On June 18, 1812, Congress passed and President James Madison signed a declaration of war against Great Britain, marking the beginning of the War of 1812. Frustrated by Britain’s maritime practices and support of Native American resistance to western expansion, the U.S. entered the war with ambitious plans to conquer Canada, a goal that was never realized. [Read more…] about June 18, 1812: War of 1812 Begins When US Declares War On Great Britain
Detroit
When Travel Stopped: The 1872 Equine Influenza Epizootic
In 1872, the economy of North America was threatened by an epizootic (animal epidemic) of equine influenza (horse flu), known as “The Great Epizootic of 1872.” The outbreak is believed to have been the most destructive recorded episode of equine influenza in history.
The virus was highly contagious among horses, spread mainly through droplets made when the animal coughs or sneezes. [Read more…] about When Travel Stopped: The 1872 Equine Influenza Epizootic
Some History of the Myaamia People
In this episode of Ben Franklin’s World, Diane Hunter and John Bickers join us to investigate the history and culture of one of the Myaamia (Miami) people, one of the at least 1,000 Algonquian speaking Indigenous tribes and nations living in different areas of North America before the Spanish and other European empires arrived on the continent’s shores. [Read more…] about Some History of the Myaamia People
The Rebellions of 1837-1838: American Influence & The Formation of Canada
The Rebellions of 1837-1838 were insurrections against the oligarchic government of the British colonies of Lower and Upper Canada in 1837 and 1838. The rebellion began in Lower Canada but quickly spread to Upper Canada as well. [Read more…] about The Rebellions of 1837-1838: American Influence & The Formation of Canada
The French and Indian War: A New York Perspective
In the early 1750s, the French were establishing trading posts and building forts along western the frontiers of the British colonies. In the fall of 1753, in part to protect his own claims on Indigenous lands, Virginia Lieutenant Governor Robert Dinwiddie had sent 22-year-old George Washington (then a militia leader and surveyor) to deliver a letter to Fort Le Boeuf at what is today Waterford in northwest Pennsylvania, demanding they stop. [Read more…] about The French and Indian War: A New York Perspective
Frontier Seaport: Detroit’s Transformation into an Atlantic Entrepôt
Located 600 miles inland from Philadelphia and over 700 miles from Québec City, early Detroit could have been a backwater, a frontier post that Europeans established to protect colonial settlements from Native American attacks. Yet Detroit emerged as a cosmopolitan entrepôt filled with many different people and all of the goods you would expect to find in early Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, or Charleston.
In this podcast episode we explore the early history of Detroit with Catherine Cangany, an associate professor of history at the University of Notre Dame and author of Frontier Seaport: Detroit’s Transformation into an Atlantic Entrepôt (University of Chicago Press, 2014). [Read more…] about Frontier Seaport: Detroit’s Transformation into an Atlantic Entrepôt