History, Natural History & the Arts
Five men served on the Second Continental Congress’s Committee of Five, to produce the Declaration of Independence. We know three of them well: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin. But who were the other two?
The latest episode of the Ben Franklin’s World podcast explores the lives and contributions of Robert R. Livingston of New York and Roger Sherman of Connecticut. [Read more…] about Robert R. Livingston and the Declaration of Independence
In June 1776, the Second Continental Congress faced a question every new nation must answer: how do you make other countries take you seriously?
Declaring independence was one thing. Convincing France, Spain, or the Netherlands to risk war on your behalf was another. [Read more…] about The Road to Independence: The Model Treaty
A 70-year-old Benjamin Franklin passed through upstate New York in the spring of 1776 on a mission to Canada that failed in the moment but helped shape the American Revolution.
Traveling north in poor health, Franklin traveled up the Hudson River, passing through Albany, Saratoga, and up Lake Champlain, reaching Montreal in April 1776. [Read more…] about Benjamin Franklin’s Travels Through Upstate New York in 1776
The founders established the post office before they had even signed the Declaration of Independence, and for a very long time, it was the U.S. government’s largest and most important endeavor — indeed, it was the government for most citizens.
This was no conventional mail network but the central nervous system of the new body politic, designed to bind thirteen quarrelsome colonies into the United States by delivering news about public affairs to every citizen — a radical idea that appalled Europe’s great powers. [Read more…] about The Creation of the Postal Service & American Political Culture
An almanac (often spelled in the old days “almanack”), in its simplest form, is a book containing a calendar that includes notations for holidays and holy days, as well as astronomical information such as the rising and setting of the sun and moon, the phases of the moon, high and low tides. They also often include weather forecasts and agricultural tips.
The history of almanacs spans from ancient Babylonian cuneiform tablets to modern publications (including digital apps). The Oxford Dictionary of English says that the word comes “via Old French and medieval Latin from Spanish Arabic al-manāk (the calendar),” but there remains much discussion of its origins. The word itself, which has roots in the Middle East, seems to have been used in the West with something like its present meaning in the 1200s. [Read more…] about Almanacs: Remarkable Historical Resources
For Europeans planning or being forced to migrate, the concept of the United States as a virtually border-less society remained alive until the passing of the Immigration Act of 1917 (this was not the case for other groups). It offered an opportunity to governments to “shovel out” troublesome subjects.
The German term Übersiedelung (literally: relocation) was used by officials of the Kingdom of Hanover to describe the practice of exiling “unwanted” subjects to America. From the early 1830s to 1866 (when Hanover was conquered by Prussia), some three thousand individuals – most of them petty criminals or paupers – were expelled from the territory. [Read more…] about Deportations, Convict Ancestors, Rattlesnakes & American Identity
What follows is excerpted from “The New York Post Office in Olden Times, by W.B.,Taylor, a paper read before the New York Historical Society on October 7, 1851.
The first regulation providing for the transmission of letters by post in the Province of New York, bears [the] date 10 December, 1672, when Governor [Francis] Lovelace [ca. 1621-1675] established “a post to go monthly” from New York to Boston and back again. [Read more…] about The Establishment of Postal Service in New York
The Little Ice Age was a period of regional cooling, particularly in Europe and North America, roughly from 1300 to 1850. The winter of 1740-1741 was exceptionally cold in North America. And as Benjamin Franklin looked around his house and neighborhood in Philadelphia, he saw a problem in need of fixing: energy going to waste as people consumed wood to keep their homes warm. [Read more…] about The Franklin Stove & The Little Ice Age
Philadelphia was one of New York City‘s most important economic and cultural rivals in Early America.
Philadelphia: A Narrative History (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2024) by Paul Kahan is a comprehensive history of Philadelphia from the region’s original Lenape inhabitants to the myriad of residents in the twenty-first century that underpins that relationship for those interested in New York history.
[Read more…] about New Philadelphia History Highlight’s Former NYC Rival
Two hundred fifty years ago, in May 1775, delegates from thirteen British North American colonies gathered in Philadelphia for the Second Continental Congress.
Why was Philadelphia chosen as the seat of Congress? What made the city a critical hub for revolutionary ideas, commerce, and culture? And how has Philadelphia’s early history shaped the broader narrative of American Independence? Join the Ben Franklin’s World podcast for an exploration of Philadelphia’s early history. [Read more…] about Philadelphia: An Early History
Do you know what time it is? In early America, this question wasn’t as simple to answer as it is today.
Urban dwellers in cities like New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston often wondered about the time — but few owned their own watches or clocks. So, how did they keep track of the hours? [Read more…] about Ticking Through Time: Clocks, Watches, and Life in Early America
How do historians define Ben Franklin’s “world?” What historical event, person, or place in the era of Ben Franklin do they wish you knew about?
In celebration of the 400th episode of the Ben Franklin’s World podcast, we posed these questions to more than 20 scholars. [Read more…] about How Historians Define Ben Franklin’s World
You might say that the history of our postal system began when Benjamin Franklin, age 31, was appointed Postmaster of Philadelphia by the colonial British authorities in 1737.
Not that there hadn’t been earlier embryonic attempts at mail service in the colonies, but Franklin was already the very successful proprietor of a print business and publisher of a newspaper, The Pennsylvania Gazette. His experience had taught him to be a meticulous record-keeper and a master of organization. So it’s hardly surprising that he shaped the Philadelphia mails into a swift and responsive enterprise. [Read more…] about Some History of the US Postal Service
In 1727, Benjamin Franklin and friends formed the Junto Club (from the Spanish junta or assembly) in Philadelphia, a debating society that probed questions of morality, politics and philosophy. The group was composed of twelve members drawn from diverse backgrounds, but they all shared a spirit of inquiry and a desire to improve society.
Access to books was limited at the time. Most of them were imported and expensive. There were no public libraries. [Read more…] about Black Librarians & America’s Battles Over Books
Recently there was tremendous interest in the solar eclipse of April 8, 2024, especially for those living in or traveling to the 110 mile swath of totality. Television news, newspapers, and other media outlets had countless stories about where to find the best viewing places, how to get there and back, and how to safely watch the eclipse, as well as plenty of post event comments and impressions. Eclipse mania prevailed!
But was there similar interest in the 18th century, particularly during the years of the American Revolution? Between 1701 and 1800, there were 251 solar eclipses worldwide, of which 62 were total. More specifically, there were 54 between 1763 and 1783, of which 13 were total. Most were not easily seen in eastern North America other than two: June 24, 1778 and October 27, 1780. [Read more…] about Solar Eclipses During The American Revolution
“The most famous of American almanacs, Benjamin Franklin‘s Poor Richard’s Almanack, which was published annually from 1732 to 1758, begins each edition by invoking its year’s distance from both the birth of Christ and the year of Creation as calculated by varying ancient cultures,” says historian Jill Spivey Caddell. [Read more…] about Confederate Almanacs: Harvests and Histories
On July 23, 1788, a colorful “Federal Procession” of nearly 5,000 citizens marched through Lower Manhattan in celebration of the ratification of the Constitution. The Order of the Procession was divided in ten divisions representing various trades and professions. One of those involved in the manifestation was a young Federalist and lexicographer by the name of Noah Webster. [Read more…] about Noah Webster’s Dictionary for Independence
In this episode of Ben Franklin’s World, Nancy Rubin Stuart, an award-winning historian and journalist and author of Poor Richard’s Women: Deborah Read Franklin and the Other Women Behind the Founding Father (Beacon Press, 2022), joins Liz Covart to investigate the private life of Benjamin Franklin by using the women in his life as a window on to his experiences as a husband, father, and friend. [Read more…] about The Women Behind Benjamin Franklin
In 2023, the United States Military Academy will remove 13 Confederate symbols on its West Point campus. They include a portrait of Robert E. Lee dressed in a Confederate uniform, a stone bust of Lee, who was superintendent of West Point before the Civil War, and a bronze plaque with an image of a hooded figure and the words “Ku Klux Klan.”
Art displayed in the United States Capitol building in Washington, DC, still includes images of 141 enslavers and 13 Confederates who went to war against the country. A study by the Washington Post found that more than one-third of the statues and portraits in the Capitol building honor enslavers or Confederates and at least six more honor possible enslavers where evidence is disputed. [Read more…] about US, NYS Continues To Honor Slavers, Racists, Traitors and Scoundrels
Over the years, much has been written about the Freemasons (or Masons) involved in the American Revolution, including George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Paul Revere. Freemasonry is a voluntary self-betterment association that teaches moral, intellectual, and spiritual lessons through theatrical initiation ceremonies. [Read more…] about Freemasons and the Surrender of General Burgoyne at Saratoga
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