Ben Franklin's World

Ben Franklin's World

A Podcast About Early American History

Episode 178, Karoline Cook, Muslims & Moriscos in Colonial Spanish America

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In 1535, Spanish holdings in the Americas proved so great that the Spanish government created the Viceroyalty of New Spain to govern all territory north of the Isthmus of Panama. The jurisdiction of New Spain included areas of upper and lower California and large areas of the American southwest and southeast, including Florida. Karoline Cook, author of , serves as our guide as we explore some of the political, cultural, and religious … [Read more...]

Episode 177, Martin Brückner, The Social Life of Maps in America

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Did you know that maps have social lives? Maps facilitate a lot of different social and political relationships between people and nations. And they did a lot of this work for Americans throughout the early American past. Martin Brückner, a Professor of English at the University of Delaware, joins us to discuss early American maps and early American mapmaking with details from his book, . Listen Now About the Show Ben Franklin’s … [Read more...]

Episode 173: Marisa Fuentes, Colonial Port Cities and Slavery

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The histories of early North America and the Caribbean are intimately intertwined. The same European empires we encounter in our study of early America also appear in the Caribbean and the colonies in these respective empires often traded goods, people, and ideas between each other. Marisa Fuentes, an associate professor of history and women and gender studies at Rutgers University and author of , joins us to explore some of the connections … [Read more...]

Episode 171: Jessica Stern, Native Americans, British Colonists, and Trade in North America

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History books like to tell us that Native Americans did not fully understand British methods and ideas of trade. Is this really true? Did Native Americans only understand trade as a form of simplistic, gift exchange? Jessica Stern, a Professor of History at California State University, Fullerton and the author of , takes us on a journey into the southeast during the early 18th century to show us how trade between Native Americans and … [Read more...]

Episode 170: Wendy Warren, New England Bound: Slavery in Early New England

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New England was a place with no cash crops. It was also a place that became known for its strong anti-slavery sentiment during the 19th century. So how did New England also become a place that practiced slavery? Wendy Warren, an Assistant Professor of History at Princeton University and author of the Pulitzer Prize-finalist book , joins us to explore why New Englanders practiced slavery and just how far back the region’s slave past … [Read more...]

Episode 169: Thomas Kidd, The Religious Life of Benjamin Franklin

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We remember Benjamin Franklin as an accomplished printer, scientist, and statesman. Someone who came from humble beginnings and made his own way in the world. Rarely do we remember Franklin as a man of faith. Benjamin Franklin spent more time grappling with questions of religion, faith, virtue, and morality in his writing than about any other topic. Thomas S. Kidd, a Professor of History at Baylor University and author of , leads us on a … [Read more...]

Episode 168: Andrea Smalley, Wild By Nature: Colonists and Animals in North America

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When we study the history of colonial North America, we tend to focus on European colonists and their rivalries with each other and with Native Americans. But humans weren’t the only living beings occupying North America during the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. Rivalries existed between humans and animals too. And these human-animal rivalries impacted and shaped how European colonists used and settled North American lands. Andrea Smalley, … [Read more...]

Episode 142: Manisha Sinha, A History of Abolition

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Most histories of American abolitionism begin just before the Civil War, during the Antebellum period. But the movement to end chattel slavery in America began long before the United States was a nation. Manisha Sinha, a professor of history at the University of Connecticut and author of the award-winning book , takes us through the early American origins of the the abolition movement.   Listen Now   About the Show Ben … [Read more...]

Episode 139: Andrés Reséndez, The Other Slavery: Indian Enslavement in the Americas

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In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. He also played a central role in the European adoption of Indian or Native American slavery. When we think of slavery in early America, we often think of the practice of African and African-American chattel slavery. However, that system of slavery wasn’t the only system of slavery that existed in North America. Systems of Indian slavery existed too. In fact, Indians remained enslaved long after the 13th … [Read more...]

Episode 138: Patrick Spero, Frontier Politics in Early America

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Did you know that Connecticut and Virginia once invaded Pennsylvania? During the 1760s, Connecticut invaded and captured the northeastern corner of Pennsylvania just as Virginia invaded and captured parts of western Pennsylvania. And Pennsylvania stood powerless to stop them. In this episode, Patrick Spero, the Librarian of the American Philosophical Society and author of , takes us through these invasions and reveals why Pennsylvania … [Read more...]

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