Join host Professor Robert Allison for a dynamic conversation with historian Ronald Angelo Johnson, author of Entangled Alliances: Racialized Freedom and Atlantic Diplomacy During the American Revolution. Together they explore how the American Revolution unfolded within a vibrant and contested Atlantic world shaped by Black leadership, Caribbean revolutions, and international diplomacy. Johnson, who holds the the Ralph and Bessie Mae Lynn Chair of History at Baylor University, highlights the global forces—from Haiti to Europe—that influenced American independence and redefined ideas of freedom. The Revolution was not an isolated struggle, but was part of a far-reaching web of alliances, conflicts, and revolutionary change.

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Host Professor Robert Allison welcomes historian Paul D. Lockhart to discuss Lockhart’s acclaimed book The Drillmaster of Valley Forge: The Baron de Steuben and the Making of the American Army. Together they explore the remarkable life and career of Baron de Steuben, the Prussian-born officer whose training, discipline, and organizational genius helped transform Washington’s ragged Continental Army into a professional fighting force.

Lockhart places Steuben in a broader European military and intellectual context, untangling the myths about his noble status and supposed “magnificent fraud,” and showing instead a serious soldier of the Enlightenment—well-read, imaginative, and deeply committed to his adopted country. The conversation ranges from Valley Forge and the famous “Blue Book” drill manual to Steuben’s volatile temper, gift for friendship, chronic money troubles, complicated relationships with Washington, Congress, Lafayette, and Jefferson, and his lonely final years in upstate New York. Along the way, Allison and Lockhart reveal how Steuben’s real legacy lies not just in drill on the parade ground, but in the systems, standards, and expectations that helped shape the American army for generations to come.

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In this episode of the Revolution 250 Podcast, host Professor Robert Allison welcomes historian Dr. Cynthia Hatch for a timely and eye-opening conversation about her forthcoming book, Enablers of Rebellion: The Colonial Court and the Road to the American Revolution, to be published by Savas Beatie in the spring of 2026.

Hatch reveals a dimension of the Revolution that is often overlooked: the pivotal role of colonial courts, local magistrates, sheriffs, and justices of the peace in the decades before independence. Far from being passive administrators, these officials shaped political culture, mediated local disputes, and—intentionally or not—created the civic space in which resistance could take root. Professor Allison and Dr. Hatch explore how legal institutions helped normalize dissent, how courtroom practices reflected changing ideas of authority, and how ordinary people used the law to renegotiate power long before shots were fired.

This conversation shines a fresh light on the machinery of colonial governance and the subtle but profound ways it helped prepare a people for rebellion. A must-listen for anyone interested in the legal, political, and social foundations of America’s fight for independence.

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This week t Professor Robert Allison welcomes Dr. Matthew Keagle, Curator at Fort Ticonderoga, for a vivid exploration of one of the most audacious logistical feats of the American Revolution: Henry Knox’s Noble Train of Artillery. Together they trace Knox’s remarkable mid-winter journey of 1775–1776—300 miles across frozen rivers and lakes, treacherous terrain, and sometimes snow-choked roads—to deliver more than 60 tons of captured British artillery to General George Washington. He also tells us about Real Time Revolution, Ticonderoga's plans for commemorating the 250th!

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In The American Revolution and the Fate of the World, historian Richard Bell explores how the struggle for American independence reverberated far beyond the thirteen colonies—reshaping politics, empires, and ideas of liberty around the globe. Bell reveals how revolutionaries from Boston to Bengal, Paris to Port-au-Prince, drew inspiration and warning from the events of 1776. The American Revolution became a test case for freedom in an age of empire. Looking at the stories of individuals caught up in its ferment, Bell shows how the Revolution reshaped the world.

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Host Professor Robert Allison welcomes Dr. Kathryn P. Viens, public historian and scholar, to explore how local histories have shaped Americans’ understanding of patriotism and the Revolution from the nineteenth century to today. Drawing from her essay “Mobs or the Martial Ideal? The Mutable Definition of Patriotism in Local Historical Narratives,” published in the online journal Remembering the American Revolution at 250, Viens discusses how community-based histories—often written by nineteenth-century antiquarians—both preserved and reframed the Revolution’s memory.

Together, Allison and Viens delve into the evolution of civic identity, how shifting cultural values influenced interpretations of the Revolution, and why local stories remain essential to the broader national narrative. This episode invites listeners to reconsider how patriotism has been defined, remembered, and reinterpreted in the generations since America’s founding.

https://journals.h-net.org/.../2025_Viens_mobs_martial_ideal

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In listening to James Otis, Jr.'s arguments against the Writs of Assistance in 1761, John Adams remarked that it was there that American Independence was born. There is no question of Otis' erudition or passion for liberty, but while he fought for the rights of his country, he was also fighting a personal battle for his mental health. We talk with Gerald Holland, aurhor of a new biography of Otis, Lucy Pollock, Kate LaPine, and Paul Piwko as they discuss the new online exhibit. Patriot, Hero, and Distracted Person. a collaboration between Revolutionary Spaces and the National Museum of Mental Health Project on the life and struggles of James Otis, Jr.

https://www.nmmhproject.org/jamesotisjr

https://revolutionaryspaces.org/

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What does it cost to stay loyal when a world is breaking apart? Historian Greg Brooking explores the life and legacy of Sir James Wright, Georgia’s last royal governor, and the turbulent path from Crown colony to revolutionary state in his new book, From Empire to Revolution: Sir James Wright and the Price of Loyalty in Georgia. In this conversation he digs into loyalty and dissent, political power and personal risk, and how events in the southern colonies reshaped the course of the American Revolution. Join us for a sharp, story-rich look at Georgia’s revolution—and the people who gambled everything on their principles.

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