The ugliest aspects of the Philippine-American War raised questions of legitimate warfare. Specifically, they required the US to think through a military code of conduct from the Civil War: General Order 100, or the “Lieber Code.” But what is the Lieber Code? How did it seek to rein in the worst of war atrocities, and where did it fail to do so in the Philippines? While we’re at it … what even was the status of the “Law of War” at the turn of the century, and how did it compare to the warfare of...
Mar 28, 2022•59 min•Transcript available on Metacast “Co … wards! Assassins!” This is the story of the Philippine-American War. Having bested the Spanish in war, the United States now lays claim to holding sovereignty over the Philippines. President William McKinley asserts that the US is enacting “benevolent assimilation” on the islands. William Taft says the US is going to help its “little brown brothers.” But nationalist Emilio Aguinaldo rejects these claims. He says the Philippines should be independent; that US rule is no better than Spanish ...
Mar 14, 2022•58 min•Transcript available on Metacast “You have my love, and with sorrow I dismiss you.” This is the story of the Hawaiian Kingdom’s end. Queen Liliuokalani hates the Constitution of 1887–or “Bayonet” Constitution, as it’s known, since her predecessor and brother King Kalakaua signed it under duress. Under this constitution, wealth rather than citizenship determines who votes. This means a lot of wealthy sugar-planting foreigners of American and European origin control the legislature while few native Hawaiians are enfranchised. Lil...
Feb 28, 2022•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast “Sergeant, the Spanish bullet isn’t made that will kill me.” This is the story of the Spanish-American War. George Dewey’s squadron is in Manila Bay. Henry Glass is bombarding Guam’s Apra Harbor. Theodore Roosevelt’s Rough Riders are charging up Kettle Hill in Cuba’s San Juan Heights. One American victory follows another as the US fights against the Spanish for the sake of Cuba. Or is it for the sake of Cuba? As the US and Spain work out a peace treaty in Paris, we’ll see one empire fall and ano...
Feb 14, 2022•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today, the Prof would like to provide you with a little bonus: an intro to the podcast History Daily! We will hear two tales related to the era HTDS is in now: the first flight of the Wright Brothers and the race to the South Pole. Our storyteller is the man behind HTDS's sound design and so many other excellent podcasts like 1865, American Scandal, American History Tellers, and more: Lindsay Graham. Subscribe to History Daily wherever you enjoy podcasts. You can check out its website here: http...
Feb 07, 2022•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast “Remember the Maine, to hell with Spain!” This is the story of the road to war for American Empire. Ruled by Spain, Cuba has nonetheless been at odds with the Crown for decades. The Caribbean isle has rebelled and warred against the colonial power more than once in the second half of the nineteenth century. The US has watched with great interest as some of its leaders and citizens have cheered for Cuban liberty, while others have thought more about annexation. The US is ascendant; the Spanish Em...
Jan 31, 2022•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast “Santa can’t fool [me], since the holes in [my] stockings are too big for anything to be put in.” This is the story of Gilded Age giving. Of 30,000 destitute children having a better Christmas because of one man who used his newspaper to connect those who were without to those who had and wanted to give. This is the story of Gilded Age New York’s real life Santa Clause: Joseph Pulitzer. ____ Connect with us on HTDSpodcast.com and go deep into episode bibliographies and book recommendations join ...
Dec 20, 2021•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast Greg sits down with Zach and Kelsi for a chat. They make a rather … LIVE(ly) announcement … then proceed to talk about electricity, tycoons, and the New South. But the conversation can’t end without Greg and Zach nerding out (as Kelsi, perhaps rightly, rolls her eyes) about their mutually favorite author: Edgar Allan Poe. ____ Connect with us on HTDSpodcast.com and go deep into episode bibliographies and book recommendations join discussions in our Facebook community get news and discounts from ...
Nov 22, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Transcript available on Metacast “Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel?” This is the story of the Gilded Age below the Mason-Dixon Line. In the years since the Civil War, the cotton industry has been reshaped. The South has more international competition and is opening more of its own cotton mills. It’s a significant and deeper step into a post-slavery, industrial economy. This “New South” post-slavery economy has also turned to a new farming model: sharecropping. But amid forced labor co...
Nov 08, 2021•1 hr 6 min•Transcript available on Metacast ‘How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily—how calmly I can tell you the whole story.” This is the story of a man driven to madness by a pale blue eye; the story of a man who’s vowed revenge; of a young scholar heartbroken by death. This is also the story of the man who brought us these three tales–one of the most grim and ghastly Gothic authors in American history–Edgar Allan Poe. This episode is best enjoyed alone. In the dark. With headphones. Happy Halloween! ____ Connect with ...
Oct 25, 2021•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast Did Singer Sewing Machines take over the world? And are bananas as dangerous as they appear in cartoons? The answer to both of these questions are a resounding “yes!” in the Gilded Age. Listen in as the Prof. discusses these and other Gilded Age topics with his esteemed colleague and fellow podcaster: Dr. Ben Sawyer of Middle Tennessee State University and The Road to Now Podcast (check them out here: https://www.theroadtonow.com/)! ____ Connect with us on HTDSpodcast.com and go deep into episod...
Oct 11, 2021•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast “You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.” This is the story of Gilded Age’s later presidencies. Grover “the Good” Cleveland is known as a man of integrity and honesty. Those characteristics alone are enough to get him to the White House. But as Benjamin Harrison interrupts his terms, the frustration of farmers and factory workers is boiling over into more labor strikes. Soon, working-class Americans are rallying around one issue in particular: the minting silver. The issue is ripping...
Sep 27, 2021•1 hr•Transcript available on Metacast “Someday, some-time, when I am a man, I want to be worth a hundred thousand dollars!” This is the story of two of the United States’ most wealthy industrialists. John D. Rockefeller is the son of a con artist; he teaches young John never to trust and leaves the boy wondering if food will or won’t be on the table. John will rise from his world of uncertainty to dominate the emerging oil scene. The son of a Scottish weaver, Andrew Carnegie comes from absolutely nothing. But Pennsylvania Railroad e...
Sep 13, 2021•1 hr 8 min•Transcript available on Metacast “Tesla, you don’t understand our American humor.” This is the story of opinionated inventors with very different views on electric lighting; a story of invention, genius, conniving, and even electrocutions. This is the War of the Currents. Thomas Alva Edison believes in direct current. He’s convinced it’s safer. Freshly arrived from Europe, Nikola Tesla thinks alternating current has the potential to unleash indoor domestic lighting on a whole new level and can be made just as safe. The men diff...
Aug 30, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Transcript available on Metacast “I have got so much to do and life is so short, I am going to hustle.” This is the story of trial and error, of determination, and science merging with business. Electric lights have been around since the early 1800s. Unfortunately, they’ve also been impractical. The energy it takes to operate an arc light makes it little more than a novelty. Likewise, newer lights called “incandescents” burn out far too quickly to be of value. But what if someone could make incandescents last hundreds of hours?...
Aug 16, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Transcript available on Metacast An epilogue. Or interlude? Well, we aren’t done with the Gilded age, but we have too much behind-the-scenes HTDS evolution to discuss! So here we are. Zach is moving up from intern to writer status. Longtime HTDS team member Kelsi gets behind the mic for the first time. Meanwhile, Greg discusses doing a second edition of older episodes. But of course, we won’t ignore the Gilded Age. We’ll still have some good old fashion chit-chat about recent episodes. ____ Connect with us on HTDSpodcast.com an...
Aug 02, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Transcript available on Metacast “Vive l’entente fraternelle des deux républiques !” This is the story of the Statue of Liberty. In 1865, Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi (or “Auguste,” as his friends call him), claims to have attended a dinner at which his French colleagues and friends feted the United States’ victory over the Confederacy and slavery. With hope for a restoration of republican government and greater liberty at home, these Frenchmen living under the rule of Napoleon III spoke of the United States and France’s shared s...
Jul 19, 2021•1 hr 12 min•Transcript available on Metacast “Damn ye, rascals, what did ye fire for?” This is the story of the Boston Massacre (or, for you loyalists out there, the “incident” at King Street), which the Prof. recounted LIVE this 4th of July weekend for the largest colonial history re-enactment event in the western United States: The Colonial Heritage Festival, in Orem, Utah. “Huzzah” or “fie” right along with the crowd. Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 05, 2021•59 min•Transcript available on Metacast “John Roebling has not the leisure to wait upon any man.” This is the story of a bridge and a family. John Roebling is weary of the oppressive, bureaucratic Prussian government. He’s heard from his professor–Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel–that the United States is a land of opportunity. Those factors combined lead the driven über productive German to immigrate, where he introduces wire rope to his new adopted homeland and takes bridge building to another level. But can he span the great East Rive...
Jun 21, 2021•1 hr 8 min•Transcript available on Metacast “What is the chief end of man? A: To get rich.” This is the story of the Gilded Age and its first three presidents: Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, and Chester A. Arthur. Mark Twain calls this era a “Gilded Age”–that is, a time of great greed covered with a thin veneer hiding the nation’s decadence. Is it? We’ll assess and define this oft-forgotten time. In doing so, we’ll meet three oft-forgotten presidents. Rutherford (or Rutherfraud?) Hayes, who receives the presidency through a Recon...
Jun 07, 2021•58 min•Transcript available on Metacast This is the end of the west! Meet two new researchers, Ryan Griffith and Zach Weaver, as they join Greg to discuss the latest inner workings of HTDS, the Transcontinental Railroad, Buffalo Bill, and industrialization. As they wrap up, Greg then discusses the Golden Spike Ceremony with National Park Service Lead Ranger Lucas Hugie. They do so on-site, just a stone's throw from where the Transcontinental Railroad was completed. ____ Connect with us on HTDSpodcast.com and go deep into episode bibli...
May 10, 2021•1 hr 19 min•Transcript available on Metacast “I wish to impress upon your minds that what you are about to witness is not a performance in the common sense of the term.” This is the story of the Wild West’s end and the close of the frontier. The West is settled. The buffalo are gone. The US government is seeking to assimilate Native Americans. In this environment, a religious movement promising a restoration of traditional indigenous life, called the Ghost Dance, is spreading across the continent. Fearful of it, the government sends the mi...
Apr 26, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Transcript available on Metacast “This is my last opportunity to make a big haul. Alaska is the last West.” This is the story of the US purchase of Alaska and the famous Klondike Gold Rush. Russia needs funds and sees its territory of Russian-America as a liability. That has US Secretary of State William Henry Seward seeing opportunities, such as fisheries and access to Asian markets. It’s an ideal match of interests for two major powers—provided William Henry can convince the Senate to approve the treaty to purchase a region t...
Apr 12, 2021•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast “The fight’s commenced. Go to fighting or get away!” This is the story of more gunslinging and heists. Pearl Hart needs to see her mother; is a stagecoach robbery the answer? The Earps Brothers and Doc Holiday are on the opposite of a political and economic feud with the “Cow Boys” in the mining town of Tombstone, Arizona Territory; are they disarming the “Cow Boys” in accordance with a city ordinance? Or is there more to it? Jesse James is a Civil War bushwhacker; but is it still “bushwacking” ...
Mar 29, 2021•1 hr 5 min•Transcript available on Metacast “I am going to hell anyhow.” This is the story of the rise of Western outlaws and gunslingers. From transportation of goods and people, to mining and even the cattle industry, a Second Industrial Revolution has overtaken the United States. Economic and political disruption are everywhere … but the law isn’t. And that’s the perfect cocktail for a golden age of outlaws. Sam Bass is robbing the Union Pacific. Henry—sorry, he doesn’t go by his legal name these days—Billy or “Kid,” is throwing down i...
Mar 15, 2021•59 min•Transcript available on Metacast “Did they not build the Chinese Wall, the biggest piece of masonry in the world?” The Central Pacific Railroad is struggling to find long-term construction workers. Many of them quickly leave the CP’s employ to pursue gold and silver in the mines of California or Nevada. But Big Four Associate Charlie Crocker has an idea: why not try hiring Chinese immigrants? The idea is semi-controversial in the eyes of many Americans, but the CP goes for it, and likes the results. Soon, the Chinese make up 90...
Mar 01, 2021•1 hr 8 min•Transcript available on Metacast “How dare you try to hog all the continent?” This is the story of the Union Pacific Railroad. The US Government has legislated that a private company be organized with government oversight to build a railroad from Nebraska to Nevada. It will meet the Central Pacific and form a transcontinental rail across the whole United States. Unfortunately, few are interested in investing in this risky endeavor in the midst of the Civil War. But one man isn’t afraid to do so. Of course, his lack of fear is e...
Feb 15, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Transcript available on Metacast “Every great enterprise has been ridiculed in the outset.” This is the story of the rise of the railroad. Travel on land is slow. Arduous. Inhibited by rough terrain like mountains, rivers, and bogs. That reality makes Americans view the continent’s interior as an inaccessible “Great Desert,” only to be visited by daring pioneers passing through en route to Oregon Country or California. But technology is changing. “Iron horses” are starting to run at rapid speeds across rails. And as these rails...
Feb 01, 2021•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast “Gentlemen, what is the cause of this violence?” This is the story HTDS's 2020. Most people wouldn’t call last year a good one. Doesn’t mean we didn’t have some fun mini episodes and cold opens here on HTDS. Join Greg for a look at some favorites from both of those camps. ____ Connect with us on HTDSpodcast.com and go deep into episode bibliographies and book recommendations join discussions in our Facebook community get news and discounts from The HTDS Gazette come see a live show get HTDS merc...
Jan 18, 2021•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast “The older I get the more I’m convinced that it’s the purpose of politicians and journalists to say the world is very simple, whereas it’s the purpose of historians to say, ‘No! It’s very complicated’.” — David Cannadine (British historian at Princeton) It’s epilogue time. Join Greg and Cielle as they talk broad strokes on one of the darkest periods of American history: Reconstruction and the (post-Civil War) Indian Wars. In the process, we’ll revisit a few fascinating figures who seem to reject...
Jan 04, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
