Freedoms We Lost in the American Revolution

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?

In this episode of Ben Franklin’s World: A Podcast About Early American History, 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 (The New Press, 2010), 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. You can listen to the podcast here: www.benfranklinsworld.com/154

Ben Franklin’s World is a podcast 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 world. Each episode features an interview with an historian who shares their unique insights into our early American past. It is a production of the Omohundro Institute.