Ben Franklin's World
726 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 1 month ago - ★★★★★ - 988 ratingsThis is a multiple award-winning podcast about early American history. It’s a show for people who love history and who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world.
Each episode features conversations with professional historians who help shed light on important people and events in early American history. It is produced by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
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Episodes
248 BFW Road Trip: National Museum of African American History and Culture
July 23, 2019 05:00 - 33 minutes - 31.1 MBNot all historians publish their findings about history in books and articles. Some historians convey knowledge about history to the public in public spaces and in public ways. We conclude the “Doing History: How Historians Work” series with a look at how historians do history for the public with guest historian Lonnie Bunch, the Founding Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. This episode originally posted as a Bonus Episode in 2016. Sho...
247 BFW Road Trip: Schoharie Crossing
July 16, 2019 05:00 - 40 minutes - 37 MBA “little short of madness.” That is how Thomas Jefferson responded when two delegates from New York approached him with the idea to build the Erie Canal in January 1809. Jefferson’s comment did not discourage New Yorkers. On January 4, 1817, New York State began building a 363-mile long canal to link the Hudson River and Atlantic Ocean with the Great Lakes and the Midwest. Janice Fontanella, site manager of Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site in Fort Hunter, New York, joins us to dis...
246 BFW Road Trip: Château de Ramezay
July 09, 2019 05:00 - 43 minutes - 40.1 MBDid Canada almost join the American Revolution? Bruno Paul Stenson, a historian and musicologist with the Château de Ramezay historic site in Montréal, joins us to discuss how the American Revolution played out in Canada. This episode originally posted as Episode 041. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/246 Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute The Ben Franklin's World Shop Complementary Episodes Episode 037: Kathleen DuVal, Independence Lost: Lives on the Edge of ...
245 Celebrating the Fourth
July 02, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour - 66.4 MBIt wasn’t always fireworks on the fourth. John Adams predicted Americans would celebrate the Second of July, the day Congress voted in favor of independence, "with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other." He got the date wrong, but he was right about the festivities in commemoration of Independence Day. And yet July Fourth events have changed a great deal since 1776. How do our fireworks displays, barbecue...
244 Kimberly Alexander, Shoe Stories From Early America
June 25, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour - 56 MBThere’s a saying that tells us we should walk a mile in someone else’s shoes. It’s a reminder we should practice empathy and try to understand people before we cast judgement. As it happens, this expression is right on the mark because it seems when we use shoes as historical objects, we can learn a LOT about people and their everyday lives and actions. Kimberly Alexander, museum specialist, lecturer at the University of New Hampshire, and author of Treasures Afoot: Shoe Stories from the...
244 Shoe Stories From Early America
June 25, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour - 56 MBThere’s a saying that tells us we should walk a mile in someone else’s shoes. It’s a reminder we should practice empathy and try to understand people before we cast judgement. As it happens, this expression is right on the mark because it seems when we use shoes as historical objects, we can learn a LOT about people and their everyday lives and actions. Kimberly Alexander, museum specialist, lecturer at the University of New Hampshire, and author of Treasures Afoot: Shoe Stories from the...
243 Revolutionary Print Networks
June 18, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour - 59.6 MBFor the American Revolution to be successful, it needed ideas people could embrace and methods for spreading those ideas. It also needed ways for revolutionaries to coordinate across colonial lines. How did revolutionaries develop and spread their ideas? How did they communicate and coordinate plans of action? Joseph Adelman, an Assistant Professor of History at Framingham State University and author of Revolutionary Networks: The Business and Politics of Printing the News, 1763-1789, jo...
243 Joseph Adelman, Revolutionary Print Networks
June 18, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour - 59.6 MBFor the American Revolution to be successful, it needed ideas people could embrace and methods for spreading those ideas. It also needed ways for revolutionaries to coordinate across colonial lines. How did revolutionaries develop and spread their ideas? How did they communicate and coordinate plans of action? Joseph Adelman, an Assistant Professor of History at Framingham State University and author of Revolutionary Networks: The Business and Politics of Printing the News, 1763-1789, jo...
242 An Early History of Delaware
June 11, 2019 05:00 - 51 minutes - 47 MBDelaware may be the second smallest state in the United States, but it has a BIG, rich history that can tell us much about the history of early America. David Young, the Executive Director of the Delaware Historical Society, joins us to explore the early American history of Delaware from its Native American inhabitants through its emergence as the first state in the United States. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/242 Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute The Ben Franklin's...
242 David Young, An Early History of Delaware
June 11, 2019 05:00 - 51 minutes - 47 MBDelaware may be the second smallest state in the United States, but it has a BIG, rich history that can tell us much about the history of early America. David Young, the Executive Director of the Delaware Historical Society, joins us to explore the early American history of Delaware from its Native American inhabitants through its emergence as the first state in the United States. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/242 Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute The Ben Franklin's...
241 Molly Warsh, Pearls and the Nature of the Spanish Empire
June 04, 2019 05:00 - 57 minutes - 52.8 MBSpain became the first European power to use the peoples, resources, and lands of the Americas and Caribbean as the basis for its Atlantic Empire. How did this empire function and what wealth was Spain able to extract from these peoples and lands? Molly Warsh, an Associate Professor of History at the University of Pittsburgh and author of American Baroque: Pearls and the Nature of Empire, 1492-1700, helps us investigate answers to these questions by showing us how Spain attempted to incr...
241 Pearls and the Nature of the Spanish Empire
June 04, 2019 05:00 - 57 minutes - 52.8 MBSpain became the first European power to use the peoples, resources, and lands of the Americas and Caribbean as the basis for its Atlantic Empire. How did this empire function and what wealth was Spain able to extract from these peoples and lands? Molly Warsh, an Associate Professor of History at the University of Pittsburgh and author of American Baroque: Pearls and the Nature of Empire, 1492-1700, helps us investigate answers to these questions by showing us how Spain attempted to incr...
240 Biography and a Biographer's Work
May 28, 2019 05:00 - 45 minutes - 41.5 MBHave you ever had one of those really conversations where the person was so fascinating that you wished the conversation didn’t have to end? Flora Fraser joins us for one of those conversations. We’ll talk about biography, and in doing so, she’ll tell us what it was like to grow up as the daughter and granddaughter of two famed, British biographers and about the genre of biography and how it developed in the United Kingdom. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/240 Sponsor Link...
240 Flora Fraser, Biography and a Biographer's Work
May 28, 2019 05:00 - 45 minutes - 41.5 MBHave you ever had one of those really conversations where the person was so fascinating that you wished the conversation didn’t have to end? Flora Fraser joins us for one of those conversations. We’ll talk about biography, and in doing so, she’ll tell us what it was like to grow up as the daughter and granddaughter of two famed, British biographers and about the genre of biography and how it developed in the United Kingdom. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/240 Sponsor Link...
239 Travel and Post in Early America
May 21, 2019 05:00 - 37 minutes - 34.2 MBHow did the postal system work in Early America? How did people send mail across the North American colonies and the British Empire? Joseph Adelman, an Assistant Professor of History at Framingham State University and author of Revolutionary Networks: The Business and Politics of Printing, 1763-1789, joins us to further explore how the early American postal system worked and how people and mail traveled around early North America and the Atlantic World. Show Notes: https://www.benfrankli...
239 Joseph Adelman, Travel and Post in Early America
May 21, 2019 05:00 - 37 minutes - 34.2 MBHow did the postal system work in Early America? How did people send mail across the North American colonies and the British Empire? Joseph Adelman, an Assistant Professor of History at Framingham State University and author of Revolutionary Networks: The Business and Politics of Printing, 1763-1789, joins us to further explore how the early American postal system worked and how people and mail traveled around early North America and the Atlantic World. Show Notes: https://www.benfrankli...
238 Benedict Arnold
May 14, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour - 66.1 MBBenedict Arnold is an intriguing figure. He was both a military hero who greatly impacted and furthered the American War for Independence with his bravery on the battlefield and someone who did something unthinkable: he betrayed his country. Stephen Brumwell, an award-winning historian and the author of Turncoat: Benedict Arnold and the Crisis of American Liberty, joins us to explore the life and deeds of Benedict Arnold and Arnold’s stunning metamorphosis from hero to traitor. Show Note...
238 Stephen Brumwell, Benedict Arnold
May 14, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour - 66.1 MBBenedict Arnold is an intriguing figure. He was both a military hero who greatly impacted and furthered the American War for Independence with his bravery on the battlefield and someone who did something unthinkable: he betrayed his country. Stephen Brumwell, an award-winning historian and the author of Turncoat: Benedict Arnold and the Crisis of American Liberty, joins us to explore the life and deeds of Benedict Arnold and Arnold’s stunning metamorphosis from hero to traitor. Show Note...
237 Motherhood in Early America
May 07, 2019 05:00 - 54 minutes - 50.4 MBMother’s Day became a national holiday on May 9, 1914 to honor all of the work mothers do to raise children. But what precisely is the work that mothers do to raise children? Has the nature of mothers, motherhood, and the work mothers do changed over time? Nora Doyle, an Assistant Professor of History at Salem College in North Carolina, has combed through the historical record to find answers to these questions. Specifically, she’s sought to better understand the lived and imagined expe...
237 Nora Doyle, Motherhood in Early America
May 07, 2019 05:00 - 54 minutes - 50.4 MBMother’s Day became a national holiday on May 9, 1914 to honor all of the work mothers do to raise children. But what precisely is the work that mothers do to raise children? Has the nature of mothers, motherhood, and the work mothers do changed over time? Nora Doyle, an Assistant Professor of History at Salem College in North Carolina, has combed through the historical record to find answers to these questions. Specifically, she’s sought to better understand the lived and imagined expe...
236 Daniel Livesay, Mixed-Race Britons and the Atlantic Family
April 30, 2019 05:00 - 59 minutes - 54.5 MBWho do we count as family? If a relative was born in a foreign place and one of their parents was of a different race? Would they count as family? Eighteenth-century Britons asked themselves these questions. As we might suspect, their answers varied by time and whether they lived in Great Britain, North America, or the Caribbean. Daniel Livesay, an Associate Professor of History at Claremont McKenna College in California, helps us explore the evolution of British ideas about race with ...
236 Mixed-Race Britons and the Atlantic Family
April 30, 2019 05:00 - 59 minutes - 54.5 MBWho do we count as family? If a relative was born in a foreign place and one of their parents was of a different race? Would they count as family? Eighteenth-century Britons asked themselves these questions. As we might suspect, their answers varied by time and whether they lived in Great Britain, North America, or the Caribbean. Daniel Livesay, an Associate Professor of History at Claremont McKenna College in California, helps us explore the evolution of British ideas about race with ...
235 Jenny Hale Pulsipher, A 17th-Century Native American Life
April 23, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour - 58.2 MBWhat does early America look like if we view it through Native American eyes? Jenny Hale Pulsipher, an Associate Professor of History at Brigham Young University and author of Swindler Sachem, is a scholar who enjoys investigating the many answers to this question. And today, she introduces us to a Nipmuc Indian named John Wompas and how he experienced a critical time in early American history, the period between the 1650s and 1680s. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/235 ...
235 A 17th-Century Native American Life
April 23, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour - 58.2 MBWhat does early America look like if we view it through Native American eyes? Jenny Hale Pulsipher, an Associate Professor of History at Brigham Young University and author of Swindler Sachem, is a scholar who enjoys investigating the many answers to this question. And today, she introduces us to a Nipmuc Indian named John Wompas and how he experienced a critical time in early American history, the period between the 1650s and 1680s. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/235 ...
234 Richard Bushman, Farms & Farm Families in Early America
April 16, 2019 05:00 - 47 minutes - 43.7 MBIf we want to understand everyday life in early America we need to understand the everyday life of early American farms and farmers. Roughly three-quarters of Americans in British North America and the early United States considered themselves to be farmers. So how did early Americans establish farms and what were the rhythms of their daily lives? Richard Bushman, the Gouverneur Morris Professor Emeritus of History at Columbia University, joins us to investigate farms and farm life in ea...
234 Farms & Farm Families in Early America
April 16, 2019 05:00 - 47 minutes - 43.7 MBIf we want to understand everyday life in early America we need to understand the everyday life of early American farms and farmers. Roughly three-quarters of Americans in British North America and the early United States considered themselves to be farmers. So how did early Americans establish farms and what were the rhythms of their daily lives? Richard Bushman, the Gouverneur Morris Professor Emeritus of History at Columbia University, joins us to investigate farms and farm life in ea...
233 A History of Russian America
April 09, 2019 05:00 - 48 minutes - 44.5 MBWhen we think about colonial American history we think about the colonies of the English, the Dutch, the French, and the Spanish. Rarely do we think about the colonies of the Russians. And yet Russia had colonies in North America. Gwenn Miller, an Associate Professor of History at the College of the Holy Cross, joins us to investigate a history of Russia’s colonies in North America with details from her book Kodiak Kreol: Communities of Empire in Early Russian America. Show Notes: https...
233 Gwenn Miller, A History of Russian America
April 09, 2019 05:00 - 48 minutes - 44.5 MBWhen we think about colonial American history we think about the colonies of the English, the Dutch, the French, and the Spanish. Rarely do we think about the colonies of the Russians. And yet Russia had colonies in North America. Gwenn Miller, an Associate Professor of History at the College of the Holy Cross, joins us to investigate a history of Russia’s colonies in North America with details from her book Kodiak Kreol: Communities of Empire in Early Russian America. Show Notes: https...
232 Christopher Hodson, The Acadian Diaspora
April 02, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour - 57.7 MBBefore the English settled in Jamestown, Virginia in 1607 or the Dutch settled near Albany, New York in 1615, a group of French-speaking, Catholic settlers established a settlement in Nova Scotia in 1605. By 1755, nearly 15,000 Acadians lived in Acadia. Christopher Hodson, an Associate Professor of history at Brigham Young University and the author of The Acadian Diaspora, joins us to investigate the lives of these early North American colonists and how the British government came to dis...
232 The Acadian Diaspora
April 02, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour - 57.7 MBBefore the English settled in Jamestown, Virginia in 1607 or the Dutch settled near Albany, New York in 1615, a group of French-speaking, Catholic settlers established a settlement in Nova Scotia in 1605. By 1755, nearly 15,000 Acadians lived in Acadia. Christopher Hodson, an Associate Professor of history at Brigham Young University and the author of The Acadian Diaspora, joins us to investigate the lives of these early North American colonists and how the British government came to dis...
231 The Religious Lives of the Adams Family
March 26, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour - 57.4 MBHistorians use archives to create the histories we love to read, watch, and listen to. So we’re going into one archive to investigate how historians use them and to discover more about the religious lives of the Adams Family. Sara Georgini, Series Editor of The Papers of John Adams, invites us to join her inside the Massachusetts Historical Society so we can take a closer look at the historical details provided by the Adams Papers and the role these manuscripts played in helping her write ...
231 Sara Georgini, The Religious Lives of the Adams Family
March 26, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour - 57.4 MBHistorians use archives to create the histories we love to read, watch, and listen to. So we’re going into one archive to investigate how historians use them and to discover more about the religious lives of the Adams Family. Sara Georgini, Series Editor of The Papers of John Adams, invites us to join her inside the Massachusetts Historical Society so we can take a closer look at the historical details provided by the Adams Papers and the role these manuscripts played in helping her write ...
230 First Martyr of Liberty
March 19, 2019 05:00 - 58 minutes - 54.2 MBSamuel Gray, James Caldwell, Samuel Maverick, Patrick Carr, and Crispus Attucks. These are the five men who died as a result of the shootings on Boston’s King Street on the night of March 5, 1770. Of these five victims, evidence points to Crispus Attucks falling first, and of all the victims, Crispus Attucks is the name we can recall. Why is that? To help us answer this question and to conclude our 3-episode series on the Boston Massacre, we’re joined by Mitch Kachun, a Professor of Hi...
230 Mitch Kachun, First Martyr of Liberty
March 19, 2019 05:00 - 58 minutes - 54.2 MBSamuel Gray, James Caldwell, Samuel Maverick, Patrick Carr, and Crispus Attucks. These are the five men who died as a result of the shootings on Boston’s King Street on the night of March 5, 1770. Of these five victims, evidence points to Crispus Attucks falling first, and of all the victims, Crispus Attucks is the name we can recall. Why is that? To help us answer this question and to conclude our 3-episode series on the Boston Massacre, we’re joined by Mitch Kachun, a Professor of Hi...
229 Patrick Griffin, The Townshend Moment
March 12, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour - 56.1 MBWithin days of the Boston Massacre, Bostonians politicized the event. They circulated a pamphlet about “the Horrid Massacre” and published images portraying soldiers firing into a well-assembled and peaceful crowd. But why did the Boston Massacre happen? Why did the British government feel it had little choice but to station as many 2,000 soldiers in Boston during peacetime? And what was going on within the larger British Empire that drove colonists to the point where they provoked armed...
229 The Townshend Moment
March 12, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour - 56.1 MBWithin days of the Boston Massacre, Bostonians politicized the event. They circulated a pamphlet about “the Horrid Massacre” and published images portraying soldiers firing into a well-assembled and peaceful crowd. But why did the Boston Massacre happen? Why did the British government feel it had little choice but to station as many 2,000 soldiers in Boston during peacetime? And what was going on within the larger British Empire that drove colonists to the point where they provoked armed...
228 Eric Hinderaker, The Boston Massacre
March 05, 2019 06:00 - 1 hour - 58.5 MBOn the evening of March 5, 1770, a crowd gathered in Boston’s King Street and confronted a a sentry and his fellow soldiers in front of the custom house. The confrontation led the soldiers to fire their muskets into the crowd, five civilians died. What happened on the night of March 5, 1770 that led the crowd to gather and the soldiers to discharge their weapons? Eric Hinderaker, a distinguished professor of history at the University of Utah and the author of Boston’s Massacre, assists ...
228 The Boston Massacre
March 05, 2019 06:00 - 1 hour - 58.5 MBOn the evening of March 5, 1770, a crowd gathered in Boston’s King Street and confronted a a sentry and his fellow soldiers in front of the custom house. The confrontation led the soldiers to fire their muskets into the crowd, five civilians died. What happened on the night of March 5, 1770 that led the crowd to gather and the soldiers to discharge their weapons? Eric Hinderaker, a distinguished professor of history at the University of Utah and the author of Boston’s Massacre, assists ...
227 Copyright & Fair Use in Early America
February 26, 2019 06:00 - 1 hour - 69.8 MBIn the 21st century, we are all creators and users of content. We take original photos with our smartphones, generate blog posts, digital videos, and podcasts. Some of us write books and articles. And nearly everyone contributes content to social media. Given all of the information and content we generate and use, it’s really important for us to understand the principles of copyright and fair use, principles that have an early American past. Kyle Courtney, a lawyer, librarian, and Copyri...
227 Kyle Courtney, Copyright & Fair Use in Early America
February 26, 2019 06:00 - 1 hour - 69.8 MBIn the 21st century, we are all creators and users of content. We take original photos with our smartphones, generate blog posts, digital videos, and podcasts. Some of us write books and articles. And nearly everyone contributes content to social media. Given all of the information and content we generate and use, it’s really important for us to understand the principles of copyright and fair use, principles that have an early American past. Kyle Courtney, a lawyer, librarian, and Copyri...
226 Making the State of South Carolina
February 19, 2019 06:00 - 1 hour - 58.1 MBWhat do we mean by “the state?” How is a “state” produced? Is “the state” something everyone can participate in producing? Ryan Quintana, an Associate Professor of History at Wellesley College and the author of Making a Slave State: Political Development in Early South Carolina, joins us to answer these questions with a look at the creation and development of the State of South Carolina. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/226 Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute Will...
226 Ryan Quintana, Making the State of South Carolina
February 19, 2019 06:00 - 1 hour - 58.1 MBWhat do we mean by “the state?” How is a “state” produced? Is “the state” something everyone can participate in producing? Ryan Quintana, an Associate Professor of History at Wellesley College and the author of Making a Slave State: Political Development in Early South Carolina, joins us to answer these questions with a look at the creation and development of the State of South Carolina. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/226 Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute Will...
225 Elaine Forman Crane, The Poison Plot: Adultery and Murder in Colonial Newport
February 12, 2019 06:00 - 51 minutes - 49 MBIn 1738, a cooper named Benedict Arnold petitioned the Rhode Island General Assembly for a divorce from his wife Mary Ward Arnold. Benedict claimed that Mary had taken a lover and together they had attempted to murder him with poison. How did this story of love, divorce, and attempted murder unfold? What does it reveal about the larger world of colonial America and the experiences of colonial American men and women? Elaine Forman Crane, a Distinguished Professor of History at Fordham Un...
225 The Poison Plot: Adultery and Murder in Colonial Newport
February 12, 2019 06:00 - 51 minutes - 49 MBIn 1738, a cooper named Benedict Arnold petitioned the Rhode Island General Assembly for a divorce from his wife Mary Ward Arnold. Benedict claimed that Mary had taken a lover and together they had attempted to murder him with poison. How did this story of love, divorce, and attempted murder unfold? What does it reveal about the larger world of colonial America and the experiences of colonial American men and women? Elaine Forman Crane, a Distinguished Professor of History at Fordham Un...
224 Kevin Dawson, Aquatic Culture in Early America
February 05, 2019 06:00 - 57 minutes - 54.3 MBThe Atlantic World has brought many disparate peoples together, which has caused a lot of ideas and cultures to mix. How did the Atlantic World bring so many different peoples and cultures together? How did this large intermixing of people and cultures impact the development of colonial America? Kevin Dawson, an Associate Professor of History at the University of California-Merced and author of Undercurrents of Power: Aquatic Culture in the African Diaspora, joins us to explore answers t...
224 Aquatic Culture in Early America
February 05, 2019 06:00 - 57 minutes - 54.3 MBThe Atlantic World has brought many disparate peoples together, which has caused a lot of ideas and cultures to mix. How did the Atlantic World bring so many different peoples and cultures together? How did this large intermixing of people and cultures impact the development of colonial America? Kevin Dawson, an Associate Professor of History at the University of California-Merced and author of Undercurrents of Power: Aquatic Culture in the African Diaspora, joins us to explore answers t...
223 A Native American History of the Ohio River Valley & Great Lakes Region
January 29, 2019 06:00 - 1 hour - 63.6 MBDuring the 17th and 18th centuries, the Ohio River Valley proved to be a rich agrarian region. Many different Native American peoples prospered from its land both in terms of the the land’s ability to produce a wide variety of crops and its support of a wide variety of small fur-bearing animals for the fur trade. Susan Sleeper-Smith, a Professor of History at Michigan State University and author of Indigenous Prosperity and American Conquest: Indian Women and the Ohio River Valley, 1690-17...
223 Susan Sleeper-Smith, A Native American History of the Ohio River Valley & Great Lakes Region
January 29, 2019 06:00 - 1 hour - 63.6 MBDuring the 17th and 18th centuries, the Ohio River Valley proved to be a rich agrarian region. Many different Native American peoples prospered from its land both in terms of the the land’s ability to produce a wide variety of crops and its support of a wide variety of small fur-bearing animals for the fur trade. Susan Sleeper-Smith, a Professor of History at Michigan State University and author of Indigenous Prosperity and American Conquest: Indian Women and the Ohio River Valley, 1690-17...
222 The Early History of Washington, D.C.
January 22, 2019 06:00 - 1 hour - 64.7 MBHave you ever wondered how the capital of the United States came to be situated at Washington D.C.? The banks of the Potomac River represent an odd place to build a national city, a place that would not only serve as the seat of government for the nation, but also as an economic, cultural, and intellectual hub. Still in 1790, the United States Congress passed the Residence Act and mandated that it would establish a new, permanent capital along the banks of the Potomac River. Why? Adam Co...
222 Adam Costanzo, The Early History of Washington, D.C.
January 22, 2019 06:00 - 1 hour - 64.7 MBHave you ever wondered how the capital of the United States came to be situated at Washington D.C.? The banks of the Potomac River represent an odd place to build a national city, a place that would not only serve as the seat of government for the nation, but also as an economic, cultural, and intellectual hub. Still in 1790, the United States Congress passed the Residence Act and mandated that it would establish a new, permanent capital along the banks of the Potomac River. Why? Adam Co...