As has become our tradition around Columbus Day, we speculate on various might-have-beens - for example, what if Columbus had sailed for a different monarch? - and some of the consequences of Columbus

The main purpose of this micro-episode is to give you the details on the much ballyhooed Philadelphia area meet-up of fans of the podcast. The date is this Friday, October 6, 2023. The place will be

I'm traveling and otherwise swamped right now, so it's time for a Sidebar! In this episode we take a break from the 17th century, and look at the campaign to legalize speech about birth control in th

The year is 1642. The Puritan colonies of Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, and Connecticut are conspiring against settlements at Providence and on Aquidneck Island, then small clusters of religious dissi

Sweden's greatest king, Gustavus Adolphus, aspires for Sweden to become a maritime and commercial power in the Atlantic, and engages Dutch entrepreneurs to advise him and his councilors how to do it.

The Maryland Assembly convenes, and wrestles with the Lord Proprietor over the privilege of initiating legislation. Once the tussle is resolved, the Palatinate's government enacts a raft of new laws,

Inspired by an email from a longstanding and attentive listener, this Sidebar episode examines an essay by Gordon Wood introducing his book The Purpose of the Past. We consider what it means to have a

The Charter of Maryland having passed seals, Cecil Calvert, the Second Lord Baltimore, stayed in England to fend off political attacks against his Proprietary Colony. He asked his younger brother Leo

George Calvert had a dream. He had grown up during the most exciting moments of Elizabeth I's reign, a time when England was transforming from a backwater to a legitimate Atlantic power. He wanted t

Longstanding listeners know that we have a tradition of talking about great speeches in American history on Memorial Day and July 4, when many such great speeches have been delivered. If you search i