Revolution 250 Podcast Robert Allison

Birthplace of American Independence--Ipswich, Massachusetts?  In 1687, when King James II tried to take away the power of people in Massachusetts towns to govern themselves, Reverend John Wise of Ipswich lead the town into resistance--leading to his arrest, and the arrest of town leaders.  But they stood together--and in an unrelated development, Parliament sent King James packing off to France.  When Parliament in the 1760s again tried to assert control, Ipswich stood together, and reminded other Massachusetts patriots of the writings of John Wise.  We talk with Gordon Harris, town historian and organizer of the Historic Ipswich website, about the town of Ipswich, the Ipswich Resolves of 1774, and why this small town had such a big impact on the Revolution. 

Congress has bestowed on National Mall Liberty Fund DC the honor of establishing a memorial in Washington’s Monumental Core to tens of thousands of African American solders, sailors, marines, patriots and liberty seekers of the Revolutionary War.  In preparation for the design and construction of such a memorial, the National Mall Liberty Fund has been working to document the histories and stories of these valiant soldiers.  We talk with  Maurice Barboza, the Executive Director of the National Mall Liberty Fund.

November 5, 1774, at Fort Gower on the Ohio River, Virginia militiamen vowed that their" Love of Liberty, and Attachment to the real Interests and just Rights of America outweigh every other Consideration," and resolved to use  "every Power within us for the Defence of American Liberty, and for the Support of her just Rights and Privileges; not in any precipitate, riotous, or tumultous Manner, but when regularly called forth by the unanimous Voice of our Countrymen."  We talk with Chris Matheny, Historic Site Manager at Ohio's Statehouse, about this important event and its impact on the future of Ohio and of the American people. 

South Carolina's impact on the outcome of the war as well as the founding of the new nation cannot be overstated.  We turn to Walter Edgar, retired George Washington Distinguished Professor of History at the University of South Carolina,  host of the popular podcast, “South Carolina from A to Z.” and author of the must-read volume Partisans and Redcoats: The Southern Campaign that Turned the Tide of the American Revolution  to untangle the complicated story of the Revolution at its most violent and fascinating.  

Did you know that the generation that declared independence from Great Britain were closer to the Mayflower generation than we are to the Independence generation?  150 years after the landing of the Mayflower with 102 passengers on the tip of Cape Cod, their descendants were leading 13 Colonies in a spirited and armed defense of the rights and liberties of mankind. Now, 250 years later we talk with Mark Schmidt, Executive Director of the General Society of Mayflower Descendants, on the lasting impact of that first generation of Colonists, how their descendants saw themselves connected to the empire and how tens of thousands of modern Americans help preserve, promote and commemorate the lives and legacies of their ancestors, passengers of the Mayflower.

https://themayflowersociety.org/

George Rogers Clark conquered the Northwest. Or did he? We talk with Larry Nelson, historian of Ohio, co-author (with David Curtis Skaggs) of The Sixty Years War for the Great Lakes 1754-1814, about the Northwest Territory in the Revolution, and a book about Alexander McKee. This area, larger than the existing 13 colonies, was contested by the Native People who lived in it, the British, Spanish, French, and Americans. Clark could invade it, could win it, but could not keep it. The Revolutionary period was one episode in a long series of wars over this contested middle ground.