Episode 154: The Freedoms We Lost

by Liz CovartOctober 3, 2017

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Declaring independence from Great Britain required the formation of new governments.

But why did Americans want and need new governments? And how did their interactions and experiences with their old, colonial governments inform their decisions to create new governments?

Barbara Clark Smith, a curator in the division of political history at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and the author of The Freedoms We Lost: Consent and Resistance in Revolutionary America, leads us on an exploration of how Americans interacted with their government before the American Revolution and how the Revolution changed their interaction and ideas about government.

About the Series

The mission of episodes in the Doing History: To the Revolution series. is to ask not just “what is the history of the American Revolution?” but “what are the histories of the American Revolution?”

The Doing History series explores early American history and how historians work. It’s produced by the Omohundro Institute.

Be sure to check out Doing History season 1, Doing History: How Historians Work.

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.

Ben Franklin’s World is a production of the Omohundro Institute.

Episode Summary

Barbara Clark Smith, a curator in the division of political history at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and the author of The Freedoms We Lost: Consent and Resistance in Revolutionary America, leads us on an exploration of how Americans interacted with their government before the American Revolution and how the Revolution changed their interaction and ideas about government.

During our exploration, Barbara reveals details about what the British and colonial North American governments were like before the Revolution; How ordinary Americans participated in and interacted with their colonial governments; And, how the Revolution changed American government and ordinary Americans’ relationships with it.

What You’ll Discover

Structure of British government before the American Revolution
Governments in British North America
Voting and elective office in early America
How ordinary Americans participated in and interacted with colonial governments
Uniformity in enforcement in the laws across the 13 colonies
American response to the Stamp Act
How ordinary Americans defined the course of the American Revolution
Colonial associations and the economic boycotts of British goods
Creation of American societies and governments
How the Revolution changed ordinary Americans’ relationship with government

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Time Warp Question

In your opinion, what might have happened if Robert Morris and other leaders of the Revolution had not shifted organization of the Revolution away from the ordinary people who drove the Revolution prior to 1780 and toward the well-to-do and their money after 1780?