All episodes

"...and as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do."

In this episode, Professor Johnson (Baylor U.) explores the origins of American theories of diplomacy and the importance of race and freedom in early American history.

These concepts are seen most clearly in early relations between the USA and France, particularly the French colony of Saint-Domingue (modern day Haiti).

This episode covers the period between the First Treaty of Paris (1763) and the Second Treaty of...

In this episode, Dr. Nora Slonimsky, Director the the Institute for Thomas Paine Studies at Iona U., walks you through the life and ideas of one of the most influential figures in American history, Thomas Paine, author of the bestselling political pamphlet Common Sense (10 January 1776).

Topics include:

-Thomas Paine's early life

-The massive popularity of Common Sense

-Similarities between Common Sense and the Declaration of Independence

-Paine's savage critiques of King George and hereditary monarchy

-His support for republicanism, democracy, and egalitarianism

-His role in the creation of many founding myths in America

-His warnings about the dangers...

"He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation."

In this episode, we explore grievance #25 in the Declaration of Independence, which laments the deployment of the notorious Hessian mercenaries to the Colonies in order to fight the American rebels. We also look at reactions to the Declaration in various German-speaking provinces in what is now the Federal Republic of Germany. Next, we ponder the...

How did the indigenous people of Chicagoland understand what was happening in the Colonies in 1776?

Did the Declaration of Independence affect them in any way?

Of course, the City of Chicago was not founded until 1837, but this episode explores the lives of the inhabitants of the Chicago area and the effect of European colonization on their way of life during the Revolutionary War.

Our expert guest, Prof. Theodore Karamanski, walks us through the history of Chicagoland, focussing on the following points:

-Chicagoland during the Seven Years' War (French and Indian War)

-The differences in French and British methods...

In this episode, Andrew Sola and Tobias Brinkmann explore the history of the earliest Jews in the Colonies.

Topics include the following:

-The arrival in 1654 of the first Jewish ship in New Amsterdam, which was governed by Peter Stuyvesant (who is featured in the photo, arriving in New Amsterdam for the first time)

-The story of Asser Levy, perhaps the first Jewish inhabitant of the North American colonies

-The status of early Jews in Spanish, Dutch, and Portuguese colonies

-Jew and Puritans in the Massachusetts Bay Colony

-Roger Williams, the founder of Rhode Island, where religious freedom for Jews...

"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men AND WOMEN are created equal." Declaration of Sentiments, Seneca Falls Convention

In this episode, Prof. Rosemarie Zagarri explores the legal, social, and political status of women from the Colonial Era through the Revolutionary War, the Seneca Falls Convention (1848), and beyond.

Topics include:

-The tensions between the ideals of the phrase "all men are created equal" and the lived reality of women

-"Coverture" and the legal status of women in the Colonies

-The evolving trans-Atlantic dialogue about women's rights from the Enlightenment through the Revolutionary War

-The incorporation of Colonial...

"He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures."

This Pride Month episode focuses on two questions.

First, why were American colonists increasingly frustrated with the presence of British troops in the Colonies?

Second, to what extent were Thomas Jefferson and the Founders aware of LGBTQ+ issues at the nation's founding?

Topics include the following:

-Grievances 11, 12, and 14 in the Declaration of the Independence

-The Quartering Act of 1774

-Evidentiary problems when trying to access LGBTQ+ history

-'Disordered' sexuality in the Colonies, including gay sex and master-slave sexual relations

-Similarities...

The Declaration of Independence uses the words 'God,' 'the Creator,' and 'Divine Providence,' but many of the Founders were highly skeptical of both Christianity and also organized religion, preferring the scientific and rational ideals of the Enlightenment.

In this episode, we explore the tensions between religion and reason in the Declaration of Independence.

Topics include the following:

-Theistic and deistic beliefs in the Founders, including Franklin and Jefferson

-The different religious groups in the Colonies, from Baptists and Catholics to Anglicans and Quakers

-Biblical and theological arguments for and against revolution as well as submission to the King

-Grievance #20...

"He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of the new Appropriation of Lands"

..."for cutting off trade with all parts of the world."

In this episode, Steven Pincus explores grievances against King George for restricting free trade and for preventing immigration to the colonies.

Topics include the following:

-The importance of the trans-Atlantic Patriot Party, which existed both in Great Britain and throughout the Empire and which criticized the policies of King George for...

"He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions."

How are we supposed to understand the phrase "merciless Indian Savages" in the Declaration of Independence?

In this episode, expert in American Indian history Prof. Matthew Kruer (U. of Chicago) gives a thorough analysis of indigenous-colonial relations from the Seven Years' War (1756-1763) through the Declaration of Independence (1776).

Topics include the following:

-The enormous diversity of the 574 indigenous nations recognized by...