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"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for ONE PEOPLE to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another..."

"Whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of THE PEOPLE to alter or to abolish it..."

In this episode, we explore the creation of the legal concept of THE PEOPLE with the right to overthrow their government.

Topics include :

-the tension in the British Empire between Whigs, who valued popular parliamentary power, and the Tories, who valued centralized royal power

-the organic development of the colonial legal system...

This episode explores the complexity of Florida's colonial history, its relationship to African-Americans, and its importance during the War of Independence.

Our expert guest is Prof. Jane Landers (Vanderbilt University), who is also the Director of the Slave Societies Digital Archive.

Topics include:

-The importance of remembering African-American history in Spanish America

-An overview of Spanish colonial history, which is much older than Anglo-American history that began in Jamestown in 1619

-Spain's religious sanctuary policy, which granted African-American slaves freedom in Florida as far back as 1687

-The first Underground Railroad for enslaved Blacks, which led south to Spanish Florida...

In the second of our 2-episode series about Canada and the Declaration of Independence, historian Mark R. Anderson talks us through the invasion of "the neighbouring Province" of Canada as well as the third and final letter from the Continental Congress to the Inhabitants of Canada. Topics include:

-The formation of the Continental Army in June of 1775 and the appointment of General Schuyler to invade (or liberate) Canada

-A description of the explanations offered by the Americans to the Canadas for the invasion, namely to protect their property rights and religious freedom, as well as to free them from...

"For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies."

In the first of this two-part episode about Canada and the rebellious Colonies, we discuss the important differences in the history, politics, religion, demographics, and economies of the two regions. Topics include the following

-The transfer of Canada from France to Britain after the Seven Years' War in 1763

-The complex process of integrating new British settlers and...

"...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...