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Ben Franklin's World: A Podcast About Early American History

Liz Covart

Ben Franklin’s World is a podcast about early American history. It is a show for people who love history and for those who want to know more about the historical people and events that have...

Episodes

20 of 564 episodes

454 Life Between Two Armies: Westchester County and the American Revolution

On October 28, 1776, the two armies of the American Revolutionary War met in White Plains, a small town about 30 miles north of New York Cit...

01:11:51Oct 27, 2026

453 Everyday LGBTQ+ Experiences in the American Revolution

All year, we’ve explored the American Revolution from many vantage points, from its politics and battles to the experiences of women, enslav...

01:13:47Oct 20, 2026

BFW Revisited: Religion and the American Revolution

In late spring 1776, 150 armed revolutionary soldiers marched into the Anglican Trinity Church to warn the reverend to stop praying for King...

55:49Oct 13, 2026

452 How Everyday Loyalists Experienced the Revolution

We often ask why some Americans chose to remain loyal to the British and why they did not want to seek independence. But the question some A...

01:23:36Oct 6, 2026

BFW Revisited: The Reintegration of American Loyalists

What would it take for you to forgive a neighbor who sided against you in a civil war? And what would you say to win back a community that y...

48:31Sep 29, 2026

BFW Revisited: Loyalism in the British Atlantic World

In the late winter of 1775, colonists in a village outside of New York City hoisted the royal standard of King George III 75 feet into the a...

01:06:46Sep 22, 2026

BFW Bonus: We Want More History

American history is in the news a lot these days. We see and hear about fights over monuments, textbooks, and the stories we should include...

20:58Sep 18, 2026

451 The Court-Martial That Put The American Revolution on Trial

In December 1777, Continental Army Colonel David Henley climbed off his horse to discipline a drunk British prisoner of war who was screamin...

01:05:10Sep 15, 2026

BFW Revisited: The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution

What caused the American Revolution? Taxation without representation? Colonies that had outgrown their dependence on the British Empire? Or...

51:37Sep 8, 2026

450 Whose Revolution? The Delaware and the War for Independence

In December 1776, a Delaware Chief named White Eyes stood before the Second Continental Congress. He had not come to declare himself a revol...

01:08:58Sep 1, 2026

BFW Revisited: The Brafferton Indian School, Part 1

In 1723, the College of William & Mary opened the Brafferton building, a permanent home for an Indian School the college had been chartered...

01:23:05Aug 25, 2026

449 Stealing America: Indigenous Slavery and the American Revolution

More than half a million Indigenous people were enslaved within the present-day borders of the United States. Historian Linford Fisher spent...

01:32:31Aug 18, 2026

BFW Revisited: American Expansion & the Political Economy of Plunder

The Declaration of Independence proclaimed that all men are endowed with the unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happine...

01:18:14Aug 11, 2026

448 The Declaration of Independence as American Scripture

The engrossed copy of the Declaration of Independence is on display at the National Archives building in Washington, DC. Millions of visitor...

45:48Aug 4, 2026

BFW Revisited Threads of Power

For the Haudenosaunee, the Six Nations People, the American Revolution brought not liberty, but land loss, displacement, and the dismantling...

53:43Jul 28, 2026

447 The Other Committee Members: Robert R. Livingston, Roger Sherman, and the Declaration of Independence

Five men served on the Continental Congress’s Declaration Committee. We know three of them well: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin...

63:45Jul 21, 2026

447 The Other Committee Members: Robert R. Livingston, Roger Sherman, and the Declaration of Independence

Five men served on the Continental Congress’s Declaration Committee. We know three of them well: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin...

01:01:15Jul 21, 2026

BFW Revisited: A Declaration in Draft, 2026

Every American knows Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, but was he really its sole architect? In this revisited episode...

01:20:42Jul 14, 2026

BFW Revisited: A Declaration in Draft, 2026

Every American knows Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, but was he really its sole architect? In this revisited episode...

83:12Jul 14, 2026

446 The Declaration of Independence at 250

250 years after its signing, the Declaration of Independence remains an unfinished document. Its famous assertion "that all men are created...

43:55Jul 7, 2026