Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness: 250 Years of the Declaration of Independence

• Chicagoland in 1776

  How did the indigenous people of Chicagoland understand what was happening in the Colonies in 1776? Did the Declaration of Independence affect them in any way? Of course, the City of Chicago was not founded until 1837, but this episode explores the lives of the inhabitants of the Chicago area and the effect of European colonization on their way of life during the Revolutionary War. Our expert guest, Prof. Theodore Karamanski, walks us through the history of Chicagoland, focussing on the following points: -Chicagoland during the Seven Years' War (French and Indian War) -The differences in French and British methods of imperial control over the Indians -The Consequences of the Treaty of Paris (1763) for native peoples in the Interior -Pontiac's War (Native Confederation vs. Britain) -The Anishinaabe people, who inhabited the Great Lakes region -The Three Fires Confederacy (Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi Tribes) -An explanation of the concept of the Village World, which means every tribal village makes its own independent foreign policy decisions -The consequences of the Proclamation of 1763 for both colonists and natives -The alliance between some Chicagoland tribes and American officer George Rogers Clark, who fought together against the British during the Revolutionary War -The alliance between some tribes and the Spanish Empire, who controlled St. Louis, against the British during the Revolutionary War -The period after the Revolutionary War until the founding of Chicago in 1837 The image is of Chief Pontiac picking up the war hatchet.

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• Jewish Life in the Colonies

  In this episode, Andrew Sola and Tobias Brinkmann explore the history of the earliest Jews in the Colonies. Topics include the following: -The arrival in 1654 of the first Jewish ship in New Amsterdam, which was governed by Peter Stuyvesant (who is featured in the photo, arriving in New Amsterdam for the first time) -The story of Asser Levy, perhaps the first Jewish inhabitant of the North American colonies -The status of early Jews in Spanish, Dutch, and Portuguese colonies -Jew and Puritans in the Massachusetts Bay Colony -Roger Williams, the founder of Rhode Island, where religious freedom for Jews and Muslims was established -Newport, the first Jewish community in the American colonies -The involvement of Jews in the slave trade -George Washington's Letter to the Jews of Newport in 1790 (text below) "The Citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support." Prof. Brinkmann's books are below: Between Borders: The Great Jewish Migration from Eastern Europe (Oxford UP, 2024) Sundays at Sinai: A Jewish Congregation in Chicago (U. of Chicago Press, 2012)

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• Daughters of Liberty: Women and the Declaration of Independence

  "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men AND WOMEN are created equal." Declaration of Sentiments, Seneca Falls Convention In this episode, Prof. Rosemarie Zagarri explores the legal, social, and political status of women from the Colonial Era through the Revolutionary War, the Seneca Falls Convention (1848), and beyond. Topics include: -The tensions between the ideals of the phrase "all men are created equal" and the lived reality of women -"Coverture" and the legal status of women in the Colonies -The evolving trans-Atlantic dialogue about women's rights from the Enlightenment through the Revolutionary War -The incorporation of Colonial women into the political resistance to King George -Female literacy and early American female authors, including Mercy Otis Warren and Phillis Wheatley -An exploration of the concept of "Republican Motherhood" -Women's contribution to the Revolutionary War effort -The brief period from 1790 to 1807 when women could vote in New Jersey

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• The Quartering Act and Homosexuality in the Colonies

  "He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures." This Pride Month episode focuses on two questions. First, why were American colonists increasingly frustrated with the presence of British troops in the Colonies? Second, to what extent were Thomas Jefferson and the Founders aware of LGBTQ+ issues at the nation's founding? Topics include the following: -Grievances 11, 12, and 14 in the Declaration of the Independence -The Quartering Act of 1774 -Evidentiary problems when trying to access LGBTQ+ history -'Disordered' sexuality in the Colonies, including gay sex and master-slave sexual relations -Similarities and differences in the treatment of homosexuals in Great Britain and the Colonies -Reasons for the low number of executions of gay men in the Colonies -Molly Houses and Macaronis -Concepts of Masculinity in the Colonies

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• Religion in the Declaration of Independence

  The Declaration of Independence uses the words 'God,' 'the Creator,' and 'Divine Providence,' but many of the Founders were highly skeptical of both Christianity and also organized religion, preferring the scientific and rational ideals of the Enlightenment. In this episode, we explore the tensions between religion and reason in the Declaration of Independence. Topics include the following: -Theistic and deistic beliefs in the Founders, including Franklin and Jefferson -The different religious groups in the Colonies, from Baptists and Catholics to Anglicans and Quakers -Biblical and theological arguments for and against revolution as well as submission to the King -Grievance #20 in the Declaration, which references the Quebec Act of 1774, which allowed for the establishment of Catholicism in the Canadian colony of Quebec -Jefferson's Act for Establishing Religious Freedom (1779) -The Establishment Clause in the First Amendment

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