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Ben Franklin's World: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Liz Covart
This is a multiple award-winning podcast about early American history. It’s a show for people who love history and who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world. Each episode features conversations with professional historians who help shed light on important people and events in early American history.
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- 5 days ago1h 14m
The Occupied City: New York and the American Revolution
We talk about the 1776 New York Campaign as a series of Continental Army defeats, from Brooklyn in August to Fort Washington’s fall in November. But for New Yorkers, the campaign raised a harder question: How would they survive an occupation that lasted more than seven years?What did the occupation look like when the Continental Army arrived in spring 1776? How did the British hold the city as they struggled to house, supply, and keep its people loyal? And what did New York City mean to the thousands of people who fled there to escape slavery?Sarah Henry, Chief Curator Emerita at the Museum of the City of New York, and historian Blake McGready guide us through their exhibition, The Occupied City: New York and the American Revolution.Museum of the City of New York Website | ExhibitShow Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/455EPISODE OUTLINE00:00:00 Introduction00:04:53 Meet Sarah Henry and Blake McGready00:06:39 Why the British Wanted New York00:13:57 New York's Revolutionary Politics00:20:35 The Continental Army's Occupation of New York00:26:47 The 1776 New York Campaign00:31:37 Life in British-Occupied New York00:42:06 Self-Emancipated People in Occupied New York00:45:08 A Tour of the Occupied City Exhibition00:56:30 Evacuation Day and Rebuilding New York01:03:09 1776 in Context: New York's Revolutionary Legacy01:07:46 Final ThoughtsRECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES🎧 Episode 113: Building the Empire State🎧 Episode 189: The Little Ice Age🎧 Episode 306: The Horse's Tail: Revolution & Memory in Early NYC🎧 Episode 395: The Great New York Fire of 1776🎧 Episode 437: Civilian Life in Revolutionary War Occupied Cities🎧 Episode 454: Life Between Two armies: Westchester County and the American RevolutionSUPPORT OUR WORK🎁 Make a Donation to Ben Franklin’s WorldREQUEST A TOPIC📨 Topic Request Form📫 liz@benfranklinsworld.comWHEN YOU'RE READY🗞️ BFW Gazette Newsletter 👩💻 Join the BFW Listener Community🌍 Join the History Explorers ClubTAKE THE QUIZ🧭 Discover How You Explore History (under 2 minutes)👉 https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/quizLISTEN 🎧🍎 Apple Podcasts 💚 Spotify🎶 Amazon Music<a href="https://www.pandora.com/podcast/ben-franklins-
- 1 weeks ago1h 11m
454 Life Between Two Armies: Westchester County and the American Revolution
On October 28, 1776, the two armies of the American Revolutionary War met in White Plains, a small town about 30 miles north of New York City. Westchester County remained a wedge between the British Army to the south and the Continental Army to the north.For the remaining seven years of the war, both British and American patrols monitored the roads of the county, tracking enemy movement and occasionally skirmishing. Locals leaned one way or the other, sometimes changed sides, and often found themselves at odds with their neighbors.Char Weigel, a historian with Revolutionary Westchester 250, investigates how the county became a "neutral ground” and offers us a window into how, for residents, the Revolution felt like a civil war.Show notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/454EPISODE OUTLINE00:00:00 Introduction00:10:16 How Westchester Farmers Fed New York City00:14:08 Dutch Influence in Westchester00:22:30 The War Arrives in Westchester in 177600:30:50 What Local Families Saw during the Battle of White Plains00:34:51 Life in the Neutral Ground between the Armies00:38:24 Women, Native Americans, and Enslaved People in the Neutral Ground00:51:22 The Benedict Arnold Plot and the Spy Caught in Westchester00:58:23 Washington Irving and the American Revolution's Legacy01:02:46 Lessons from a Divided County01:08:49 Final ThoughtsRECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES🎧 Episode 055: John Jay: Forgotten Founder🎧 Episode 065: Washington’s Spies: The Story of America’s First Spy Network🎧 Episode 324: New Netherland and Slavery🎧 Episode 332: Experiences of Revolution, Part 1: Occupied Philadelphia🎧 Episode 333: Experiences of Revolution, Part 2: Disruptions in Yorktown🎧 Episode 437: Civilian Life in Revolutionary War Occupied Cities🎧 Episode 452: How Everyday Loyalists Experienced the American RevolutionSUPPORT OUR WORK🎁 Make a Donation to Ben Franklin’s WorldREQUEST A TOPIC📨 Topic Request Form📫 liz@benfranklinsworld.comWHEN YOU'RE READY🗞️ BFW Gazette Newsletter 👩💻 Join the BFW Listener Community🌍 Join the History Explorers ClubTAKE THE QUIZ🧭 Discover How You Explore History (under 2 minutes)👉 https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/quizLISTEN 🎧🍎 Apple Podcasts 💚 Spotify🎶 <a href="htt
- 2 weeks ago1h 13m
453 Everyday LGBTQ+ Experiences in the American Revolution
All year, we’ve explored the American Revolution from many vantage points, from its politics and battles to the experiences of women, enslaved and free people of color, Native Americans, and Loyalists.In this episode, we’re going to take an LBGTQ+ lens to the Revolution.Three historians, Rachel Hope Cleves, Jen Manion, and John McCurdy bring together different stories to explore how everyday LGBTQ+ people took part in the American Revolution and how its legacy shaped LGBTQ+ lives in the new United States.Rachel’s Book | Jen’s Book | John’s BookShow notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/453EPISODE OUTLINE00:00:00 Introduction00:05:02 Meet Our Guest Historians00:06:51 LGBTQ+ Lives and Language in the Revolutionary Era00:14:21 Finding a Same-Sex Marriage in the Archives00:24:16 A British Army Chaplain Under Suspicion00:28:33 Reading Through the Bias of Trial Transcripts00:35:37 Fluid Identities and Historical Erasure00:37:57 Military Service as a Path to Reinvention00:47:40 War, Upheaval, and New Possibilities00:54:24 LGBTQ+ People and the Culture of the New Nation01:10:10 Final ThoughtsRECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES🎧 Episode 004: Sex and the Founding Fathers: The American Quest for a Relatable Past🎧 Episode 013: Charity & Sylvia: A Same-Sex Marriage in Early America🎧 Episode 278: Polygamy: An Early American History🎧 Episode 359: Trans-ing Gender in Early America🎧 Episode 414: Robert Newburgh’s Trials: Queerness & Reputation in Revolutionary AmericaSUPPORT OUR WORK🎁 Make a Donation to Ben Franklin’s WorldREQUEST A TOPIC📨 Topic Request Form📫 liz@benfranklinsworld.comWHEN YOU'RE READY🗞️ BFW Gazette Newsletter 👩💻 Join the BFW Listener Community🌍 Join the History Explorers ClubTAKE THE QUIZ🧭 Discover How You Explore History (under 2 minutes)👉 https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/quizLISTEN 🎧🍎 Apple Podcasts 💚 Spotify🎶 Amazon Music<a href="https://www.pandora.com/podcast/ben-franklins-world/PC:232" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_
- 3 weeks ago55 min
BFW Revisited: Religion and the American Revolution
In late spring 1776, 150 armed revolutionary soldiers marched into the Anglican Trinity Church to warn the reverend to stop praying for King George III and his family. The reverend read the prayers anyway. Later that year, another Anglican reverend faced the same choice but made the opposite decision.Throughout our recent conversations about Loyalism, we’ve heard that religion shaped the loyalty choices many early Americans made. In this revisited episode, Kate Carté helps us explore how the British Empire was a Protestant Empire and how the Revolution broke religious bonds, as well as political bonds.Kate’s BookRECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES🎧 Episode 214: Skepticism & American Faith🎧 Episode 317: Jewish colonists in Early America🎧 Episode 356: The Moravian Church in North America🎧 Episode 392: Religion and Race in Early America🎧 Episode 399: Denmark Vesey’s BibleSUPPORT OUR WORK🎁 Make a Donation to Ben Franklin’s WorldREQUEST A TOPIC📨 Topic Request Form📫 liz@benfranklinsworld.comWHEN YOU'RE READY🗞️ BFW Gazette Newsletter👩💻 Join the BFW Listener Community🌍 Join the History Explorers ClubTAKE THE QUIZ🧭 Discover How You Explore History (under 2 minutes)👉 https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/quizLISTEN 🎧🍎 Apple Podcasts💚 Spotify🎶 Amazon Music🛜 PandoraCONNECT🦋 Liz on Bluesky👩💻 Liz on LinkedIn🛜 Liz’s WebsiteSAY THANKS💜 Leave a review on Apple Podcasts💚 Leave a rating on Spotify*Book links are affiliate links. Every purchase supports the podcast.
- Oct 6, 20261h 23m
452 How Everyday Loyalists Experienced the Revolution
We often ask why some Americans chose to remain loyal to the British and why they did not want to seek independence. But the question some Americans asked at the time of the Revolution focused more on navigating daily life: How could they protect their families, property, and honor when neighbors, committees, and crowds decided what side they were on?Today we’re joined by three guests who will help us investigate the American Revolution through Loyalist eyes and explore how Loyalists experienced the American Revolution.Timothy Compeau, an Associate Professor of History at Huron University College at Western University in London, Ontario; Bonnie Huskins who teaches history at St. Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick; and Kacy Tillman, a professor of English and Writing at the University of Tampa.Timothy's Book | Bonnie's Work | Kacy's BookShow notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/452EPISODE OUTLINE00:00:00 Introduction00:06:07 The Origins and Definitions of the Term “Loyalist”00:11:11 Common Misconceptions about Loyalists00:22:52 How Communities Identified their Loyalist Neighbors00:31:34 How Everyday Loyalists Experienced the Revolution00:40:19 Women Loyalists and the Fear of Violence00:50:40 Black Loyalists and the Search for Freedom01:00:05 Post-War Animosities Between Loyalists and Revolutionaries01:09:12 What We Still Get Wrong About the RevolutionRECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES🎧 Episode 085: American Loyalists in Canada🎧 Episode 126: The Reintegration of American Loyalists🎧 Episode 380: The Tory's Wife🎧 Episode 421: Loyalism and Revolution in Georgia🎧 Episode 441: The Escapes of David GeorgeSUPPORT OUR WORK🎁 Make a Donation to Ben Franklin’s WorldREQUEST A TOPIC📨 Topic Request Form📫 liz@benfranklinsworld.comWHEN YOU'RE READY🗞️ BFW Gazette Newsletter 👩💻 Join the BFW Listener Community🌍 Join the History Explorers ClubTAKE THE QUIZ🧭 Discover How You Explore History (under 2 minutes)👉 https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/quizLISTEN 🎧🍎 Apple Podcasts 💚 <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/2oghPc2yt6aL
- Sep 29, 202648 min
BFW Revisited: The Reintegration of American Loyalists
What would it take for you to forgive a neighbor who sided against you in a civil war? And what would you say to win back a community that you had fought against?In our last episode, we explored loyalism across the Atlantic World and met Loyalists who, as serious political actors, had their own ideas about how the British Empire should operate. But the story of Loyalism didn’t end with the founding of the United States, nor with the end of the war.In this revisited episode, Rebecca Brannon explores how South Carolina’s War for Independence was a true civil war, one that pitted neighbor against neighbor and, in some instances, fathers against sons.Rebecca’s Book | WebsiteRECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES🎧 Episode 126: Reintegration of Loyalists in South Carolina🎧 Episode 294: 1774: The Long Year of Revolution🎧 Episode 330: Loyalism in the British Atlantic World🎧 Episode 380: The Tory’s Wife🎧 Episode 421: Loyalism and Revolution in GeorgiaSUPPORT OUR WORK🎁 Make a Donation to Ben Franklin’s WorldREQUEST A TOPIC📨 Topic Request Form📫 liz@benfranklinsworld.comWHEN YOU'RE READY🗞️ BFW Gazette Newsletter 👩💻 Join the BFW Listener Community🌍 Join the History Explorers ClubTAKE THE QUIZ🧭 Discover How You Explore History (under 2 minutes)👉 https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/quizLISTEN 🎧🍎 Apple Podcasts 💚 Spotify🎶 Amazon Music🛜 PandoraCONNECT🦋 Liz on Bluesky👩💻 Liz on LinkedIn🛜 Liz’s WebsiteSAY THANKS💜 Leave a review on Apple Podcasts💚 Leave a rating on Spotify*Book links are affiliate links. Every purchase supports the podcast.
- Sep 22, 20261h 6m
BFW Revisited: Loyalism in the British Atlantic World
In the late winter of 1775, colonists in a village outside of New York City hoisted the royal standard of King George III 75 feet into the air. The standard raisers signed their names to a proclamation pledging to defend the king and his government. For them, defending the British crown did not mean surrender; it served as a clear statement of what it still meant to be British.In Episode 451, we explored a court-martial trial that allowed us to see how early Americans thought about what it would mean to be an American after independence.In this revisited episode, historian Brad Jones helps us take up the other half of that question: what did it mean to be British during the age of the American Revolution? And why did answers to this question take different forms around the Atlantic World?Brad’s BookSUPPORT OUR WORK🎁 Make a Donation to Ben Franklin’s WorldREQUEST A TOPIC📨 Topic Request Form📫 liz@benfranklinsworld.comWHEN YOU'RE READY🗞️ BFW Gazette Newsletter 👩💻 Join the BFW Listener Community🌍 Join the History Explorers ClubTAKE THE QUIZ🧭 Discover How You Explore History (under 2 minutes)👉 https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/quizLISTEN 🎧🍎 Apple Podcasts 💚 Spotify 🎶 Amazon Music🛜 PandoraCONNECT🦋 Liz on Bluesky👩💻 Liz on LinkedIn🛜 Liz’s WebsiteSAY THANKS💜 Leave a review on Apple Podcasts💚 Leave a rating on Spotify*Book links are affiliate links. Every purchase supports the podcast.
- Sep 18, 202620 min
BFW Bonus: We Want More History
American history is in the news a lot these days. We see and hear about fights over monuments, textbooks, and the stories we should include or exclude from our museums and historic markers.What these stories overshadow is the great demand for more history in the United States. A coalition of historians and history organizations noticed this demand and decided to feed it by organizing a new initiative: A We Want More History weekend, which takes place September 25-27.In this bonus episode, we’re joined by Beth English, the Executive Director of the Organization of American Historians, and Kate Masur, the John D. MacArthur Professor of History at Northwestern University. The guest historians share more about the origins of the national, coordinated weekend of history programs, how we can get involved, and where to find more information.SUPPORT OUR WORK🎁 Make a Donation to Ben Franklin’s WorldREQUEST A TOPIC📨 Topic Request Form📫 liz@benfranklinsworld.comWHEN YOU'RE READY🗞️ BFW Gazette Newsletter 👩💻 Join the BFW Listener Community🌍 Join the History Explorers ClubTAKE THE QUIZ🧭 Discover How You Explore History (under 2 minutes)👉 https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/quizLISTEN 🎧🍎 Apple Podcasts 💚 Spotify🎶 Amazon Music🛜 PandoraCONNECT🦋 Liz on Bluesky👩💻 Liz on LinkedIn🛜 Liz’s WebsiteSAY THANKS💜 Leave a review on Apple Podcasts💚 Leave a rating on Spotify*Book links are affiliate links. Every purchase supports the podcast.
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About Ben Franklin's World
This is a multiple award-winning podcast about early American history. It’s a show for people who love history and who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world. Each episode features conversations with professional historians who help shed light on important people and events in early American history.
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