138 Frontier Politics in Early America

Did you know that Connecticut and Virginia once invaded Pennsylvania?

During the 1760s, Connecticut invaded and captured the northeastern corner of Pennsylvania just as Virginia invaded and captured parts of western Pennsylvania. And Pennsylvania stood powerless to stop them.

In this episode, Patrick Spero, the Librarian of the American Philosophical Society and author of Frontier Country: The Politics of War in Early Pennsylvania, takes us through these invasions and reveals why Pennsylvania proved unable to defend its territory.

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/048

Sponsor Links

• Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture
• Georgian Papers Programme

Complementary Episodes

• Episode 029: Colin Calloway, The Victory With No Name: The Native American Defeat of the First American Army
• Episode 048: Ken Miller, Dangerous Guests: Enemy Captives During the War for Independence
• Episode 056: Daniel J. Tortora, The Anglo-Cherokee War, 1759-1761
• Episode 079: Jim Horn, What is a Historical Source? (Colonial Jamestown)
• Episode 104: Andrew Lipman, The Saltwater Frontier: Europeans & Native American on the Northeastern Coast

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