Ben Franklin's World
This is a multiple award-winning podcast about early American history. It’s a show for people who love history and who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world. Each episode features conversations with professional historians who help shed light on important people and events in early American history. It is produced by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
Episodes
May 8, 2025 • 37 secs
This is a 30-second trailer for Ben Franklin's World.
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May 6, 2025 • 66 mins
When did people begin seeking anonymous advice for their most profound personal dilemmas? What can the answers to their early questions tell us about the emotional lives of people in the past?
We’re traveling back in time to 1690s England to explore the world’s first personal advice column, The Athenian Mercury. This two-sided broadsheet publication invited readers to send in questions about anything–from science and religion to ...
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April 29, 2025 • 89 mins
Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride is one of the most famous events in American history. On the night of April 18, 1775, Revere set out to warn the Massachusetts countryside that British regulars were marching to seize rebel supplies in Concord. Revere’s name has become legendary, immortalized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s famous poem, The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.
But how much do we really know about Paul Revere beyond that single...
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April 22, 2025 • 58 mins
April 19, 2025 marked the 250th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord—the moment the American Revolution turned from protest to war.
What do we really know about that fateful day? How did the people of Concord prepare for what they faced in April 1775?
David Wood, the longtime curator of the Concord Museum and the author of Eyewitness to Revolution: The American Revolution in the Concord Museum, joins us to explore ...
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April 15, 2025 • 56 mins
April 2025 marks the 250th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord.
One of the lesser-known catalysts for these battles was the hunt for artillery. The British military, under General Thomas Gage, sought to seize weapons stockpiled by colonial militias, while Massachusetts Patriots scrambled to secure and hide weapons. This tug-of-war over firepower played a crucial role in pushing Massachusetts from political resistan...
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April 8, 2025 • 65 mins
The American Revolution was more than just a series of events that unfolded between 1763 and 1783, the American Revolution is our national origin story–one we’ve passed down, shaped, and reshaped for the last 250 years.
But what do we really mean when we talk about “the Revolution?” Whose Revolution are we remembering? And how has the meaning of 1776 shifted from generation to generation?
Michael Hattem, a scholar of the America...
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April 1, 2025 • 63 mins
This month, we commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the “shot heard round the world” that ignited the Revolutionary War.
But before those battles, and before the Revolution became a war for independence, it was a movement—a fight to secure more local control over government. And no one worked harder to transform that movement into a revolution than Samuel Adams.
To help us investigate, we’re ...
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March 25, 2025 • 68 mins
Patrick Henry is one of the most famous voices of the American Revolution. He was known in his own time for his powerful speeches and his unwavering commitment to liberty.
But did you know that later in life, Patrick Henry opposed the United States Constitution? Did you know that during the political crisis of 1798/99, George Washington wrote to Patrick Henry and asked him to save the nation?
In honor of the 250th anniversary of ...
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March 18, 2025 • 53 mins
What precisely is the work that mothers do to raise children? Has the nature of mothers, motherhood, and the work mothers do changed over time?
Nora Doyle, an Associate Professor of History at Western Carolina University, has combed through the historical record to find answers to these questions. Specifically, she’s sought to better understand the lived and imagined experiences of mothers and motherhood between the 1750s and 1850...
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March 11, 2025 • 57 mins
Historians use a lot of different sources when they research the past. Many rely on primary source documents, documents that were written by official government bodies or those written by the people who witnessed the events or changes historians are studying.
But how do you uncover the voices and stories of people who didn’t know how to write or whose families didn’t preserve much of their writing?
Maeve Kane, an Associate Profe...
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March 4, 2025 • 48 mins
In 1738, a cooper named Benedict Arnold petitioned the Rhode Island General Assembly for a divorce from his wife Mary Ward Arnold. Benedict claimed that Mary had taken a lover and together they had attempted to murder him with poison.
How did this story of love, divorce, and attempted murder unfold? What does it reveal about the larger world of colonial America and the experiences of colonial American men and women?
Elaine Forman ...
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February 25, 2025 • 62 mins
When we think of slavery in Early America, we often think about the plantations and economies of the South. But did you know that slavery was also deeply entrenched in New York City?
Did you know that Africans and African Americans helped New York City confront slavery, freedom, and racism in the Early American Republic and Antebellum periods?
Leslie M. Harris, a professor at Northwestern University and author of In the Shadow of...
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February 18, 2025 • 65 mins
What does freedom mean when the deck is stacked against you?
In commemoration of Black History Month, we’re revisiting a story that is too often overlooked, but critical to our understanding of Early America.
Join Warren Milteer, Jr., an Associate Professor of History at George Washington University, as we uncover the lives of free people of color in Early America.
Warren’s Faculty Page | Book
Show Notes: https://www.benfrankli...
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February 11, 2025 • 63 mins
Did you know that many of the food traditions that define cuisine in the United States today have roots in African culinary traditions and history?
Diane Spviey, a culinary historian and author of three culinary history books, joins us to uncover the rich and complex legacy of African and African American foodways and how those foodways helped establish the United States.
Diane’s Website | Book |
Show Notes: https://www.benfrank...
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February 3, 2025 • 53 mins
What would you risk for freedom?
Would you risk your safety? You family? Your life?
During the American Revolution, enslaved women faced these impossible choices when the British Army promised freedom to those who dared to escape. In honor of Black History Month, we’re revisiting an extraordinary chapter of resilience and bravery: the stories of enslaved women who seized the chance to chart their own destinies amid the chaos of w...
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January 28, 2025 • 69 mins
Did you know that John Adams, not George Washington, solidified the precedents of the executive branch and the presidency?
Lindsay Chervinsky, an award-winning presidential historian and the Executive Director of the George Washington Presidential Library, has written a book Making the Presidency: John Adams and the Precedents that Forged the Republic. She joins us to investigate the presidency of the United States’ second preside...
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January 21, 2025 • 71 mins
January 20th, marked Inauguration Day in the United States, the day a new president and his administration takes office. So it seems a fitting time for us to revisit a conversation we had in 2020 about the creation of the Executive Branch, and more specifically, the creation of the president’s cabinet.
Lindsay Chervinsky is an award-winning presidential historian and the Executive Director of the George Washington Presidential Lib...
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January 14, 2025 • 66 mins
Do you know what time it is?
In early America, this question wasn’t as simple to answer as it is today. Urban dwellers in cities like Boston, Philadelphia, and Charleston often wondered about the time—but few owned their own watches or clocks. So, how did they keep track of the hours?
In this episode, we dive into the fascinating world of early American timekeeping. Bob Frishman, a horologist—a specialist in clocks and watches—an...
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January 7, 2025 • 89 mins
To close out our mini-series on Tea in early America, we’re going to revisit Episode 160: The Politics of Tea. This episode was part of our Doing History: To the Revolution series with the Omohundro Institute in 2017.
In this episode, we’ll revisit how early Americans went from attending tea parties to holding the Boston Tea Party. We’ll also explore more in depth information about how tea became a central part of many early Ameri...
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December 31, 2024 • 61 mins
During the early days of the American Revolution, British Americans attempted to sway their fellow Britons with consumer politics.
In 1768 and 1769, they organized a non-consumption movement of British goods to protest the Townshend Duties. In 1774, they arranged a non-importation and non-exportation movement to protest the Tea Act and Coercive Acts.
Why did the colonists protest the Tea Act and Coercive Acts? Why did they chose ...
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