New Article, New Project: The Articles of Confederation

The editors of the Journal of Early American History have published my article "Trade, Diplomacy, and American Independence: Cuyler, Gansevoort & Co. and the Business of Trade During the Confederation Era" in their latest edition. I came across the papers of Cuyler, Gansevoort & Co. during my volunteer work at the Albany Institute of History and Art. In exchange for building a finding aid for the Ten Eyck/Gansevoort Papers (MG2), I had the opportunity to be the first scholar to look at the collection. I had hoped that the papers would contain information for my book project AMERICA'S FIRST GATEWAY: ALBANY, NEW YORK AND THE MAKING OF AMERICA, 1614-1830. Instead, the collection led me to my second book project: The Articles of Confederation.

The Ten Eyck/Gansevoort collection contains many of the papers from Cuyler, Gansevoort & Co., an import-export firm that conducted business during the Confederation Era. The correspondence between Jacob Cuyler, Leonard Gansevoort, and their trading partners reveal the hope and perils of conducting domestic and foreign trade during the first years of American independence.

The idea for my second book project came as I wrote the historiography section, which I opted to place toward the end of the article as not to breakup the story of Cuyler, Gansevoort & Co. Few books discuss the Articles of Confederation on its own terms. Merrill Jensen wrote two books on the subject between 1940 and 1950. Since Jensen's work, scholars who discuss or investigate the Articles look upon the government as a stepping stone to the Constitution of 1787.

My future book will not claim the Articles of Confederation as a successful government. My article below uses a case study to discuss the diplomatic and economic weaknesses of the government. Instead, my book on the Articles will investigate the government and its making within the context of the American Revolution. I am sure it will take great interest in the regional debates surrounding the formation of the government because I am fascinated by the diversity of American culture and how the United States functions despite Americans' cultural differences.

Enjoy!

Commemorating the Stamp Act Sestercentennial

The sestercentennial (250th anniversary) of the first Boston Stamp Act riot took place on August 14, 2015.  I commemorated the event by releasing a bonus episode of Ben Franklin's World about the Stamp Act and the Boston riots and by hosting the first ever Ben Franklin's World Listener Meet-up. The meet-up consisted of a two-hour walking tour of Boston that focused on the Stamp Act riots and the role Boston played in the American Revolution.

I wrote the tour and offered it through Boston By Foot, an organization of volunteers who lead history and architecture walking tours of Boston.

Thirty-eight people took the tour, about twenty people heard about it through the podcast.

The tour began in front of the Massachusetts State House and from there stopped by the Granary Burying Ground (we had to stop and say "hello" to John Hancock, Samuel Adams, James Otis, Paul Revere, and Robert Treat Paine), King's Chapel, Old South Meeting House, the building that marks the birthplace of Benjamin Franklin, the Old State House and Boston Massacre Site, Faneuil Hall, the Blackstone Block (the only street in Boston that resembles a colonial Boston street), Paul Revere House, the Thomas Hutchinson house site, Old North Church, and Copp's Hill Burying Ground (where we looked at and discussed Bunker Hill).

We had hot, muggy weather, but we enjoyed the day. After the tour six of us repaired to a pizzeria in the North End and had lunch.

Most of the listeners who came for the meet-up hailed from New England or New York. One listener dove up from Baltimore and used the meet-up as an excuse to visit Boston, the We Are One exhibit at the Boston Public Library, Boston's Haymarket, and Longfellow's Wayside Inn in Sudbury, Massachusetts--all locations I have featured on Ben Franklin's World.

One of the most rewarding experiences of podcasting has been connecting with history lovers like the ones who came on my tour. This past spring and summer I have received tweets and e-mails from listeners telling me that they have visited the Library Company of Philadelphia, Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site, the Wayside Inn, and Boston as a result of hearing about these places on Ben Franklin's World. My listeners are also buying books and attending lectures given by guest historians.

Combining history and new media technology like podcasts, blogs, Twitter, and Facebook work. They help historians reach new audiences and help new audiences connect with us and our work.

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Ben Franklin's World on Spotify

This past weekend I attend Podcast Movement, the world's largest podcast conference, in Fort Worth, Texas. During the conference, my audio host Libsyn informed me that Ben Franklin's World had been hand selected by Spotify for its podcast beta test.

Spotify has over 75 million active users. Ben Franklin's World: A Podcast About Early American History now has access to those users.

Since podcasts through Spotify is in beta, you will have to search for "Ben Franklin" in your desktop or mobile app to locate and listen to the podcast.

I am really excited about this news. It is further proof that people enjoy history: Spotify accepted only a small percentage of podcasts for its beta test.

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Book of the Week: Frontier Seaport

[simpleazon-image align="right" asin="022609670X" locale="us" height="500" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41iaUdUbjWL.jpg" width="333"]This week's read is Catherine Cangany's [simpleazon-link asin="022609670X" locale="us"]Frontier Seaport: [/simpleazon-link] (University of Chicago Press, 2014).

Description from Amazon.com

Detroit’s industrial health has long been crucial to the American economy. Today’s troubles notwithstanding, Detroit has experienced multiple periods of prosperity, particularly in the second half of the eighteenth century, when the city was the center of the thriving fur trade. Its proximity to the West as well as its access to the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River positioned this new metropolis at the intersection of the fur-rich frontier and the Atlantic trade routes.

In Frontier Seaport, Catherine Cangany details this seldom-discussed chapter of Detroit’s history. She argues that by the time of the American Revolution, Detroit functioned much like a coastal town as a result of the prosperous fur trade, serving as a critical link in a commercial chain that stretched all the way to Russia and China—thus opening Detroit’s shores for eastern merchants and other transplants. This influx of newcomers brought its own transatlantic networks and fed residents’ desires for popular culture and manufactured merchandise. Detroit began to be both a frontier town and seaport city—a mixed identity, Cangany argues, that hindered it from becoming a thoroughly “American” metropolis.

L'Hermione & the Marquis de Lafayette

On Saturday, July 11, 2015, I had the opportunity to visit aboard L'Hermione, an exact replica of the 18th-century ship that brought the Marquis de Lafayette back to the United States in 1780. Lafayette and L'Hermione played important roles in the United States' quest for independence.

I had an opportunity to interview Miles Young, President of the Friends of Hermione organization, for Ben Franklin's World. Miles discussed Lafayette, the role the French Navy played in the American War for Independence, and how the project to rebuild L'Hermione came about. It was a fascinating interview.

Click here for "Lafayette & the Hermione."

Being onboard L'Hermione was a cool experience. The opportunity also afforded me the chance to investigate Miles' claim that I could "smell" the ship.

Miles was right. You can small the pitch, tar, and wood used to build L'Hermione.