Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchGerrymandering Explained: From Elbridge Gerry to Algorithmic Maps
Episode 13324
In 1812, Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry signed a redistricting bill that twisted one South Essex district into a shape a Boston Gazette cartoo…
4 days, 17 hours ago
Inside Mount Vernon: George Washington's Home, Farm, and Contradictions
Episode 13323
Inside the foyer of Mount Vernon hangs the key to the Bastille, a gift from Lafayette, while the next room holds a marble fireplace Washington feared…
4 days, 17 hours ago
George Rogers Clark: Frontier Conqueror, Debt, and a Tragic Decline
Episode 13322
George Rogers Clark helped secure the Old Northwest for the United States, yet died disabled and bitter after decades of debt and rejection. This dee…
4 days, 17 hours ago
General William Howe: The Reluctant British Commander Who Lost America
Episode 13321
William Howe told his Nottingham voters in 1774 that he would not fight the Americans, then accepted King George III's order to serve rather than be …
4 days, 17 hours ago
The XYZ Affair: Talleyrand's Bribe Demand and the Quasi-War With France
Episode 13320
In 1797, three American envoys arrived in Paris to negotiate peace with France and were met by informal agents demanding a large loan and a personal …
4 days, 17 hours ago
Battle of Long Island 1776: Washington's Blunder and Miraculous Escape
Episode 13319
Weeks after the Declaration of Independence, an armada of 400 British ships appeared off Staten Island carrying the largest expeditionary force Brita…
4 days, 17 hours ago
The Flintlock Musket: How One Mechanism Reshaped Warfare and Language
Episode 13318
Everyday phrases like a flash in the pan, going off half-cocked, and lock, stock, and barrel all trace back to the flintlock, a firing mechanism perf…
4 days, 17 hours ago
Treaty of Ghent: How the War of 1812 Ended in a Diplomatic Reset
Episode 13317
The Battle of New Orleans was fought in January 1815, weeks after the Treaty of Ghent had already been signed in Europe to end the War of 1812. This …
4 days, 17 hours ago
Ethan Allen: Green Mountain Boys, Ticonderoga, and the Birth of Vermont
Episode 13316
Ethan Allen captured Fort Ticonderoga in May 1775 without bloodshed, demanding its surrender in the name of the great Jehovah and the Continental Con…
4 days, 17 hours ago
Battle of Blue Licks 1782: Daniel Boone, Hugh McGary, and a Deadly Ambush
Episode 13315
Months after Yorktown, the American Revolution was still raging on the Kentucky frontier. In August 1782, a coalition of Shawnee, Wyandot, Mingo, and…
4 days, 17 hours ago