Ben Franklin's World

Ben Franklin's World

A Podcast About Early American History

Episode 190: Jennifer Goloboy, Origins of the American Middle Class

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As many as 70 percent of Americans consider themselves to be members of the middle class. But if you consider income as a qualifier for membership, only about 50 percent of Americans qualify for membership. So what does it mean to be middle class and why do so many Americans want to be members of it? Jennifer Goloboy, an independent scholar based in Minneapolis, Minnesota and the author of , helps us explore the origins of the American … [Read more...]

Episode 189: Sam White, The Little Ice Age

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We’re living in a period of climate change. Our Earth has been getting warmer since the mid-19th century. So how will humans adapt to and endure this period of global warming? Will they adapt to it and endure? It turns out the people of early America also lived through a period of climate change and their experiences may hold some answers for us. Sam White, an Associate Professor at The Ohio State University and author of , joins us to … [Read more...]

Episode 188: Terri Halperin, The Alien & Sedition Acts of 1798

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The Alien and Sedition Acts consisted of four laws enacted by the United States government in 1798. The United States passed these laws during a time of great uncertainty, a time when many Americans feared for the very survival for their nation. But why did Americans fear for the United States’ existence and why did they think four laws that limited citizenship and freedom of speech would protect and secure their young republic? Terri … [Read more...]

Episode 187: Kenneth Cohen, Sport in Early America

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Our present-day American culture is obsessed with sports. To cite just two pieces of evidence of this, on average, more than 67,000 fans attend each National Football League game and more than 30,000 fans attend each Major League Baseball game. This is to say nothing of the millions of fans who watch these sports on television or listen to them on the radio. When did America become a place filled with sports nuts? When did the business of … [Read more...]

Episode 186: Max Edelson, The New Map of the British Empire

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As a result of Great Britain’s victory in the Seven Years’ War, British North America expanded so that it stretched from the Atlantic seaboard west to the Mississippi River and from Hudson Bay and the Gulf of St. Lawrence south to Florida. Plus, it also included islands in the Caribbean. How exactly would Great Britain, centered on a small island over 3,000 miles away, govern this new, expanded North American empire? Max Edelson, an … [Read more...]

Episode 185: Joyce Goodfriend, Early New York City and Its Culture

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Who should determine our culture and the morals our society follows? Culture, or the intellectual achievements, attitudes, and behaviors of our particular places and social groups, is all around us. It impacts how we think and act as members of families, local communities, states, and nations. Culture is important. So how do we establish culture? Who sets the unwritten social rules and ideas that we adopt and live by? Joyce Goodfriend, a … [Read more...]

Episode 184: David J. Silverman, Thundersticks: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of Native America

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Early North America was a place rife with violent conflict. Between the 17th and 19th centuries we can see a lot of conflict between different Native American peoples, Native American peoples and colonists, colonists from one empire versus colonists from another empire, settlers from one state quarreling with settlers from another state, and in the 19th century, we also see strife between Americans, Canadians, and Mexicans. Today, we’re going … [Read more...]

Episode 183: Douglas Bradburn, George Washington’s Mount Vernon

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George Washington played three very important public roles during his lifetime. He served as the Commander in Chief of the Continental Army, the President of the Constitutional Convention, and as the first President of the United States. In addition to these important public roles, Washington also played a role that was very important to him. He served as a farmer and agricultural innovator. Douglas Bradburn, the CEO and President of George … [Read more...]

Episode 182: Douglas Winiarski, Darkness Falls on the Land of Light, the Great Awakening in New England

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What was it like to live through an extraordinary time? The 1740s and 1750s proved to be an extraordinary time for many ordinary New Englanders. It was a period when itinerant preachers swept through the region and asked its people to question the fundamental assumptions of their religion: What did it mean to be a Puritan? What did it mean to be a Protestant Christian? Douglas Winiarski, a Professor of American Studies and Religious Studies … [Read more...]

Episode 181: Virginia DeJohn Anderson, The Martyr and the Traitor: Nathan Hale & Moses Dunbar

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Why did early Americans choose to become patriots or loyalists during the American Revolution? How did they make the decision to either stand with or against their neighbors? Did political beliefs really drive them to support one side of the imperial conflict over the other? In this episode, we explore answers to these questions about how and why Americans chose to support the sides they did during the American Revolution, by looking at … [Read more...]

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