Tag: John Adams

Launching the USS Constitution (episode 207)

The USS Constitution is the most famous ship in Boston history, and perhaps in the history of the US Navy.  When the Navy was reborn in 1794, the Constitution was among the first fleet of frigates that made up its backbone.  A decade later, the USS Constitution would earn a brilliant, nearly flawless record of naval combat against the British in the war of 1812, and today it stands as the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world and the last American ship to sink an enemy in a ship-to-ship duel.  However, the Constitution’s origins were far from flawless.  It was part of a procurement program that was nearly cancelled, and the famous frigate was almost scrapped before it was even completed.  After it was rescued and completed, the USS Constitution took not one, not two, but three attempts to successfully launch.


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Henry Knox’s Noble Train, with William Hazelgrove (episode 184)

Henry Knox commanded the Continental Army’s artillery, founded the academy that became West Point, and went on to become the first Secretary of War for the new United States.  Before any of that, though, he was a young man in Boston.  He was a Whig sympathizer who was in love with the daughter of a Tory, and he owned a bookstore frequented by both sides.  Young Henry Knox was catapulted to prominence after one nearly unbelievable feat: bringing 60 tons of heavy artillery 300 miles through the New England wilderness in the dead of winter, from Fort Ticonderoga in upstate New York to Cambridge.  William Hazelgrove joins us on the show this week to describe how Knox accomplished this nearly impossible task.  He’ll also tell us about his new book Henry Knox’s Noble Train: The Story of a Boston Bookseller’s Heroic Expedition That Saved the American Revolution, which comes out this week.


Continue reading Henry Knox’s Noble Train, with William Hazelgrove (episode 184)

The Deleterious Effects of Marsh Miasmata (episode 177)

Instead of profiling a historic Bostonian or bringing you a dramatic story, let’s read a letter together. This brief letter gives an account of a strange, frightening, and funny occurrence on Boston’s Long Wharf in the summer of 1797. Along with one delightfully funny incident, the letter includes details about Boston’s infrastructure and commercial port at the turn of the 19th century. Don’t worry, we’ll flesh out the letter with context from other sources, as well.


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Remembering the Boston Massacre, with Nat Sheidley (episode 174)

March 5th marks the 250th anniversary of the Boston Massacre, when a party of British soldiers fired into a crowd of civilians, killing five. It was a terrible personal tragedy in a small town of 15,000 residents, and it almost immediately became politicized.  Nat Sheidley, the president and CEO of Revolutionary Spaces, is going to remind us what happened on that terrible night, how tightly intertwined the lives of the soldiers and town residents were at the time, and how every generation reinterprets what the tragedy means.


Continue reading Remembering the Boston Massacre, with Nat Sheidley (episode 174)

Boston’s Favorite Fighting Frenchman (episode 163)

At just 19 years old, Gilbert du Motier, the Marquis de Lafayette joined our American Revolution.  Commissioned as a Major General in 1777, he served with distinction as an aggressive combat commander and trusted adviser to George Washington.  Nearly a half century later, the aging general would return to his beloved United States for a nationwide tour, and his first and urgent destination after arriving on this continent was Boston.  In the summer of 1824, he arrived in our city as the greatest celebrity it had yet seen. He was received by Governor William Eustis, former President John Adams, and Boston mayor Josiah Quincy before launching his national tour.  The next spring, he returned, presiding over the dedication of the Bunker Hill monument on the 50th anniversary of the battle.


Continue reading Boston’s Favorite Fighting Frenchman (episode 163)

The Dread Pirate Rachel (episode 147)

History records that Rachel Wall was the last woman to be hanged in Massachusetts, and legend remembers her as the only woman pirate from Boston.  Her highly publicized trial took place as America implemented its new constitutional government. The state attorney general who prosecuted her had been a signer of the Declaration of Independence.  A few weeks after the trial, the presiding judge became one of the first US Supreme Court justices, and her defense attorney, who had helped ratify the constitution, soon became the first US Attorney for Massachusetts under the constitution.  Not only that, but her death warrant carried perhaps the most famous signature in US history, that of governor John Hancock. On this week’s episode, we uncover the fascinating true story of Rachel Wall’s life, trial, and death that’s hiding within the legend.  


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Love is Love: John Adams and Marriage Equality (episode 134)

15 years ago, the landmark case Goodridge v. Department of Public Health  granted marriage rights to same-sex couples in Massachusetts. The November 18, 2003, decision was the first by a U.S. state’s highest court to find that same-sex couples had the right to marry, and it was grounded in the language of equal justice that John Adams wrote into our state constitution. Despite numerous attempts to delay the ruling, and to reverse it, the first marriage licenses were issued to same-sex couples on May 17, 2004.


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Harvard’s Thanksgiving Day Riot (episode 107)

When it comes to Boston history, it seems like there’s a riot for every possible season.  It’s Thanksgiving season now, so this week we’re going to discuss a riot that took place at Harvard University… not during the tumultuous anti-war protests of the 1960s or 1970s, but on Thanksgiving day in 1787.  There’s tantalizingly little in the historical record about what happened or how it started, but we know that some very famous historical figures were right in the middle of the action.


Continue reading Harvard’s Thanksgiving Day Riot (episode 107)

Episode 1: Remember Remember the Fifth of November

Update: We revisited this subject in Episode 75, with better audio, better research, and better storytelling.  You should listen to that one instead!

How did early Boston “celebrate” on November 5th each year?  By drinking, brawling, and burning effigies of the Pope, of course.  Listen to this week’s episode to find out more!

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