Revolution 250 Podcast
Revolution 250 is a consortium of organizations in New England planning commemorations of the American Revolution's 250th anniversary. https://revolution250.org/Through this podcast you will meet many of the people involved in these commemorations, and learn about the people who brought about the Revolution--which began here. To support Revolution 250, visit https://www.masshist.org/rev250Theme Music: "Road to Boston" fifes: Doug Quigley, Peter Emerick; Drums: Dave Emerick
Episodes
219 episodes
The Memory of '76 with Michael Hattem
For the last 250 years Americans remain conflicted over the meaning and legacy of the Revolution—including the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. All of the social and political movements of the last two centuries have been shape...
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Season 4
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Episode 45
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38:46
Declarations of Independence in the Susquehanna Valley with Christopher Pearl
On July 4, 1776, two hundred miles northwest of Philadelphia, on Indigenous land along the West Branch of the Susquehanna River, a group of colonial squatters declared their independence. They were not alone in their efforts. This bold symbolic...
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Season 5
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Episode 44
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38:25
Religion of Revolution: Congregational Voices on Liberty
Congregationalists--clergy and congregations—were the driving force in New England's Revolution. Interpreting liberty through their own religious framework, which included principles of autonomy, fellowship, and consensus, Congregat...
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Season 5
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Episode 43
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41:30
The Great Salem fire of 1774
In between the abortive call from Governor Thomas Gage for the legislature to convene in Salem on the 5th of October 1774, and the formation by those same legislators of a Provincial Congress on the 7th October 1774, a terrible fire took place ...
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Season 5
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Episode 42
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41:20
Massachusetts vs. Virginia, with Bob Gross and Woody Holton
Was it the embattled farmers and Sons of Liberty, or the indebted planters shouting "Give me Liberty or give me Death!" that brought on the Revolution? Who held the first Provincial Convention or Congress? Who was first to resist the Crown's tr...
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Season 5
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Episode 41
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43:57
The Revolutionary War Exhibit at the National Museum of the U.S. Army
June 14, 2025 will be the 250th anniversary of the formation of the US Army by the 2nd Continental Congress. In preparation to celebrate the Army's birthday and to comemmorate the 250th Anniversary of the American Revolution, the
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Season 5
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Episode 40
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37:30
Forgotten Patriots with Ray Anthony Shepard
A conversation with award-winning author Ray Anthony Shepard, who is introducing young readers to stories from American history focused on race. He has written on the the vaunted
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Season 5
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Episode 39
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38:46
1774: The Year the Empire Struck Back!
The Sons of Liberty exulted over the Boston Tea Party, but they also would have been familiar with the proverb "he who dances must pay the piper." The "piper" in this case turned out to be General Thomas Gage who arrived in Boston in May ...
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Season 5
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Episode 38
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41:01
William Prescott:Stalwart of Bunker Hill
Few images of the Battle of Bunker Hill are as evocative as Colonell William Prescott striding up and down the walls of the redoubt, his sword drawn, his banyan fluttering in the breeze as the British regiments marched up the hill. The st...
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Season 5
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Episode 37
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45:01
Thomas Jefferson - A Man of Contradictions with Jane Kamensky
Thomas Jefferson contained multitudes. Like the nation he helped to create, Jefferson was a fascinating man of contradictions: a party leader who did not believe in political parties, an apostle of liberty who owned others, and a "m...
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Season 5
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Episode 36
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40:57
Revolutionary War Shipwrecks of New Jersey with Capt. Steve Nagiewicz
The Mullica River in southern New Jersey was a haven for American privateers, who in the fall of 1778 had eighteen captured British vessels at anchor, their cargoes delivered to Washington's army. Sir Henry Clinton sent a raiding party fr...
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Season 5
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Episode 35
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40:43
"Oh That Dreadful Tea!" - the Musical
Ruthanne Paulson and Deborah Potee have created a musical, "Oh, That Dreadful Tea," designed to allow kids to experience the thrill of performing and telling the story of the Boston...
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Season 5
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Episode 34
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37:25
Marquis de Lafayette Returns, a conversation with Elizabeth Reese
2024 marks the bicentennial of the return of the Marquis de Lafayette to the United States. In 1824, President James Monroe invited Lafayette, the last surviving Major General of the Revolution, to be the guest of the nation as a way to c...
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Season 5
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Episode 33
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35:29
Brooks Lyles & the Sons of the American Revolution
Since 1889 the Sons of the American Revolution have been working to preserve the memories of those who fought and supported the American Revolution. While the national headquarters is in Louisville, Kent...
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Season 5
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Episode 32
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45:02
A Brilliant Solution with Carol Berkin
In the summer of 1787, 55 delegates assembled at Philadelphia to write a new Constitution for the new United States of America. The document that was finally agreed upon on September 15, 1787 was not without controversy. The complet...
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Season 5
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Episode 31
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42:47
George Washington's Long Island Spy Ring
Agents, double-agents, spies, secret messages, codes, cyphers are the words that evoke the world of intelligence gathering, a necessary tool for the success of any army. George Washington knew better than anyone the value of knowing what ...
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Season 5
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Episode 30
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36:51
The Many Rides of Paul Revere
"Listen my children, and you shall hear, of the midnight ride of Paul Revere." With this one line, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ensured the legacy of 18th-century Boston silversmith, mechanic and entrepreneur, Paul Revere. The poem, p...
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Season 5
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Episode 29
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48:10
The Whiskey Rebellion with Brady J. Crytzer
The "Whiskey Rebellion," as Alexander Hamilton called it, was the first major test of the new government's power to control its territory. The Whiskey Tax of 1791 taxed smaller producers of whiskey, and required all stills to be registere...
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Season 5
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Episode 28
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38:34
John Trumbull, Painter of the Revolution with Richard Brookhiser
We see him as the artist who gave us the iconic imagery of our nation's founding. He saw himself as a historian. John Trumbull, soldier, spy, and artist was the son of a Connecticut Governor, a scion of the first-families of New Eng...
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Season 5
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Episode 27
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37:20
Sarah Johnson's Mt. Vernon with Scott E. Casper
Mount Vernon's historical status was secured by George Washington's ownership, but its full history cannot be told without examining the other people who lived here. Sarah Johnson, first living enslaved at Mount Vernon and later emancipated, sa...
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Season 5
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Episode 26
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38:15
Revolutionary Blacks with Shirley Green
Ben and William Frank became part of the Second Rhode Island Regiment in 1777. AFter figinting in the Battle of Rhode Island, Ben switched sides, joined with the British, and wound up in Nova Scotia after the war. His descendant Shi...
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Season 5
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Episode 25
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38:06
The Creation of the American Republic with Gordon Wood
As we approach our 200th episode we talk with Gordon Wood on his first book,
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Season 5
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Episode 24
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38:49
By His Excellency's Command: Revolution in Salem, with Emily Murphy
June 2024 marks the 250th Anniversary of General & Governor Thomas Gage's attempt to move the Massachusetts government to Salem. Join us as we learn how this important seaport town reacted to 2 regiments of Redcoats moving into town. ...
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Season 5
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Episode 23
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45:16
The Age of Revolutions with Nathan Perl-Rosenthal
The Revolution 250 tag line is that these Revolutionary moments in America are "Moments that Changed the World." Within two generations of the end of the French and Indian wars, social and political hierarchies lay in ruins across the Ame...
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Season 5
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Episode 22
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39:05
George Washington, The Man, The Myth, The General, with Edward G. Lengel
How well do we know George Washington, the man—and why have we created so many myths about him? We talk with Edward G. Lengel, award-winning author and teacher, and long-time editor-in-chief of the Washington Papers Project, about this well-kno...
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Season 5
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Episode 21
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41:23