Category Archives: Revolutions

How the French Revolution was Brought to the World by the American Revolution–And a Free Course on the Constitution!

American HIstory, Politics, Revolutions

A message from Dr. Thomas Patterson of Harvard Univerity:

“Tomorrow, Sept. 17, is National Constitution Day— marking the 239th anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution. As in other years, it will pass largely unnoticed despite its significance and relevance at this critical moment in our politics.

I’m trying to elevate its visibility by encouraging people to take my free, nonpartisan HarvardX course on the U.S. Constitution (6 brief sessions).

I’d be grateful if you would share the link with your social media followers and others:

https://bit.ly/FreeCourseHarvard (pick ‘audit’ for free version)

Thank you.”

  I encourage you to take up Dr. Patterson’s opportunity! As your host on this podcast, I explain in this episode the background of the Constitution and why the American Revolution had such contrasting impacts on American and on France in the 18th century.  You will learn how the French Revolution, while catastrophically different than the American, was brought to you by the American Revolution!  –Rick Reiman

Podcast: Embed

NEW! Rick Reiman Narrates Chapter 6, “The New Nation,” from “The American Yawp,” a Free OER American History Textbook

American HIstory, Politics, Revolutions, U.S. Constitution, United States history

In many ways, I regard this as my best recording of a chapter from “The American Yawp” yet.  I have deleted nothing from the text edited by its editors, Joseph Locke and Ben Wright.  I have added passages of my own where I think additions were needed to clarify what the original authors were trying to say.

Podcast: Embed

One of the Great Essays in American History: Crevecoeur’s “What, Then, is this New Man, the American?

American HIstory, Audio narration, Revolutions

Hector St. John de Crevecouer, a French immigrant to American wrote this classic essay, “What, Then, is this New Man, the American?” in 1782, as American Independence from Britain loomed.  Was he correct in his descriptions of Americans then?  Do his descriptions accurately describe Americans today?  How was he wrong then, if he was, and how do his descriptions fail to characterize Americans today, if indeed they do?

Podcast: Embed

Unit 2, Episode 2: Comparing the American Revolution and the French Revolution

Revolutions, Unit 2, Western Civ
Why did the American Revolution stop being a revolution and, in the words of historian Eugen Weber, the French Revolution by contrast became an avalanche of social change? Why was it that the American Revolution escaped the fate of all other revolutions, and did not become, like the French Revolution, a prelude to a violent overturning of the social order? Listen (or read) here for my answer.

Click here for a Transcript of this Episode

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Unit 2 Overview: The Age of Revolutions and Romanticism, 1776-1848

Revolutions, Unit 2, Western Civ

 

n this brief overview, we preview the other podcasts in this episode, which define the ideas of liberalism, nationalism and romanticism, and we preview their role as triggers of two very different kinds of revolution in the nineteenth century to come.

n this brief overview, we preview the other podcasts in this episode, which define the ideas of liberalism, nationalism and romanticism, and we preview their role as triggers of two very different kinds of revolution in the nineteenth century to come.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Podcast: Embed