Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchA Failed Nation - Thirteen Nations
Season 15 Episode 9
There were thirteen United States — and to the rest of the world, there were thirteen nations. This is the story of what that cost. In 1785, pirates …
1 day, 4 hours ago
A Failed Nation - Driven into a Separation
Season 15 Episode 8
The Treaty of Paris handed the United States a wilderness empire running to the Mississippi and the Great Lakes — and the bankrupt Confederation need…
3 days, 4 hours ago
A Failed Nation - The Closed River
Season 15 Episode 7
In 1784, Spain closed the lower Mississippi River — and with it, the only road to market for the tens of thousands of Americans pouring into Kentucky…
1 week, 1 day ago
A Failed Nation - Shays’ Rebellion
Season 15 Episode 6
In the winter of 1787, a few thousand indebted farmers in western Massachusetts marched on their own government — and though they lost their one real…
1 week, 3 days ago
A Failed Nation - Rogue Island
Season 15 Episode 5
In September 1786, a Newport butcher named John Weeden refused to take paper money for a joint of meat, and demanded silver. Under Rhode Island law, …
2 weeks, 1 day ago
A Failed Nation - Pennies on the Dollar
Season 15 Episode 4
In 1786 the Congress of the United States asked the thirteen states for 3.8 million dollars to pay the debts of the Revolution. It collected 663 doll…
2 weeks, 3 days ago
A Failed Nation - The Financier
Season 15 Episode 3
He was the richest man in America, and for most of the Revolution he was also its treasury. When the United States had no money and no credit, it bor…
3 weeks, 1 day ago
A Failed Nation - A Dangerous Instrument
Season 15 Episode 2
In the spring of 1783, with the Revolution all but won, the most dangerous enemy of the United States was its own army. Unpaid for years, cheated of …
3 weeks, 3 days ago
A Failed Nation - A Rope of Sand
Season 15 Episode 1
On December 23rd, 1783, in the Senate chamber at Annapolis, George Washington did the thing conquerors never do: he laid his commission at the feet o…
3 weeks, 5 days ago
Interlude
Season 22 Episode 1
If you've listening to this, you been with this show a while, scroll back to the beginning of the feed. Everything down there is new.
Every episode fr…
1 month ago