Liz Covart

Liz Covart is the Digital Projects Editor at the Omohundro Institute at the College of William and Mary. She holds a Ph.D. in history from the University of California, Davis. For more information about Liz and her podcast visit lizcovart.com.

The President’s Cabinet

August 5, 2020 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

As the first President of the United States, George Washington set many precedents for the new nation. One of the biggest precedents Washington set came in the form of the Cabinet, a body of advisors from across the U.S. government who advise the president on how to handle matters of foreign and domestic policy.

In this episode of the Ben Franklin’s World podcast, we investigate Washington’s creation of the Cabinet and how it became a government institution with Lindsay Chervinsky author of the book, The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution (Harvard Belknap Press, 2020).

Polygamy: An Early American History

July 22, 2020 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

Polygamy is not a practice that often comes to mind when many of us think about early America. But it turns out, that polygamy was a ubiquitous practice among different groups of early Americans living in 17th and 18th-century North America.

In this episode of the Ben Franklin’s World podcast, Sarah Pearsall, a University Teaching Officer, Fellow, and Historian at the University of Cambridge, joins us to discuss the surprising history of polygamy in early North America, with details from her book, Polygamy: An Early American History (Yale University Press, 2019). [Read more…] about Polygamy: An Early American History

Whose Fourth of July?

July 1, 2020 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass delivered a speech to the Rochester, New York Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society and he famously asked “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”

In this episode of Ben Franklin’s World, we explore Douglass’ thoughtful question within the context of Early America: What did the Fourth of July mean for African Americans in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries?

Doctor Benjamin Rush As Founding Father

June 24, 2020 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

In this episode of the Ben Franklin’s World podcast, Stephen Fried, an award-winning journalist and author of Rush: Revolution, Madness, and Benjamin Rush, the Visionary Doctor Who Became a Founding Father (Crown, 2018), joins us to explore the life and deeds of one founder we don’t always talk about, Benjamin Rush.

Pets in Early America (Podcast)

June 10, 2020 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

What was it like to keep a pet in Early America? How did early Americans acquire pets? What kinds of animals did early Americans keep as pets?

In this episode of the Ben Franklin’s World podcast, Ingrid Tague, a Professor of History at the University of Denver and the author of Animal Companions: Pets and Social Change in Eighteenth-Century Britain (Penn State University Press, 2017), joins us to answer questions about pets and pet keeping in Early America.

Walter Raleigh, An Architect of Empire

May 27, 2020 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

What do we know about how and why England came to establish its first permanent colony at Jamestown? And what do we know about the English colony that came before it, the Colony of Roanoke?

In this episode of Ben Franklin’s World: A Podcast About Early American History, Alan Gallay, Lyndon B. Johnson chair of United States History at Texas Christian University and author of Walter Ralegh: Architect of Empire (Basic Books, 2019), leads us on exploration of the life and work of Sir Walter Ralegh (also spelled Walter Raleigh), the man who crafted the blueprint for England’s colonization plans in the Americas.

19th Century Botany, Medicine, and Philanthropy (Podcast)

May 6, 2020 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

How did Americans learn to establish philanthropic institutions?

In this episode of the Ben Franklin’s World: A Podcast About Early American History, 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 of the Early Republic (Liveright, 2018), leads us on an investigation of the life of Dr. David Hosack and the many organizations he founded, including the Elgin Botanical Garden.

Origins of the Eleventh Amendment (Podcast)

April 29, 2020 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

What do you know about the Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution?

In this episode of the Ben Franklin’s World podcast, Caitlin Galante-DeAngelis Hopkins, a Lecturer in the History Department at Harvard University and a former research associate for the Harvard and Slavery Project, joins us to explore the origins of the Eleventh Amendment and why the United States added it to its Constitution. [Read more…] about Origins of the Eleventh Amendment (Podcast)

The Oregon Trail (Podcast)

April 22, 2020 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

Do you have what it takes to be a pioneer?

If offered the opportunity, would you undertake a journey across the Oregon Trail in a mule-pulled covered wagon?

Today, we explore the Oregon Trail past and present with Rinker Buck, author of The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey (Simon & Schuster, 2015). [Read more…] about The Oregon Trail (Podcast)

The Age of American Revolutions (Podcast)

April 15, 2020 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

The American Revolution inspired revolutions in France, the Caribbean, and in Latin and South America between the late 18th and mid-19th centuries.

Naturally, Spanish and Portuguese American revolutionaries turned to the United States for assistance with their fights. How did Americans in the United States respond to these calls for assistance? What did they make of these other “American Revolutions?” [Read more…] about The Age of American Revolutions (Podcast)