Did American Colonists think about China?

Boston Tea Party: Why China Mattered to the American Revolution – Part I China wasn’t part of the American Revolution… or was it? In the 1760s and 1770s, American colonists weren’t just thinking about liberty—they were thinking about status, taste, and refinement. Tea, porcelain, and lacquerware weren’t trivial imports. They were tied to British culture […]

Was the Boston Massacre Really a “Massacre”?

Reconsidering the Boston Massacre – Part I When we think of the Boston Massacre—which likely reflects what we learned in school and college—the word “massacre” immediately stands out. It evokes tragedy. It carries weight. It paints the British as ruthless tyrants who slaughtered innocent American colonists. But the reality is far more complicated. In part […]

Boston Tea Party: Why China Mattered to the American Revolution

Introduction In this interview: “I should also say that part of what’s going on in the colonies, and part of what, you know, intersects with the revolution is that colonists are inveterate smugglers…” Watch this section in the video below (00:11:37). Most Americans don’t immediately link China to the Revolution—but trade with East Asia was […]

Boston Massacre Reconsidered: Dr. Serena Zabin Interview, Part III

Reassessing the Boston Massacre and the Path It Paved to Revolution Long before open hostilities, revolutionary thinking was shaped by Enlightenment ideas, as Dr. Sophia Rosenfeld explains in our program. These intellectual developments—the Age of Enlightenment, the Age of Reason, and the Age of Revolutions—reshaped how people in Europe and the American colonies thought about […]

Boston Massacre Reconsidered: Dr. Serena Zabin Interview, Part II

Reassessing the Boston Massacre and the Path It Paved to Revolution Long before open hostilities, revolutionary thinking was shaped by Enlightenment ideas, as Dr. Sophia Rosenfeld explains in our program. These intellectual developments—the Age of Enlightenment, the Age of Reason, and the Age of Revolutions—reshaped how people in Europe and the American colonies thought about […]

Boston Massacre Reconsidered: Dr. Serena Zabin Interview, Part I

Reassessing the Boston Massacre and the Path It Paved to Revolution Long before open hostilities, revolutionary thinking was shaped by Enlightenment ideas, as Dr. Sophia Rosenfeld explains in our program. These intellectual developments—the Age of Enlightenment, the Age of Reason, and the Age of Revolutions—reshaped how people in Europe and the American colonies thought about […]