Ben Franklin's World

Are you ready to time travel? 2015 marks the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta, a document created to limit the powers of King John of England and his successors in 1215. Today, Magna Carta and its fou...

14 Jul 201550min

What battle proved to be the turning point of the American War for Independence? If you answered Saratoga, you are in general agreement with most scholars of the American Revolution. General John Burg...

7 Jul 201545min

How and where did the colonies of North America and the Caribbean fit within the British Empire? The answer to this question depends on whether you explore the views of a British imperial officer, suc...

30 Jun 201551min

Who was the Marquis de Lafayette? How did he make the Patriots’ success in the American Revolution possible? And why did a group known as the Friends of Hermione-Lafayette in America build an exact re...

26 Jun 201529min

Washington Irving was an historian and writer. Some historians and biographers have called him the first great American author.  Today, Michael Lord, Director of Education at Historic Hudson Valley, j...

23 Jun 201537min

The Hero of New Orleans. Old Hickory. General. President of the United States. Andrew Jackson held and embodied all of these titles and nicknames.  During his lifetime, Jackson served as one of the mo...

16 Jun 201550min

When you think about George Washington, what image comes to mind? Washington the general? Washington the president? Perhaps, Washington the gentleman farmer of Mount Vernon? But did you know that Geor...

9 Jun 201558min

What was everyday life like for average men and women in early America? Listeners ask this question more than any other question and today we continue to try to answer it. Michelle Marchetti Coughlin,...

2 Jun 201551min