Episodes
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Deane Gets Busy–October 6, 1776
We’ve talked so much about Silas Deane that I don’t have much new to share in this space, so I’ll tell you a little about his house. The house in today’s cover art was completed in 1769. It’s located in Wethersfield, Connecticut. The facade is asymmetrical because there was a porch at one time....
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America Benefits From French Politics–May 12, 1776
Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes, was France’s Foreign Minister from 1774 to 1787 during Louis XVI’s reign. France was still salty about having lost the Seven Years’ War. On this side of the pond we refer to it as the French and Indian War, but this was a global affair that took place mostly…
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The French Connection–March 1, 1776
We bumped into a little dilemma when putting together this episode. Specifically, what do we do when 1776 doesn’t match up with 2026? As it turns out, 1776 was a leap year, so that year had a February 29, whereas 2026 does not. So we decided to do what most Leap Babies seem to do: […] The post…
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Vive La France–February 6, 1776
Much like the Hessians of our last episode, the story involving our getting French recognition and friendship is longer and more complex than most people realize. The events of today were important, but they laid the groundwork for so much more in the future. France was already annoyed with…
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Jean-Guillaume Hyde–January 24, 1776
While the United States has had its share of international mishaps, not all of them have been created by Americans. Jean-Guillaume Hyde, more properly known as “Jean-Guillaume, baron Hyde de Neuville”, would be an early example of this. Hyde was probably a textbook case of failing upward, as he...
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A Plan For Reconciliation–January 3, 1776
It was called “A Plan of Accommodation,” and it had been in the works for most of the previous year before Lord Drummond tried to present it to the Second Continental Congress. Taxation was the big ticket item originally, but they managed to work that out with a perpetual grant of a percentage of...
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July 14, 1775: Support From An Odd Place
Lord John Wilkes was an interesting person who was always willing to run against popular opinion if he felt strongly that he was in the right. In 1769 he fought for the right of his voters – rather than the House of Commons – to determine their representatives. In 1761 he got Parliament to…
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March 21, 1775: Franklin Departs London Forever
Benjamin Franklin was pretty good at diplomacy, but even when given several years to try, he was unable to bring about peace between England and the Thirteen Colonies. From December 1774 through February 1775, he and some of his British friends tried to put together a map to peace, but...
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March 18, 1775: Ben Franklin Confides in Edmund Burke
Among the casualties of the early days of American History are all the friendships that were damaged by people being on opposite sides of the political fence. Good thing we’re all past that sort of petty nonsense nowadays, amirite? Sigh. We’ve talked in the past about John Adams and his former...
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250 and Counting: January 29, 1775
Benjamin Franklin, like many of our Founding Fathers, was interested in repairing the relationship between the Colonies and England, at least early on. What’s more, he thought that others in similar positions would be of a similar mind, so he was rather dismayed to learn that this wasn’t the…
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