History tells us who we are and how we came to be who we are. It also allows us to look back and see how far we’ve come as people and societies. Of course, history also has the power to show us how little has changed over time. John Wood Sweet, a...
The words of the Declaration of Independence are not the only aspect of the American Revolution that carry power. Visual and material objects from during and after the Revolution also carry power and meaning. Objects like monuments, uniforms...
How did Americans learn to establish philanthropic institutions? Victoria Johnson, an Associate Professor of Urban Policy and Planning at Hunter College in New York City and author of American Eden: David Hosack, Botany, and Medicine in the Garden...
How much merit do the economic factors behind the cry “No Taxation Without Representation” have when we consider the origins of the American Revolution? In this episode of the Doing History: To the Revolution series we begin a 3-episode exploration...
After seven, long years of occupation, Americans found New York City in shambles after the British evacuation on November 25, 1783. Ten to twenty-five percent of the city had burned in 1776. The British used just about every building that remained...
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...
We’ve heard that the American Revolution took place during a period called “the Enlightenment.” But what was the Enlightenment? Was it an intellectual movement? A social movement? A scientific movement? Today, John Dixon, an Assistant Professor of...
The British captured New York City from the Continental Army in July 1776. George Washington wanted the city back and he wanted to know where the British Army would march next. In need of actionable intelligence, Washington charged Benjamin...
Between the 1830s and 1860s, a clandestine communications and transportation network called the “Underground Railroad” helped thousands of slaves escape to freedom. Today, we investigate this secret network with Eric Foner, a Pulitzer Prize-winning...
Have you ever wondered about how early American men, women, and slaves worshipped? Religion played a large role in why some Europeans settled in British North America. The Puritans of New England, the German Protestants of the Mid-Atlantic region...