Introducing: Founding Fathers: An American Dream - Episode 1

27:51At just over 1 ,300 words, the final version of the Declaration of Independence details the many grievances the colonies have against King George III. But it's the opening preamble that will become world famous and inspire people over the centuries to come. We hold these truths to be self-evident, it says, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

28:36The Declaration's preamble is beautiful. It is extraordinary language that inspired other revolutions for many decades thereafter. But in and of itself, it was actually a document that was trying to explain why they were taking this action. It was very much an international facing statement of purpose. It explained to the other monarchies around the globe that they weren't anti-monarchy per se. They were trying to reassure the fears of the French and the Spanish, that they weren't trying to destroy all monarchies, but that there were very specific grievances that had not been addressed. And therefore, they were justified in taking this action.

29:19Soon after the Declaration of Independence, the British occupy New York City. Although Washington and his men are victorious when they cross the Delaware at Christmas in 1776, there are many challenges and battles ahead. The colonists are going to war against an imperial superpower. To many, it seems like an impossible fight. To date, no colony has managed to declare and gain independence. The British Navy is the most powerful in the world, and its army is notorious for its discipline and skill. Yet it's not a one-sided conflict. Many of the men in the Continental Army have fought alongside the British and understand how they think, and their commander is an exceptional man.

30:10Historians generally like to avoid statements like this one person was indispensable, but in the case of George Washington, it is really accurate and we can't overstate his importance to the revolution because he was the only person probably that could have held the Continental Army together. By the midway point in the war, Congress was referring to the troops as Washington's troops as opposed to American troops because they were so loyal to him and adored him so much that they probably wouldn't have fought for anyone else. And he had a very keen sense that his self-sacrifice was essential to this conflict.

30:49So he didn't ever go home. He didn't ever leave his troops. He was there the entire time and knew that as long as he didn't die and as long as the army didn't disintegrate, that it was going to be almost impossible for the British to win. His aide to camp, Alexander Hamilton, is young but gifted. Born in the West Indies, raised by an unwed mother, He is sent to America with the support of business people and plantation owners who spot his incredible potential. Hamilton had such great communication and organizational skills. He could master and maintain more information than most people would be able to process.

31:31And so not only did he very quickly adopt Washington's voice so he could write for Washington and knew what his boss wanted him to say, but he could also manage those around him. And so he almost became like a chief of staff at the headquarters. In autumn of 1777, less than a year after Washington led the morale-raising crossing of the Delaware, the British have also occupied the capital, Philadelphia. But in October, Washington's army decisively defeats the superior British troops in the Battle of Saratoga. What the Patriots need now is more allies and more money to keep fighting. And that diplomatic campaign centers on Europe.

32:17John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson, who worked together on the Declaration of Independence, must now forge critical alliances with France and Spain. Benjamin Franklin was hard at work trying to get supplies and money and funds from the French, which they initially supplied secretly, and then supplied officially once the Treaty of Amity and Commerce and Defense was signed in 1770. The French also convinced Spain to support the United States. John Adams, whose no-nonsense style doesn't go down well with the French, has more luck getting loans from Dutch bankers. And when the European nations back the colonists, it's a turning point.

33:02A distant civil war now becomes a globally significant conflict.

33:11This July, on the Noiser Podcast Network, founding fathers, an American dream continues. July the 4th marks 250 years of the United States. Join Clark Peters for a deep dive into the country's origins. On Real Dictators, the story of Marshal Tito concludes as currents of global history converge on the Balkans. On Real Survival Stories, we're on board a light aircraft over Canada, following a couple on the holiday of a lifetime, and watching on as an avalanche consumes a goldmine. On Short History Off, we'll delve into the amazing stories of the Brink's Mat gold robbery and the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.

33:49And in Sherlock Holmes' short stories, Holmes sets out on a search for a missing pupil in The Adventure of the Priory School. Get all of these shows and more early and ad-free on Noiser Plus. Washington's army has endured a savage winter in its efforts to reclaim Philadelphia. His men withdraw to a nearby plateau, but of 12 ,000 men who caught her there in December, up to 2 ,000 die of disease. But the survivors emerge as a powerful, united force. They strike again, and in June of 1778, force the British to abandon Philadelphia. As French and later Spanish funds and forces arrive to support the Continental Army, there is a stalemate in the north as action switches to the southern colonies.

34:43The British are convinced many colonists there are still loyal to the King, but it's not enough. By the autumn of 1781, the King's Army, led by General Cornwallis, are under siege on the Yorktown Peninsula in Virginia. Washington leads an army of 14 ,000 against them, supported by 36 French warships who stop the British getting away. Cornwallis surrenders on October the 19th, with his entire force of 7 ,000 men. And although the war doesn't officially end for another two years, British troops begin to withdraw in 1782. King George which sends negotiators to the French capital to work out the details of a peace treaty.

35:33Through those negotiations, they were able to come up with the Treaty of Paris, which was a remarkably generous treaty to the new United States, including fishing rights in the Newfoundlands and recognition of territory. It was signed in 1783 and officially ended the war. One of my favorite depictions of that treaty is a painting that was done partway through the process in which the British ministers were supposed to be depicted and the American ministers were supposed to be depicted. But because the treaty was viewed as sort of a betrayal of British interests by a lot of the British people, the British ministers refused to sit for it.

36:13And so it is a permanently unfinished painting, a copy of which is still in the State Department in Washington, D.C. today. Over 25 ,000 Americans die during the Revolutionary War, but perhaps fewer than a quarter of those fell in battle. The others perish from disease or as prisoners of war. The British losses are less well recorded, though around 24 ,000 are thought to have been killed, injured, or captured, along with around 7 ,500 mercenaries. But history has been made, and a precedent has been set for other colonies hoping to break free from larger empires. What's left for those who so believed in their vision of freedom is a completely different task, that of founding a new nation.

37:06In a lot of ways, declaring independence and winning the war was the easy part, and actually existing was much, much harder. because when the colonies had a common enemy of Great Britain, they could kind of focus on that. And once they lost that common enemy, they kind of became each other's enemy. The new government already has some ground rules in place, known as the Articles of Confederation, which were adopted during the war. But these have one big flaw. Congress did not have the right under the Articles to enforce the collection of taxation, So it had no money. So it couldn't pay any of its officials.

37:47It couldn't pay off its debts from the war. It couldn't pay for an army to defend its new borders. It could do nothing. And the states were squabbling with each other over economic principles and defense of its borders, over the right to navigate different rivers and set taxes, all of these things. And all of the international empires, as well as the native nations on the Western borders, were ready and waiting for the country to fall apart and to pick off the pieces to tuck back into their territories. So it was a very calamitous situation. After being ruled for so long by distant king, many Americans are hugely resistant to centralized power.

38:30They fear losing the individual freedom so many died defending. But with the economy suffering, drastic measures are needed.

38:42In the summer of 1787, members of the new government ditch the old Articles. Their convention creates a document that becomes the U.S. Constitution. It brings the states together, creating a common currency and military force. But even those behind the new agreement know it's far from perfect. It was really a series of compromises that had been patched together to try and address some of the problems that they had seen, to try and give future generations flexibility to solve problems that they could not yet possibly foresee, or problems like slavery that they understood were going to be a huge issue but didn't know yet how to solve.

39:28Criticism immediately focuses on the issues they've avoided, including that question of slavery. There were a lot of people at the time who were very opposed to slavery. And there were a lot of people who understood the hypocrisy of talking about liberty and freedom while owning other human beings. And many British observers actually talked about that the loudest yelps for liberty were coming from those that owned people. There were a lot of people who wanted to give the federal government more power to regulate slavery. There were a lot of people who felt that it was wildly unfair to give southern states more representation in Congress while they were depriving other people of their liberties.

40:11But South Carolina and some of the other states threatened to leave the Constitutional Convention if any effort was made to curtail slavery. Enslaved people are not the only ones whose rights are ignored. Women don't get to vote. Native Americans are also at a huge disadvantage. Native nations, in theory, had the right to negotiate with the United States as another sovereign nation. But in practice, the United States often trampled over those rights or forced nations into very detrimental agreements that ceded a lot of their land to the United States. There were also a lot of wars fought against Native nations.

40:52So it was a deeply flawed document. Many also fear the power granted to the new federal government is too great. So the Constitution is amended almost immediately, when the Bill of Rights sets out individual freedoms that must be protected. The First Amendment establishes the right to freedom of religion, speech and the press, while the Second deals with the right to bear arms. Later amendments guarantee fair and speedy trials and prohibit cruel and unusual punishment. Finally, in April 1789, George Washington is inaugurated as the first President of the United States. His Secretary of State is Thomas Jefferson, and the first Secretary of the Treasury is his former wartime aide, Alexander Hamilton.

41:46Hamilton takes charge of the economy, paying off massive war debts and finding funds to grow the country. But tensions soon erupt over an unexpected commodity, whiskey. Hamilton decides to tax spirits distilled in the US, arguing that they are a luxury. But the people of western Pennsylvania don't see it that way. Roughly 17 ,000 people eke out a difficult living in its remote plains and valleys, cut off by poor transport and the vast Appalachian mountain range. Whiskey in these parts is a much more reliable currency than cash. The spirit is used for everyday purchases and services. So the 1791 tax will hit almost every family, and shows how little the fancy urban politicians know about real life here.

42:43Anger spills over into violent protests against the men who are collecting the new tax.

42:55It's early in the morning on the 16th of July, 1794. As the sun rises over the Bower Hill estate near Pittsburgh, dozens of enslaved men and women are already at work. Among them is 21-year-old carpenter Will, repairing the roof of the building that houses the whiskey still. He learned his craft from his father, who helped to build this luxurious mansion house for its owner, General John Neville. All around are fields swaying with rye, almost ripe for harvesting. He's almost done when another man calls for him to hurry. The general wants everyone to gather outside the house. That can only mean trouble.

43:40In front of the mansion, Will joins a score of other men. Laid out on the ground are rifles. The general, a white man in his 60s, orders him to grab one and load it. He explains that a local group of militia are on their way, angry that he has worked alongside a federal marshal to collect the new whiskey taxes. General Neville demands that Will and the others defend his property with him, though the enslaved women and children can shelter inside the mansion until the danger passes. Now Will's younger brother Putnam is running up from the field, waving and shouting. They're coming. Will can make out their silhouettes against the sun, 40 or so men charging up the hill, fanning out.

44:30Neville orders defensive positions and Will and Putnam flank him, rifles cocked. The two young men are crack shots, often boasting of the 100-pound wolf they shot and killed as kids. This, though, is completely different. Will doesn't want to fire on people, but with no choice, he'll do what he's told and protect Bower Hill, not for the general's sake, but for his mother and sisters who are sheltering in the house his own father built. The men demand Neville hands over the marshal. When the general tells them he's not here. They say they're coming in to make sure. The general raises his rifle and aims into the crowd.

45:14He fires, a man drops, and then all hell breaks loose. Bullets fly from both directions, and several of the mob fall. Soon the militia retreat, but Will knows they'll be back. Ten soldiers arrive as reinforcements from a local barracks, but their major insists the general will leave for his own safety. For the rest of the day, the brothers take their turns keeping watch. That night, no one sleeps.

45:48After 36 tense hours, the mob returns. 600 or more drunken, angry men ready for revenge. Massively outnumbered, the army major asks that the women and children are allowed to leave. and Will's mother and sister run for their lives. They have barely taken cover in the woods when the attack begins. Soon, Will can't see where he's shooting for the smoke, or hear himself think. He fires, reloads, fires again, until abruptly the battle stops.

46:28Maybe thinking that the defenders have surrendered, the rebel leader strides confidently towards the mansion. Except now, there's another single shot, and the man drops to the ground. For a moment, the rebels can't take in what's happened. But then the fury of betrayal takes hold.

46:53The renewed onslaught is ferocious, even after the Major does surrender. The mob swarms over the mansion like locusts, throwing out paintings and fine furniture, ransacking the whiskey. In the chaos, Will drags his brother away towards the woods. When he spots his mother and sister sheltering in the ravine, he is overcome with relief. He looks back up at the house, expecting the gunpowder smoke to clear. Instead, it thickens. It's the mansion, going up in flames.

47:34None of the enslaved men are hurt defending Bower Hill. But the burned-out mansion will never be rebuilt, and Will and the others will live on a different estate for another nine years. Finally, on his deathbed, General Neville orders their freedom or manumission. When word of the attack on Bower Hill reaches Philadelphia in August 1794, Washington prepares to send in 13 ,000 troops to suppress the rebellion. But critics rail against the idea of the first president taking up arms against his own citizens. Faced with such overwhelming force, the movement fizzles out within months. 150 rebels are arrested, and though 20 stand trial, only two are found guilty of treason.

48:28They are sentenced to hang, but the president pardons them, having already made a critical point about how the nation will operate. If the federal government could not pass taxes and could not raise revenue, it would fail. It was an essential moment because it was a demonstration that the nation could indeed survive and do what it needed to, to exist on the world stage.

49:06I like this one too. I'm rocking with it. Okay. Try it for yourself. Starbucks refreshers concentrates are coming home. Find them in the coffee aisle and make it yours. In 1797, Washington surprises his people by stepping aside after serving only two four-year terms. It's an astonishing act in an era when men cling on to power for as long as possible. His decision sets a precedent for the future. though the two-term limit isn't made official until the 22nd Amendment takes effect in 1951. The second president is Boston lawyer and former Vice President John Adams. He invests in the nation's defenses and is the first leader to move into the White House.

49:53But Adams serves just one term before losing to Thomas Jefferson. In 1803, during Jefferson's presidency, the size of the nation doubles after he agrees to buy the Louisiana Territory from the French for$15 million. The Native Americans who live there are not part of the negotiation. The real losers in this situation were the Native nations that had been allies with Spain or allies with France. they still retained a lot of their own power, both their military power and their economic powers. But there was a sense by some that it was only a matter of time before white settlers started to encroach on their land.

50:39As time passes, the founders' influence wanes. After a short illness, George Washington dies in 1799, aged 67, prompting an outpouring of national grief. But it is the shocking death of Alexander Hamilton, five years later, that reveals how violent politics can still be. Now living in a country house in Manhattan and running a newspaper, Hamilton continues his involvement in government. In July 1804, animosity between him and a rival, Aaron Burr, leads to the two men meeting for an illegal duel on the banks of the Hudson. Burr comes from a privileged background, while Hamilton has never quite shaken the feeling of inferiority about his own humble origins.

51:31It's not clear who fires the first shot, but while Hamilton misses, Burr doesn't. Hit in the abdomen, Hamilton dies the next day. He was 47 years old. Hamilton's death is premature, but many of the others who formed the first government are now aging. In a stranger-than-fiction coincidence, both Thomas Jefferson and John Adams die on the same day, July the 4th, 1826, exactly 50 years after the Declaration of Independence.

52:07The Founding Fathers have overcome the immediate challenges of unifying the colonies, forging international alliances, and forming the financial and defensive institutions an independent country needs. But with the cracks that will lead to civil war already beginning to show, the loss of those elder statesmen is deeply felt. There was a recognition of this great generation was no longer with us. And in the 1820s, the first of a series of battles over the future of slavery started to crop up. And so there was a lot of anxiety and fear about what the future of the nation was going to be. And how was the loss of this generation and its leadership and its stewardship going to affect the future of the nation?

52:55We see an explosion of the cult of the founding generation after the Civil War. It's not until the 20th century that the label Founding Fathers is adopted. President Warren G. Harding is the first person recorded as using it in speeches from 1916 onwards. The phrase catches on. And that's where you start to see this almost worship of figures like Washington and Benjamin Franklin and the other people who had led the nation. So in the 1870s, in the 1970s, or when the nation is in a particularly tense moment, it is helpful for a lot of people to have this touchstone that they can refer to as either something that is calming or as a justification for their actions.

53:47Though the term recognizes the critical role the politicians played, it also draws criticism for excluding so many who also fought for independence. Other people played a really important role and supported those efforts, supported those work, whether it was getting the word out to neighbors or sewing uniforms or assisting with diplomacy, that women and people of color and a much broader range of what we would think of as Americans were part of this process. I think if we want to use more accurate terminology, there are two options. One, if we're talking about the Constitution and the example set out to us by the first generation, then framers is most accurate because those were the people in the room that were actually crafting the language on the text.

54:36If we're talking about the people that fought in the war, the founding generation is, I think, most accurate because that does encompass all of the people that were alive at that point and their various roles, whether they were conflicting or supporting or central to the project.

54:59The legacies of Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, and their contemporaries still affect how Americans see themselves and how the world sees America. Washington and Jefferson are literally set in stone, memorialized in granite at Mount Rushmore. But the legacies of all the founding fathers are constantly being reinterpreted in everything from political rallies to Broadway shows. Yet, ultimately, the men who won independence for their nation in the Revolutionary War would themselves have admitted they were simply human beings with talents and limitations. That is actually a much more inspirational story because it suggests that flawed people doing the very best that they can, can create something extraordinary, can inspire future generations in both in the United States and in nations across the world to create extraordinary things, and to never give up trying to create something better or to improve what they already have.

56:05it is much less impressive to me if we think of them as these demigod figures, because then of course you expect extraordinary heroics from godlike figures. But if it's flawed men, that's really very inspirational and suggests that we can have future generations that also do extraordinary things.

56:31If you've enjoyed this episode and want to hear more, you might enjoy our new series, Founding Fathers, an American Dream. Featuring contributions from leading historians and descendants of those involved, search for Founding Fathers, an American Dream on your podcast app and click follow for more episodes.