Episodes

  • Creating "THE PEOPLE": Whig Legal Concepts plus Lessons from Ireland and Spanish America

    Creating "THE PEOPLE": Whig Legal Concepts plus Lessons from Ireland and Spanish America
    Oct 30 2025
    "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 from a semi-formal, ad-hoc lay profession to a sophisticated, complex formal profession -the evolution of legal arguments from those that justified dissent and resistance (1764-1774) to those that justified revolution and rebellion (1775-1776) -legal lessons that American colonists learned from the harshness of British rule over Ireland -legal lessons that American colonists learned from the corporatist model in Spanish America -the Whig legal strategy to be broad in its definition of THE PEOPLE in order to include different social classes, different geographical regions, and different understandings of the law (from common, everyday concepts of rights and justice to highly technical concepts derived from constitutional law and legal scholarship)
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    1 hr and 6 mins
  • African-Americans in Spanish Florida and the Declaration of Independence

    African-Americans in Spanish Florida and the Declaration of Independence
    Oct 16 2025
    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 not north -The different models of slavery in Spanish colonies and the different ways enslaved people could free themselves -The complex political, religious, economic, and military structures in Spanish colonies -Indigenous migration from Anglo colonies to Spanish Florida -The War of Jenkins' Ear (1739-1748) and the Battle of Bloody Mose (1740) near St. Augustine, during which free Africans fought with Spain to protect their freedom -Spanish Florida during the French and Indian War (the Seven Years' War) -The cession of Florida to Britain at the end of the War in 1763 and the subsequent migration of Carolina farmers with roughly 9,000 enslaved African-Americans to Florida and then the later transfer of additional enslaved Africans from Africa -The exile of free Blacks from Florida to Cuba in 1763-64 -Spain's support of American Patriots in the War of Independence -The deployment of exiled free Blacks, who had left Florida for Spanish-Cuba in 1763, to fight the British in Pensacola in 1777 -The return of Florida to Spain in 1784 -The drive by the US both to eliminate free black culture in Florida and also to institute a slave economy there -The transfer of Florida to the new United States in 1821 and the second exile of free Blacks from Florida to other Spanish colonies -An analysis of the phrase "all men are created equal" through the lens of the free inhabitants of Spanish Florida
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    50 mins
  • Canada's Rejection of Independence, Part 2: The Invasion (or Attempted Liberation) of Canada

    Canada's Rejection of Independence, Part 2: The Invasion (or Attempted Liberation) of Canada
    Oct 2 2025
    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 oppression -The redrawing of Canadian political opinion from British vs French sympathies to Loyalist vs. Patriot sympathies as a result of the invasion -An overview of the Canadians who took up arms to fight with the 13 Colonies -The official end of the invasion of Canada on 1 July 1776, just days before the Declaration of Independence -John Adams's position that Canada would have joined the United Colonies had the Declaration been released at the start of the invasion and had ineffective politicians in Congress supported the invasion in a robust way -The Canadian response to the Declaration of Independence -The exile of the two Canadian regiments who supported the American army -An overview of British (Canadian) Invasions of the United States -Canadian reactions to the American victory in the Revolutionary War The painting depicts the death of the American General Richard Montgomery, who was killed during the assault on Quebec City in December 1775.
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    42 mins
  • Canada's Rejection of Independence, Part 1: The First Two Letters to the Oppressed Inhabitants of Canada

    Canada's Rejection of Independence, Part 1: The First Two Letters to the Oppressed Inhabitants of Canada
    Sep 25 2025
    "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 British law into French-Canadian society -The Quebec Act of 1774, which allowed Quebecois (French-Canadian) religious and legal traditions to be maintained in British Canada -The substance and consequences of the First Letter to the Inhabitants of Quebec, authorized by the First Continental Congress in October 1774 -The turbulent spring of 1775, including the Battle of Lexington and Concord on 19 April 1775, which was shortly followed by the official imposition of the Quebec Act on 1 May 1775 -The Second Letter to the OPPRESSED Inhabitants of Canada, authorized by the Second Continental Congress on 29 May 1775
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    46 mins
  • Haiti and the Origins of American Diplomacy in the Declaration of Independence

    Haiti and the Origins of American Diplomacy in the Declaration of Independence
    Sep 11 2025
    "...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 Paris (1783). Topics include: -the origins of American diplomacy -the conditions in the First Treaty of Paris that enflamed colonial tensions in North America, the Caribbean, and even Africa -the evolving racial politics amongst whites, free people of color, and slaves in Saint-Domingue, which had 128 categories of racial distinction -the similarities and differences between racial politics and colonial politics in British North America and French Saint-Domingue -the fascinating story of Crispus Attucks, a Massachusetts slave who freed himself and then became the first martyr in the Boston Massacre -strategies of black liberation in both French and British colonies -black authors who wrote about black emancipation, including Phillis Wheatley and Lemuel Haynes -John Adams' founding foreign policy theory of the new United States, namely the rejection of Europe's concept of the balance of power and military alliances -the first treaty between France and the US in 1778 -the story of the Chasseurs-Volontaires de Saint-Domingue, who fought with American rebels at the Siege of Savannah and who, after the American Revolution, returned to Saint-Domingue to lead the Haitian Revolution against the French Empire -the importance of Article 1 of the second Treaty of Paris (1783), which states: "His Brittanic Majesty acknowledges the said United States...to be free sovereign and Independent States; that he treats with them as such, and for himself his Heirs & Successors, relinquishes all claims to the Government, Propriety, and Territorial Rights of the same and every Part thereof." You can find a link to Prof. Johnson's new book, Entangled Alliances (Cornell UP) here: [Entangled Alliances: Racialized Freedom and Atlantic Diplomacy during the American Revolution](https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501783715/entangled-alliances/#bookTabs=1) The cover image features a reproduction of Paul Revere's famous lithograph of Crispus Attucks being killed during the Boston Massacre.
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    1 hr and 17 mins
  • Thomas Paine, Common Sense, and the Declaration of Independence

    Thomas Paine, Common Sense, and the Declaration of Independence
    Aug 28 2025
    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 of unchecked power
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    1 hr and 12 mins
  • Hessian Mercenaries and German Reactions to the Declaration of Independence

    Hessian Mercenaries and German Reactions to the Declaration of Independence
    Aug 7 2025
    "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 significance of the Declaration of Independence on German political history. Lastly, we examine the Muhlenberg Legend, which claims that the Congress nearly chose German to be the national language of the USA. Dr. Lerg's German-language textbook is as follows: Die Amerikanische Revolution. 2nd Ed. (Narr Francke Attempto Verlag, 2022). The cover image for this episode is The Capture of the Hessians at Trenton, December 26, 1776, which depicts General Washington ordering medical treatment for the Hessian Colonel Johann Rall.
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    48 mins
  • Chicagoland in 1776

    Chicagoland in 1776
    Jul 23 2025
    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 of imperial control over the Indians -The Consequences of the Treaty of Paris (1763) for native peoples in the Interior -Pontiac's War (Native Confederation vs. Britain) -The Anishinaabe people, who inhabited the Great Lakes region -The Three Fires Confederacy (Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi Tribes) -An explanation of the concept of the Village World, which means every tribal village makes its own independent foreign policy decisions -The consequences of the Proclamation of 1763 for both colonists and natives -The alliance between some Chicagoland tribes and American officer George Rogers Clark, who fought together against the British during the Revolutionary War -The alliance between some tribes and the Spanish Empire, who controlled St. Louis, against the British during the Revolutionary War -The period after the Revolutionary War until the founding of Chicago in 1837 The image is of Chief Pontiac picking up the war hatchet.
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    36 mins