059 Gateway to Freedom: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad
Between the 1830s and 1860s, a clandestine communications and transportation network called the “Underground Railroad” helped thousands of slaves escape to freedom. Today, we will investigate and exp...
8 Des 201543min
058 Fighting over the Founders: How We Remember the American Revolution
Why do we refer to the men who founded the United States as the “founding fathers?” Why do we choose to remember the American Revolution as a glorious event that had almost universal, colonial suppor...
1 Des 201534min
057 War, Money, and the American State, 1783-1867
Do you know what we have in common with our early American forebears? Taxes. As Benjamin Franklin stated in 1789, “nothing is certain but death and taxes.” Given the certainty of taxes it seems impo...
24 Nov 201550min
056 The Anglo-Cherokee War, 1759-1761
Between 1754 and 1763, North Americans participated in the French and Indian War; a world war Europeans call the Seven Years’ War. As this world war raged, many South Carolinians, Virginians, Britons...
17 Nov 201545min
055 John Jay: Forgotten Founder
Who was John Jay? Jay played important and prominent roles during the founding of the United States and yet, his name isn’t one that many would list if asked to name founding fathers. Today, we expl...
10 Nov 201544min
054 American Exceptionalism: The History of an Idea
The United States is a diverse nation of immigrants and their ancestors. With such diversity, and no one origination point for its people, how do we describe what the United States is and what its peo...
3 Nov 201554min
053 The Salem Witch Trials of 1692
Do you believe in the supernatural? In ghosts, zombies, or perhaps witches? Today we celebrate All Hallows Eve with an exploration of the specters and witches that haunted 17th-century Massachusetts....
27 Okt 201546min
052 Diplomacy in Black and White: Early United States-Haitian Relations
Much like the United States, the colonists of Saint Domingue (present-day Haiti) sought their independence from France by fighting a war and waging a revolution. However, unlike the Americans, the San...
20 Okt 201550min
