What did the American Revolution mean and achieve?
What sort of liberty and freedom did independence grant Americans and which Americans should receive them?
Americans grappled with these questions soon after the American Revolution. They debated these issues during the Constitutional Convention of 1787, in the first congresses, and as they followed events in revolutionary France and Haiti during the 1790s and early 1800s.
James Alexander Dun, an Assistant Professor of History at Princeton University and author of Dangerous Neighbors: Making the Haitian Revolution in Early America, joins us to explore the ways the Haitian Revolution shaped how Americans viewed their own revolution.
About the Show
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 impacted and shaped our present-day world.
Each episode features a conversation with a historian who helps us shed light on important people and events in early American history.
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Episode Summary
James Alexander Dun, an Assistant Professor of History at Princeton University and author of Dangerous Neighbors: Making the Haitian Revolution in Early America, joins us to explore the ways the Haitian Revolution shaped how Americans viewed their own revolution.
During our exploration, Alec reveals details about the Haitian Revolution and its connection with the French Revolution; The accuracy of the news Americans consumed from Haiti; And, Americans’ changing views about the Haitian Revolution and how those views affected their ideas about the American Revolution.
What You’ll Discover
- How Americans understood the American Revolution at its end
- Arguments over the meaning of the Revolution
- The Haitian Revolution
- The connection between the Haitian and French Revolutions
- How Americans followed the Haitian Revolution
- Accuracy of news in the United States about the Haitian Revolution
- Americans’ changing views on the Haitian Revolution
- How African Americans viewed the Haitian Revolution
- Haitian emigres in the United States
- How the Haitian Revolution affected the ways Americans viewed the American Revolution
Links to People, Places, and Publications
- Alec Dun
- Alec’s Princeton University webpage
- Alec on Twitter: @AlecDun1
- Dangerous Neighbors Facebook page
- Dangerous Neighbors: Making the Haitian Revolution in Early America
Sponsor Links
Complementary Episodes
- Episode 007: Sara Georgini, John Adams and the Adams Papers Documentary Project
- Episode 016: Alan Taylor, The Internal Enemy
- Episode 017: François Furstenberg, When the United States Spoke French
- Episode 052: Ronald A. Johnson, Early United States-Haitian Diplomacy
- Episode 123: The American Revolution as a Civil War
Time Warp Question
In your opinion, what might have happened if Americans had continued to view the events taking place in Saint Domingue as “French” and “French negro?” How would viewing the event in terms of culture and ethnicity instead of race have affected early American-Haitian relations and American participation in the Haitian Revolution?
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