The histories of early North America and the Caribbean are intimately intertwined. The same European empires we encounter in our study of early America also appear in the Caribbean and the colonies in these respective empires often traded goods...
Intelligence gathering plays an important role in the foreign policies of many modern-day nation states, including the United States. Which raises the questions: How and when did the United States establish its foreign intelligence service? To...
We remember Benjamin Franklin as an accomplished printer, scientist, and statesman. Someone who came from humble beginnings and made his own way in the world. Rarely do we remember Franklin as a man of faith. Benjamin Franklin spent more time...
The Declaration of Independence described “all men” as “created equal” when its authors knew they were not. So was the revolutionary idea of freedom dependent on slavery? In this last episode of the Doing History: To the Revolution series we return...
What do the objects we purchase and use say about us? If we take the time to think about the material objects and clothing in our lives, we’ll find that we can actually learn a lot about ourselves and other people. The same holds true when we take...
On April 18, 1775, Paul Revere rode to Lexington, Massachusetts to spread the alarm that the Regulars were marching. Revere made several important rides between 1774 and 1775, including one in September 1774 that brought the Suffolk Resolves to the...
How did the colonists of Massachusetts go from public protests meant to shame government officials and destroy offending property, to armed conflict with British Regulars in Lexington and Concord? John Bell, the prolific blogger behind Boston1775...
On December 16, 1773, the colonists of Boston threw 342 chests of English East India Company tea into Boston Harbor, an act we remember as the “Boston Tea Party.” Have you ever wondered what drove the Bostonians to destroy the tea? Or whether they...
What can the life of an artist reveal about the American Revolution and how most American men and women experienced it? Today, we explore the life and times of John Singleton Copley with Jane Kamensky, a Professor of History at Harvard University...
The City Upon a Hill. The Athens of America. The Cradle of Liberty. Boston has many names because it has played important roles in the history of North America. But how did Boston, or “The Hub,” come to be? Why did the Puritans who sailed from...