Join  CJ as he discusses:

• The British government’s cessation of hostilities following Yorktown
• The Paris Peace talks & the terms of Treaty of Paris, 1783
• Why the British lost the war
• Winners & Losers as a result of this war, which is a more complicated topic than you might think

Join CJ as he discusses:

• The increasingly influential counterrevolutionary faction among the independence leaders, as exemplified by John Adams & his essay, “Thoughts on Government”
• The largely mythical “Conway Cabal” against George Washington
• The fate of radical & guerrilla warfare advocate Gen. Charles Lee
• The impact of French & Spanish intervention
• Baron Von Steuben’s effects (for good & ill) on the Continental Army
• Benedict Arnold’s Betrayal
• The British switch to a Southern strategy, which initially goes well for them
• How the British began to get bogged down by partisan warfare and chaos in the Backcountry, and how clever American commanders such as Nathanael Greene and Daniel Morgan were able to turn the tide
• The retreat of the British Southern Army to Yorktown, VA, and their ultimate surrender to a Franco-American force in 1781, ending major military operations of the war

External Links

• John Adams’ “Thoughts on Government”
• Coincidentally, as I was finishing up recording & editing this episode (which has a fair amount of anti-Washington stuff in it), Stefan Molyneux put out a lengthy presentation called “The Truth About George Washington” that has a lot of dirt about the man from before, during, & after the War of Independence

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Join Prof CJ as he discusses:

• Thomas Paine & Common Sense
• The British evacuation of Boston
• The Declaration of Independence
• An overview of some of the military operations and battles of 1776-7, including Long Island, Trenton, Bennington, and Saratoga
• The winter of 1777-78 at Valley Forge
• A word about the 1777 British government document, “Considerations on the Great Question, What is Fit to Be Done with America?”

External Links

• The rotating-double-barreled Kentucky long rifle mentioned in this episode that came from a bit later than the Revolutionary era (this thing’s awesome!)

Join CJ as he discusses:

• Some thoughts on Great Man historical narratives
• An overview of what was happening in terms of rising tensions in late-1774 and early-1775, much of which related to British attempts to limit colonists’ access to weapons and gunpowder
• A fairly detailed account of the Battle of Lexington & Concord on April 19, 1775
• The actions of the Continental Congress, including the appointment of George Washington as Commander of the new Continental Army, and its consequences for the war and the future of America
• Ethan Allen & his Green Mountain Boys
• Some other early battles
• The situation as of the close of 1775

External Links

• Map of Lexington & Concord
• Charleston Law Review article “How the British Gun Control Program Precipitated the American Revolution” by David B. Kopel

Since this April is the 240th anniversary of the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, CJ has decided to do a multi-part Dangerous History Podcast series on this conflict, trying to focus as much as possible on the dangerous parts of the story, and the deeper implications of it, that the Man would rather omit from the narrative.

Join CJ as he discusses:

•  The state of affairs in the aftermath of the Seven Years War (aka French & Indian War)
• The various ways the British government attempted to increase their tax revenues from the North American colonies, and the resulting resistance from some of the colonists
• A look at the average, grassroots insurgents, including who they were and what motivated them
• The little-known False Alarm incident of September 1774, in which a rumor spread throughout the northeastern colonies that the British Navy had destroyed Boston, and the resulting spontaneous mobilization of thousands of New Englanders to get revenge, which was aborted when the rumor proved false, but which showed how quickly ordinary people could and would mobilize