BFW Revisited: Smuggling and the American Revolution

BFW Revisited: Smuggling and the American Revolution

British officials had a problem: Their American colonists wouldn't stop smuggling. Even after Parliament slashed tea prices and passed laws to make legal imports cheaper, colonists kept buying Dutch and French goods on the black market. So what was really going on? If it wasn't just about saving money, what drove thousands of merchants and consumers to risk fines, seizure, and worse? In this revisited episode, we follow the illicit trade networks that connected colonial port cities to the "Golden Rock,” Sint Eustatius, a tiny Dutch island that became the Atlantic World's busiest smuggling hub. You'll discover why American merchants risked everything to trade there, how these underground networks shaped revolutionary resistance, and what Britain's crackdown on smuggling reveals about the deeper economic and political tensions that ignited the Revolution. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/161 RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES🎧 Episode 021: Smuggling in Colonial America & Living History🎧 Episode 112: The Tea Crisis of 1773🎧 Episode 121: The Dutch Moment in the 17th-Century Atlantic World🎧 Episode 159: Dangerous Economies🎧 Episode 160: The Politics of Tea🎧 Episode 288: Smugglers & Pirates in the 18th-Century Atlantic WorldSUPPORT OUR WORK🎁 Make a Donation to Ben Franklin’s WorldREQUEST A TOPIC📨 Topic Request Form📫 liz@benfranklinsworld.comWHEN YOU'RE READY🗞️ BFW Gazette Newsletter 👩‍💻 Join the BFW Listener Community🌍 Join the History Explorers ClubLISTEN 🎧🍎 Apple Podcasts 💚 Spotify 🎶 Amazon Music🛜 PandoraCONNECT🦋 Liz on Bluesky👩‍💻 Liz on LinkedIn🛜 Liz’s WebsiteSAY THANKS💜 Leave a review on Apple Podcasts💚 Leave a rating on Spotify*Book links are affiliate links. Every purchase supports the podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jaksot(491)

BFW Revisited: The Common Cause

BFW Revisited: The Common Cause

Before Common Sense could ignite a revolution, colonists had to be convinced they shared a cause worth fighting for. So how did Revolutionary leaders turn thirteen very different colonies into “Americ...

20 Tammi 58min

431 Common Sense at 250: The Pamphlet That Sparked a Revolution

431 Common Sense at 250: The Pamphlet That Sparked a Revolution

Thomas Paine’s Common Sense turned a colonial rebellion into a full-blown revolution. But how did one pamphlet move so many minds in 1776—and why does it still matter 250 years later? To commemorate ...

13 Tammi 1h 14min

BFW Revisited: The Power of the Press in the American Revolution

BFW Revisited: The Power of the Press in the American Revolution

Common Sense didn’t just make an argument for independence—it moved through a world of newspapers, pamphlets, and personal networks that carried revolutionary ideas from one doorstep to the next. So h...

6 Tammi 1h 24min

430 The Founding Father of American Medicine: Benjamin Rush

430 The Founding Father of American Medicine: Benjamin Rush

Benjamin Rush was one of early America’s most fascinating figures. He was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, a leading Philadelphia physician, and a thinker who believed that a healthy body ...

30 Joulu 20251h

429 Coffee in Early America: Why Americans Really Drink Coffee

429 Coffee in Early America: Why Americans Really Drink Coffee

Think the Boston Tea Party made America a coffee-drinking nation? Historian Michelle McDonald reveals the truth: colonists were already choosing coffee over tea because it was cheaper. Michelle Craig...

16 Joulu 20251h 3min

428 America's Forgotten Quest to Link Two Oceans

428 America's Forgotten Quest to Link Two Oceans

In the 1820s, American entrepreneurs, engineers, and politicians dared to dream big. They believed they could cut a canal, not through Panama, but through the wild, rain-soaked terrain of Nicaragua. T...

9 Joulu 20251h 1min

427 How States Are Planning the 250th: Commemorating the American Revolution in 2026

427 How States Are Planning the 250th: Commemorating the American Revolution in 2026

As we look ahead to the 250th anniversary—the semiquincentennial—of the Declaration of Independence in 2026, communities and commissions across the United States are asking big questions: How should w...

2 Joulu 202551min

Suosittua kategoriassa Yhteiskunta

olipa-kerran-otsikko
siita-on-vaikea-puhua
kaksi-aitia
gogin-ja-janin-maailmanhistoria
i-dont-like-mondays
uutiscast
poks
antin-palautepalvelu
kolme-kaannekohtaa
joku-tietaa-jotain-2
sita
mamma-mia
aikalisa
yopuolen-tarinoita-2
rss-murhan-anatomia
meidan-pitais-puhua
rss-nikotellen
lahko
rss-palmujen-varjoissa
rss-haudattu