Ben Franklin's World

The man Congress chose to draft the United States’ first constitution refused to vote for independence.

John Dickinson wrote a bold plan, one with a strong central government, religious liberty protections that included women, and a question in the margins about whether Congress should abolish slavery. Congress stripped out nearly all of these ideas and provisions. What replaced it sparked a debate over federal vs. state power that has never gone away.

This is the third episode in our How Independence Happened series. In Part 1, we explored Richard Henry Lee's Virginia Resolution of June 7, 1776. In Part 2, we examined the Model Treaty and how the new United States made foreign alliances. In this third part, we're joined by historians Jane Calvert and Jonathan Gienapp so we can investigate the Articles of Confederation, the third element of independence.

Jane's Website | BookJonathan's Website | BookShow Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/445 EPISODE OUTLINE00:00:00  Introduction00:03:34 The Articles of Confederation00:08:29 Why A Confederation Was Important00:12:49 Why the Second Continental Congress Create A Formal Union00:21:44 Drafting the Articles of Confederation00:22:38 John Dickinson's Role in Drafting the Articles00:45:50 The Founding Generation's Ideas About Government01:05:40 Viewing the Articles of Confederation in Context01:13:07 The Unwritten Constitution of the PeopleRECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES🎧 Episode 179: Governance During the Critical Period🎧 Episode 258: John Dickinson, Life, Religion, & Politics🎧 Episode 323: American Expansion and the Political Economy of Plunder🎧 Episode 366: James Wilson & the U.S. Constitution🎧 Episode 443: How Independence Happened, Pt 1: The Lee Resolution🎧 Episode 444: How Independence Happened, Pt 2: The Model TreatySUPPORT OUR WORK🎁 Make a Donation to Ben Franklin’s WorldREQUEST A TOPIC📨 Topic Request Form📫 liz@benfranklinsworld.comWHEN YOU'RE READY🗞️ BFW Gazette Newsletter 👩‍💻 Join the BFW Listener Community🌍 Join the History Explorers ClubTAKE THE QUIZ🧭 Discover How You Explore History (under 2 minutes)👉 https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/quizLISTEN 🎧🍎 Apple Podcasts 💚 Spotify 🎶 Amazon Music🛜 PandoraCONNECT🦋 Liz on Bluesky👩‍💻 Liz on LinkedIn🛜 Liz’s WebsiteSAY THANKS💜 Leave a review on Apple Podcasts💚 Leave a rating on Spotify*Book links are affiliate links. Every purchase supports the podcast.
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Declaring independence on July 2, 1776 was only the beginning. To actually become a nation, the United States needed something else: foreign allies, international recognition, and the credibility to negotiate as an equal among the world's great powers.

Five days after Richard Henry Lee introduced his famous Virginia Resolution, the Continental Congress appointed a committee of five — John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Dickinson, Robert Morris, and Benjamin Harrison — to figure out how to achieve international recognition. The result was the Model Treaty: a document we almost never discuss today, but one that Adams considered his most important contribution to Congress and the nation.

Historians Sara Georgini and Eliga Gould guide us through Adams's revolutionary blueprint for American foreign policy and how the founders understood that the United States would need to become a "treaty worthy" nation before France would take them seriously.

This is the second episode in a three-part series.
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Declaring independence on July 2, 1776, was only the beginning.

To actually become a nation, the United States needed something else: foreign allies, international recognition, and the credibility to negotiate as an equal among the world's great powers.

Five days after Richard Henry Lee introduced his famous Virginia Resolution, the Continental Congress appointed a committee of five — John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Dickinson, Robert Morris, and Benjamin Harrison — to figure out how to achieve international recognition. The result was the Model Treaty: a document we almost never discuss today, but one that Adams considered his most important contribution to Congress and the nation.

Historians Sara Georgini and Eliga Gould guide us through Adams's revolutionary blueprint for American foreign policy and the founders' understanding that the United States would need to become a "treaty-worthy" nation before France would take it seriously.

This is the second episode in a three-part series.

Sara’s Website | Book 

Lige's Website | BookShow Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/444 EPISODE OUTLINE00:00:00  Introduction00:00:21  Three Legs of Independence00:01:17   The Second Continental Congress Votes Independence00:02:58  The Second Leg of Independence: Foreign Alliances00:03:28  The Model Treaty00:07:12  Why the Virginia Resolution Included Foreign Alliances00:19:00  Specifics of the Model Treaty00:21:30  Founders' Goals for the Model Treaty00:28:21  The Model Treaty Drafting Committee00:41:20  The Model Treaty as a Document00:39:15 The Story of Common Sense00:50:07  Commercial Alliances01:04:42  The Model Treaty's Place in the American RevolutionRECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES🎧 Episode 007: John Adams & the Adams Papers Documentary Project🎧 Episode 128: American Revolutions: A Continental History🎧 Episode 193: Partisans: The Friendship & Rivalry of Jefferson & Adams🎧 Episode 432: How France & Spain Helped Save the American Revolution🎧 Episode 433: Entangled Alliances: Haiti, France, & the American Revolution🎧 Episode 443: How Independence Actually Happened, Pt 1: The Lee ResolutionSUPPORT OUR WORK🎁 Make a Donation to Ben Franklin’s WorldREQUEST A TOPIC📨 Topic Request Form📫 liz@benfranklinsworld.comWHEN YOU'RE READY🗞️ BFW Gazette Newsletter 👩‍💻 Join the BFW Listener Community🌍 Join the History Explorers ClubTAKE THE QUIZ🧭 Discover How You Explore History (under 2 minutes)👉 https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/quizLISTEN 🎧🍎 Apple Podcasts 💚 Spotify 🎶 Amazon Music🛜 PandoraCONNECT🦋 Liz on Bluesky👩‍💻 Liz on LinkedIn🛜 Liz’s WebsiteSAY THANKS💜 Leave a review on Apple Podcasts💚 Leave a rating on Spotify*Book links are affiliate links. Every purchase supports the podcast.
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On July 4th, 2026, the United States marks 250 years since the Declaration of Independence announced a new nation to the world. But how well do we actually know the document we're celebrating?

Most of us can recite "We hold these truths to be self-evident," but how many of us have read all 1,337 words, and traced the argument the Declaration actually makes?

Danielle Allen, the James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University and author of Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality, reveals how New Hampshire's desperate need for a functioning government set the Continental Congress on the path toward independence, why the Declaration was authored by many voices — not just Thomas Jefferson — and how a slow, careful reading of the document uncovers a powerful argument that freedom and equality are entwined. You cannot have one without the other.

This is the essential starting point for Ben Franklin's World's Independence at 250 series.

Danielle’s Website | Book |

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/018

RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES🎧 Episode 119: The Heart of the Declartion🎧 Episode 141: A Declaration in Draft🎧 Episode 415: The Many Declarations of Independence🎧 Episode 438: The American Revolution and the Fate of the World🎧 Episode 439: When the Declartion of Independence War News in 1776🎧 Episode 440: Jefferson's Cut Grievance and the British Monarchy's Role in SlaverySUPPORT OUR WORK🎁 Make a Donation to Ben Franklin’s WorldREQUEST A TOPIC📨 Topic Request Form📫 liz@benfranklinsworld.comWHEN YOU'RE READY🗞️ BFW Gazette Newsletter 👩‍💻 Join the BFW Listener Community🌍 Join the History Explorers ClubTAKE THE QUIZ🧭 Discover How You Explore History (under 2 minutes)👉 https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/quizLISTEN 🎧🍎 Apple Podcasts 💚 Spotify 🎶 Amazon Music🛜 PandoraCONNECT🦋 Liz on Bluesky👩‍💻 Liz on LinkedIn🛜 Liz’s WebsiteSAY THANKS💜 Leave a review on Apple Podcasts💚 Leave a rating on Spotify*Book links are affiliate links. Every purchase supports the podcast.
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When we picture the American Revolution, we picture battles. But for the men and women who actually lived and fought in it, the Revolution was also a job with mess rotations, night watches, short rations, and children underfoot.

Historians Eugene Procknow, Gabriel Neville, and Thomas Sobol pull back the curtain on everyday military life during the War for Independence. They discuss how the armies were structured, what soldiers actually ate, what camp followers endured, and how soldiers found humanity amid grinding hardship.

You'll hear about a Black Continental soldier who had eaten nothing but bread for eleven days, and was still writing letters home that went unanswered. A Georgia soldier who agreed to fight for the British just to escape a prison ship, then deserted and marched across two states to rejoin Nathanael Greene's army. And you'll discover why John Adams believed the most dangerous moment of the Revolution wasn't a battle at all.Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/403 EPISODE OUTLINE00:00:00  Introduction00:05:44 Structure of the British and Continental Armies00:10:33 Militia, German Soldiers, and Indian Allies00:20:43 Everyday Life in the American War for Independence00:25:80 Camp Followers00:33:10 Downtime in the Army00:36:59 Soldiers' Letters00:46:00 Food Procurement & Supply Chains00:50:27 Supplementing Rations00:55:34 War Mementoes & Plunder00:58:36 Medical Care in the Army01:08:07 The Revolution in ContextRECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES🎧 Episode 158: The Revolutionaries' Army🎧 Episode 122: The Men Who Lost America🎧 Episode 252: The Highland Soldier in North America🎧 Episode 302: From Inoculation to Vaccination, Pt 2🎧 Episode 348: Valley Forge🎧 Episode 374: The Revolutionary War in the WestSUPPORT OUR WORK🎁 Make a Donation to Ben Franklin’s WorldREQUEST A TOPIC📨 Topic Request Form📫 liz@benfranklinsworld.comWHEN YOU'RE READY🗞️ BFW Gazette Newsletter 👩‍💻 Join the BFW Listener Community🌍 Join the History Explorers ClubTAKE THE QUIZ🧭 Discover How You Explore History (under 2 minutes)👉 https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/quizLISTEN 🎧🍎 Apple Podcasts 💚 Spotify 🎶 Amazon Music🛜 PandoraCONNECT🦋 Liz on Bluesky👩‍💻 Liz on LinkedIn🛜 Liz’s WebsiteSAY THANKS💜 Leave a review on Apple Podcasts💚 Leave a rating on Spotify*Book links are affiliate links. Every purchase supports the podcast.
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