250 and Counting

Tag: US History

  • March 18, 1775: Ben Franklin Confides in Edmund Burke

    Cover art for March 18, 1775: Portrait of Edmund Burke. 1771 by Joshua Reynolds

    Among the casualties of the early days of American History are all the friendships that were damaged by people being on opposite sides of the political fence. Good thing we’re all past that sort of petty nonsense nowadays, amirite?

    Sigh.

    We’ve talked in the past about John Adams and his former friend Daniel Leonard, who sparred in print under pen names and never quite repaired their relationship. Today we talk about Benjamin Franklin and Edmund Burke, a member of the British Parliament who was good friends with Franklin, though perhaps not publicly. Today marks the likely last day that the two men ever saw each other, as Franklin was on the final trip to England of his lifetime. Sadder still, Burke was actually sympathetic to the Colonist cause, though he wasn’t entirely convinced that they’d win a war.

    On the other hand, hardly anyone was convinced that Britain would be defeated, so there’s that.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

  • March 17, 1775: Ninian Edwards and His Illinois Doings

    Cover art for March 17, 1775: Portrait of Ninian Edwards, artist unknown, currently hanging in the Illinois State Capitol's Hall of Governors.

    (Yeah, we couldn’t fit all that on the title card and have the artwork still visible.)

    Happy St. Patrick’s Day, if you’re the type to celebrate! We have a little Easter Egg (shamrock?) in this episode for you.

    Ninian Edwards was an interesting character in that he tried very hard to make the best choices for the people he represented, and while he succeeded in some respects, in others it seems he left a trail of hard feelings and broken plans.

    But with a single exception he doesn’t seem to have acted out of malice, or greed. It’s just that most of the things he’s known for didn’t quite work out the way he hoped. And yet, he still remains in the record book for a job he held in his youth, and for being one of Illinois’ first senators.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

  • March 15, 1775: New York Calls for Delegates

    Cover art for March 15, 1775: A 2012 photo of Fraunces Tavern in Lower Manhattan, site of the Committees' meetings.

    The New York colony gets a bad reputation for not having its act together when it came to American Independence, but the fact is, they were late to the party because they held on to their loyalty to the Crown until there was clearly no more reason to do so. Simply put, they were the last holdout.

    What makes this extra remarkable is that most of the residents of New York really had no reason to be loyal to King George III, since they weren’t English-born, nor were they the descendants of Englishmen. Instead, most of them were descended from Dutch settlers from over a hundred years earlier.

    But eventually they did come around, and when they did they showed an ability to snap into action quickly.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

  • March 14, 1775: Lord Dunmore Calls for Help

    Cover art for March 14, 1775: John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore by Sir Joshua Reynolds, via Google Art Project

    John Murray, the Fourth Earl of Dunmore, or more commonly Lord Dunmore, came to the Colonies in 1770 to become the Royal Governor of New York, but fate intervened and he wound up as the Royal Governor of Virginia instead.

    He might have fared better in New York, but given the events of the Westminster Massacre you learned about yesterday, we’re not sure it would have made much difference. Dunmore wasn’t an especially good politician in general, and he didn’t hold the Colonists in an especially high esteem. And that’s the sort of thing that A) isn’t easily concealed, and B) doesn’t always go over well with your constituents. Not always.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

  • March 13, 1775: The Westminster Massacre

    Cover art for March 13, 1775: An etching of the Court House at Westminster, which no longer stands.

    The Westminster Massacre was a seminal event in the history of both the United States and the State of Vermont.

    At that time, Vermont was a disputed territory between New York, which was loaded with Loyalists, and New Hampshire, which had many Patriots. So when a group of five dozen New Yorkers showed up to break up a New Hampshire rally, there clearly wasn’t going to be a happy ending to the encounter.

    But afterward, many New Yorkers were ejected from the area and nearly two years later, Vermont declared its independence from everybody, calling itself its own country rather than a British colony or an American state. It was a condition that lasted until 1791.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

  • March 12, 1775: Henry Eckford, Shipbuilder

    Cover art for March 12, 1775: portrait of Henry Eckford, probably painted by John Wesley Jarvis

    Henry Eckford was born in Scotland on this day in 1775 and died in Constantinople in 1832. In between he spent a great deal of time in the Thirteen Colonies and then the United States, primarily in New York.

    Eckford also dabbled in politics, serving in the state legislature and as a delegate to the Electoral College, before moving to the Ottoman Empire to assist with rebuilding the fleet there. He died quite suddenly there, probably of cholera, and his body was brought back to America, where he was buried in the graveyard at St. George’s Episcopal Church in Hempstead, L.I., along with his wife.

    Coincidentally, many years ago I attended a wedding in that church. The weird bumps you make with history when you live on the East Coast, I tell you what.

    (At right: Eckford’s grave; picture via findagrave.com)

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

  • March 10, 2025: Daniel Boone Paves the Way for Kentucky

    Cover art for March 10, 1775: portrait of Daniel Boone by Chester Harding, from 1820. It's the only known portrait of Boone made during his lifetime.

    Because of popular culture in the 1950s and 1960s, Daniel Boone is probably one of the more colorful figures in American history. He was born in Pennsylvania, but it was in the frontier territory. He had little formal education, but he could read and write, even if his spelling was unorthodox. (In fact, oftentimes when he went on hunting or exploring expeditions, he was the only literate man in the group.) He was court-martialed at one point, but found Not Guilty and received a promotion afterwards.

    He was a businessman, a politician, and an explorer, and it’s this last one that we’re going to look at today in 1775.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

  • March 9, 1775: The Restraining Act Moves Forward

    Cover art for March 9, 1775: Portrait of Joseph Hewes, artist unknown

    We’ve talked about the New England Restraining Acts in the past, but now they’re being put to actual votes by Parliament. And on this day in 1775, they take another step forward when the House of Commons passes the measure.

    With still more economic pressure placed on the Colonies (and the Act itself, by the way, not yet in full force), is it any wonder that the tensions escalated into actual war?

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

  • March 8, 1775

    Cover art for March 8, 1775: the front page of the March 8, 1775 Pennsylvania Journal.

    It was on this day that an essay appeared in the Pennsylvania Journal advocating for the abolition of slavery. The content wasn’t a huge surprise for Pennsylvania, but the interesting thing is: the essay is known for being written under a pen name, and for a long time, people were pretty sure they knew who that person was.

    They’re still not 100% positive.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

  • March 7, 1775

    Cover art for March 7, 1775: detail of a map of New England prepared by Braddock Mead (alias John Green), 1774

    [NOTE: our apologies for those who came early and got the wrong file. We hope at least that you enjoyed the re-run. The correct file is now in place. –CC]

    Topsfield, Massachusetts wanted to be prepared when the British came. What’s more, they wanted to ensure that their militiamen were drilled and fully outfitted should the need arise. To that end, they offered some of the best wages for their Minutemen.

    But they had some trouble recruiting at first, until the town’s selectmen decided that their initial force wasn’t nearly formidable enough.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed