This 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.
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BFW Revisited: The Marquis de Lafayette (01:08:38)
What does it take to become a revolutionary in more than one revolution? In this revisited conversation with Mike Duncan, we explore the life of the Marquis de Lafayette—an ambitious young Frenchman w...
432 How France and Spain Helped Win the American Revolution (01:04:43)
The American Revolution wasn’t just a colonial rebellion; it was a global conflict shaped by European rivalries and high-stakes diplomacy. Without the help of foreign allies like France and Spain, the...
BFW Revisited: The Common Cause (00:58:03)
Before Common Sense could ignite a revolution, colonists had to be convinced they shared a cause worth fighting for. So how did Revolutionary leaders turn thirteen very different colonies into “Americ...
431 Common Sense at 250: The Pamphlet That Sparked a Revolution (01:14:12)
Thomas Paine’s Common Sense turned a colonial rebellion into a full-blown revolution. But how did one pamphlet move so many minds in 1776—and why does it still matter 250 years later?
To commemorate ...
BFW Revisited: The Power of the Press in the American Revolution (01:24:56)
Common Sense didn’t just make an argument for independence—it moved through a world of newspapers, pamphlets, and personal networks that carried revolutionary ideas from one doorstep to the next. So h...
430 The Founding Father of American Medicine: Benjamin Rush (01:00:03)
Benjamin Rush was one of early America’s most fascinating figures. He was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, a leading Philadelphia physician, and a thinker who believed that a healthy body ...
BFW Revisited: Smuggling and the American Revolution (01:24:24)
British officials had a problem: Their American colonists wouldn't stop smuggling. Even after Parliament slashed tea prices and passed laws to make legal imports cheaper, colonists kept buying Dutch a...
429 Coffee in Early America: Why Americans Really Drink Coffee (01:03:07)
Think the Boston Tea Party made America a coffee-drinking nation? Historian Michelle McDonald reveals the truth: colonists were already choosing coffee over tea because it was cheaper.
Michelle Craig...
428 America's Forgotten Quest to Link Two Oceans (01:01:09)
In the 1820s, American entrepreneurs, engineers, and politicians dared to dream big. They believed they could cut a canal, not through Panama, but through the wild, rain-soaked terrain of Nicaragua. T...
427 How States Are Planning the 250th: Commemorating the American Revolution in 2026 (00:51:48)
As we look ahead to the 250th anniversary—the semiquincentennial—of the Declaration of Independence in 2026, communities and commissions across the United States are asking big questions: How should w...
BFW Revisited: The Mayflower (00:59:35)
Each November, we Americans come together to celebrate Thanksgiving, a holiday that invites us to reflect on gratitude, community, and the stories we tell about our past.
But what do we really know a...
426 Indigenous Agriculture and the Hidden Science of Native Foodways (00:52:32)
As Thanksgiving approaches, many Americans are gathering to reflect on gratitude, family—and of course—food.
It's the time of year when we may think about the so-called "First Thanksgiving" and imag...
425 Ken Burns' The American Revolution (00:55:14)
What does it take to bring the American Revolution to life?
How can an event that took place 250 years ago be conveyed to us through modern-day film?
Ken Burns and his team worked to answer these qu...
424 Dunmore's Proclamation & the American Revolution in Virginia (01:06:04)
In November 1775, as tensions between the British Empire and its rebellious colonies continued to escalate, Virginia’s royal governor made a radical—and to some, terrifying—proclamation: Any enslaved ...
BFW Revisited: Disruptions in Yorktown (01:02:26)
What did it take to end the War for Independence?
When we think of the American Revolution’s final chapter, we think of the Siege of Yorktown.
Between September 28 and October 19, 1781, British forc...
423 The Forgotten Artists of the American Revolution (01:11:03)
Have you ever noticed how conversations about the American Revolution often center on great battles, founding documents, and famous statesmen?
What if, instead, we explored that world through the eye...
BFW Revisited: The World of John Singleton Copley (00:52:51)
What does it mean to be caught between two worlds? Between loyalty and liberty, artistry and commerce, and between the British North American colonies and the British Empire?
We’re revisiting our exp...
422: Plantation Goods: How Northern Industry Fueled Slavery (01:12:45)
When we talk about slavery in Early America, we often focus on plantations: their large, fertile fields, their cash crops, and the people who labored on those fields to produce those cash crops under ...
BFW Revisited: Origins of American Manufacturing (01:02:35)
When we picture the early United States, we often imagine a young nation fighting for political independence. But what about economic independence—and what did it take to achieve it?
Historian Lindsa...
421 Loyalism and Revolution in Georgia (01:01:01)
What if loyalty, not rebellion, was the default position in revolutionary British North America?
It’s easy to forget that before 1776, most colonists identified as proud Britons. They didn’t see them...
BFW Revisited: Loyalism in the British Atlantic World (01:10:19)
When we think of the American Revolution, we often focus on the patriots who fought for independence. But what about the Loyalists—those who chose to remain faithful to the British crown?
In this epi...
420: Creating the U.S. Federal Government (01:20:25)
When we think about the founding of the United States, we often focus on the Constitution, the Founding Fathers, and those first landmark elections.
But how did the United States actually build its f...
BFW Revisited: Women & the Constitutional Moment of 1787 (01:16:19)
Each September, Constitution Day marks the signing of the U.S. Constitution on September 17, 1787.
But beyond celebration, this commemoration invites deeper reflection: Whose voices helped shape this...
419 The North Carolina Regulator Movement (01:04:24)
What happens when the very people meant to uphold justice become the ones exploiting it?
In the 1760s, North Carolina farmers watched sheriffs pocket their tax payments, judges rule in favor of corru...
BFW Revisited: The Tory's Wife (01:05:42)
Revolutionary upheaval didn't just reshape governments—it transformed daily life for ordinary families across colonial America.
In this revisited episode, historian Cynthia Kierner reveals the remar...
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