Opposition to British Rule Grows
Historian and author Bernard Bailyn talks about growing colonial opposition to British rule during the period from 1760-1776. Professor Bailyn describes it as, "...a buildup of apprehension, of fear that they were being subjected to a familiar kind ...
Not Much of a War: Battles in New England and the Mid-Atlantic
During the first year of fighting, British forces attempt to crush each outbreak of rebellion as it occurs. They suffer major losses when they take on revolutionary forces at Breed's Hill in Boston, yet crush Washington's troops in New York. Each ti...
Property and Land Speculation (Part One)
Historian and author Bernard Bailyn talks about land companies and the rampant speculation that went on during the colonial period.
Property and Land Speculation (Part Two)
Historian and author Bernard Bailyn continues his discussion of land speculation during the colonial period. Professor Bailyn explains that there were land speculation syndicates of all sizes. Benjamin Franklin was one of those involved with an espe...
Pre-Revolutionary War Surge of Immigration
Historian and author Bernard Bailyn talks about the two major forces at work during the fifteen years preceding the American Revolution. "One, of course, was the constitutional struggle with Britain was building up," Professor Bailyn says. "But the ...
Precarious Experiment, A: Building Government Structures
At the same time that Americans are struggling to win their independence on the battlefield, they are also struggling to create new institutions of government for themselves. Although each state employs its own method of creating a framework for man...
Immigration: Challenges and Dangers
Historian and author Bernard Bailyn talks about the challenges that immigrants faced in coming to North America during the colonial period. Professor Bailyn explains that the transatlantic voyage was always unpredictable. Diseases were a problem in ...
Eighteenth Century Migration to America
Historian and author Bernard Bailyn talks about eighteenth century migration to North America, which he describes as being very different from the migration of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, in which immigrants from small villages or ...
Strained Relations: Taxing the Colonies
The British begin enacting a series of financial revenue acts in 1764 to help pay for the cost of administering their continental empire. The resolutions of protest, riots and economic boycotts by colonials baffle the British who point out that thei...
Strained Relations: Growth of Colonial Resistance
The Boston Massacre, a clash between working-class people in Boston and British troops, ignites colonial resentment to a new level of intensity. Although the next few years appear relatively calm, resistance is building below the surface. A number o...