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Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness: 250 Years of the Declaration of Independence

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness: 250 Years of the Declaration of Independence

By: Andrew Sola and Amerikazentrum-Hamburg
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 Learn more about the Declaration of Independence for the 250-year anniversary with this interdisciplinary podcast, featuring experts from the USA and around the world. The series is produced and hosted by Dr. Andrew Sola and the Amerikazentrum, Hamburg.Andrew Sola & Amerikazentrum Social Sciences World
Episodes
  • "Enemies in War, in Peace Friends": Declaring the First American Civil War

    "Enemies in War, in Peace Friends": Declaring the First American Civil War
    Dec 19 2025
    "Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren...They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, ENEMIES IN WAR, IN PEACE FRIENDS." In this episode we explore Loyalist vs. Patriot Civil War during the Revolutionary War. Topics include: -the outbreak of violence in Lexington and Concord in 1775 and the mustering of local militias, which forced Colonial men to decide whether they supported the revolution or the King -the Sons of Liberty and the Committees of Correspondence, which urged fellow colonists both to support independence and also to engage in acts of protest against the British Empire -an exploration of Loyalists and Loyalism -British misjudgements about the extent to which Colonists--even mostly loyal Colonists--were in fact loyal to the King and satisfied with British military occupation -the use and effectiveness of loyalty oaths, which were administered an the population by both sides in the conflict -intrafamily division like that between Benjamin Franklin and his son, William, who was Governor of New Jersey and a fervent Loyalist, and that between the Patriot Officer Henry Knox and his wife's family, who were also fervent Loyalists -the post-war reconciliation, reintegration, and intentional forgetting of Loyalists
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    49 mins
  • "We Pledge Our Fortunes": Money and the Declaration of Independence

    "We Pledge Our Fortunes": Money and the Declaration of Independence
    Dec 4 2025
    "And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, OUR FORTUNES, and our sacred Honor." Why did the signers of the Declaration of Independence have to pledge their fortunes (their money) to the revolutionary cause? How did unorthodox American ideas about money help win the Revolutionary War? And were the Founding Fathers, in fact, the first crypto bros? We explore these ideas in this episode about money, bills of credit, taxes and coinage in the 13 Colonies and the British Empire with economic historian Dr. Andrew Edwards. Topics include: -an explanation of money as a medium of exchange, a unit of account, and a store of value -a survey of the different forms of money that existed int he 1700s -the use of the novel payment system of BILLS OF CREDIT to pay for military expeditions due to the shortage of gold and silver in the Colonies -its use in the first invasion of French Canada in 1690 by Massachusetts -early British thinkers about money in the 1600s, including Cromwell's Treasurer of the Army, John Blackwell -the use of bills of credit and taxes to pay for Colonial infrastructure and other collective projects -the creation of the Continental Dollar -the fragility of the new American financial system, given that the British Army both captured entire regions, eliminating all the tax revenue there, and also printed counterfeit Continentals to undermine faith in the system -the collapse of the Continental Dollar and the US financial system while the war was still raging -the creation in 1781-82 of the Bank of North America in Philadelphia, which mimicked the Bank of England -the eventual triumph of the English banking model despite the triumph of the Colonies in the War of Independence
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    1 hr and 9 mins
  • Wales, Welsh Identity, Richard Price, and the Declaration of Independence

    Wales, Welsh Identity, Richard Price, and the Declaration of Independence
    Nov 27 2025
    In this episode, we explore the influence of Wales and Welsh immigrants on the Declaration of Independence with two expert guests from the University of Cardiff, Dr. Marion Loeffler and Dr. Huw Williams. Topics include: -the importance of preserving and expanding Welsh language and identity in the present -an exploration of Welsh identity in the 1700s -the tradition of Welsh religious dissenters which meshed with political non-conformity -economic and political similarities and differences between Wales and Ireland in the 1700s -confusions and conflations between English and Welsh identity -an introduction to the Welsh philosopher Richard Price and his influence on Patriot political theory -his pamphlet, Observations on Civil Liberty, which was published in Philadelphia the same week as the Declaration of Independence -implications of both the French Revolution and the American Revolution for Wales -differences between Price and the radical Welsh dissenter Morgan John Rhys, who founded the utopian Welsh colony of Cambria in Pennsylvania in 1794
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    1 hr and 17 mins
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