington and His Library Episode 061: George Washington in Retirement Episode 074: Mary Wigge, Martha Washington Episode 083: Jared Hardesty, Unfreedom: Slavery in Colonial Boston Episode 089: Jessica Millward, Slavery and Freedom in Early Maryland   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 do the objects we purchase and use say about us? If we take the time to think about the material objects and clothing in our lives, we’ll find that we can actually learn a lot about ourselves and other people. The same holds true when we take the time to study the objects and clothing left behind by people from the past. Jennifer Van Horn, an Assistant Professor of History and Art History at the University of Delaware and author of The Power of Objects in Eighteenth-Century British America, leads us on an exploration of the 18th-century British material world and how objects from that world can help us think about and explore the lives of 18th-century British Americans. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/136   Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture William and Mary Quarterly OI Reader app   Complementary Episodes Episode 024: Kimberly Alexander, 18th-Century Fashion & Material Culture Episode 079: Jim Horn, What is a Historical Source Episode 084: Zara Anishanslin, How Historians Read Historical Sources Episode 107: Mary Sarah Bilder, Madison’s Hand: Revising the Constitutional Convention   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

If early Americans desired slaves mostly to produce sugarcane, cotton, rice, indigo, and tobacco, what would happen if Europeans and early Americans stopped purchasing those products?
 Would boycotting slave-produced goods and starving slavery of its economic sustenance be enough to end the practice of slavery in North America? Julie Holcomb, an Associate Professor of Museum Studies at Baylor University and author of Moral Commerce: The Transatlantic Boycott of the Slave Labor Economy, helps us explore answers to these questions by leading us through the transatlantic boycott of slave produced goods. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/135   Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture William and Mary Quarterly Karin Wulf, “The Art and Craft of Review”    Complementary Episodes Episode 020: Kyle Bulthuis, Four Steeples Over the City Streets Episode 030: Shelby Balik, Rally the Scattered Believers: Northern New England’s Religious Geography Episode 045: Spencer McBride, Joseph Smith and the Founding of Mormonism Episode 073: Mark Noll, The Bible in Early America Episode 077: Rinker Buck, The Oregon Trail Episode 118: Christy Clark-Pujara, The Business of Slavery in Rhode Island   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

In Colonial America, clergymen stood as thought leaders in their local communities. They stood at the head of their congregations and many community members looked to them for knowledge and insight about the world around them. So what happened to these trusted, educated men during the American Revolution? How did they choose their political allegiances? And what work did they undertake to aid or hinder the revolutionary cause? Spencer McBride, an editor at the Joseph Smith Papers documentary editing project, joins us to explore some of the ways politics and religion intersected during the American Revolution with details from his book, Pulpit and Nation: Clergymen and the Politics of Revolutionary America. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/134   Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture William and Mary Quarterly Episode 105: Josh Piker, How Historians Publish History (Behind-the-Scenes of the WMQ)   Complementary Episodes Episode 045: Spencer McBride, Joseph Smith and the Founding of Mormonism Episode 112: Mary Beth Norton, The Tea Crisis of 1773 Episode 117: Annette Gordon-Reed, The Life & Ideas of Thomas Jefferson Episode 123: Revolutionary Allegiances Episode 129: John Bell, The Road to Concord Episode 130: Paul Revere’s Ride Through History   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