More than 6,000 Black menāfree and enslavedāserved in the Continental Army during the American Revolution. Yet their stories remain some of the least told of the war.
In this revisited episode, we rejoin Judith Van Buskirk, Professor Emerita of History at SUNY Cortland and author of Standing in Their Own Light: African American Patriots in the American Revolution, to explore what motivated African American men to fight for the Revolutionary cause, how the Continental Army's policies toward Black enlistment shifted over the course of the war, and what life and service looked like in units like the First Rhode Island Regiment.
Judy's BookĀ
Show Notes:Ā https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/403
RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES
š§ Episode 016: The Internal Enemy
š§ Episode 118: The Business of Slavery in Rhode Island
š§ Episode 123: Revolutionary Allegiances
š§ Episode 433: Haiti, France, and the American War for Independence
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What if the American Revolution was never just an American story?
Historian Ronald Angelo Johnson helps us uncover the deep connections between the American and Haitian Revolutions to reveal how both revolutions emerged from the same Atlantic imperial struggle for empire, racialized power, and war.
Using details from his book Entangled Alliances, Ron will guide us from the Treaty of Paris in 1763 to the Siege of Savannah in 1779, where hundreds of Black soldiers from French Saint Domingue landed on Georgiaās shoresānot as enslaved laborers, but as uniformed volunteers ready to fight for American Independence.
Ron'sĀ WebsiteĀ | Book |
Show Notes:Ā https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/433
Ā
EPISODE OUTLINE
00:00:00Ā Introduction
00:01:08Ā Episode Overview
00:04:50 The Treaty of Paris 1763 and its Impact
00:09:09 Consequences of the Seven Years' War for Saint Domingue
00:18:39 Saint Domingue Society Post-Seven Years' War
00:24:32 French Imperial Reaction vs. Local Resentment
00:28:36 Circulation of News Between British North America & Saint Domingue
00:39:22 France's Strategy to Assist American Revolutionaries
00:50:42 Reception of the Chasseurs Volontaires Regiment in Georgia
00:54:42 Re-evaluating the American Revolution
00:57:32 Time Warp
01:05:38 Conclusion
RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES
š§ Episode 052: Diplomacy in Black and White
š§ Episode 151: Defining the American Revolution
š§ Episode 228: The Boston Massacre (King Street Riot)
š§ Episode 325: The Everyday People of the American Revolution
š§ Episode 361: The Fourth of July in 2026
š§ Episode 421: Loyalism & Revolution in Georgia
š§ Episode 432: How France & Spain Helped Win the American Revolution
SUPPORT OUR WORK
šĀ Make a Donation toĀ Ben Franklinās World
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š§ Discover How You Explore History (under 2 minutes)
šĀ https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/quiz
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What does it take to become a revolutionary in more than one revolution? In this revisited conversation with Mike Duncan, we explore the life of the Marquis de Lafayetteāan ambitious young Frenchman who crossed the Atlantic to fight for the American cause and later carried those lessons into the political storms of France. From early idealism to a complicated role in two upheavals, Lafayetteās story reveals how ideas, alliances, and personal relationships shaped the Age of Revolutions.
Youāll hear how Lafayette became close to George Washington, what he learned in America, and why his legacy makes the most sense when you follow him across borders.
Mikeās InstagramĀ | Book |
Show Notes:Ā https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/313
RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES
š§ Bonus: The Marquis de Lafayette & the Hermione
š§ Episode 071: Saratoga & Hubbardton, 1777
š§ Episode 203: Alexander Hamilton
š§ Episode 363: Ste. GenĆ©vieve National Historical Park
š§ Episode 365: 300 Years of French Settlment at Ćle Sait-Jean
š§Ā Episode 432: How France & Spain Helped Win the American Revolution
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šĀ Make a Donation toĀ Ben Franklinās World
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šĀ https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/quiz
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The American Revolution wasnāt just a colonial rebellion; it was a global conflict shaped by European rivalries and high-stakes diplomacy. Without the help of foreign allies like France and Spain, the United States might never have won its independence.
Historian John Ferling joins us to explore the international dimensions of the Revolutionary War. Drawing from his new book Shots Heard Round the World, Ferling reveals how secret aid, political gambles, and naval power from Europe (especially France) influenced the outcome of the war, and nearly derailed it.
Johnās WebsiteĀ | Book |
Show Notes:Ā https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/432
Ā
EPISODE OUTLINE
00:01:06Ā Introduction
00:01:52 Why European Powers Intervened
00:08:02 International Interest in the American Revolution
00:14:20 French Reaction to the Outbreak of War
00:19:28 Initiation of Foreign Aid
00:23:46 British Expectations of a Quick Victory
00:25:35 Saratoga as a Turning Point
00:31:46 French Naval and Military Support
00:37:36 Spain's Ambitions and Entry into the War
00:42:55 Britain's War Fatigue and Missed Opportunities
00:51:31 Outcomes for France and Spain
00:54:53 Time Warp
00:59:20 Conclusion
RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES
š§ Episode 046: The American Revolution and the War that Won It
š§ Episode 112: The Tea Crisis of 1773
š§ Episode 122: The Men Who Lost America
š§ Episode 208: Turning Points of the American Revolution
š§ Episode 313: The Marquis de Lafayette
š§ Episode 421: Loyalism & Revolution in Georgia
SUPPORT OUR WORK
šĀ Make a Donation toĀ Ben Franklinās World
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š§ Discover How You Explore History (under 2 minutes)
šĀ https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/quiz
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*Book links are affiliate links. Every purchase supports the podcast.
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Before Common Sense could ignite a revolution, colonists had to be convinced they shared a cause worth fighting for. So how did Revolutionary leaders turn thirteen very different colonies into āAmericansāāand what stories did they tell to make that unity feel real?
In this Ben Franklinās World Revisited episode, historian Robert Parkinson returns to explore how newspapers and wartime messaging helped forge the Revolutionās ācommon causeāāand how that campaign leaned on fear, race, and exclusion to build a new national identity.
Robās WebsiteĀ | Book |
Show Notes:Ā https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/144
Ā
RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES
š§ Episode 016: The Internal Enemy
š§ Episode 122: The Men Who Lost America
š§ Episode 141: A Declaration in Draft
š§ Episode 243: Revolutionary Print Networks
š§ Episode 375: Misinformation Nation: Fake News in Early America
š§ Episode 431: Common Sense at 250: The Pamphlet That Sparked A Revolution
SUPPORT OUR WORK
šĀ Make a Donation toĀ Ben Franklinās World
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š©āš»Ā Join the BFW Listener Community
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TAKE THE QUIZ
š§ Discover How You Explore History (under 2 minutes)
šĀ https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/quiz
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*Book links are affiliate links. Every purchase supports the podcast.
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Thomas Paineās Common Sense turned a colonial rebellion into a full-blown revolution. But how did one pamphlet move so many minds in 1776āand why does it still matter 250 years later?
To commemorate the 250th anniversary of Common Sense, historian and Director of the Institute for Thomas Paine Studies at Iona University, Nora Slonimsky, joins us to explore Paineās life, the pamphletās explosive impact, and what this revolutionary text still teaches us about democracy, communication, and civic life.
ITPS WebsiteĀ
Show Notes:Ā https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/403
Ā
EPISODE OUTLINE
00:00:00Ā Introduction
00:01:06 Thomas Pain's Early Life and Influences
00:05:53 The Institute for Thomas Paine Studies
00:07:51 Thomas Paine as an English Excise Man
00:13:34 Paine's Ideas for Reform of the British Government
00:19:27 Reception of Paine's First Pamphlet
00:21:48 Paine's Intellectual Life in England
00:27:30 Thomas Paine and Benjamin Franklin
00:31:44 Paine's Migration to Philadelphia
00:35:55 Paine's View of the American Revolution
00:39:15 The Story of Common Sense
00:50:34 Measuring the Reach of Common Sense
00:59:34 The Legacy of Common Sense and Thomas Paine
01:02:54 Time Warp
01:05:02 Commemorating the 250th Anniversary of Common Sense
01:08:17 Conclusion
RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES
š§ Episode 127: American Enlightenments
š§ Episode 141: A Declaration in Draft
š§ Episode 144: The Common Cause
š§ Episode 156: The Power of the Press in the American Revolution
š§ Episode 243: Revolutionary Print Networks
š§ Episode 394: The Pursuit of Happiness
SUPPORT OUR WORK
šĀ Make a Donation toĀ Ben Franklinās World
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šļøĀ BFW Gazette NewsletterĀ
š©āš»Ā Join the BFW Listener Community
šĀ Join the History Explorers Club
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š§ Discover How You Explore History (under 2 minutes)
šĀ https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/quiz
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*Book links are affiliate links. Every purchase supports the podcast.
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Common Sense didnāt just make an argument for independenceāit moved through a world of newspapers, pamphlets, and personal networks that carried revolutionary ideas from one doorstep to the next. So how did political news travel in 1776, and what made print such a powerful engine of persuasion?
As we approach the 250th anniversary of Common Sense, Ben Franklinās World Revisited returns to Episode 156 to explore how early Americans shared, debated, and embraced revolutionary ideas. Youāll discover how print and networks spread the Revolution, what made Common Sense a publishing phenomenon, and how media shaped political debate and public opinion.
Show Notes:Ā https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/156
RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES
š§ Episode 091: Rumors, Legends, and Hoaxes in Early America
š§ Episode 153: Committees and Congresses: Governments of the American Revolution
š§ Episode 144: The Common Cause
š§ Episode 243: Revolutionary Print Networks
š§ Episode 375: Misinformation Nation: Fake News in Early America
š§ Episode 428: America's Forgotten Quest to Link Two Oceans
SUPPORT OUR WORK
šĀ Make a Donation toĀ Ben Franklinās World
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š§ Discover How You Explore History (under 2 minutes)
š https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/quiz
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*Book links are affiliate links. Every purchase supports the podcast.
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Benjamin Rush was one of early Americaās most fascinating figures. He was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, a leading Philadelphia physician, and a thinker who believed that a healthy body was the foundation of a healthy republic.
In this episode, historian Sarah Naramore, author of Benjamin Rush, Civic Health and Human Illness in the Early American Republic, introduces us to Rush as both doctor and political philosopher.
Weāll explore:
Rush may be what Sarah calls a āB-list Founding Father,ā but his influence on early American science, politics, and public health was anything but minor.
Sarahās WebsiteĀ | Book |
Show Notes:Ā https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/430
Ā
EPISODE OUTLINE
00:00:00Ā Introduction
00:01:06 Episode Introduction
00:04:48 Who Was Benjamin Rush
00:13:52 Benjamin Rush's Medical Practice
00:17:01 The American System of Medicine
00:22:30 Rush's Ideas about Civic Health
00:29:07 Rush's Approach to Mental Health
00:33:53 Rush's Views on Addiction
00:48:00 Rush's Legacy
00:52:13 Time Warp
00:55:00 Conclusion
RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES
š§ Episode 174: Yellow Fever in the Early American Republic
š§ Episode 193: Partisans: The Friendship & Rivalry of Adams & Jefferson
š§ Episode 263: The Medical Imagination
š§ Episode 279: Benjamin Rush, Founding Father
š§ Episode 301: From Inoculation to Vaccination, Part 1
š§ Episode 302: From Inoculation to Vaccination, Part 2
SUPPORT OUR WORK
šĀ Make a Donation toĀ Ben Franklinās World
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šØĀ Topic Request Form
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WHEN YOU'RE READY
šļøĀ BFW Gazette NewsletterĀ
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šĀ Join the History Explorers Club
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š©āš»Ā Liz on LinkedIn
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šĀ Leave a review on Apple Podcasts
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*Book links are affiliate links. Every purchase supports the podcast.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
British officials had a problem: Their American colonists wouldn't stop smuggling. Even after Parliament slashed tea prices and passed laws to make legal imports cheaper, colonists kept buying Dutch and French goods on the black market.
So what was really going on? If it wasn't just about saving money, what drove thousands of merchants and consumers to risk fines, seizure, and worse?
In this revisited episode, we follow the illicit trade networks that connected colonial port cities to the "Golden Rock,ā Sint Eustatius, a tiny Dutch island that became the Atlantic World's busiest smuggling hub.
You'll discover why American merchants risked everything to trade there, how these underground networks shaped revolutionary resistance, and what Britain's crackdown on smuggling reveals about the deeper economic and political tensions that ignited the Revolution.
Show Notes:Ā https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/161
Ā
RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES
š§ Episode 021: Smuggling in Colonial America & Living History
š§ Episode 112: The Tea Crisis of 1773
š§ Episode 121: The Dutch Moment in the 17th-Century Atlantic World
š§ Episode 159: Dangerous Economies
š§ Episode 160: The Politics of Tea
š§ Episode 288: Smugglers & Pirates in the 18th-Century Atlantic World
SUPPORT OUR WORK
šĀ Make a Donation toĀ Ben Franklinās World
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šĀ Leave a review on Apple Podcasts
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*Book links are affiliate links. Every purchase supports the podcast.
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Think the Boston Tea Party made America a coffee-drinking nation? Historian Michelle McDonald reveals the truth: colonists were already choosing coffee over tea because it was cheaper.
Michelle Craig McDonald, the Librarian/Director of the Library & Museum at the American Philosophical Society and author of Coffee Nation: How One Commodity Transformed the Early United States, explains how coffee shaped American identity long before the Revolution.
You'll hear about Revolutionary-era women storming a Boston warehouse to seize hoarded coffee and sell it at regulated prices. You'll discover why Parliament protected coffee while taxing tea. And you'll learn how enslaved Caribbean laborers made America's favorite beverage possible.
From colonial coffee houses to debates about caffeine addiction in the early republic, discover how one imported commodity became distinctly American.
Michelle's WebsiteĀ | Book |
Show Notes:Ā https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/429
Ā
EPISODE OUTLINE
RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES
š§ Episode 160: The Politics of Tea
š§ Episode 161: Smuggling and the American Revolution
š§ Episode 288: Smugglers & Patriots in the 18th-Century Atlantic World
š§ Episode 294: 1774, The Long Year of American Revolution
š§ Episode 319: Cuba: An Early American History
š§ Episode 401: Tea, Boycotts, & Revolution
SUPPORT OUR WORK
šĀ Make a Donation toĀ Ben Franklinās World
REQUEST A TOPIC
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*Book links are affiliate links. Every purchase supports the podcast.
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In the 1820s, American entrepreneurs, engineers, and politicians dared to dream big. They believed they could cut a canal, not through Panama, but through the wild, rain-soaked terrain of Nicaragua. Their goal: To link the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and transform global trade forever.
But what inspired these ambitious "canal dreamers?ā And why did they believe Nicaragua held the key to controlling the future of commerce?Ā
Jessica Lepler, Associate Professor of History at the University of New Hampshire and author of Canal Dreamers: The Epic Quest to Connect the Atlantic and Pacific in the Age of Revolutions, joins us to explore this nearly forgotten story of innovation, illusion, and international ambition in early American history.
Jessicaās WebsiteĀ | Book
Show Notes:Ā https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/428
Ā
EPISODE OUTLINE
00:01:00Ā Introduction
00:04:05 Desire to Build a Canal Across Central America
00:08:01 Political Landscape of Central America During the 1820s
00:09:55 Creating a Stable Central American Government
00:11:55 Geography of the Nicaraguan Canal Route
00:16:03 Economic Opportunities of an Interoceanic Canal
00:17:57 Individual vs. State Interest in a Nicaraguan Canal
00:21:58 Why Americans Sought A Private Canal Contract
00:26:44 Information Canal Dreamers Relied On to Build a Canal
00:33:12 Competitive Advantages of American Canal Dreamers
00:35:40 American Surveys of a Central American Canal Route
00:39:12 Influence of the Erie Canal
00:42:32 Why the Nicaraguan Canal Failed
00:44:50 What Canal Dreamers Reveal About the Early United States
0046:40 Overview of the Panama Canal
00:49:50 Time Warp
00:56:00 Conclusion
RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES
š§ Episode 028: Building the Erie Canal
š§ Episode 090: The Age of American Revolutions
š§ Episode 113: Building the Empire State
š§ Episode 165: The Age of Revolutions
š§ Episode 186: The New Map of Empire
š§ Episode 329: Freemasonry in Early America
SUPPORT OUR WORK
šĀ Make a Donation toĀ Ben Franklinās World
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šĀ Leave a review on Apple Podcasts
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*Book links are affiliate links. Every purchase supports the podcast.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices