Ben Franklin's World

🧑‍⚖️ Court-martials. Scandal. Queerness in the British Army.

In this new Ben Franklin's World episode, we explore the life of Robert Newburgh—a chaplain accused of “buggery” on the eve of the American Revolution

🎧 Listen now: www.benfranklinsworld.com/414

#HistoryPodcast #LGBTQHistory #AmRev

Before Common Sense, Paine attended every local government meeting in Lewes. He debated at the White Hart Tavern. He wrote a pamphlet about excise officers' wages.

Thomas Paine's revolution began when he started showing up.

🎧 benfranklinsworld.com/435

$Revolution250 #America250 #History

Thomas Paine started his political life by attending every town meeting in Lewes, England.

What was the first political experience that shaped how you think about civic life?

🎧 benfranklinsworld.com/435

#Revolution250 #America250 #Democracy #History #Civics

What if the American Revolution wasn’t inevitable?

What if loyalty—not rebellion—was the default in early America?

In our latest episode, we explore loyalism in Georgia and the life of Sir James Wright, Britain’s last royal governor in the colony.

🎧 Listen: benfranklinsworld.com/421

Genealogy in early America wasn’t just about ancestry—it shaped freedom, power & identity.

Historian Karin Wulf joins us to explore how lineage helped early Americans define themselves.

🎧 Listen: benfranklinsworld.com/416

#History #Genealogy #USHistory #VastEarlyAmerica

Celebrating our 400th episode! Join us as we explore the vast world of Ben Franklin and the events that shaped his era. Tune in: ​https://benfranklinsworld.com/400

#BenFranklin #PodcastMilestone #EarlyAmerica #BenFranklinsWorld

In Lewes, England, Paine married Elizabeth Olive and ran her family's tobacco shop. When the marriage ended, they arranged a legal separation in the 1770s that protected Elizabeth's finances.

Our first LIVE recorded episode investigates these stories.

🎧 benfranklinsworld.com/435

#America250

Episode 418: The Slave Driver's Story Randy Browne, an award-winning historian and Professor of History at Xavier University, joins us to investigate slavery's driving system.

📣 Enslaved drivers weren’t just supervisors—they were survivors, negotiators, community leaders, and agents of resistance.

How do we remember people who lived at the moral edge of a brutal system?

Ep. 418: benfranklinsworld.com/418

#History #AtlanticSlavery #Podcasts

🎧 NEW: What happens after the revolution?

For the 250th anniversary of Common Sense, we recorded our first-ever live episode inside Thomas Paine's former home in Lewes, England.

benfranklinsworld.com/435

#America250 #Revolution250

Political scientist Jeanne Zaino calls it democracy's "day two problem": revolutions are exciting. Building and sustaining self-governance is the hard part.

250 years after Common Sense, we're still working on day two

🎧 benfranklinsworld.com/435

#Revolution250 #America250 #History #Democracy

Thomas Paine started his political life by attending every town meeting in Lewes, England.

What was the first political experience that shaped how you think about civic life?

🎧 benfranklinsworld.com/435

#Revolution250 #America250 #Democracy #History #Civics

Episode 422: Seth Rockman, Plantation Goods: How Northern Factories Fueled the Plantation Economy Discover how hoes, shoes, and cloth linked New England factories to Southern slavery in early America with historian Seth Rockman.

What can a pair of shoes tell us about slavery in early America?

Historian Seth Rockman traces the journey of ordinary goods—from New England workshops to Southern plantations—and uncovers a hidden economy of exploitation.

🔗 benfranklinsworld.com/422

#History #Slavery #USHistory

Paine's phrase "the law is king" was radical in 1776.

250 years later, it's showing up on protest signs again. Our live panel explores why Common Sense keeps resurfacing in moments of democratic crisis.

🎧 benfranklinsworld.com/435

#America250 #Revolution250 #AmericanRevolution #History

Before Common Sense, Paine attended every local government meeting in Lewes. He debated at the White Hart Tavern. He wrote a pamphlet about excise officers' wages.

Thomas Paine's revolution began when he started showing up.

🎧 benfranklinsworld.com/435

$Revolution250 #America250 #History

Episode 434: Shirley Green, The Frank Brothers: Freeborn Black Soldiers in the American Revolution Brothers & Freeborn Black men, William & Ben Frank enlisted in the Continental Army. They gambled military service would earn them a better future.

The 2nd Rhode Island Regiment was integrated, until it wasn't.

After 1778, freeborn Black soldiers were segregated, shifted out of combat roles, and watched the promise of equal service dissolve.

Historian Shirley Green on the Frank Brothers & what the Revolution really offered Black men

Episode 432: John Ferling, How France and Spain Helped Win the American Revolution When we think of the American Revolution, it’s easy to focus on famous battles like Saratoga or Yorktown, iconic leaders like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, and foundational documents like the Declaration of Independence. But International a

What do you think was the real turning point of the American Revolution?

John Ferling makes the case that Saratoga mattered—but France’s fear of reconciliation pushed them into war.
Hear his take: benfranklinsworld.com/432

#Revolution250 #AmericanRevolution #America250

Episode 434: Shirley Green, The Frank Brothers: Freeborn Black Soldiers in the American Revolution Brothers & Freeborn Black men, William & Ben Frank enlisted in the Continental Army. They gambled military service would earn them a better future.

What would you fight for if you were free but still not equal?

In 1777, brothers William & Benjamin Frank enlisted in the Continental Army as freeborn Black men. Same family. Same war. Two very different choices.

New episode of Ben Franklin's World ⬇️

France didn’t rush to help the U.S. in 1776. They debated, delayed, and nearly backed out entirely. 😮

Find out what changed their minds (and how close we came to losing it all) in Episode 432 with John Ferling.

🎙️ benfranklinsworld.com/432

#Revolution250 #AmericanRevolution #Diplomacy

Episode 433: Ronald Angelo Johnson, Entangled Revolutions: Haiti, France, and the American War for Independence Did you know that the American and Haitian Revolutions were entangled? Explore Haiti's connections with the American War for Independence.

The Treaty of Paris (1763) ended the Seven Years' War. It also set off a chain reaction: new taxes in British America, hardened racial lines in Saint-Domingue, and revolutionary tensions on both sides of the Caribbean.

🎧 benfranklinsworld.com/433

#Revolution250 #America250 #History

Episode 434: Shirley Green, The Frank Brothers: Freeborn Black Soldiers in the American Revolution Brothers & Freeborn Black men, William & Ben Frank enlisted in the Continental Army. They gambled military service would earn them a better future.

As we mark 250 years since the Revolution, the Frank Brothers remind us: for free Black men, choosing a side wasn't patriotism. It was a calculated gamble, shaped by promises made and promises broken.

New episode!

#History #Revolution250 #America250 #RhodeIsland

Episode 434: Shirley Green, The Frank Brothers: Freeborn Black Soldiers in the American Revolution Brothers & Freeborn Black men, William & Ben Frank enlisted in the Continental Army. They gambled military service would earn them a better future.

Historian Shirley Green started with one question: why did her grandfather's family end up in Nova Scotia?

The answer led her to Ben Frank, a Black Loyalist, Continental Army deserter, and her ancestor.
The result is Revolutionary Blacks, and this conversation.

#AmericanRevolution #BlackHistory

We usually say the American Revolution inspired the Haitian Revolution. But historian Ron Johnson flips that story: these revolutions happened alongside one another, shaped one another, and can't be understood apart.

🎧 benfranklinsworld.com/433

#American Revolution #Revolution250 #America250

Episode 433: Ronald Angelo Johnson, Entangled Revolutions: Haiti, France, and the American War for Independence Did you know that the American and Haitian Revolutions were entangled? Explore Haiti's connections with the American War for Independence.

Six years before Lexington and Concord, colonists in Saint-Domingue staged a multiracial revolt against the French army. American colonists read about it in their newspapers.

The Age of Revolution didn't start where you think it did.

🎧 benfranklinsworld.com/433

#America250 #Revolution250

In 1779, 550 Black soldiers from Saint-Domingue stepped off a French warship in blue coats, white buttons, and plumed tricorn hats—armed & free—to fight for American independence. Their story has been hidden in French archives. Until now.

🎧 benfranklinsworld.com/433

#Revolution250 #America250

Episode 434: Shirley Green, The Frank Brothers: Freeborn Black Soldiers in the American Revolution Brothers & Freeborn Black men, William & Ben Frank enlisted in the Continental Army. They gambled military service would earn them a better future.

If you were a freeborn Black person in Revolutionary Rhode Island, which side would you have chosen: Continental Army or the British?

William Frank chose one. His brother Ben chose the other.

Their story.

#America250 #Revolution250 #AmericanRevolution #MilitaryHistory #FamilyHistory

Episode 433: Ronald Angelo Johnson, Entangled Revolutions: Haiti, France, and the American War for Independence Did you know that the American and Haitian Revolutions were entangled? Explore Haiti's connections with the American War for Independence.

Future leaders of the Haitian Revolution—André Rigaud, Jean-Baptiste Belley, Jean-Jacques Chavannes—fought at the Siege of Savannah in 1779.

Ten years later, they led a revolution of their own. Coincidence? Ron Johnson doesn't think so.

🎧 benfranklinsworld.com/433

#Revolution250 #America250

Episode 434: Shirley Green, The Frank Brothers: Freeborn Black Soldiers in the American Revolution Brothers & Freeborn Black men, William & Ben Frank enlisted in the Continental Army. They gambled military service would earn them a better future.

The 2nd Rhode Island Regiment was integrated, until it wasn't.

After 1778, freeborn Black soldiers were segregated, shifted out of combat roles, and watched the promise of equal service dissolve.

Historian Shirley Green on the Frank Brothers & what the Revolution really offered Black men

Episode 434: Shirley Green, The Frank Brothers: Freeborn Black Soldiers in the American Revolution Brothers & Freeborn Black men, William & Ben Frank enlisted in the Continental Army. They gambled military service would earn them a better future.

What would you fight for if you were free but still not equal?

In 1777, brothers William & Benjamin Frank enlisted in the Continental Army as freeborn Black men. Same family. Same war. Two very different choices.

New episode of Ben Franklin's World ⬇️

Episode 434: Shirley Green, The Frank Brothers: Freeborn Black Soldiers in the American Revolution Brothers & Freeborn Black men, William & Ben Frank enlisted in the Continental Army. They gambled military service would earn them a better future.

As we mark 250 years since the Revolution, the Frank Brothers remind us: for free Black men, choosing a side wasn't patriotism. It was a calculated gamble, shaped by promises made and promises broken.

New episode!

#History #Revolution250 #America250 #RhodeIsland

Episode 433: Ronald Angelo Johnson, Entangled Revolutions: Haiti, France, and the American War for Independence Did you know that the American and Haitian Revolutions were entangled? Explore Haiti's connections with the American War for Independence.

Benjamin Franklin was a rockstar in Saint-Domingue. The French Caribbean newspaper followed his every move—from the Stamp Act protests to his diplomacy in Paris. The American Revolution was Atlantic news.

🎧 benfranklinsworld.com/433

#History #Revolution250 #America250 #AmericanRevolution