This is the tragic story of Henry Lee IV, known to history as Black Horse Harry Lee. Most influential as a friend and ally of Andrew Jackson's, but most infamous for a scandal that shocked the Virginia gentry to its core, Henry went from being a promising young man to the disgrace of Virginia in the wake of a great tragedy that shook his family and Stratford Hall to its core. Listen Ad Free here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/black-horse-harry-lee-the-scandal  The son of Light Horse Harry Lee and heir to Stratford Hall, Henry began as a promising young man, educated at Washington College and the College of William and Mary. He served with distinction as a major in the War of 1812, and inherited a family estate in deep financial trouble, thanks to Light Horse Harry's debts and sales. Stratford's survival initially depended on a trust arranged by Henry's mother, Matilda Lee, which protected the property for her children. When Henry came of age, he took control of the estate and later married Anne Robinson McCarty, who brought a large fortune in land, bank stock, and other assets. Her money restored Stratford Hall, but the marriage also brought Anne's younger sister, Betsy McCarty, into Henry's household as his legal ward. After the birth of Henry and Anne's daughter Margaret, the household seemed settled, but in 1820 the child died in a fall down the stone steps at Stratford Hall. Anne was overwhelmed by grief and became dependent on laudanum. In that strained household, Henry formed a close relationship with Betsy McCarty, and the two began an affair that led to her pregnancy. The scandal became public, and Henry was disgraced. Disgraced Henry then faced ruin over the money he had taken from Betsy's estate. He tried to escape the consequences through a failed scheme involving Dr. Robert Mayo and a proposed marriage to Betsy, but the courts moved against him and Stratford Hall was sold in 1822. Henry and Anne left Virginia impoverished, later living in Washington, D.C. and surviving on limited means. Henry then rebuilt his career through writing, becoming a political ghostwriter for Andrew Jackson and helping with campaign material and Jackson's first inaugural address. Jackson named him consul general to Algiers, but the Senate rejected the appointment after John Tyler exposed the Stratford scandal. Henry left for Europe in disgrace, lived in poverty in Paris, and spent his final years writing a biography of Napoleon. He died there in 1837 in an unmarked grave, while Anne died three years later. The episode ends by linking Henry's downfall to the severe self-discipline and sense of duty that shaped Robert E. Lee's later life. CHAPTERS: 0:00 The Lee Family of Virginia's Fallen Heir 2:49 Stratford's Ruin Begins 6:38 Anne's Fortune Restores Stratford 10:01 Grief Turns to Scandal 19:39 A Desperate Cover-Up 23:13 Stratford Is Lost 25:53 A Ghostwriter for Jackson 30:42 Senate Rejection in Paris 32:40 Exile and Napoleon 36:29 Robert E. Lee's Burden Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks! Armes, Ethel, Stratford Hall: The Great House of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4wxAAfl Cole, Ryan, Light-Horse Harry Lee: The Rise and Fall of a Revolutionary Hero, https://amzn.to/4wiZOy3 Evans, Emory G., A Topping People: The Rise and Decline of Virginia's Old Political Elite, https://amzn.to/4z2x6nL Freeman, Douglas Southall, R. E. Lee: A Biography, https://amzn.to/4gkaqrx Hendrick, Burton J., The Lees of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4xshjNe Lee, Cazenove Gardner, Jr., Lee Chronicle: Studies of the Early Generations of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4q7GiTI McGaughy, Kent J., Richard Henry Lee of Virginia: A Portrait of an American, https://amzn.to/4xn1qaS Middlekauff, Robert, The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763–1789, https://amzn.to/4cbhg05 Nagel, Paul C., The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Family, https://amzn.to/4wUxkfi Nichols, James L., General Fitzhugh Lee: A Biography, https://amzn.to/4qeURoz Royster, Charles, Light-Horse Harry Lee and the Legacy of the American Revolution, https://amzn.to/3TKWspX

This is the story of Francis Marion, the "Swamp Fox" of Southern Campaign fame, whose partisans worked with Light Horse Harry Lee and Lee's Legion to cut off Lord Cornwallis from his bases of Loyalist support and supply, which provided a substantial contribution to Patriot victory in the broader Southern campaign of the American Revolution. This is a discussion between Will and Kaiser; they discuss the life of Francis Marion, his tactics for defeating the British, his leadership style, and the general progression of the Southern Campaign of the American Revolution. Before he was the Swamp Fox, Francis Marion was a planter of modest wealth and Huguenot descent who gained military experience in the Anglo-Cherokee War during the French and Indian War. He was a cautious, practical leader who fought alongside his men, preferred surprise attacks and sabotage, and was not flamboyant in dress or manner aside from his distinctive hat and coat. In the early Revolutionary War, Marion fought at the Battle of Sullivan's Island, and then witnessed the collapse of the Southern Continental Army after Charleston and Camden.   Marion became a partisan leader after these defeats, when the British tried to use pardons and loyalty oaths to win support, but instead angered many local men and helped push them toward Marion's brigade. Marion's partisan tactics consisted of small raids, ambushes, attacks on outposts, and operations against supply lines and bridges. Marion primarily fought Loyalist forces, operated with very limited equipment, and earned the nickname "Swamp Fox" after Tarleton's pursuit failed. Finally, the interview covers Marion's cooperation with Light Horse Harry Lee and Daniel Morgan under Nathanael Greene, with a focus on joint raids, the use of improvised siege tactics, and the Battle of Cowpens, where Morgan's forces destroyed Tarleton's legion. The episode closes with reflections on the strategic importance of the Southern campaign and Marion's place in it. Find Kaiser here: https://substack.com/@kaiserloengramm Listen to the episode on Harry Lee's Life here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/cavalier-of-the-american-revolution CHAPTERS: 0:00 Francis Marion: Southern Planter, Southern Warrior 5:13 Marion the Cherokee War Veteran: From War to Assembly to Revolution 12:29 The Defense of Sullivan's Island 16:36 Charleston Falls, Marion Escapes 19:38 The Birth of Marion's Brigade 27:51 The Raids and Tactics of the Swamp Fox 33:14 Banastre Tarleton: Nemesis of Brutal Reputation 36:38 Light Horse Harry Lee and Marion United 45:07 How Cutting Cornwallis' Supply Lines Won the American Revolution 57:54 Cowpens: A Decisive Victory 1:01:50 Why the Southern Campaign in the American Revolution Matters

This is the tale of how debt, speculation, and imprudence turned Light Horse Harry Lee from a celebrated Revolutionary War hero praised for his cavalry raids, his tactical brilliance, and his closeness to George Washington into a disgraced scoundrel known throughout Virginia as a dishonorable debt dodger. In 1782, Harry Lee returned to Stratford Hall to marry his wealthy cousin Matilda Lee, known as "the Dividine Matilda", and step into plantation life, but the quiet work of farming and managing property did not suit him. His military energy and ambition, which had served him well in war, became liabilities in peace. Harry turned to speculation, debt, and land schemes, including failed ventures in Mississippi and the planned town of Matildaville near the Great Falls of the Potomac. He also tried to help veterans and pursued a political career as a Federalist, serving in the Continental Congress and the Virginia Convention. Despite these activities, his finances worsened, and his reputation suffered as he sold land, borrowed heavily, and failed to manage his estate. Matilda's death and the trust she created limited Harry's control over Stratford, but did not stop his decline. He later married Ann Hill Carter, whose family protected her inheritance from his debts. His role as governor of Virginia and then commander during the Whiskey Rebellion briefly restored his military standing, but political opponents removed him from office soon after. Stratford fell into disrepair as creditors closed in and the family's resources shrank. Harry's ruin deepened through fraudulent and reckless dealings, including disputes over land and repeated defaults on obligations. He alienated George Washington, and his financial desperation dragged his brothers into debt as well. In 1807, Robert E. Lee was born at the fortified, debt-ridden Stratford Hall. By 1809, Harry was arrested and sent to debtor's prison, where he wrote his memoirs in hopes of earning enough to recover. After his release, Harry was forced out of Stratford and moved with Ann and their children to Alexandria. During the War of 1812, he was badly beaten by a mob in Baltimore while defending a Federalist newspaper office, leaving him disfigured and disabled. He then fled to the West Indies, where he spent his final years in exile, writing moral advice to his children while living in poverty. In 1818, dying and in severe pain, he was carried to Cumberland Island, Georgia, where he spent his last weeks at Dungeness before dying and being buried there. His death left a lasting mark on Robert E. Lee, who built his own life around discipline, self-control, and avoidance of debt. In 1913, Harry's remains were finally brought back to Virginia and reburied beside his son at Lee Chapel. CHAPTERS: 0:00 The Summit of Light Horse Harry Lee's Glory 3:05 Harry's Fall Begins: Land Boom Fever and Matilda's Will 18:34 The Courtship of Ann Lee: Courtship and Control 24:43 Debt and Decline: Betraying Friends, Including the Heroic Washington 42:38 Robert E Lee's Birth Amid Ruin and Debtor's Prison 50:00 The Baltimore Mob Attacks 53:30 Lee's West Indies Exile 1:01:49 How Harry Lee Shaped Robert E Lee   Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks!   Cole, Ryan, Light-Horse Harry Lee: The Rise and Fall of a Revolutionary Hero, https://amzn.to/4wiZOy3 Evans, Emory G., A Topping People: The Rise and Decline of Virginia's Old Political Elite, https://amzn.to/4z2x6nL Freeman, Douglas Southall, R. E. Lee: A Biography, https://amzn.to/4gkaqrx Hendrick, Burton J., The Lees of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4xshjNe Lee, Cazenove Gardner, Jr., Lee Chronicle: Studies of the Early Generations of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4q7GiTI McGaughy, Kent J., Richard Henry Lee of Virginia: A Portrait of an American, https://amzn.to/4xn1qaS Middlekauff, Robert, The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763–1789, https://amzn.to/4cbhg05 Nagel, Paul C., The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Family, https://amzn.to/4wUxkfi Nichols, James L., General Fitzhugh Lee: A Biography, https://amzn.to/4qeURoz Royster, Charles, Light-Horse Harry Lee and the Legacy of the American Revolution, https://amzn.to/3TKWspX Sydnor, Charles S., Gentlemen Freeholders: Political Practices in Washington's Virginia, https://amzn.to/4ggLJfH Unger, Harlow Giles, First Founding Father: Richard Henry Lee and the Call to Independence, https://amzn.to/4hWbm6D

This is the story of Light Horse Harry Lee, the dashing Cavalier of the American Revolution, and how he helped win the War for American Independence through his talented command of Lee's Legion. It is the tale of how he developed his skills as a horseman and leader in his Leesylvania estate, studied the Classics at Princeton and won renown as a scholar, built himself into a brilliant cavalier of a military leader, and won great morale-boosting victories at Spread Eagle Tavern and Paulus Hook before masterminding a strategy that defeated Lord Cornwallis in the South. He led with bravery, before quitting in pique over the jealousies of other officers and marrying Matilda Lee of Stratford Hall before the conclusion of the war. Listen ad-free here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/cavalier-of-the-american-revolution  Henry Lee III was born in 1756 at Leesylvania in Virginia as the eldest son of Henry Lee II and Lucy Grymes. Raised among the Virginia gentry, he learned riding, command, and social confidence from family life, estate management, and contact with local political leaders. He entered Princeton in 1770, where John Witherspoon turned Nassau Hall into a rigorous center for classical learning and Whig ideas. Harry Lee studied alongside such great contemporaries as James Madison and Aaron Burr while a student of Princeton, and he excelled in Latin, Greek, mathematics, history, and literature, and graduated in 1773 with a public oration and a reputation as both scholar and gentleman. At first Lee planned to study law in England, but rising conflict with Britain changed that course. After Lexington and Concord, he returned to Virginia, joined the militia, and in 1776 received a commission as captain of the 5th Troop of Virginia Light Dragoons. Lee organized his troop with unusual care, using family resources to equip it with fine horses and strict discipline. In winter 1778, his small command won fame at Spread Eagle Tavern near Valley Forge, where ten dragoons held off a much larger British cavalry force. In the wake of this morale-boosting victory, George Washington offered Lee a position as his aide de camp, but Harry Lee refused, saying he was "wedded to my sword." Washington, who loved the young man, then helped secure him an independent partisan command, later known as Lee's Legion, a combined arms force of light cavalry and light infantry. Light Horse Harry Lee designed its distinctive green-and-crimson uniform and led it in raids, scouting, and surprise attacks in both the northern and southern campaigns, helping win the war by wearing down the British. In August 1779, Lee carried out a night assault on Paulus Hook, leading a difficult march through swamps before taking the fort by bayonet attack and withdrawing with few casualties. The victory brought praise but also a court-martial from jealous officers, which Lee defeated by defending himself. Congress awarded him a gold medal for the morale effect of his victory; he was the only non-general to be awarded such a prize. Sent south in 1780, Light Horse Harry Lee fought alongside General Greene and the famous Francis Marion, better known as "The Swamp Fox", in the Carolinas and developed a strategy he compared to Scipio Africanus: bypass Lord Cornwallis, strike British posts in South Carolina, and cut off their support from Southern Tories. This approach helped Greene and Lee dismantle British control in the interior and support the path to Yorktown, helping win the American Revolution. By the end of the war, Lee was exhausted and bitter. He resigned in early 1782, married Matilda Lee of Stratford Hall, and became lord of the estate. This was his last moment of true triumph before the decline began. CHAPTERS: 0:00 Light Horse Harry Lee: Cavalier of the American Revolution 2:55 What Light Horse Harry Learned at Leesylvania 9:11 Harry Becomes a Noted Princeton Scholar 15:49 Light Horse Harry Leaps into the War for American Independence 18:18 Lee's Legion Takes Shape 31:12 The Paulus Hook Masterstroke 36:59 Light Horse Harry and Lee's Legion Fight the Southern Campaign 45:24 Yorktown and Bitter Triumph 50:18 Stratford Hall and the Divide Matilda: Glory Before the Fall Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks! Cole, Ryan, Light-Horse Harry Lee: The Rise and Fall of a Revolutionary Hero, https://amzn.to/4wiZOy3 Evans, Emory G., A Topping People: The Rise and Decline of Virginia's Old Political Elite, https://amzn.to/4z2x6nL Freeman, Douglas Southall, R. E. Lee: A Biography, https://amzn.to/4gkaqrx Hendrick, Burton J., The Lees of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4xshjNe Lee, Cazenove Gardner, Jr., Lee Chronicle: Studies of the Early Generations of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4q7GiTI McGaughy, Kent J., Richard Henry Lee of Virginia: A Portrait of an American, https://amzn.to/4xn1qaS Middlekauff, Robert, The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763–1789, https://amzn.to/4cbhg05 Nagel, Paul C., The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Family, https://amzn.to/4wUxkfi Royster, Charles, Light-Horse Harry Lee and the Legacy of the American Revolution, https://amzn.to/3TKWspX Sydnor, Charles S., Gentlemen Freeholders: Political Practices in Washington's Virginia, https://amzn.to/4ggLJfH Unger, Harlow Giles, First Founding Father: Richard Henry Lee and the Call to Independence, https://amzn.to/4hWbm6D

This is the story of the family that produced Light Horse Harry and Robert E Lee: the Lees of Leesylvania, the Virginia branch of the Lee family that produced a long line of planters, soldiers, politicians, and lawyers. In it, I contrast the Leesylvania Lees with the Stratford Hall Lees and show how the Leesylvania line developed its own place in Virginia history as some of the greatest and most memorable members of the gentry through landholding, public service, and military command. Listen ad-free here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/light-horse-harry-and-robert-e-lee  The story begins with Henry Lee I, the founder of the Leesylvania line. Born to Richard Lee II and Letitia Corbin, he became a major tobacco planter and militia officer who managed plantations, defended the Northern Neck, and expanded into frontier lands along the Potomac. He established holdings at Freestone Point and later developed the area that became Leesylvania. Henry Lee II then turned that inherited tract into the family seat. After marrying Lucy Grymes, the famed "Lowland Beauty" whose hand he won despite competition from George Washington, he built the house at Freestone Point and named it Leesylvania. The estate became a large plantation complex with scientific management, crop rotation, domestic production, commercial fishing operations, pork and corn production, and horse breeding. Henry II also served as a county leader and burgess, and Leesylvania became a social and political gathering place that often hosted George Washington. The episode then turns to the children of Henry Lee II and Lucy Grymes, especially Henry Lee III, Charles Lee, Richard Bland Lee, and Edmund Jennings Lee. Henry Lee III became Light Horse Harry, a Revolutionary War cavalry commander famed for his leadership of "Lee's Legion" and one of Washington's favorites. Charles Lee became attorney general under George Washington and John Adams. Richard Bland Lee helped shape the compromise over federal assumption and the site of the national capital. Edmund Jennings Lee became mayor of Alexandria and a long-time defender of the Episcopal Church. The final section traces the family's decline after Henry Lee II's death, the burning and loss of Leesylvania, and the dispersal of the family into Alexandria. It then looks ahead to later generations, including Sidney Smith Lee, Robert E. Lee, Custis Lee, Rooney Lee, and Fitzhugh Lee, showing that although the estates disappeared, the family's military and public legacy remained part of American history. CHAPTERS: 0:00 The Lees of Leesylvania: The Other Lees 3:07 Henry Lee I 9:45 Leesylvania Takes Shape Under Henry Lee II 18:42 Life at Leesylvania: Commerce, Horses, and Hospitality 29:32 The Revolutionary Generation Of Leesylvania Rises 39:39 Sydney Smith Lee's Crazy Naval Career 45:49 Harry's Fall and Robert Lee 48:09 The Lee Family During the Civil War and After It 51:18 The Final Years and Legacy of the Leesylvania Lees   Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks!   Cole, Ryan, Light-Horse Harry Lee: The Rise and Fall of a Revolutionary Hero, https://amzn.to/4xltuvc Connelly, Thomas Lawrence, The Marble Man: Robert E. Lee and His Image in American Idea, https://amzn.to/4hOR3bg Crocker, H. W., III, Robert E. Lee on Leadership: Executive Lessons in Management, https://amzn.to/3Ruayvi Dowdey, Clifford, Lee: A Biography, https://amzn.to/4wBOgH2 Evans, Emory G., A Topping People: The Rise and Decline of Virginia's Old Political Elite, https://amzn.to/4z6IUFB Flood, Charles Bracelen, Lee: The Last Years, https://amzn.to/4xnlZ7g Freeman, Douglas Southall, R. E. Lee: A Biography, https://amzn.to/4q4w3Qc Gamble, Robert S., Sully: The Biography of a House, https://amzn.to/4hzPvSH Hendrick, Burton J., The Lees of Virginia, https://amzn.to/3SfHPdN Lee, Cazenove Gardner, Jr., Lee Chronicle: Studies of the Early Generations of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4fQm5Ns Longacre, Edward G., Fitz Lee: A Military Biography of Major General Fitzhugh Lee, C.S.A., https://amzn.to/4hh1xQx McGaughy, Kent J., Richard Henry Lee of Virginia: A Portrait of an American, https://amzn.to/4fHyJ2s Nagel, Paul C., The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Family, https://amzn.to/4gapiZz Thomas, Emory M., Robert E. Lee: A Biography, https://amzn.to/4bQL1U3 Unger, Harlow Giles, First Founding Father: Richard Henry Lee and the Call to Independence, https://amzn.to/4pYIsop

Why were the Founders so excellent and our modern leaders so awful? Because they cultivated and developed themselves into great men rather than relying on credentialism and technocracy. This episode discusses the Virginia gentry as a ruling class that developed itself in virtue, duty, and the skill of governance through a structured sequence of responsibilities--the "cursus honorum" of the Virginia gentry. This development began with the plantation, where competence was judged publicly through the quality of the tobacco crop and the condition of the estate. From there, the Virginia gentleman went on to serve in local church vestries, county courts, and the House of Burgesses, and eventually national politics, such as the American Revolution's Continental Congress. We use that to show how Virginians were expected to prove themselves at each level before advancing further. We then compare this Virginia system with the Roman cursus honorum, the progression from military service to questor, aedile, praetor, senate service, and consul upon which the Roman elite embarked. We discuss the two systems of tiered elite formation, and why they are necessary in building an aristocratic republic that functions well, emphasizing that both systems tied status to duty, training, and public service rather than to wealth alone. We then contrast the Virginia gentry with later American elites, especially the WASP and technocratic classes of the Gilded Age through modernity, arguing that these newer elites became rootless, moved away from the communities that formed them, and relied more on abstract credentials, institutions, and centralized systems. Trusts, Ivy League education, and modern managerial structures are discussed as examples of this shift, and how it is deleterious. Overall, we discuss whether a modern version of this kind of aristocratic development could be rebuilt. The speakers argue that tiered institutions, family continuity, local cooperation, and visible standards of conduct could still create a leadership class. We also discuss how AI, surveillance technology, and financial change may make personal quality and judgment more visible, while warning that technology alone cannot solve problems without the right character in the people who use it. Find Gregory Treat's work here: https://avaloncircle.substack.com/  Listen to this episode ad-free here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/the-virginia-gentrys-cursus-honorum  Read the referenced article on the cursus honorum here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/equality-and-the-only-political-question Listen to the previous episode here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/the-virginia-gentry-how-americas Read the referenced article on building aristocracy here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/embodying-aristocratic-excellence  Read the referenced article on architecture here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/the-architecture-of-american-renewal

For centuries, the Virginia gentry has been drenched in myth, romance, and Cavalier legend. Here, we cut through the romanticism of Old Virginia to discuss the reality of America's only real landed aristocracy. We describe the origins and formation of the Virginia gentry, how tobacco culture and great estates turned it into a coherent landed gentry class, how it used religion in Colonial Virginia and the county court system to build and hold onto political power. Then we discuss the reality of the hospitality and leisure activities for which it was famous, from horse racing to dancing. We also discuss the intellectual training of the Virginia gentleman, the nature of plantation life, the concept of hegemonic liberty, and how high levels of debt to merchant factors helped push Virginia into the American Revolution. Overall, this episode delves deep into the culture, history, and lives of the famous gentlemen of Old Virginia. Listen ad-free here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/the-virginia-gentry-how-americas  Popular mythology long romanticized colonial Virginia as a land of effortless feudal baronies populated by chivalric English Cavaliers. In reality, the "First Families of Virginia" were built by hard-headed English merchants, ship captains, and ambitious entrepreneurs who utilized the headright system and transatlantic trade to consolidate vast riverfront estates across the Tidewater. From the symmetrical Georgian lines of Stratford Hall and Westover to the all-pervading economic dominance of the tobacco leaf, these grand plantations functioned as physical fortresses of patriarchal authority, projecting an image of immovable order, rank, and permanence over the Chesapeake wilderness. In this episode, we explore how the daily governance of Old Virginia gave rise to the revolutionary generation. We trace the gentry's power through a tripod of institutional authority—the private plantation, the parish vestry, and the county court—where young grandees received a hands-on apprenticeship in the art of governing long before taking their seats in Colonial Williamsburg or Philadelphia. Combined with a culture of high-stakes equestrian gambling, courtly dancing, and classical scholarship, the planter class cultivated a fierce ideology of "hegemonic liberty." Discover how luxury spending, volatile markets, and a crushing web of transatlantic debt eventually pitted these Tidewater patriarchs against British merchants, propelling men like Washington, Jefferson, Mason, and Richard Henry Lee to lead the assault against the British Empire. Chapters 0:00 The Myth of Old Virginia and the Virginia Gentleman 4:42 The Origin and Formation of the Virginia Gentry 15:47 Tobacco Culture in Virginia 21:07 The Great Plantation Mansions of Virginia 33:50 The Virginia Plantations 39:58 Political Training in the Parish Vestry and County Court 47:53 Religion in Colonial Virginia 52:52 Leisure and Fun with the Virginia Gentry 59:09 Virginia Hospitality: Dance, Music, and Conviviality 1:02:42 Libraries and Learning 1:05:42 Hegemonic Liberty 1:08:01 The Merchant Factors and Credit Trap 1:15:22 The Gentlemen Who Led the American Revolution   Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks! Billings, Warren M., Sir William Berkeley and the Forging of Colonial Virginia, https://amzn.to/4c9LrER Breen, T. H., Tobacco Culture, https://amzn.to/4wNrigt Bridenbaugh, Carl, Myths and Realities: Societies of the Colonial South, https://amzn.to/4wybkqi Bridenbaugh, Carl, Seat of Empire:, https://amzn.to/45q3nr4 Bruce, Philip Alexander, Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century, https://amzn.to/4pLWjOM Bruce, Philip Alexander, Institutional History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century, https://amzn.to/4pIGUPj Bruce, Philip Alexander, Social Life of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century, https://amzn.to/4wF4LlJ Burt, Nathaniel, First Families: The Making of an American Aristocracy, https://amzn.to/44LGdLF Carson, Jane, Colonial Virginians at Play Evans, Emory G., A Topping People, https://amzn.to/4xaSQfj Fischer, David Hackett, Albion's Seed, https://amzn.to/4xaSKUZ Isaac, Rhys, The Transformation of Virginia, 1740–1790, https://amzn.to/4ftuyr2 Hendrick, Burton J., The Lees of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4pFM2Ut Rasmussen, William M. S., Old Virginia, https://amzn.to/4bne0yu Sydnor, Charles S., Gentlemen Freeholders: Political Practices in Washington's Virginia, https://amzn.to/45nNe5o Wright, Louis B., The First Gentlemen of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4vXmOlU

Signer of the Declaration of Independence. Savior of the Continental Army at Valley Forge. Drafter of the Articles of Confederation. Respected by Northerner and Southerner alike. Known as the "sweetest" of the Lee family, and probably the most politically effective. Francis Lightfoot Lee is one of the most important, but least remembered, Founding Fathers and Lee brothers of Stratford Hall. Listen ad-free here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/forgotten-founding-father-francis  Born at Stratford Hall, educated in Classical virtue at home, and later settled on frontier land in Loudoun County, he entered politics through the House of Burgesses, married Rebecca Plater Tayloe, and built a private life at Menokin while continuing public service. A reluctant patriot who participated in politics out of duty rather than dreams of self-aggrandizement, Francis Lightfoot Lee was trusted and chosen by Virginia to represent the state in Congress. So, in 1775, he journeyed to Philadelphia for the Second Continental Congress, where he worked on wartime administration, the Board of War, and the Articles of Confederation, and on August 2, 1776, he signed the Declaration of Independence. As a quiet figure in the Continental Congress, Francis Lightfoot Lee was known by everyone from his beloved brothers to John Adams and Dr. Benjamin Rush for judgment, steadiness, and commitment to steady and important committee work rather than flowery speeches, along with his deep and abiding commitment to his brothers, as shown by his protest resignation during an attack on Richard Henry Lee, and his effective adoption of his brother William's two orphaned daughters after his eventual retirement from politics in 1779, followed by his death in 1797 shortly after his beloved wife Becky's. Chapters 0:00 Francis Lightfoot Lee: The Hidden Patriot 3:59 Classical Education and Loudoun County: Francis Lee's Early Life 10:18 Entering Revolutionary Politics 13:15 Menokin and Marriage 15:44 Duty Calls Lee to Congress 21:04 How Francis Lightfoot Lee Saved Washington's Army at Valley Forge 22:55 The Lee Brothers Who Signed Independence 29:11 Francis's Federalist Break With Richard Henry 31:02 Retirement From Public Life, and Final Days at Menokin 35:36 A Quiet Revolutionary Legacy Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks!   Semsch, Suzanne Hadfield, The Lees of Menokin: An Early American Love Story, https://amzn.to/4bMhBpP Bridenbaugh, Carl, Seat of Empire:, https://amzn.to/45q3nr4 Bruce, Philip Alexander, The Virginia Plutarch, https://amzn.to/4fVURWR Burt, Nathaniel, First Families: The Making of an American Aristocracy, https://amzn.to/44LGdLF Chitwood, Oliver Perry, Richard Henry Lee: Statesman of the Revolution, https://amzn.to/4x2DY2q Hendrick, Burton J., The Lees of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4pFM2Ut Lee, Cazenove Gardner, Jr., Lee Chronicle: Studies of the Early Generations of the Lees, https://amzn.to/3TcZ2VB McGaughy, Kent J., Richard Henry Lee of Virginia: A Portrait of an American, https://amzn.to/4fGtjnj Middlekauff, Robert, The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763–1789, https://amzn.to/4fzRTWy Nagel, Paul C., The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Family, https://amzn.to/4yHwQua Selby, John E., The Revolution in Virginia, 1775–1783, https://amzn.to/45oTOZu Sydnor, Charles S., Gentlemen Freeholders: Political Practices in Washington's Virginia, https://amzn.to/45nNe5o Wood, Gordon S., The Creation of the American Republic, 1776–1787, https://amzn.to/4x46Pnd

A younger son of Thomas Lee, William Lee was the best businessman in the Lee Family of Virginia and used his skills as a merchant, trader, and radical London politician to help win the American Revolution through a clever bit of "militia diplomacy". Listen ad-free here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/the-merchant-diplomat-william-lees  This episode follows William Lee of Stratford Hall, a younger son of the Lee family who was trained in the tobacco economy rather than given the advantages of his older brothers. After his father's death, he worked under Philip Ludwell Lee as a clerk, steward, and estate manager, overseeing tobacco rents, warehouses, and shipping operations at Stratford Hall, the seat of the Lee family of Virginia and a major center of commerce in the colonial tobacco trade. The experience taught him how the Atlantic tobacco trade worked and how British merchants and factors controlled much of its profit. William Lee then became a London tobacco factor and built his own merchant house in London, starting in 1768. He strengthened it through his marriage to Hannah Philippa Ludwell, which brought him capital and the historic Green Spring estate. From Tower Hill, he sold tobacco directly for his Virginia relatives and supplied them with imported goods, while also becoming active in London's civic politics. He rose to sheriff and then alderman of the City of London, and in that role, he publicly presented petitions critical of the Lord North ministry's conduct in America. As the war worsened, Lee warned that the colonies could not depend on British goodwill and would have to rely on their own efforts. In 1777, he left London, gave up his business, and went to Nantes as a commercial agent for the United States. There, he found corruption in the American supply system and reported what he saw, clashing with Thomas Morris, Silas Deane, Jonathan Williams, Benjamin Franklin, and Robert Morris. After being pushed out of Nantes, Lee was sent to Berlin and Vienna, where he received no useful audience. Cut off from official diplomacy, he traveled to Aix-la-Chapelle and drafted an unauthorized treaty with a representative tied to Amsterdam merchants. The treaty was later discovered on Henry Laurens and used by Britain as grounds for war with the Dutch Republic, which forced Britain to divert ships from America and helped weaken its blockade before Yorktown.   After the war, Lee returned to Virginia without compensation or public thanks. He died in 1795.   Chapters 0:00 The Lee Family of Virginia and the Sinews of Empire 2:51 The Education of William Lee 5:24 William's Stratford Hall Apprenticeship 8:31 William's Success as a London Tobacco Merchant 11:59 William Lee's Rise in London Politics and Power 16:29 William's Flight to France 18:22 Silas Deane and Benjamin Franklin: More Corruption in Nantes 20:53 William's Militia Diplomacy Masterstroke 25:25 The Dutch Treaty Triggers War 27:53 A Bitter Homecoming: Forgotten, Alone, and Blind 31:54 The Legacy of William Lee   Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks!   Potts, Louis W.: Arthur Lee: A Virtuous Revolutionary, https://amzn.to/4vpFLOF Riggs, A.R.: The Nine Lives of Arthur Lee, Virginia Patriot, https://amzn.to/3Rh08Pd Nagel, Paul C.: The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Dynasty, https://amzn.to/4uCI6o9 Hendrick, Burton J.: The Lees of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4uCN4BF Lee, Cazenove G. Jr.: Lee Chronicle: Studies of the Early Generations of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4vGzbDe McGaughy, J. Kent: Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4ewtGA4 Burt, Nathaniel: First Families: The Making of an American Aristocracy, https://amzn.to/3Sopnj2 American Revolutionaries in the Making By Charles S. Sydnor, https://amzn.to/4dZsPaZ The First Gentlemen of Virginia By Louis B. Wright, https://amzn.to/43dW3Oh Tobacco Culture By T. H. Breen,https://amzn.to/43N4FLY

Without Arthur Lee, America would not have won the revolution: one of the earliest revolutionaries and most important pamphleteers, he became a spy and diplomat whose efforts secured the arms that won the battle of Saratoga. Yet now he is all but forgotten. Why? He was described by John Adams as a man too honest and intrepid to be popular, and the episode traces how that temperament shaped his career, a career that was integral to the Founding of America and victory in the American Revolution. Listen ad-free here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/arthur-lee-the-forgotten-founder  Born at Stratford Hall, Arthur Lee was the youngest son of Thomas Lee. Educated in Britain, Arthur was trained in the classics at Eton, where Greek and Latin study, particularly the works of Sallust, shaped his moral and political thinking. He became intelligent, gifted, and difficult, developing an unyielding belief in virtue and Republican principles. He then studied medicine at Edinburgh and Leiden, earned a medical doctorate with high honors, and returned to Virginia to practice in Williamsburg. He disliked the provincial setting and quickly grew frustrated with colonial medicine. During this period, he also became involved in a duel-related dispute with the Mercer Family connected to his brother Richard Henry Lee's role in the Stamp Act controversy, an incident that was defused before it turned deadly. Lee later returned to Britain and shifted from medicine to law, studying at Lincoln's Inn and the Middle Temple. In London, he moved among intellectual circles, became a Fellow of the Royal Society, and began writing political pamphlets. Under pseudonyms such as Monitor and Junius Americanus, he attacked Parliament's Townshend Act policies and argued for colonial rights, becoming the most influential radical writer of his day. With the outbreak of war, Congress commissioned Arthur Lee as a secret diplomatic agent. He worked with Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais to secure covert French and Spanish aid through the fake firm Rodriguez Hortalez and Company, helping arrange arms and supplies that supported the American forces over 1777, particularly during the war-changing Saratoga campaign. He also traveled to Spain and Prussia, where he negotiated for aid and had his papers stolen and copied by British agents. Lee's later service in the American commission in Passy, outside Paris, brought conflict with Benjamin Franklin and Silas Deane. He accused Deane of corruption and Edward Bancroft of espionage, but Franklin rejected his claims. These disputes split American diplomacy, led to Lee's recall in 1779, and left him politically isolated. After returning to America, a journey interrupted by two mutinies he provoked aboard the Alliance, Arthur Lee served in Virginia and Congress, worked on treasury oversight, and later withdrew to Lansdowne, where he lived in isolation and died in 1792. A century later, archival evidence confirmed some of his suspicions about Bancroft and Deane. All in all, Lee was a gifted patriot and his role in the American Revolution was long underestimated. This is the story of how a doctor, lawyer, pamphleteer, spy, diplomat, politician, and planter was, at his core, a patriot who helped win the Revolution. Chapters 0:00 Arthur Lee: The Forgotten Patriot 4:15 How Studying the Classics Turned Arthur Lee Into a Revolutionary 8:36 Arthur's Foray into Medicine and London Politics 12:21 Arthur Lee Almost Fights a Duel with George Mercer 15:54 Radical Writer in the Empire 19:11 America's First Secret Agent 24:53 "Militia Diplomacy" in Paris, Spain, and Berlin 30:40 Squabbles with Benjamin Franklin, Feuds with Silas Dean, and the Discovery of Corruption 36:56 Arthur Lee's Recall from France, Mutiny on the Alliance, and Homeward Exile 47:01 Arthur Lee Vindicated by the British Archives 48:56 Arthur Lee's Revolutionary Legacy Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks! Potts, Louis W.: Arthur Lee: A Virtuous Revolutionary, https://amzn.to/4vpFLOF Riggs, A.R.: The Nine Lives of Arthur Lee, Virginia Patriot, https://amzn.to/3Rh08Pd Nagel, Paul C.: The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Dynasty, https://amzn.to/4uCI6o9 Hendrick, Burton J.: The Lees of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4uCN4BF Lee, Cazenove G. Jr.: Lee Chronicle: Studies of the Early Generations of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4vGzbDe McGaughy, J. Kent: Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4ewtGA4 Burt, Nathaniel: First Families: The Making of an American Aristocracy, https://amzn.to/3Sopnj2 American Revolutionaries in the Making By Charles S. Sydnor, https://amzn.to/4dZsPaZ The First Gentlemen of Virginia By Louis B. Wright, https://amzn.to/43dW3Oh Tobacco Culture By T. H. Breen, https://amzn.to/43N4FLY Image credits: Landsdowne house, By Ryanlintelman - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https:/ /commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40834707

In this episode, Will discusses the history, formation, and immense accomplishments of the Virginia Gentry with J Burden. The two cover why the Virginian planter class was different from the planters of the Deep South and the WASPs of the North, making it the only real American aristocracy. They then cover how the famed "Virginia Cavalier" migration wave was true in a sense, and how it brought the concept of state, church, and property being unified to the Old Dominion. Building on that, they discuss how the leading men of Old Virginia built their local power and sovereignty through a "cursus honorum" that combined the best aspects of aristocracy and democracy to build a tremendously competent leadership class in Colonial Virginia and Early Republic America. Finally, the two then discuss what we can learn from the Virginia gentry to rebuild effective political, social, and economic power as a counter-elite. Listen ad-free here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/the-virginia-gentry-americas-only  Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks!   A "Topping People": The Rise and Decline of Virginia's Old Political Elite, 1680-1790 By Emory G. Evans, ⁠https://amzn.to/4o7ILN0⁠  Albion's Seed By David Hackett Fischer, ⁠https://amzn.to/4fHA89R⁠ Colonial Virginia: Its People and Customs By Mary Newton Stanard, ⁠https://amzn.to/4e2nT4W⁠  Colonial Virginia, Volume I and II By Richard L. Morton, ⁠https://amzn.to/3SjTUy8⁠ American Revolutionaries in the Making By Charles S. Sydnor, ⁠https://amzn.to/4dZsPaZ⁠ Old Virginia by William M. S. Rasmussen, ⁠https://amzn.to/4e2mueG⁠ The Age of Federalism By Stanley M. Elkins and Eric L. McKitrick, ⁠https://amzn.to/3QfnQuR⁠ The First Gentlemen of Virginia By Louis B. Wright, ⁠https://amzn.to/43dW3Oh⁠ The Transformation of Virginia, 1740-1790 By Rhys Isaac, ⁠https://amzn.to/4e4YZSs⁠ Tobacco Culture By T. H. Breen,⁠https://amzn.to/43N4FLY⁠ The Sociology of Colonial Virginia By Morris Talpalar, ⁠https://amzn.to/4o8Ny0v⁠

This episode investigates the vital, lifelong partnership between George Washington and Richard Henry Lee, examining the persistent historical rumors that Lee sought to undermine the Commander in Chief in favor of General Nathanael Greene during the desperate winter at Valley Forge. Long before the whispers of the Conway Cabal or the publication of forged letters designed to divide them, their alliance was forged in the Northern Neck of Virginia and tested within the House of Burgesses, where they stood together against the corrupt circle of Treasury SecretaryJohn Robinson. From their joint resistance to the Stamp Act and the signing of the Westmoreland Resolves, Lee and Washington operated in lockstep. When Washington took to the field to lead the Continental Army, Lee became his indispensable voice within the Continental Congress—securing critical food and ordnance, routing trans-Atlantic intelligence directly to the field, and eventually orchestrating the political destruction of the Conway Cabal to secure Washington's supreme command. Though the ratification of the United States Constitution would later trigger a political rift—with Lee emerging as a leading Anti-Federalist critic—their personal bond endured until the master of Chantilly on the Potomac was laid to rest. Listen ad-free here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/the-conway-cabal-did-richard-henry  CHAPTERS: 0:00 Founding Foes and Friends 3:48 The Great Northern Neck Alliance: George Washington and Richard Henry Lee 6:39 How Henry Lee and George Washington Led Stamp Act Resistance 8:38 Supporting the War and Washington 12:46 The Conway Cabal: Rumors and Reality 21:07 A Divide Over the Constitution 23:09 Old Friends Reunite 24:32 Shared Western Dreams 26:21 Final Political Alignment     Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks!   Nagel, Paul C.: The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Dynasty, https://amzn.to/4uCI6o9 Hendrick, Burton J.: The Lees of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4uCN4BF Lee, Cazenove G. Jr.: Lee Chronicle: Studies of the Early Generations of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4vGzbDe Maier, Pauline: The Old Revolutionaries, https://amzn.to/3RdsNEU McGaughy, J. Kent: Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4ewtGA4 Chitwood, Oliver Perry: Richard Henry Lee, Statesman of the Revolution, https://amzn.to/4ghdkxM Unger, Harlow Giles: First Founding Father: Richard Henry Lee and the Call to Independence, https://amzn.to/4oYRYaB Burt, Nathaniel: First Families: The Making of an American Aristocracy, https://amzn.to/3Sopnj2 Evans, Emory G.: A "Topping People": The Rise and Decline of Virginia's Old Political Elite, 1680-1790, https://amzn.to/43UPMaK Morton, Richard L.: Colonial Virginia VOLUME II Westward Expansion and Prelude to Revolution, 1710-1763, https://amzn.to/4vynVJw Potts, Louis W.: Arthur Lee: A Virtuous Revolutionary, https://amzn.to/4vpFLOF Dowdey, Clifford: The Virginia Dynasties, https://amzn.to/4vlqoqN Dowdey, Clifford: The Golden Age, https://amzn.to/3QbGNi4 Dowdey, Clifford: The Great Plantation, https://amzn.to/4gdOxKR Wright, Louis B.: The First Gentlemen of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4ekuR5z

First of the Founding Fathers to openly call for independence, the first to call for union of the states, and the first to call for a bill of rights, Richard Henry Lee was one of the greatest Founding Fathers and is the Founder most remarkable for the number of "firsts" to his name. It was also Richard Henry Lee who authored the Westmoreland Resolves that led the field in organized and armed resistance to Britain, introduced the idea of Intercolonial Committees of Correspondence, was first chosen by Virginia to attend the First Continental Congress, and who masterminded a slew of political and diplomatic victories that ensured Washington's ultimate victory in the Revolutionary War. He held Congress together when Philadelphia was captured, saved Stratford Hall from British raiders by leading the militia, organized the West by creating the law that became the Northwest Ordinance, and ensured the Bill of Rights became law. He was a great man, yet now he is the Forgotten Founding Father, the man who ought be remembered but is not. So we remember him, this is his story Listen ad-free here: ⁠https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/the-first-and-forgotten-founding⁠ CHAPTERS:   0:00 America's First Founding Father 7:27 Richard Henry Lee's Life at Chantilly on the Potomac 19:13 Richard Henry Lee Enters Virginia Politics 25:00 The Architect of Resistance to the Stamp Act 29:06 Creator of the Committees of Correspondence 33:20 Richard Henry Lee Declares Independence 37:48 War, Raids, and Congress 39:37 A Leader During Confederation, Shaper of the West 41:19 Anti-Federalist Leader? 44:03 Senator and Bill of Rights Champion 45:03 Retirement and Disillusionment 49:50 Final Years at Chantilly on the Potomoac     Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks!   Nagel, Paul C.: The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Dynasty, https://amzn.to/4uCI6o9 Hendrick, Burton J.: The Lees of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4uCN4BF Lee, Cazenove G. Jr.: Lee Chronicle: Studies of the Early Generations of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4vGzbDe Maier, Pauline: The Old Revolutionaries, https://amzn.to/3RdsNEU McGaughy, J. Kent: Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4ewtGA4 Chitwood, Oliver Perry: Richard Henry Lee, Statesman of the Revolution, https://amzn.to/4ghdkxM Unger, Harlow Giles: First Founding Father: Richard Henry Lee and the Call to Independence, https://amzn.to/4oYRYaB Burt, Nathaniel: First Families: The Making of an American Aristocracy, https://amzn.to/3Sopnj2 Evans, Emory G.: A "Topping People": The Rise and Decline of Virginia's Old Political Elite, 1680-1790, https://amzn.to/43UPMaK Morton, Richard L.: Colonial Virginia VOLUME II Westward Expansion and Prelude to Revolution, 1710-1763, https://amzn.to/4vynVJw Potts, Louis W.: Arthur Lee: A Virtuous Revolutionary, https://amzn.to/4vpFLOF Dowdey, Clifford: The Virginia Dynasties, https://amzn.to/4vlqoqN Dowdey, Clifford: The Golden Age, https://amzn.to/3QbGNi4 Dowdey, Clifford: The Great Plantation, https://amzn.to/4gdOxKR Wright, Louis B.: The First Gentlemen of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4ekuR5z

In the winter of 1750, the death of Thomas Lee left his six sons to inherit a massive empire of Tidewater land and transatlantic commerce—an inheritance that would ultimately forge them into the most formidable family alliance of the American Revolution. Steeped in the stern classical traditions of Greece and Rome, the five younger brothers—Thomas Ludwell, Richard Henry, Francis Lightfoot, William, and Arthur Lee—found themselves bound together by a shared Classical tradition, patriotic American outlook, and bitter domestic feud over their patrimony against their overbearing eldest brother, Philip Ludwell Lee. From the splendorous river wharves of Stratford Hall to the quiet gardens of Chantilly-on-the-Potomac, and from the legislative benches of Williamsburg and Philadelphia to the precarious courts of Europe, this chronicle follows five of the greatest men of the Lee Family of Virginia as they sacrificed their ease,  fortune, and peace to win the American Revolution and build the American Republic.   CHAPTERS:   0:00 The Death of Thomas Lee at Stratford Hall 3:15 How A Classical Education Created Four Founders 10:13 Philip Ludwell Lee—"Colonel Phil"—Takes Control 13:00 The Lee Brothers Work Together, But are Divided by Thomas's Will 21:15 Chantilly on the Potomac Becomes The Base of the Founding Brothers 23:12 How the Lee Brothers Helped Win the American Revolution 29:12 William and Arthur Abroad 33:05 The Cost of Revolution: Death and Disillusionment 38:18 The Legacy of the Lee Brothers of Stratform Hall   Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks!   Nagel, Paul C.: The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Dynasty, https://amzn.to/4uCI6o9 Hendrick, Burton J.: The Lees of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4uCN4BF Lee, Cazenove G. Jr.: Lee Chronicle: Studies of the Early Generations of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4vGzbDe Dowdey, Clifford: The Virginia Dynasties, https://amzn.to/4vlqoqN Dowdey, Clifford: The Golden Age, https://amzn.to/3QbGNi4 Dowdey, Clifford: The Great Plantation, https://amzn.to/4gdOxKR Wright, Louis B.: The First Gentlemen of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4ekuR5z McGaughy, J. Kent: Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4ewtGA4 Burt, Nathaniel: First Families: The Making of an American Aristocracy, https://amzn.to/3Sopnj2 Evans, Emory G.: A "Topping People": The Rise and Decline of Virginia's Old Political Elite, 1680-1790, https://amzn.to/43UPMaK Morton, Richard L.: Colonial Virginia VOLUME II Westward Expansion and Prelude to Revolution, 1710-1763, https://amzn.to/4vynVJw Potts, Louis W.: Arthur Lee: A Virtuous Revolutionary, https://amzn.to/4vpFLOF

How does a younger son, marginalized by primogeniture, forge America's most formidable revolutionary dynasty, siring four of the greatest Founding Fathers and two signers of the Declaration of Independence? This is the epic saga of Thomas Lee, the father of the Founding Fathers, builder of Stratford Hall, and great frontier fortune builder. Listen ad-free here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/father-of-four-founding-fathers-thomas  Before his sons shook the foundations of the British Empire, a single man conquered the isolating stillness of the early Virginia wilderness. Born in 1690 at Machodoc plantation to Richard Lee II, Thomas taught himself the ancient classics by candlelight, cultivating an aggressive, unyielding genius for land, trade, and politics. In 1711, at the remarkably raw age of twenty-one, he supplanted Robert "King" Carter, becoming the resident agent for Lady Fairfax's five-million-acre Northern Neck Proprietary. For years, Thomas lived in the saddle, mapping critical river access and scouting the uncultivated frontier so he could patent prime territories for himself—including massive holdings near the Great Falls of the Potomac. In 1722, he wed the aristocratic heiress Hannah Harrison Ludwell, anchoring his branch of the  Lee Family of Virginia to the highest tier of Tidewater society. But the fragile peace of the colony was shattered on a bitter winter night in 1729 when a gang of transported convicts, whom Thomas had strictly punished as a local magistrate, set his Machadoc plantation manor house ablaze. The family narrowly escaped into the freezing night as their home, commercial stores, and cherished library were entirely reduced to cinders. Rising from the ashes, Thomas—supported by the exceptional talents of his wife, Hannah—finished constructing his fortress-like brick masterpiece upon the Potomac cliffs: Stratford Hall. While Hannah directed this flourishing plantation and center of trade, Thomas ascended to the apex of colonial power, serving in the House of Burgesses before being appointed to the elite, life-appointed Governor's Council. He then became one of the great men pushing expansion to the West. In 1744, he negotiated the historic Treaty of Lancaster with the Six Nations and organized the Ohio Company, boldly claiming a continental empire for the British Crown. By 1749, he reached the zenith of colonial politics as Acting Governor of Virginia. He died in 1750, leaving behind a vast estate and six sons whose inherited defiance would ultimately ignite the American Revolution. This is the tale of how one man's relentless ambition laid the physical, financial, and political foundations of a republic. CHAPTERS: 0:00 Thomas Lee of Stratford Hall: Father of the Founding Fathers 1:44 Thomas Lee's Early Life as a Younger Son 6:15 How Thomas Lee Became the Agent for the Fairfax Proprietorship, and Used It to Build a Fortune 15:26 Thomas Lee's Marriage to Hannah Ludwell Lee 17:08 Fire and Ruin: The Convicts Cause Damage 22:03 Stratford Hall: Building a Plantation 33:36 Thomas Lee's Rise to the Top of Virginia Politics 36:45 Thomas Lee's Western Empire Vision: The Treaty of Lancaster and the Ohio Company 42:19 The First Virginian: Thomas Lee Becomes Acting Governor of Virginia 44:11 His Final Years and Legacy Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks! Nagel, Paul C.: The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Dynasty, https://amzn.to/4uCI6o9 Hendrick, Burton J.: The Lees of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4uCN4BF Lee, Cazenove G. Jr.: Lee Chronicle: Studies of the Early Generations of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4vGzbDe Dowdey, Clifford: The Virginia Dynasties, https://amzn.to/4vlqoqN Dowdey, Clifford: The Golden Age, https://amzn.to/3QbGNi4 Dowdey, Clifford: The Great Plantation, https://amzn.to/4gdOxKR Wright, Louis B.: The First Gentlemen of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4ekuR5z McGaughy, J. Kent: Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4ewtGA4 Burt, Nathaniel: First Families: The Making of an American Aristocracy, https://amzn.to/3Sopnj2 Evans, Emory G.: A "Topping People": The Rise and Decline of Virginia's Old Political Elite, 1680-1790, https://amzn.to/43UPMaK Morton, Richard L.: Colonial Virginia VOLUME II Westward Expansion and Prelude to Revolution, 1710-1763, https://amzn.to/4vynVJw Potts, Louis W.: Arthur Lee: A Virtuous Revolutionary, https://amzn.to/4vpFLOF  Image credits: Lee Family Coat of Arms based on Glasshouse using elements by Sodacan, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Theodor de Bry, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons By MamaGeek at English Wikipedia, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4255589 By I, MamaGeek, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2523197 By Mobilus In Mobili - https://www.flickr.com/photos/mobili/25412267772/, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=57303158 By Codex Sinaiticus at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=57703516 By Ron Cogswell - The Governor's Palace -- Williamsburg (VA) September 2012, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47502435

This is the tale of how the Lee Family of Virginia became a fledgling American aristocracy after Richard Lee I died in 1664, leaving behind the foundations of a great family fortune: a large commercial and landholding empire divided between Virginia and London. In this episode, we dive into how Richard Lee II, known as Richard the Scholar, became the patriarch and guided his family into becoming a dynasty, while navigating crises like Bacon's Rebellion and the Glorious Revolution, always working to preserve the family estates and secure their future for later generations, including great men like Thomas Lee, Richard Henry Lee, and Francis Lightfoot Lee.   Subscribe for more deep-dive history: https://www.youtube.com/@realTheOldWorldShow Listen ad-free here: Who was the real driving force behind the famous Lee Family of Virginia? While Colonel Richard Lee "The Emigrant" built a staggering transatlantic shipping and tobacco empire involving 15,000 acres of land, multiple ships, and a London headquarters, the true test of the dynasty belonged to the children he left behind in the wild country of the Northern Neck, particularly his second-oldest son, Richard "the Scholar" Lee. In this long-form historical podcast about the Lee family, we investigate the dramatic, often-overlooked history of the second generation of that dynasty that later proved so influential in American history, particularly during the American Revolution. We track the contrasting lives of the sons of Richard Lee I: John Lee, the Oxford-educated "Golden Boy" who created America's very first country club before dying young; Francis Lee, the calculating London merchant who built a great fortune but fell out of the family; and the central patriarch, Richard Lee II—"The Scholar in the Wilderness". Richard Lee II was a pious and private man who much preferred his library of 300 books to the chaos of colonial politics and fortune building. Yet, following his brother's sudden death, he was dragged from his study to lead the family through the bloodiest upheavals in early American history—enduring a harrowing imprisonment during Bacon's Rebellion and an almost career-ending standoff in the Glorious Revolution, before later working with the Fairfax family to bring order and aristocracy to the Northern Neck. Finally, we uncover how feuding over a poorly written will helped him set up the third generation of Lees for success, and how Richard II's legacy as the unwilling but dutiful patriarch of the Lees of Virginia ought be considered and remembered. CHAPTERS: 0:00 The Death of Richard Lee I 1:37 The Lee Family's Second Generation 6:07 John Lee, the Golden Son 11:21 Francis Lee: Critical Merchant Across the Atlantic 15:22 "The Scholar": Richard Lee II Takes Charge 22:07 The Cousinage: Richard Lee's Marriage Into the Corbin Family 26:10 How Richard Lee II Stood Down Bacon's Rebellion 33:10 Richard Lee II's Glorious Revolution Crisis 37:18 The Dynasty Solidifies: Fighting for Family Lands 43:30 The Lee Family of Virginia: Richard Lee II's Lasting Legacy Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks! Nagel, Paul C.: The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Dynasty, https://amzn.to/4uCI6o9 Hendrick, Burton J.: The Lees of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4uCN4BF Lee, Cazenove G. Jr.: Lee Chronicle: Studies of the Early Generations of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4vGzbDe Dowdey, Clifford: The Virginia Dynasties, https://amzn.to/4vlqoqN Dowdey, Clifford: The Golden Age, https://amzn.to/3QbGNi4 Dowdey, Clifford: The Great Plantation, https://amzn.to/4gdOxKR Wright, Louis B.: The First Gentlemen of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4ekuR5z McGaughy, J. Kent: Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4ewtGA4 Image credits: Lee Family Coat of Arms based on Glasshouse using elements by Sodacan, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Theodor de Bry, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

This episode examines the Lee family of Virginia and their claim to descend from a Norman named Reynard de Lega through the landed gentry of Shropshire, namely the Lees of Coton Hall and Nordley Regis, the arms of whom they long claimed, and to whom they insisted they were related. It traces the evidence that supported the pedigree, including a silver cup, a Latin inscription, a tombstone, heraldic writing, and a family Bible, all of which helped persuade the College of Heralds to confirm the Lee arms in 1930. The episode then turns to doubts raised by historians, including repeated place-name errors, such as "Morton Regis", and a genealogy based on an English letter that guessed at the family's earlier history. It then discussed a later investigation that used wills, baptismal records, probate files, and parish registers to argue that Richard Lee I was the son of a Worcester cloth merchant named John Lee and Jane Hancock rather than the Shropshire gentry. Finally, it discusses the generally merchant family origins of many of the First Families of Virginia, including the Carters, and how both those mercantile roots and the old Norman, gentry legend can be true because of how primogeniture operated in 17th century Britain and drove younger sons into trade and to America.   0:00 The Lee Family of Virginia's Norman Legend 2:42 The Lees of Coton Hall 8:33 The Evidence: A Cup and the College of Heralds 15:51 Tombstone Doubts 22:04 Thorndale's Genealogical Breakthrough 25:42 The Merchant Ancestry of the Lees Revealed 28:24 A Mixed Heritage Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks! Nagel, Paul C.: The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Dynasty, https://amzn.to/4uCI6o9 Hendrick, Burton J.: The Lees of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4uCN4BF Lee, Cazenove G. Jr.: Lee Chronicle: Studies of the Early Generations of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4vGzbDe Evans, Emory G.: A "Topping People": The Rise and Decline of Virginia's Old Political Elite, 1680-1790, https://amzn.to/4xs9gRt Dowdey, Clifford: The Virginia Dynasties, https://amzn.to/4vlqoqN Dowdey, Clifford: The Golden Age, https://amzn.to/3QbGNi4 Dowdey, Clifford: The Great Plantation, https://amzn.to/4gdOxKR Fischer, David Hackett: Albion's Seed,  https://amzn.to/4gayayG Wright, Louis B.: The First Gentlemen of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4ekuR5z  Image credits: Lee Family Coat of Arms based on Glasshouse using elements by Sodacan, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

This is the story of the dynast who founded the Lee Family of Virginia: Richard Lee I, also known as Richard Lee the Emigrant. In it we tell the story of his rise in Virginia, from his start as a Clerk of the Quarter Court and Indian trader to his time as great landed proprietor and Secretary of State of Virginia. We discuss his marriage to Anne Constable, how he accumulated landed wealth on a massive scale, and how he survived the Commonwealth and the Restoration. It's an exciting tale of frontier adventure, family triumph, and a great man whose bravery shaped America more than perhaps any other, through his descendants. 0:00 Arrival in Jamestown 3:23 The Lee Family: Cavaliers, Merchants, or Both? 8:13 Richard Lee Becomes a Merchant, and Heads to Virginia 11:53 How Richard Lee Got Ahead: Governor Francis Wyatt 15:31 Richard Marries Anne Constable 17:51 Lee Becomes a Leader of Virginia 25:33 Tobacco, Trade, and Indentures: How Richard Lee Built the Lee Family Fortune, Despite Indian Attacks 35:27 Richard Lee's Royal Mission to Breda 40:16 How Lee the Cavalier Survived the Commonwealth and Quietly Built a Fortune 45:00 The Stuart Restoration, and Lee Returns to Virginia 48:36 How Richard Lee I Ensured the Lees Would Become Famous Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks! Nagel, Paul C.: The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Dynasty, https://amzn.to/4uCI6o9 Hendrick, Burton J.: The Lees of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4uCN4BF Lee, Cazenove G. Jr.: Lee Chronicle: Studies of the Early Generations of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4vGzbDe Evans, Emory G.: A "Topping People": The Rise and Decline of Virginia's Old Political Elite, 1680-1790, https://amzn.to/4xs9gRt Dowdey, Clifford: The Virginia Dynasties, https://amzn.to/4vlqoqN Dowdey, Clifford: The Golden Age, https://amzn.to/3QbGNi4 Dowdey, Clifford: The Great Plantation, https://amzn.to/4gdOxKR Fischer, David Hackett: Albion's Seed,  https://amzn.to/4gayayG Wright, Louis B.: The First Gentlemen of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4ekuR5z  Image credits: Coton Hall north of Birdsgreen in Shropshire by Roger  D Kidd, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Glasshouse using elements by Sodacan, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

This episode introduces the First Families of Virginia, explaining how a small group of younger sons of the gentry and merchant families became a class of elite colonial families came to dominate first the Tidewater, and then Virginia. It begins by describing how younger sons hoped to rebuild themselves as landed gentlemen in the New World, and then discusses the debate over whether these First Families of Virginia were truly "Cavaliers" or whether that label stems from a later legend meant to shroud their humble origins.  The episode then explains how these families used capital, trade, and officeholding to acquire huge riverfront estates, expand tobacco production, and eventually shift from indentured labor to enslaved African labor after Bacon's Rebellion and the Navigation Acts made the old system less profitable. It then profiles several of the most famous First Families of Virginia, including the Randolphs, Byrds, Harrisons, Ludwells, Burwells, Pages, Nelsons, Carters, Beverleys, Wormleys, Lees, Fitzhughs, and Custises, describing their marriage alliance, massive estates, political offices, commercial activity, and in some cases, their role in the Revolution. The conclusion of this episode covers the social peak and decline of the Virginia gentry. It describes how their intermarriages and grand brick plantation homes turned into lifestyles of debt that were wrecked by the effects of the American Revolution that the Virginia gentry did so much to lead, along with describing how soil exhaustion played a role in ending the reign of the old Virginia gentry. 0:00 Who Were The First Families of Virginia? 5:05 The History of the Virginia Cavaliers 8:35 The Younger Sons Form a Virginia Gentry 12:52 Land, Trade, and Slavery: The Basis of Financial Power for the FFVs 18:03 How the Virginia Gentry Dominated Local and State Politics 21:46 The Randolph Family of Virginia: The Adam and Eve of Virginia 22:47 The Byrd Family of Virginia: Fortune and Ruin 24:32 The Harrison Family 25:19 The Ludwell Family and Green Spring 26:26 The Burwell Family of Virginia 27:27 The Pages and Nelsons 29:03 The Carter Family of Virginia 31:32 The Beverlys and Wormeleys at Rosegill, 32:07 The Lees of Stratford Hall, and 34:08 the Fitzhughs 35:10 The Custis and Washington Families 37:03 Intermarriage Amongst the FFVs 39:07 Luxury and Debt End the Golden Age 43:26 Revolution and Collapse 46:46 Twilight of the Old Dominion 49:06 Virginia's Lasting Legacy Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks! Evans, Emory G.: A "Topping People": The Rise and Decline of Virginia's Old Political Elite, 1680-1790. Sydnor, Charles S.: Gentlemen Freeholders: Political Practices in Washington's Virginia, https://amzn.to/3QxjEXq  Isaac, Rhys: The Transformation of Virginia, 1740-1790, https://amzn.to/4ee2INl Dowdey, Clifford: The Virginia Dynasties, https://amzn.to/4vlqoqN Dowdey, Clifford: The Golden Age, https://amzn.to/3QbGNi4 Dowdey, Clifford: The Great Plantation, https://amzn.to/4gdOxKR Fischer, David Hackett: Albion's Seed,  https://amzn.to/4gayayG Breen, T.H.: Tobacco Culture, https://amzn.to/4uuwvYy  Wright, Louis B.: The First Gentlemen of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4ekuR5z

Listen ad-free here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/what-was-life-like-growing-up-in  If you are interested in what life was like in Rhodesia in the 1970s, during the height of the Bush War, from the perspective of a woman who grew up on a frontline farm often attacked, this is the interview for you! In this show, Alice Henningway tells Will what life was like in Rhodesia, where she grew up during the Bush War in the 1970s. Alice and Will discuss the dangerous reality of life on a farm during the Bush War, life after Rhodesia in Zimbabwe, and the unique culture of Rhodesia through the lens of her memoir "Nyika, I Love You". Alice also describes her family's relationship with the Shona people who worked on and lived near their farm on tribal trust land, the Shona traditions she learned there, her family's background, and how she experienced the sharp contrasts of Rhodesian society, which combined formal colonial life with the rigors and dangers of the Bush War, and the excitement of living on the frontier.  Alice also describes her father's Save Valley Conservancy project, describing how it was transformed from cattle ranch land into conservation land. She describes the species reintroduced, how elephants were moved there, the reality of protecting rhinos from poachers, and how local communities are involved in the work. Toward the end, she reflects on leaving Zimbabwe and explains that her memoir is a record of her life and a tribute to the country, Nyika, and her family, while also mentioning her next books. Get "Nyika, I Love You" here: ⁠https://amzn.to/4uppLuF⁠ Get "Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight": ⁠https://amzn.to/4xdFEqJ⁠ (I am an Amazon Associate and will receive a small commission if you use the above links to order these great books). Chapters 0:00 Alice's Rhodesian Childhood: What It Was Like to Grow Up on a Rhodesian Farm 3:57 Living on Tribal Trust Land 5:49 Crazy Encounters with Crocodiles and Hippos 8:15 The Roots of a Rhodesian Farming Family 10:05 The Incredible Reality of Rhodesian Culture 14:21 Life at a Rhodesian Country Club 17:24 Drinking, Horses, Polo, and More: Another Side of the Rhodesian Experience 21:14 What Life Was Like after Mugabe Took Power 23:45 The Save Valley Conservancy 32:19 Fun and Wild Animal Encounters: Drunk Elephants and Protected Rhinos 36:49 Building Relationships with Zimbabwean Villagers 41:53 What Is It Like to Lose One's Home? 46:18 Exile and Homesickness: The Rhodesian Expat Experience 49:19 "Nyika, I Love You", and Alice's Other Works 57:14 Closing Thoughts

These are the works I read to study and learn about the history of Virginia, from the earliest days of colonization into the modern, postbellum era. Collectively, these are a good way of learning about practically every aspect of the Old Dominion over that time period, from managing a plantation and Cavalier culture, to the mechanics of politics in the state and Westward expansion.  In this video, I discuss which ones are best for getting a general history of the state, learning about the development of the Virginia Gentry, understanding plantation life and the economics of the plantations, understanding what set Virginia apart from the rest of the South, and getting into learning about the great men of the state's history. I'll also cover which ones are terrible, and should be avoided.  Note: I am an Amazon affiliate. If you would like to help support the show at no cost to yourself, you can do so by using the link I have attached for each book, if that book is one you would like to read. A Disease in the Public Mind: A New Understanding of Why We Fought the Civil War By Thomas Fleming, https://amzn.to/4oeeRqs  A "Topping People": The Rise and Decline of Virginia's Old Political Elite, 1680-1790 By Emory G. Evans, https://amzn.to/4o7ILN0  Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America By David Hackett Fischer, https://amzn.to/4fHA89R  Behold Virginia: The Fifth Crown By George F. Willison, https://amzn.to/3RZUalS  Colonial Virginia: Its People and Customs By Mary Newton Stanard, https://amzn.to/4e2nT4W  Colonial Virginia, Volume I: The Tidewater Period, 1607-1710 By Richard L. Morton, https://amzn.to/3SjTUy8  Colonial Virginia, Volume II: Westward Expansion and Prelude to Revolution, 1710-1763 By Richard L. Morton, https://amzn.to/3SjTUy8  Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century, Volume I and II By Philip Alexander Bruce, https://amzn.to/4vsQ4RP  Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789-1815 By Gordon S. Wood, https://amzn.to/4xcNUaO  First Families: The Making of an American Aristocracy By Nathaniel Burt, https://amzn.to/4dWhGaJ  Gentlemen Freeholders: Political Practices in Washington's Virginia By Charles S. Sydnor, https://amzn.to/4dZsPaZ  George Washington, Entrepreneur: How Our Founding Father's Private Business Pursuits Changed America and the World By John Berlau, https://amzn.to/4ui7PCq  Lee By Clifford Dowdey, https://amzn.to/4o7H7Lk  Lee Chronicle: Studies of the Early Generations of the Lees of Virginia By Cazenove Gardner Lee, Jr., https://amzn.to/43dYssh  Myths & Realities: Societies of the Colonial South By Carl Bridenbaugh, https://amzn.to/4dMbKlV  Old Virginia: The Pursuit of a Pastoral Ideal by Robert S. Tilton and William M. S. Rasmussen, https://amzn.to/4e2mueG  Patrician and Plebeian in Virginia: Or the Origin and Development of the Social Classes of the Old Dominion By Thomas J. Wertenbaker, https://amzn.to/43efFll  Robert Carter of Nomini Hall: A Virginia Tobacco Planter of the Eighteenth Century By Louis Morton, https://amzn.to/4xmlX0e  Savage Kingdom: The True Story of Jamestown, 1607, and the Settlement of America By Benjamin Woolley, https://amzn.to/43ccJWA  Seat of Empire: The Political Role of Eighteenth-Century Williamsburg By Carl Bridenbaugh, https://amzn.to/4ellGmz  Sir William Berkeley and the Forging of Colonial Virginia By Warren M. Billings, https://amzn.to/49FDqqd  Social Life in Old Virginia Before the War By Thomas Nelson Page, https://amzn.to/4fXkhUn  Social Life of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century By Philip Alexander Bruce, https://amzn.to/4x2jkk5  The Age of Federalism: The Early American Republic, 1788-1800 By Stanley M. Elkins and Eric L. McKitrick, https://amzn.to/3QfnQuR  The Birth of Virginia's Aristocracy By James C. Thompson II, https://amzn.to/4dZDoun  The British Gentry, the Southern Planter, and the. Northern Family Farmer: Agriculture and Sectional Antagonism in North by James L. Huston, https://amzn.to/4uhZOgx  The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787 By Gordon S. Wood, https://amzn.to/4uVFwLi  The First Gentlemen of Virginia: Intellectual Qualities of the Early Colonial Ruling Class By Louis B. Wright, https://amzn.to/43dW3Oh  The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789 By Robert Middlekauff, https://amzn.to/4uIXcJH  The Golden Age: A Climate for Greatness, Virginia 1732-1775 By Clifford Dowdey, https://amzn.to/4obCIXQ  The Great Plantation: A Profile of Berkeley Hundred and Plantation Virginia from Jamestown to Appomattox by Clifford Dowdey, https://amzn.to/4vkxLy2  The Landed Gentry By Sophy Burnham, https://amzn.to/4vq7Vss  The Lees of Virginia: Biography of a Family By Burton J. Hendrick, https://amzn.to/3RL7nip  The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Family By Paul C. Nagel, https://amzn.to/4opLnWN  The Old Dominion: Her Making and Her Manners By Thomas Nelson Page, https://amzn.to/4uNU0wn   The Planters of Colonial Virginia By Thomas J. Wertenbaker, https://amzn.to/4dNhls9  The Radicalism of the American Revolution By Gordon S. Wood, https://amzn.to/43xdklT  The Revolution in Virginia, 1775-1783 By John E. Selby, https://amzn.to/4uer7sa  The Sociology of Colonial Virginia By Morris Talpalar, https://amzn.to/4o8Ny0v  The Soul of a Nation: The Founding of Virginia and the Projection of New England By Matthew Page Andrews, https://amzn.to/4dMwUjV  The Transformation of Virginia, 1740-1790 By Rhys Isaac, https://amzn.to/4e4YZSs  The Virginia Dynasties: The Emergence of "King" Carter and the Golden Age By Clifford Dowdey, https://amzn.to/4o8o2Zm  The Virginia Plutarch, Volumes I and II By Philip Alexander Bruce, https://amzn.to/4uTuAxy  Tobacco Coast: A Maritime History of Chesapeake Bay in the Colonial Era By Arthur Pierce Middleton, https://amzn.to/4dRzKmg  Tobacco Culture: The Mentality of the Great Tidewater Planters on the Eve of Revolution By T. H. Breen,https://amzn.to/43N4FLY  Virginia, 1705-1786: Democracy or Aristocracy? By Robert E. and B. Katherine Brown, https://amzn.to/3S3TLil  Virginia Baron: The Story of Thomas 6th Lord Fairfax By Stuart E. Brown Jr, https://amzn.to/4uVBIK0  Virginia: The English Heritage in America By Parke Rouse, Jr., https://amzn.to/4x4dcrg  Virginia: The New Dominion By Virginius Dabney, https://amzn.to/4vjjSQO  Virginia, The Old Dominion By Matthew Page Andrews, https://amzn.to/4dZmjB3  Virginia Under the Stuarts, 1607-1688 By Thomas Jefferson Wertenbaker, https://amzn.to/4o8LPIz  Washington By Douglas Southall Freeman, https://amzn.to/4fY4rJe

This is the tale of the Knights of the Golden Circle, a pro-slavery, semi-secret, and paramilitary society in the 1850s and early 1860s that aimed to conquer a vast territorial sphere comprising much of the Caribbean world, centered on Havana, and used filibustering in an attempt to realize that immense dream of a tropical empire built on slavery.  In it, Will and Clossington explore the history, foundation, and structure of the Knights of the Golden Horseshoe. We discuss its roots in earlier filibustering expeditions in Florida, Texas, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Cuba, including the famous campaigns of Narciso López and William Walker. Further, we discuss the life and career of George Bickley, the lifelong huckster and founder of the KGC, who built the organization through lodges called "castles", secretive rituals, and surprisingly serious political connections in the highest levels of the American government. We then discuss how his foibles caused disaster when the Knights of the Golden Circle tried to invade Mexico.  Finally, we discuss the history of the Knights of the Golden Circle in the American Civil War period, during which KGC members supported secession, challenged Republican policy as Northern Copperheads, and helped form the local Confederate units that served as the foundation for much of the early Confederate Army. Recommended further reading: Knights of the Golden Circle: Secret Empire, Southern Secession, Civil War by David Keehn. You can support this show at no cost to yourself by using my Amazon associates link to get it here: https://amzn.to/4dQfLo3 Chapters: 0:00 Who Were the Knights of the Golden Circle? 3:45 The Organization and Goals of the Knights of the Golden Circle 11:40 Filibustering in American History, from Taking the Floridas to William Walker 19:01 George Bickley and Narciso López: The Cuban and Mexican Schemes 29:35 George Bickley: The Man Who Built the Knights of the Golden Circle 35:33 The Grand Strategy of Bickley's KGC 43:36 Why the Filibusters Failed 46:17 President Bucanan, Jefferson Davis, and Why American Elites Took It Seriously 49:54 The Role of the Knights of the Golden Circle in the Civil War 58:26 The KGC Falls Apart 1:01:40 The Legacy Of the KGC, and Further Reading

In this episode, Will and J. Chase Davis discuss his new book, Offensive Christianity, through the lens of where the modern church went wrong, and how to reclaim the Christian spirit of days past. They discuss the egalitarian drift of the church and where it began, how the Enlightenment and rise of democracy played into that drift, and what we can do about it. They comment on steady state Christian society versus a fervent Christian society that burns itself out, the Puritans, monarchy, and the evangelical movement before discussing finding a church that fits with your heritage and culture, what Nietzsche got wrong, and what sort of men we can look up to. Overall, they go back and forth over what it will take to return to the days when the church and Christian society create Christian heroes rather than the sort of gelded church we generally have today. Get Chase's book here: Offensive Christianity Follow Chase on X here: https://x.com/jchasedavis

This is the true story of Pocahontas, not the Disney one. This is the tale of a beloved little princess in the Powhatan Confederacy named Matoaka known for her curiosity, hence the nickname "Pocahontas" that became invariably associated with the tale of Virginia's earliest days. She was used in a game of high-stakes frontier diplomacy with John Smith that turned into a legend of lovestruck sacrifice, she was sold to Samuel Argall by her own people for a copper kettle during the Anglo-Powhatan War, and then she was Westernized and christened Lady Rebecca by the English. Abandoned and betrayed by her father and her people when the Powhatan betrayed her yet again to keep a few rusty swords, she then married John Rolfe and became the feted belle of the ball in England, where she met the king and queen, reunited with John Smith, and caught the illness that laid her low. But, it turns out, not just her memory, but her original name lives on in the name of one of America's most famous battlefields… 0:00 Pocahontas Saves John Smith 3:20 Why Is Pocahontas Important? 3:54: How Maoaka Got the Nickname, "Pocahontas" 5:27 Growing Up in the Powhatan Confederacy 7:18 Did Pocahontas Really Save John Smith 10:22 The First Anglo-Powhatan War 12:36 Pocahontas Is Captured by Samuel Argall 15:03 Pocahonas Is Westernized at Henrico 17:01 Pocahontas Meets John Rolfe, and They Fall In Love 21:15 The Powhatan People Refuse to Fight or Negotiate for Pocahontas 23:28 Pocahontas Marries Rolfe 23:33 Pocahontas Marries John Rolfe 26:11 Lady Rebecca and John Rolfe Travel to London 28:14 Pocahontas and John Smith Meet Again 29:00 Pocahontas Takes London Society by Storm 30:20 Pocahontas Grows Sick in Polluted London 31:10 Pocahontas dies Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks! Smith, Captain John: The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles., https://amzn.to/49H3hxR Willison, George F.: Behold Virginia: The Fifth Crown, https://amzn.to/4do9YG4  Dabney, Virginius: Virginia: The New Dominion, https://amzn.to/4dtAE8l  Andrews, Matthew Page: Virginia: The Old Dominion, Vol. I, https://amzn.to/4uZBW2h  Bruce, Philip Alexander: The Virginia Plutarch, Vol I, https://amzn.to/437cAU0  Morton, Richard L.: Colonial Virginia, https://amzn.to/4ua3bqY  Andrews, Matthew Page: The Soul of a Nation: The Founding Of Virginia and the Projection of New England, https://amzn.to/4d9Ut60

Listen ad-free here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/the-cradle-of-the-revolution-how  In this show, Will argues that Virginia, rather than Massachusetts, was the cradle of the American Revolution. To do so, he begins with the French and Indian War, describing the cost of it to both Virginia and Britain, and how it led to the Stamp Act, one of the key causes of the American Revolution. He then explains why the Stamp Act's silver currency requirement was particularly harmful to the agrarian, tobacco-dependent Virginia economy. Continuing, he argues that when Richard Henry Lee led Virginia into its 1766 passing of the Westmoreland Resolves—also called the Leedsburg Resolutions—that was the moment the Revolution began, and that the standard of organized political reaction to British tyranny set by it was the path to revolution that other states followed. Further, he explains why the Westmoreland Resolves were such a critical step forward that served as the beginning of the Revolution, what made the men behind them special, and how they show the unique culture of leadership and duty that existed in the Virginia of the Golden Age. He concludes by noting Richard Henry Lee's later involvement in the Declaration of Independence, and how Virginia led America in pushing for it. Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks! Smith, Captain John: The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles., https://amzn.to/49H3hxR Willison, George F.: Behold Virginia: The Fifth Crown, https://amzn.to/4do9YG4 Dabney, Virginius: Virginia: The New Dominion, https://amzn.to/4dtAE8l Andrews, Matthew Page: Virginia: The Old Dominion, Vol. I, https://amzn.to/4uZBW2h Bruce, Philip Alexander: The Virginia Plutarch, Vol I, https://amzn.to/437cAU0 Morton, Richard L.: Colonial Virginia, https://amzn.to/4ua3bqY Andrews, Matthew Page: The Soul of a Nation: The Founding Of Virginia and the Projection of New England, https://amzn.to/4d9Ut6 Image credit: Public Domain unless otherwise stated Major George Washington, Junius Brutus Stearns, CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/, via Wikimedia Commons Fort Necessity Diorama, Pi3.124, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Fort Necessity, Chris Light, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

In this episode, Will tells the tale of the life of John Smith, the mercenary-turned-explorer who was the first great Virginia hero. This is the tale of how Smith won his knighthood by defeating three Ottoman Turks in single combat, how he ended up as a leader in the original settlement of Virginia, and how his lasting legacy was the map he made out of his own explorations. Will also discusses why Pocahontas saved John Smith, how Smith saved Jamestown, and his legacy in mapping New England, along with why he died in relative obscurity. Listen ad-free and access the transcript here: ⁠https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/the-life-of-john-smith-virginias⁠ Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks! Smith, Captain John: The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles., https://amzn.to/49H3hxR Willison, George F.: Behold Virginia: The Fifth Crown, https://amzn.to/4do9YG4 Dabney, Virginius: Virginia: The New Dominion, https://amzn.to/4dtAE8l Andrews, Matthew Page: Virginia: The Old Dominion, Vol. I, https://amzn.to/4uZBW2h Bruce, Philip Alexander: The Virginia Plutarch, Vol I, https://amzn.to/437cAU0 Morton, Richard L.: Colonial Virginia, https://amzn.to/4ua3bqY Andrews, Matthew Page: The Soul of a Nation: The Founding Of Virginia and the Projection of New England, https://amzn.to/4d9Ut60 Timestamps 0:00 John Smith Saves Virginia: He Who Does Not Work, Neither Shall He Eat at Jamestown 4:36 The Humble Origins of John Smith 5:55 John Smith Becomes a European Mercenary 7:33 How John Smith Became a Legend 10:02 John Smith Becomes a Slave of the Ottoman Turks 14:04 How John Smith Joined the Virginia Company, and the Virginia Expedition 15:40 Smith and Bartholomew Gosnold 18:05 John Smith Feuds With Everyone 20:09 Smith Is Saved 21:33 Jamestown Is Founded, and Disaster Begins 22:40 Smith is Saved by Pocahontas 25:29 John Smith Maps Virginia 29:41 John Smith and Indian Diplomacy 34:07 John Smith Saves Jamestown 36:11 Smith's Style of Negotiating with the Indians 38:11 Smith's Enemies Return, and He Must Leave 43:40 Smith Maps New England 45:11 The Pilgrims Don't Like John Smith 46:14 The End of John Smith's Life Image credit: Public Domain unless otherwise stated John Smith Coat of Arms: Glasshouse using elements by Heralder, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons Richard Croft / St.Helena's church

Listen ad-free and access the transcript here: ⁠https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/john-rolfe-the-hero-who-twice-saved⁠   This is the tale of the heroic John Rolfe, the English farmer and gentleman who saved the fledgling colony of Virginia not once, but twice. In this episode, we describe how Rolfe smuggled Orinoco tobacco into Virginia, and used his unique skills to learn how to cultivate it and save the broke colony from financial collapse. We then tell the true story of Rolfe's fairy tale-like marriage to Pocahontas, focusing on how the marriage created the colony-saving "Peace of Pocahontas" and how London Society in the Court of King James I viewed her with immense interest and respect.   We then turn to how John Rolfe died, discussing the 1622 Indian Massacre that he tried and failed to stop, but why his previous work to save the colony ensured the 1622 disaster wasn't enough to totally destroy it. In this episode, we also describe Rolfe's family background, the immense tragedy he suffered when the Sea Venture wrecked in Bermuda, Captain Argall's capture of Pocahontas at the cost of a kettle, Rolfe's Christian faith, and how Rolfe helped develop representative government in Virginia.   0:00 How John Rolfe Saved Virginia with Tobacco 3:41 Reviewing the Golden Age 3:57 Who Was John Rolfe? 8:10 Tragedy Strikes Rolfe 9:39 John Rolfe Saves Virginia by Cultivating Tobacco 15:21 How Tobacco Built Virginia 15:39 Rolfe Saves Virginia Again: The Peace of Pocahontas 17:22 The Capture of Pocahontas and the Anglo-Powhatan War 18:39 Pocahontas Meets John Rolfe 21:26 Pocahontas Becomes Beloved in England, and Dies 23:30 Rolfe Returns to Virginia, and Helps Create Representative Government 25:06 Rolfe Dies in the 1622 Indian Massacre 26:48 The Legacy of John Rolfe Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support my work at no cost to yourself, you can do so by ordering the sources I used for this episode using the links below Bruce, Philip Alexander: Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century, https://amzn.to/437bho4  Dowdey, Clifford: The Great Plantation, https://amzn.to/434EBeS  Willison, George F.: Behold Virginia: The Fifth Crown, https://amzn.to/4do9YG4  Bruce, Philip Alexander: Social Life of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century,  https://amzn.to/4tDRsQd  Wertenbaker, Thomas Jefferson: Virginia Under the Stuarts, 1607-1688, https://amzn.to/431VN4O  Wertenbaker, Thomas Jefferson: Planters of Colonial Virginia, https://amzn.to/4tyVARt  Wertenbaker, Thomas Jefferson: Patrician and Plebeian in Virginia, https://amzn.to/48ZgIcl  Morton, Richard L.: Colonial Virginia, https://amzn.to/4ua3bqY  Andrews, Matthew Page: The Soul of a Nation: The Founding Of Virginia and the Projection of New England, https://amzn.to/4d9Ut60  Bruce, Philip Alexander: The Virginia Plutarch, Vol I, https://amzn.to/437cAU0

This is the story of Colonial Virginia in its fullest flowering. From its unique culture to its excellent people, from the glorious Georgian mansions for which it is still remembered to the political leaders its tobacco plantations produced, this is how the special society that grew out of the Virginia Tidewater turned into the cradle of the American Revolution. Particularly, we discuss why the Virginia gentry produced such excellent leaders as it did, and how the culture of leadership and command, when paired with the sense of dignity and refinement for which the classic Virginia Gentlemen were known, created most of America's greatest heroes and most important leaders. In this episode, we dive into both those leaders and what enabled them to be such. We uncover the importance of architecture to the Virginia gentry's social dominance, how leadership was built at the local level and cultivated from the ground up, how the political culture of Virginia's Golden Age produced the Founders, and how their reliance on depleted soil, London merchants, and British debt became a budding economic crisis for colonial Virginia. But, most of all, we discuss how the civil society of the Golden Age was refined and cultivated, and how that produced the men who led the Revolution and created the Early American Republic. Sources for the Episode I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks!  Sydnor, Charles S.: Gentlemen Freeholders: Political Practices in Washington's Virginia: https://amzn.to/3R0ujKf  Isaac, Rhys: The Transformation of Virginia, 1740-1790: https://amzn.to/4dEcMiL  Evans, Emory G.: The "Topping People": The Rise and Decline of Virginia's Old Political Elite, 1680-1790: https://amzn.to/430Fmpi   Bruce, Philip Alexander: Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century: https://amzn.to/4eEocVF   Wertenbaker, Thomas J.: The Planters of Colonial Virginia, https://amzn.to/4uDFJ4Y  Morton, Richard L.: Colonial Virginia, https://amzn.to/4ua3bqY  Dowdey, Clifford: The Golden Age: A Climate for Greatness, https://amzn.to/4wkvVi7  Stanard, Mary Newton: Colonial Virginia: Its People And Customs, https://amzn.to/4u5X2Mm  Wright, Louis B.: The First Gentlemen of Virginia, https://amzn.to/3PgaHRM  Bridenbaugh, Carl: Seat of Empire, https://amzn.to/42WMhQn  0:00 The Virginia Golden Age 2:51 The Refinement of Virginia and Creation of the Virginia Gentleman 4:39 How Architecture Supported the Gentry's Pre-Eminence 6:54 The Inheritors: How Merchants Became Gentlemen 10:20 Virginia Hospitality 11:49 How Plantations and Local Leadership Built the Great Virginia Statesmen 19:02 The House of Burgesses, The Training Ground of the Founders 23:48 The Dire Economic Reality In Colonial Virginia 28:43 How Virginia's Culture Was Refined 29:45 Liberty and Duty: Why the Founding Grew Out of Virginia 34:34 The Golden Age Fractures 38:26 The Sun Sets on Colonial Virginia, and Rises on a Republic They Built

The Knights of the Golden Horseshoe: 12 Virginia Gentlemen who embarked upon the Transmontane Expedition with Governor Alexander Spotswood as he sought to open new lands to settlement, defeat the attempt of the French to box Virginia in, and bend the Topping People to his will. A romantic adventure story populated by frontier guides, swaggering Cavaliers, and a frolicking tavern of an expedition through primeval forests!   It is a riotous tale of high living on the frontier, from the travelling tavern that the expedition became known as with its many toasts and bottles of everything from claret to rum, to the great work these beknighted Virginians did in opening frontier lands for new settlement. It's a story of adventure and high living that explains why America became a continental empire.   Further, this is also the tale of Gov. Alexander Spotswood, the most influential Royal Governor of Virginia in the 18th century. This is the story of how a veteran of Marlborough's campaigns who was wounded at Blenheim, a consummate Cavalier dedicated to High Tory principles, bent the "haughty" ruling classes of Virginia to his will, and did so in such a way that they loved him for it and became all the wealthier and more powerful for it. So, listen in to hear how 12 gentlemen, 14 rangers, 4 Indian guides, a governor, and a bevy of dozens of servants and porters pierced the rocky veil of the Blue Ridge for the first time ever, and did so with goblets of rum in hand, one of the most romantic adventure stories of American history. I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support my work at no cost to yourself, you can do so by ordering the sources I used for this episode using the links below Sources Referenced in this Episode: Fontaine, John: The Journal of John Fontaine, 1710-1718 (Edited by Edward P. Alexander). Evans, Emory G.: The Topping People: The Rise and Decline of Virginia's Old Provincial Elite. Bruce, Philip Alexander: Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century. Isaac, Rhys: The Transformation of Virginia, 1740-1790. Morton, Richard L.: Colonial Virginia. Bruce, Philip Alexander: The Virginia Plutarch, Vol. I Dabney, Virginius: Virginia: The New Dominion

The Great Massacre of 1622 almost destroyed Virginia. Understanding that the ever-larger numbers of settlers and their accumulation of land would destroy his people and their way of life, Great Chief Opechancanough, the brother of Powhatan and uncle of Pocahontas, bands the Powhatan people together and launches a surprise attack on the English on the morning of March 22, 1622. A third of the colony is wiped out in the blink of an eye, its precarious prosperity is wiped away, and the outlying plantations are ravaged by treacherous natives who pose as friends of the unsuspecting settlers before striking down them and their families. Jamestown is saved by the bravery of an Indian boy named Chanco and a settler named Richard Pace who had taken him in, but only just, and the settlers respond with fury, launching the Third Anglo-Powhatan War. This is the full tale, and the story of how Virginia survived such treachery!   Timestamps: 0:00 The Indian Massacre of 1622 3:49 The Great Peace after John Rolfe Married Pocahontas 5:47 Opechancanough Plots the Destruction of the English 6:35 The Powhatan Launch the Great Good Friday Massacre of 1622 10:07 How Jamestown Survived the 1622 Massacre 10:54 The Aftermath of the 1622 Good Friday Massacre 12:44 The English Settlers Respond to the Powhatan with Total War 15:14 The Virginia Company Dies 17:04 Virginia is Born   Farmer at Colonial Williamsburg, Sarah Stierch, CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons   Jamestown House, Hudson, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons   Berkeley Hundred First Thanksgiving, By Joe Orbin - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51846533   George Thorpe Coat of Arms, By Glasshouse - Crozier, William Armstrong. Virginia Heraldica. 1908; rpt. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co, 1965, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=137116635   Thomas Gates Reaches Jamestown, Jna. P. Davis Sc (via Edward Eggleston) via Internet Archive Book Images, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons   Bennett's Plantation, Steveprutz, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons   Arrival at Jamestown, Drake, Francis S. (Francis Samuel), 1828-1885, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons   Henricus, Morgan Riley, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons   An Indian Warrior, W.H. Drake via via M.E. Thalheimer (Internet Archive Book Images), CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

In this episode, Will and Paul Fahrenheidt discuss Virginia's unique military culture. They begin with its origins in the British militia system and Indian fighting, then discuss how the mercantile backgrounds of the first families impacted it, and then discuss how it became a tremendous force that drove American military culture starting in the early 1800s. They further discuss how it can be glimpsed in the Mexican-American War and War Between the States, and how it lives on today. They also discuss the Cavaliers, the Scots-irish and Anglo-Normans, and in what capacities Virginians excelled as military men. Follow Paul on X here: https://x.com/cavkingpaul Find the Old Glory Club Substack here: https://oldgloryclub.substack.com/

This is the tale of Nathaniel Bacon's Rebellion against Governor Sir William Berkeley, the long-ruling governor of Virginia who went from beloved Cavalier to despised despot. It is the story of how the engrossment of Virginia's lands by the Virginia gentry, the sub-penny trap in tobacco prices that drove the yeomen of the Old Dominion under, and the Indian attacks along the frontier that finally led to Bacon's Rebellion. Bacon's private campaign against the Susquehannock and the Occaneechi, the story of how Bacon got his commission, and why Bacon's Men burned Jamestown, is all covered, as is the story of Berkeley's revenge after Bacon died and his men were defeated. Finally, we describe how the Virginia of the Golden Age was born from the ashes of Bacon's rebellion, and how rising tobacco prices and the switch from indentured servants to an enslaved workforce stopped revolution from happening again.

In this episode, Will and Chris Barnard, the President of the American Conservation Coalition, discuss the state of conservation in America and why it's a conservative value. They discuss where leftist environmental groups went wrong, conservation as a conservative value, and new technologies that are giving us a better chance to restore the natural environment. They also discuss lurking dangers and disasters in America's natural world, from PFAS in the water and the budding Western water crisis to overtaxed American topsoil, along with what might help fix those issues. Find Chris on X here: https://x.com/ChrisBarnardDL Check out the American Conservation Coalition here: https://acc.eco/

Were the famed Virginia Cavaliers truly the architects of the Old Dominion, or are they merely a phantom of Southern chivalry's imagination? Did those proud and defiant Royalists, the "Distressed Cavaliers" of legend, ever actually flee to the Tidewater to escape the dreary tyranny of Oliver Cromwell's Protectorate, or is the "Cavalier" just a convenient myth—a mask worn by a merchant class in search of a noble pedigree? This episode resolves that perennial question.  We discuss the reality of the Cavalier-Puritan split in America—a conflict of visions rooted in an irreconcilable divide between the Tobacco Plantations of the Virginia Gentry and the Gospel of Labor. We explore the offer of Cavalier sanctuary provided by Governor Sir William Berkeley, and how Virginia culture became Cavalier culture. Most of all, we discuss the reality of the Second Sons myth of the First Families of Virginia, and if there really were nobles in America's Old Dominion, or at least their second sons. This is the foundational story of the Tidewater Gentry and the rise of the First Families of Virginia. It is the tale of how a tobacco plantation economy was transfigured into a colonial aristocracy, how the fires of the English Civil War were reignited in the New World, and how Virginia became the land of the Cavaliers. 0:00 The Cavalier of Virginia: Man or Myth? 3:47 The English Civil War Comes to Virginia 5:59 Why Virginia Remained Cavalier 7:10: What the Conflict Between Puritan and Cavalier was All About 10:50 Were There Puritans in the Tidewater? 11:23 Puritan Levellers and Diggers Chase the Cavaliers Out of England 12:27 The Three Stages of Cavalier Migration to Virginia 17:21 The Cavaliers Define the Virginia Gentry 19:07 Governor Berkeley Invites the Cavaliers and Creates a Ruling Class 23:09 The Importance of the Anglican Church of Virginia 25:47 Virginia's Cavalier Ruling Class Has Formed 26:46 Was the Virginia Cavalier Real? Richard of Jamestown, Internet Archive Book Images, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons Astley Bernard, Unknown artistUnknown artist, CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Rev. Hunt Reads, Internet Archive Book Images, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons Pilgrim Fairmount, Internet Archive Book Images, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons Westover Plantation, Internet Archive Book Images, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons Berkeley, D.H. Maury (via Internet Archive Book Images), CC0, via Wikimedia Commons Church of All Saints, Lewis Hulbert, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Berkely, John Philip Davis via Frank X. Sadlier (via Internet Archive Book Images), CC0, via Wikimedia Commons Jamestonwn Church, Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Colonial Williamsburg, Harvey Barrison from Massapequa, NY, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Colonial Williamsburg Parish Church, Carolyn from Pemberton Township, NJ, USA, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Colonial Williamsburg, Mobilus In Mobili, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Settlers, Frank X. Sadlier (via Internet Archive Book Images), CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

How did NASA boldly advance the Apollo Program over the course of a decade to accomplish the greatest feat of mankind: the landing of humans on the Moon and their safe return to Earth? In this episode, Will sits down with Charles Murray—renowned author of The Bell Curve and Coming Apart—to discuss a lifelong passion project: the Apollo Program. While many focus on the astronauts, Murray's book, Apollo: The Race to the Moon, tells the story of the engineers, the mission controllers, and the institutional genius that made the impossible a reality. What We Discuss: The Cold War Background: How the Bay of Pigs Disaster led to President Kennedy deciding to set the Moon as a benchmark of Space Race victory, and why he chose it, along with whether the Soviet space program was really that far ahead of America's. They cover Von Braun and the Germans at the Marshall Space Center, the incredible story of the NASA Langley Research Center. The Engineering Talent Pool: How the mid-century U.S. produced an unprecedented concentration of technical brilliance, and how many of Apollo's engineers came from backgrounds other than what one might expect. The Saturn V & The Lunar Module: Examining the "otherworldly" engineering and the sheer scale of the incredibly advanced spacecraft and rockets. Saving the Mission: How a handful of personnel in Mission Control made split-second decisions that saved the program from disaster, and how courageous decisions made by  NASA leaders over the decade ensured Kennedy's pledge was fulfilled. The SpaceX Connection: Why Elon Musk is the true heir to the Apollo legacy and how SpaceX mirrors the NASA of the 1960s. The Future of Human Achievement: What missions today could inspire the same civilizational impact as the moon landings. About the Guest: Charles Murray is a Hayek Emeritus Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. While widely known for his sociological work, his history of the Apollo program is considered a definitive look at the technical and organizational triumphs of the Space Race.     Get Charles Murray's book about Apollo here: ⁠Apollo: The Race to the Moon⁠   See his other books here: ⁠Charles Murray's books⁠   Find his other work here: ⁠Charles Murray AEI⁠   Note: I am an Amazon affiliate. Using the above Amazon links to Mr. Murray's books is a way of supporting my work at no cost to yourself.

his is the tale of how tobacco created the plantations in Virginia for which the Old Dominion is known, and how those plantations entrenched and solidified the power of the famous "Topping People" of Virginia, those First Families of Virginia and Virginia Gentry who ruled the state for decades. It is a tale of indentured servants in colonial Virginia and slave labor workforces on vast Virginia plantations. It is a tale of the Navigation Acts, of soil exhaustion, of Starving Times in Jamestown and dying gentlemen in their starched, ruffled shirts. This is the story of Virginia's shift, brought about thanks to John Rolfe of Pocahontas fame, from the blighted land  Captain John Smith and Gov. George Percy knew, to that flourishing and flowering Old Virginia of Robert "King" Carter, Thomas Lee, and the others of Virginia's Golden Age. But most of all, this is the tale of tobacco and plantations in Virginia, and why they developed as they did.

In this episode, Will and Richard Easton, a historian of GPS and son of one of the inventors of GPS, discuss the history of the Space Race and Apollo missions. They go over the impetus for Eisenhower committing America to launching a satellite, the reasons for the Gemini and Mercury missions, why Kennedy settled on the moon mission, and how the Apollo program progressed. They discuss the technical advancements required to make Apollo happen, the characters and competence of the men involved, the scientific legacy of Apollo, and why the missions were ended. They discuss also why space exploration slowed to a crawl after Apollo 17, the challenges NASA faces, and the incredible technical competence shown by SpaceX, along with GPS and Richard's book about its history. Note: the Apollo 16 CapCom whose name Richard could not remember is Charlie Duke Get Richard's Book here: GPS Declassified: From Smart Bombs to Smartphones Get Michael Collins's Book here: Carrying the Fire Get Charles Murray's book about Apollo here: Apollo: The Race to the Moon

In this concluding video on the Lewis and Clark Expedition, Will discusses what the legacy of these two great explorers is. He comments on their discovery that the Northwest Passage was a figment of the imagination, but how they nevertheless sparked a massive fur trade rush. He tells how Clark mapped the West with incredible accuracy and created a resource used for decades, how their careful cataloguing and preservation of natural specimens was an immense scientific accomplishment, and how they discovered and documented much of the West's incredible species and beauty. He also discusses the death of Meriwether Lewis, and how Lewis's incomprehensible failure to publish the Lewis and Clark Journals led to many of their greatest scientific accomplishments going unrecorded for almost a century.

In this episode, Will and Gregory Treat, an attorney who helps families plan for multiple generations into the future. They discuss Great Houses—families that build a multi-generational legacy and use it to influence and lead their polities—and how such a concept is relevant today. They discuss democratic vs. aristocratic technologies, the mindset behind Great Houses, whether the form of wealth matters, some examples of Great Houses acting for the best in American life, and how technological change could lead to a very different world…that will likely still rely on Great Houses. Find Gregory Treat on Substack here: ⁠Gregory Treat⁠ Listen to His Great Houses episodes here: ⁠https://greathouses.forum/⁠ Check out his consulting here: ⁠https://avaloncircle.com/⁠ Read Will's thoughts on this here: ⁠https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/all-elites-are-not-created-equal⁠

The Corps of Discovery's Permanent Party makes it back to St. Louis in this episode, finishing the grand march across a continent and back on which it set out two years prior. This is the tale of how the Lewis and Clark Expedition made it back from Fort Clatsop to St. Louis in one travel season. It's the story of fighting up rivers, marching through the Bitterroot Mountains in a heavy season of snow, splitting the party up despite the immense risks so that the Marias River and Yellowstone River Valley could be explored as the party filled in the map and looked for commercial opportunity, and how the party split with Sacagawea when they returned to the Mandans.   This is also the story of Pompey's Tower, of a desperate fight with the Blackfeet Indians, of the discovery that the Northwest Passage was truly non-existent, of the wisdom of the Nez Perce Indians, of the first mountain man—a veteran of the Permanent Party, and of the tragic fate Lewis met with after an immensely successful journey

Emerging from the skeletal hunger and crushing snows of the Bitterroot Range and its Lolo Trail, the Lewis and Clark Expedition finally reaches the waters that will lead them to the Pacific. But the Permanent Party explorers in the Corps of Discovery quickly realize that their mountain ordeal was merely a prelude to further terrible ordeals to follow. This critical chapter captures the moment they commit themselves to the unyielding, ferocious whitewater of the great river descent, forced to navigate dangerous cascades in cumbersome, hand-carved dugout canoes. As the snow-dusted, jagged peaks from their past loom in the background, they are thrust into a relentless battle against a watery labyrinth that threatens to swallow the dreams of an "Empire of Liberty" whole. This is the tale of how the Lewis and Clark Expedition reached the Pacific. It is a tale of crushing snow and frigid temperatures in the Bitterroot Mountains, high-stakes negotiations with the Nez Perce, shooting the dangerous rapids after making dugout canoes, and a winter of misery spent at Fort Clatsop amongst the Clatsop Indians in steady rain. It is a tale of courage, of triumph over insurmountable odds, and of incredible leadership in the face of immense danger

In this episode, Will and Rowdy Yates discuss the two premier novels of American journalist and author Tom Wolfe—The Bonfire of the Vanities and A Man In Full. They discuss what Wolfe says about America and the men within it through the lens of the novels, from the decayed "moral tone," as Wolfe put it, of cosmopolitan cities in the New South like Atlanta to the nature of class and wealth in America. They discuss everything from the mess that is Atlanta to Wolfe's genius as an author, along with some of their favorite "laugh out loud funny" moments and characters in each novel. Further, they discuss how Wolfe portrays the Civil Rights grifters, new money, old money, and men who are out of place in a cosmopolitan world. Get A Man in Full here Get Bonfire of the Vanities here

What happens when the dream of an Empire meets the reality of a vertical wall of granite? In this episode, we follow the Corps of Discovery as they "step off the map" and enter the truly uncharted West. The journey becomes a high-stakes survival epic, beginning with the White Pirogue disaster, where Sacagawea's calm resolve saves the mission's intellectual legacy from the bottom of the Missouri. We witness the "rude awakening" of the American frontiersmen as they encounter the Beast of the Plains—the Grizzly Bear. From the near-fatal "Espontoon Incident" to the harrowing 18-mile portage around the Great Falls, this was the month that forged the "Permanent Party" into an ironclad force hardened by cactus-shredded feet and hailstorms the size of apples. The expedition reaches its breaking point at the Continental Divide, where Meriwether Lewis discovers that the "Northwest Passage" is a myth, leaving the expedition staring in the face of a labyrinth of snow-capped peaks. Just as starvation and defeat seem inevitable, the mission is saved by a miraculous reunion so improbable it would be dismissed as fiction. This is the moment Sacagawea recognizes the Shoshone Chief as her long-lost brother, Chief Cameahwait, turning a potential massacre into a diplomatic triumph. This is more than a trek; it is a masterclass in leadership at the edge of the world. Subscribe to The Old World as we detail the turning point of American history and the moment Jefferson's Empire of Liberty finally found its path across a continent and to the Pacific.

This is the tale of how Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led the Corps of Discovery out of Camp Dubois and up the Missouri River, sailing, rowing and pushing a keelboat against the current and into history. It's the story of their standoff with the Teton Lakota, their need for nine pounds of meat per man per day to make up for the caloric expenditure of the expedition, and of their time with the incredible Mandan Indians. It is a romantic story of adventure, an excruciating story of hard work on a merciless frontier, and an exciting tale of perseverance in the face of immense danger and terrible odds.   This is also the tale of how the Corps of Discovery was hammered into being an effective unit with the lash, the tragic death of Sgt. Charles Floyd, and how the ingenuity of one blacksmith kept the men alive through a freezing and starving winter. This is the tale of the Corps of Discovery as it began the march that constituted its American Epic.

In this episode, Will and Donald Maclean, whose family moved to South Africa and spent a good bit of time in Rhodesia before its fall to Mugabe, discuss what life was like in Rhodesia and South Africa before they fell to Mugabe and Mandela, respectively. They begin by describing the First World nature of South Africa in the 1970s. They then describe life in Rhodesia over the 1970s, with a focus on the unique Rhodesian spirit and culture, particularly the polished nature of Rhodesian society and how they defeated sanctions. They then discuss what life was like in South Africa for its waning days, with a focus on Donald's military service in the Angolan Border War in support of 32 Battalion, and the essentially evil nature of Nelson Mandela. They discuss the reality of apartheid, Mandela's many crimes, and the utter destruction of South Africa under his rule.

This is the tale of how Captain Meriwether Lewis forged the Corps of Discovery and prepared for the grand expedition he and William Clark led across the American West to explore the Louisiana Purchase. It is a tale of studying the natural world with President Thomas Jefferson in Monticello, studying everything from naturalism to medicine in the salons and parlors of Philadelphia, painstakingly selecting the perfect equipment—including his famous lead powder cannisters and variation of the Model 1792 Rifle—and then selecting William Clark as his co-captain.   This is also the tale of whom Lewis and Clark selected for the Corps of Discovery, primarily in terms of what characteristics they selected for when choosing their companions.  From the special talents of some of the bold adventurers to the general skills needed for exploring the frontier, this is the tale of how they were selected so that Jefferson's vision of exploring the route to the Pacific could be fullfilled

This is the story of the Corps of Discovery, the famous Meriwether Lewis and William Clark-led American Army expedition to explore and map a route across the American continent and to the Pacific Ocean. In this episode, Will tells the tale of why President Thomas Jefferson dreamed of exploring and settling the American West, who Lewis and Clark were, why Jefferson chose Lewis to lead the Corps of Discovery, and how the Virginia backgrounds of all three men shaped their outlook of the American West and the expedition itself. Will also describes how Jefferson managed to get the funding for the expedition through a skeptical Congress, how the Louisiana Purchase changed the expedition in a major way, and how the travels of Scottish-born British adventurer Alexander Mackenzie impelled Jefferson and Lewis, then an Army officer and fellow Virginia Piedmont tobacco planter serving as his secretary in the White House, to act quickly.

This is the story of Vyner Brooke, the Third and Last White Rajah of Sarawak. In this episode of the Old World, Will tells the tale of how Vyner Brooke lost the Raj of Sarawak primarily due to the Japanese invasion of Borneo to take the Miri oil fields he controlled at the beginning of World War II, and his own feeling that he was an anachronism and democracy was coming. In this episode, we tell the tale of what life was like in wartime Sarawak, how the Japanese invasion went, Vyner's refusal to stand and fight the Imperial Japanese from the deep jungles of Sarawak, how the Dayaks resisted the Japanese occupiers, and how the destruction of the Miri oil fields and Kuching left Sarawak destroyed. We then show why Vyner decided to give it up to become the Crown Colony of Sarawak, and how that sparked a familial war between him and the Rajah Muda that ended in tragedy. Finally, we show how the Brooke legacy has been kept alive, including in Sarawak, where they remain beloved.

This is the story of Vyner Brooke, the Third and Last White Rajah of Sarawak. In this episode of the Old World, Will tells the tale of how different Vyner was from the Second White Rajah of Sarawak, Charles Brooke, and how Vyner managed to inherit his splendorous kingdom despite his father's dislike of him. it is a tale of intrigue, deadly jungle expeditions, and high-stakes diplomacy. From there, we tell the tale of how Vyner Brooke turned Sarawak into what Sir James Brooke always knew it could be. The oil fields of Miri, famous pepper fields of Sarawak's hills, Borneo Company Limited-run gold and antimony mines, and much more drive Sarawak's success and turn it into a thriving commercial colony. We also show how Vyner used clever infrastructure developments, such as rail, radio, and port investment, to make Sarawak more prosperous than it had ever been, just before the disaster that ended the White Rajahs struck.

In this episode, Will and Dan Lyman discuss the present state of South Africanization in America, and whether things are getting worse or better. They describe the border situation, how Trump is doing with deportations, law and order in American cities, and much else!   Find Dan on X here: https://x.com/realdanlyman   Find Border Hawk here: https://t.co/EZrGo8qZNb   Check out Will's new YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@realTheOldWorldShow

he story of Charles Brooke, the Second White Rajah of Sarawak, resumes in this episode. Picking up with the passing of his uncle, Sir James Brooke, the first White Rajah of Sarawak, in 1868, we tell the great colonial adventure tale of how Charles Brooke massively expanded the Raj of Sarawak across much of Borneo. This is the tale of how Charles fulfilled his uncle's dream of making Sarawak not just safe and stable for the natives or romantic for European adventurers, but also prosperous and well-developed. This is a tale not just of defeated pirates and headhunters in teh steamy jungles of Borneo, nor just of gunboat diplomacy when facing off with the Sultan of Brunei, but of smart diplomatic moves and stead colonial expansion. It's the story of how Charles outfoxed the British North Borneo Corporation, how he expanded his personal empire, and what smart moves he made to develop Sarawak with modern infrastructure.   Finally, we tell the sad and sorry story of Charles Brooke's personal life, such as his marriage to the Ranee of Sarawak, Margaret, and the death of their children in Suez.

Dive into the legend of Sir Charles Brooke, the Second White Rajah of Sarawak, and the tales of his daring battles against Iban pirates and Kongsi Chinese rebels in Sarawak's deepest, darkest jungles, and the burned city of Kuching! This is the history of Sir Charles Brooke, the Second White Rajah of Sarawak, from the time of his arrival in Sarawak as a young officer in his uncle's Raj, and how he became the key figure on whom Sir James Brooke consistently relied. It's an exciting tale of how Charles defeated Rentap the Iban pirate king in his Mount Sadok fortress, how he saved the Raj in its darkest hour, and how he became the second Rajah of Sarawak, instead of  his brother, Brooke Brooke.   Subscribe for more colonial history and adventure stories! Make sure to like the video if you love adventure tales. Don't forget to comment your favorite historical figure below, so I can add him to the lineup!

The White Rajah's saga concludes as we follow Sir James Brooke first into the heart of Sarawak's jungle as he fights Rentap, the last pirate king of Sarawak, in a massive jungle battle. We then turn to the city of Kuching tell the tale of how the Chinese Kongsi Rebellion of 1857 almost ended the White Raj of Sarawak for good when they sacked Kuching and destroyed the Rajah's Astana palace, with Sir James just barely escaping into the Sarawak River in his pyjamas, but was saved at the last moment by the stern bravery of Charles Brooke and the fortitious arrival of a key piece of naval technology. From the muddy waters of Sarawak's pirate and rebel-infested rivers, we then turn back to England, where Sir James finds peace and cool in retirement as his state is rebuilt thanks to the kind efforts of Baroness Angela Burdett-Coutts, the beautiful heiress Sir James could have, but didn't, marry. We end with a brief summary of his life and accomplishments, preparing to turn to the second rajah.

In this episode, Will and Warren Steury discuss the history and importance of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. They discuss its historical background, the preparation phase, the course of the expedition, and remarkable incidents that occurred during it, as well as the character of Meriwether Lewis. They also discuss the death of Lewis, his failure to publish the journals, and the legacy of the expedition.   Note: The Sergeant mentioned by Warren was Sgt. Charles Floyd, not Sgt. George Floyd.   Find Warren on X here: https://x.com/NWSteury   Check out his Meriwether Academy here: https://meriwetheracademy.com/   Check Will's new YouTube show out here: James Brooke

In this episode, Will and Roman Cabanac, a South African, discuss the reality of life in a South Africanizing world. They discuss the complex political situation in South Africa, what the crime and infrastructure situation is like, how to deal with such a world, and how to succeed despite the race communism. They also discuss what Westerners can learn from South Africa's experience.   Find Roman on X here: https://x.com/RomanCabanac   Check Will's new YouTube show out here: James Brooke   And read his thoughts about South Africanization here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/how-south-africans-defend-their-lives

In this episode of The Old World, Will tells the history of Sir James Brooke, the first White Rajah of Sarawak, from the time of his birth in the glorious Raj of the East India Company to his privately funded and high-stakes battle against poison blow-dart-wielding headhunters in the steaming jungles of Borneo to become a Rajah, a feat never equalled by any other European. It's an exciting tale of stormed barricades, gunboat diplomacy with a private yacht, and bravery in the face of immense adversity. Read more about James here: ⁠https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/the-white-rajahs-of-sarawak-part ⁠ Follow us on Instagram here: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/theoldworldshow/⁠   All pictures are public domain from Wikimedia Commons, except the following:    Map of the British East India Company Dominions:  Moll, Herman, -1732, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons   First image of the First Anglo-Burmese War: Myanmar's Defence Services Museum, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons   Datu Patinggi Ali picture: Alena Murang, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons   Image of Dayak with dart gun: AnonymousUnknown author, CC BY 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons   Picture of the jungle: Internet Archive Book Images, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons   Last picture, of the house in Kuching credit: Frank S. Marryat, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

In this episode, Will and Zoomer Historian do a deep dive into Rhodesian and British imperial history. They discuss how Rhodesia became the land of excellence it was, what sort of men the Rhodesians were, and whether Cecil Rhodes was a great man or great villain. They also comment on whether the British Empire should be viewed positively or negatively by the right, how a shift in post-war ideology shaped Rhodesia's downfall and the Empire's collapse, and what hope there is for modern Britain.   Check out Zoomer's Substack here: https://zoomerhistorian.substack.com/   Find him on X here: https://x.com/zoomerhistorian   Read Will's thoughts on the book by Peter Baxter they reference here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/a-general-history-of-rhodesia

In this episode, Will and Jonas discuss the history of Rhodesia, focusing on how it created a new people out of the unique conditions it found in Africa, and how a change in the Western ideology doomed it. The comment on Sweden's role in destroying colonial Africa, the ideology of decolonization, Orania, South Africa, and what we in the West can learn from Rhodesia's fall.   Check out Jonas's article on Rhodesia here: https://jonasnilssonen.substack.com/p/what-rhodesia-teaches-us-about-our   Get his book on Orania here: Orania: Building a Nation   Get his book on migration here: When Migration Becomes Conflict: Political Group Dynamics

In this episode, Will and Richard discuss the plague of spite-driven decline through the lens of Richard's fabulous novel, Lost Causes. They discuss Rhodesia, the decay of Britain, the slovenliness of society, and how all of the societal disasters we see around us stem from the same source. They also comment on the Confederacy, Jamaica, and how the IRA became a leftist parody of itself.   Get Richard's book here: Lost Causes   Find Richard on X here: https://x.com/NicholsAuthor

In this episode, Will and Mortiz discuss the failing institutions in America, the problems lurking across much of the West, and how he is helping combat it by teaching men to be Modern Minutemen. They discuss what that means, what civic actions it can translate into, the importance of language, and how teach and use statecraft to our advantage   Find Moritz on Substack here: https://substack.com/@moritzbierling   Check out his Modern Minuteman project here: https://modernminuteman.net/

In this episode, Will and Voodoo discuss the history of the Rhodesian Bush War and how strategic mistakes turned a successful tactical effort into a lost war. They discuss the three main stages of the war, how Rhodesian tactics developed throughout, and why the Rhodesians ultimately lost despite winning every battle. They also discuss what Rhodesia's weaknesses were, when the war could have been won, and how missed opportunities led to their ultimate defeat.   Find Voodoo on X here: https://x.com/6Voodoo   Get his book here: Blood Memory   Read about the CIA's involvement in Rhodesia's defeat here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/the-cia-knew-rhodesia-was-fighting

In this Christmas special of the Old World, Will and Evan Amato discuss the nature of Christian nobility, with a focus on what the Bible and Christian theology say on the subject, what that looks like in practice, and what certain families have done to continue in that tradition into the modern day. Find Evan on X here: https://x.com/SirEvanAmato Check out his Substacks here: https://www.lettersfromtheoldworld.com/ https://www.join-invictus.com/ Get his course on style here: https://sixweekstostyle.com/

In this episode, Will and Karl Dahl discuss the course of the Spanish Civil War, with a focus on how Franco won and why that is relevant to us today. They discuss the tactics used by Franco's forces, how he managed relationships with Western powers by presenting himself as an anti-Bolshevik force, how he managed the Germans and Italians, and how he reinvigorated and rebuilt Spain after the war. They also describe how this is relevant to the modern right, and what helpful lessons can and should be drawn from it.   Find Karl on X here: https://x.com/CaudilloDahl   Check out his Substack here: https://karldahl.substack.com/   Get his book here: Faction: With the Crusaders

In this episode, Will and Karl Dahl discuss the run-up to the Spanish Civil War, with a focus on the political changes that led to a fight between the traditionalists and the communists and how each side organized. They discuss Spanish history, effective organization, the virtue of seriousness as applied to politics, and what the Spanish Nationalists did effectively that we can learn from.   Find Karl on X here: https://x.com/CaudilloDahl   Check out his Substack here: https://karldahl.substack.com/   Ge his book here: Faction: With the Crusaders

In this episode, Will and Natalia discuss the history of the Virginia gentry. They discuss its British origins and in what ways it was different from the British landed elite, its values, the society it created, and its contributions to the fledgling American nation. They also discuss what remnants of it exist, and why its spirit remains relevant.   Find Natalia on X here: https://x.com/classicspilled   Read Will's thoughts about the subject here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/our-civilizational-spirit-of-anglo-e7d

In this episode, Will and Black Horse discuss the Laurentian elite, a collection of a few hundred families that rules Canada. They discuss its background, its politics, why it is at war with the energy, why it has imported so many Third World migrants, and the basis of its wealth and power. They also discuss how Canada went from a stronghold of empire to its present, awful state. Overall, they show why the Laurentian elite is so rotten, and what it looks like when a rotten plutocracy strip mines a country.   Find Black Horse on X here: https://x.com/TheBlackHorse65   Check out his Substack here: https://theredensign.substack.com/

In this episode, Will and Johann Kurtz discuss Johann's fabulous new book, Leaving a Legacy, with a focus on what can be done to build a dynasty and teach the right values to family members. They discuss charity, Christian theology surrounding inheritance and weatlh, what sort of assets are most conducive to a successful, long-term family, and what sorts of hobbies and activities tend toward inculcating the right spirit. They also discuss the virtue of seriousness, and Johann's nascent project, building an intentional community in Transylvania. Get a copy of Johann's book here: Leaving a Legacy Find him on X here: https://x.com/JohannKurtz Find him on Substack here: https://becomingnoble.substack.com/ Read Will's thoughts on this here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/the-old-world-mindset-be-a-grosvenor

In this episode, Will and Ben Black discuss what separates a family from a dynasty, and what sort of actions you can take to build a dynasty. They discuss everything from financial decisions to the importance of family, the importance of rootedness and how to raise kids with an eye toward infinity, with a focus on building families that last for centuries. They also discuss why having an "estate" in a particular community matters, the different types of capital, and how Ben has organized his life with dynasty in mind. Find Ben on X here: https://x.com/Dynastus Check out his articles and videos here: https://dynastyfoundry.com/newsletter/ Check out Will's thoughts on dynasty here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/the-old-world-mindset-be-a-grosvenor

In this episode, Will and J Burden discuss how young Americans are approaching politics, with a focus on the male-female divide, fracture points within the different coalitions, and how we might be getting more honest politics regarding a few key issues. They discuss how things got here, how big of an issue DEI is, and why certain hot button issues are such a big deal. They also discuss whether certain influencers are malicious or just dumb. Find J on X here: https://x.com/_jburden Find him on Substack here: https://jburden.substack.com/

In this episode, Will and Big Tuna discuss the McKinley presidency, with a particular focus on how and why America became an imperial power under McKinley, whether that was a good thing, and how McKinley's perspective on economics informed his push to make America a world power. They also discuss gold as money, JP Morgan, Friedrich List, and Henry Clay, along with what Trump can learn from McKinley. Find Big Tuna on X here: https://x.com/TunaRJS Find him on Substack here: https://castyournets.substack.com/ Read Will's thoughts on McKinley here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/what-mckinley-understood-that-the Read Will's thoughts on Listian economics here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/great-powers-can-have-tariffs-or

In this episode, will and Rust Belt Kid discuss the history of the American industrial economy, with a focus on the men, companies, and cities that built the Rust Belt. They discuss America's rise as an industrial power, the political and economic winds that cemented us as the leading industrial power, and how we fell thanks to globalization and regulation. They discuss what made the Rust Belt fall from glory, why things went so poorly in it, and how it could potentially be fixed, with a focus on the main problems holding it back from recovering. Find Rust Belt Kid on X here: https://x.com/rustbeltkid1 Read Will's thoughts on tariffs and the industrial economy here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/why-free-trade-is-a-one-sided-suicide

In this episode, Will and shampoo manufacturing king turned gentleman farmer and book reviewer Charles Haywood discuss the relative merits of an aristocratic social order compared to the present managerial regime. They also discuss how and why the aristocracy died, why the English model of landed rule was so much better than the others, the roots of an aristocratic order, and why aristocracy and democracy are incompatible. Finally, they discuss Haywood's concept of "Armed Patronage Networks" and how young men ought to prepare for the future.  Find Charles on X here: https://x.com/TheWorthyHouse Read his book reviews here: https://theworthyhouse.com/ Read Will's take on the class between gentry and bureaucracy here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/the-death-of-the-gentleman-and-the

In this podcast, Will and Ben Wilson of the fantastic "How to Take Over the World" podcast discuss power, entrepreneurialism, and the idea of doing something greater in life than just acquisitiveness for its own sake. They discuss the traits and virtues of great men, the tradeoffs between being a man out of time and one who harnesses his time, and why many feel a natural draw the honesty of aristocracy. They also discuss how Washington molded himself into a great man, living a life of excitement, and the importance of selective breeding and a grand vision.   As a side note, both love David Senra and his podcast Founders, which comes up in this conversation.    Find Ben's podcast and website here: https://www.takeoverpod.com/ Find Ben Wilson on X here: https://x.com/BenWilsonTweets   Read about the White Rajahs of Sarawak here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/the-second-white-rajah Home Ben Wilson (@BenWilsonTweets) on X   I share lessons from history's greatest leaders. Creator and host of @HTTOTW podcast X The Second White Rajah The White Rajahs of Sarawak, Pt. III

In this podcast, Will and returning guest Councilman Brandon Harnish get granular and discuss the sorts of local projects and policies that can help revive America's small towns. They discuss the importance of a downtown and urban density, why fixing crime is the basis of any successful society, balancing amenities and business, and the controversial topic of property taxes. They also discuss how viewing a town like a grand estate helps solve the malinvestment problem, what type of buildings are needed to keep the government in the black, and why growth isn't always good. They also debate the virtues of the book "Small Towns". Find Councilman Harnish on X here: https://x.com/PaleoGOP Listen to their first episode here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/can-we-save-small-towns-america-with Read Will's take on Small Towns here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/diverse-cities-and-the-coming-municipal

In this episode, Will and financial macroanalyst Robert, of the famous "Infranomics" channel, discuss whether America has been in a long, silent Depression since the 2008 Recession. Pointing to everything from the cost of living as measured in real, gold terms to the massive number of deaths of despair, Robert explains that we likely are in such a Depression. They also discuss the impact robotics will have on the workplace, what Japan can teach us about industrial strength and policy, and why protection is needed. Find Robert on X here: https://x.com/infraa_ Find him on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/@EconomicsUnmasked

In this episode, Will and noted X personality, hedge fund trader, and Dallas-based real estate investor Ron Dodson discuss how his family rose to local prominence, turning a family business into a family office, and a Biblical approach to legacy and family continuity. They also comment on building for the long term, how tax policies incentivize bad behavior, and how to raise kids that handle legacy well. Find Ron on X here: https://x.com/RonDodson Find him on Substack here: https://rondodson.substack.com/ Read Will's thoughts on legacy here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/the-old-world-mindset-be-a-grosvenor

In this episode, Will and AJR Klopp discuss the differences between industrial capitalism and financial capitalism, with a focus on DEI, ESG, "zombie companies," and financial vampirism. They also discuss past financial panics, forced deleveraging, and what that history means for us. Find Mr. Klopp on X here: https://x.com/ThirteenFathers Find him on Substack here: https://substack.com/@ajrklopp Listen to his past interview with Will here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/the-yamnaya-and-the-foundation-of

In this episode, Will and Tom Swift discuss the history of America's space exploration, with a focus on the Apollo program and its death at the hands of race communism. They discuss the minset behind the Space Age and Atomic Age, the spiritual reasons for its death, the practical consequences of that, and how we can bring it back. Find Tom on Substack here: https://swiftenterprises.substack.com/

In this episode, Will and Dr. Edward Dutton look at the recent history of the West from a perspective of biology and politics, discussing how certain traits lead to conservative or liberal dispositions and from where wokeness comes, along with what conservative counterraction might come next. They put this in the context of the French Revolution, Spanish Civil War, modern Britain, and modern America, along with Argentina and the Mormons.   Read Dr. Dutton's Substack here: https://www.jollyheretic.com/   Find him on X here: https://x.com/jollyheretic

In this episode, Will and returning guest Sean Wieland discuss the coming problem of illiquidity in capital markets and real estate markets as the problems of low wages and high asset prices start to bite. They discuss how market entrants like BlackRock are causing big problems, the disorder that could stem from this problem, how retirement plans are implicated in it, and how younger guys can prepare to fight the problem.   Check out Sean on X here: https://x.com/zuzu__   Check out my first episode with Sean here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/wealth-for-the-long-term-and-the

In this episode, Will and New Imperialist Realist discuss the history and tragedy of French Algeria, which went from being a prosperous colony to a decaying, Third World country in crisis thanks to decolonization. They discuss how the French developed Algeria, its uniqueness in French Colonial history, the course of the war between France and the FLN, and how Algeria decayed after the French left. They also discuss American involvement on the anti-colonial side and the relation of the failed French effort in Indochina to this conflict. Find New Imperalist Realist on X here: https://x.com/Imperalist58481

In this episode, Will and Jason Robertson, also of the American Tribune, discuss the advantages of shifting from corporate work to being an entrepreneur. They particularly focus on the mindset shift that comes with doing something yourself, how America would benefit from returning to high levels of self-employment, and what the problems with modern corporate life are. Find Jason on X here: https://x.com/JRobFromMN Subscribe to the American Tribune Substack here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/

In this breathtaking episode, Rhodesia-born farmer and businessman Rory Duncan discusses his days resisting the Mugabe regime in post-Bush War Zimbabwe and how the regime brutally punished him for his politics. He also tells tales of his life as a bounty hunter in Zambia, and how he worked with everyone from tribal chiefs to Angolan Civil War veterans to track down and destroy a notorious gang of armed bandits. NOTE: Episode not for the soft of heart, or those with queasy stomachs.  Find Rory on X here: https://x.com/RoryDuncan1966

Can Britain Be Saved with KM Breakey In this episode, Will and novelist KM Breakey discuss his new book, Britain on the Brink. They focus on the migration problem facing Europe, Canada, and America, and if there is any realistic way for the problem to be fixed. They also discuss when the decline began, when it became terminal, and why it's happening. Check KM out on X here: https://x.com/KMBreakey

In this episode, Will and Indiana's Coy Colman Brandon Harnish discuss if small town America can be saved from the flight of financial and human capital seen in recent decades. They particularly focus on the opioid crisis, keeping kids in towns, how beautification helps, and what projects have succeeded so far. As a small town council member, Mr Harnish brings many insightful points to the discussion.

In this episode, Will and Rowdy Yates discuss the book "Stalin's War," with a focus on how Stalin was able to shape the war to his advantage, what he was planning all along, and how his agents inside the American and British governments shaped out decisions to his advantage. They also note how Stalin's WWII actions and the decisions foisted on Britain by his agents in America set up the Cold War's decolonization process, along with the many self-destructive decisions we made in order to help and ungrateful Stalin. Check Rowdy out on X here: https://x.com/RowdyHODL

In this episode, Will and John Carter discuss the history of Canada with a focus on how it went from being a reactionary state filled with High Tories into a state defined by mass migration and managerial socialism. They particularly focus on how Canada's founding identity was destroyed by the fall of the British Empire and post-war socialism, how technocratic socialism turned into civilizational suicide, and what role Canada's shadowy Laurentian elite plays in the dire situation. Finally, they discuss what hopes, if any, Canada has for a revival. Find John on Substack here: https://barsoom.substack.com/ Check him out on X here: https://x.com/martianwyrdlord.

In this episode, Will and Don Shift discuss the current state of riots in America and how to prepare for them, as an aware citizen. They discuss the warning signs of protests turning into riots, what the major riots of the 20th century should teach us as we prepare today, and why police are hamstrung as they try to deal with rioters. Find Don Shift on X here: https://x.com/DonShift3 Check out his books here: Don Shift Books Check out his articles here: https://www.donshift.com/

In this episode, Will and Chivalry Guild discuss the medieval ideal of chivalry and how it's relevant today. They focus on who exemplified the ideal, how it differs from Classical views of virtue, and whether local or national politics are a better avenue for acting it out in the present. Find Chivalry Guild on X here: https://x.com/ChivalryGuild Check out his articles here: https://thechivalryguild.substack.com/

In this episode, Will and Yuri discuss the state of America through the lens of how traditional society was subverted, with a focus on the goals and tactics of the communists and how they can be fought back against. Find Evan on X here: https://twitter.com/yuribezmenov22 Check out his articles on great men here: https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/

In this episode, Will and Evan Amato discuss the history of the Medici family. They discuss how the family rose to prominence, how it maintained its position in the cutthroat politics of Renaissance Italy, and how the family eventually declined. They particularly focus on the reasons for the family's success.  Find Evan on X here: https://x.com/SirEvanAmato Check out his articles on great men here: https://www.join-invictus.com/

In this episode, Will and Ernst van Zyl, who goes by 'Conscious Caracal' on X, discuss how South Africa has become as bad as it is. They discuss the ANC's commitment to gradually turning South Africa into a communist state, the destructive nature of South African race laws, how Afrikaners are responding with private initiatives, and how AfriForum is helping Afrikaners survive South Africanization. Further, they discuss what lessons Americans should learn from the current situation in South Africa.  Learn about AfriForum here: https://afriforum.co.za/en/ Find Ernst on X here: https://x.com/ConCaracal  Check out his podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/c/ConsciousCaracal

In this episode, Will and Arbitrage Andy discuss how to build self-sovereignty by being focused and intentional, building a business, and leaning into what is difficult. They also discuss the signs of South Africanization and how to build for the future while remaining cognizant of it, the immigration disaster, and the negative effects of Barstoolification in America.  Find Andy on X here: https://x.com/ArbitrageAndy1 Check out his writing and podcasts here: https://arbletter.arbitrageandy.us/

In this episode, Will and EM Burlingame, who works with family offices after retiring from the Green Berets, discuss the present possibilities and problems with America's wealth elite, focusing on what it would take from a perspective of mindset and wealth forms to build them into something better. They discuss historical examples of building local control and wealth for the long term, particularly the Grosvenor family and the Eastbourne estate of the Cavendish family. Get the book Will keeps mentioning here: Bend'or: Golden Duke of Westminster  Find EM Burlingame on X here: https://x.com/EMBurlingame Check out his writing and podcasts here: https://emburlingame.substack.com/

In this episode, Will and Sean Wieland, a financial adviser, discuss the nature of wealth, with a focus on how things are always changing and present trends could lead to future disasters. They discuss income vs. capital appreciation, sovereignty, legacy, and the dangers hidden in ETFs. Check out Will's writing here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/ Find Sean Wieland on X here: https://x.com/zuzu__

In this episode, Will and Rowdy Yates discuss the twin topics of nobility and natalism, with a focus on how the old forms of family-mindedness are relevant today and how they could help solve the increasing population crisis. They discuss getting over mental blocks to building a family, the concept of legacy, how it relates to inheritance, and how all of those issues, and many more, interact with our present family woes. Find Rowdy Yates on X here: https://x.com/RowdyHODL Read Will's thoughts on legacy and family building here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/the-old-world-mindset-be-a-grosvenor

In this episode, Will and Dan Lyman discuss how leftist-demanded policies that are pro-crime and pro-DEI are increasingly turning America into South Africa, whether Brazil is the better comparison, and what average Americans can do to resist the South Africanization of our nation. Check out Will's writing here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/ Find Dan Lyman on X here: https://x.com/realdanlyman Check out his writing and podcasts here: https://borderhawk.news/

In this episode, Will and Marty Bent discuss why Bitcoiners tend to think in terms of generations, how having a low-time preference is necessary for building and maintaining civilization, and how the Trump Administration is reordering the economic system.  Find Marty on X here: https://x.com/martybent Check out his writing and podcasts here: https://www.tftc.io/

In this episode, Will and Joshua Abbotoy discuss the Highland Rim project - an attempt to build a new community in one of the most gorgeous regions of America - and what challenges and opportunities come with building a new, intentional community. They discuss everything from architecture to hunting while working through the great promise such an affinity community in red America could hold. Find Joshua Abbotoy on X here: https://x.com/Byzness Learn more about his project here: https://ridgerunnerusa.com/

In this episode, Will and Jeremy Carl discuss Jeremy's book, "The Unprotected Class," and what it shows about anti-white racism in America. Particularly, they focus on the mindset and worries that led to the Civil Rights Act, and whether Congress or SCOTUS created the disastrous situation in which we find ourselves. They also discuss how the Trump Administration is finally fighting this, what its motivations might be for doing so, and how young white guys should react to a world still very biased against them.   Find Jeremy Carl on X here: https://x.com/realJeremyCarl Find his book here: https://amzn.to/4kZzeWp Check out his website here: https://www.jeremycarl.com/post/the-course-of-empire

In this episode, Will and former bond salesman turned historical fiction author AJR Klopp discuss the Indo-European conquest of what became the West, with a focus on the unique characteristics of the Yamnaya people and how those helped create the world of Antiquity, and thus the Western world. Find AJR Klopp on X here: https://x.com/ThirteenFathers Find his book here: https://amzn.to/3DVgcj5 Check out his website here: https://13fathers.com/

In this episode, Will and Paulos discuss what lesson the myth of Medusa holds for modern men, how it relates to Greek orgins and history, and how Perseus is a model for us in his slaying of her. Further, they discuss how Paulos conceives of building great families, escaping the actuarial mindset Americans often have, and how building great networks could be the key to future success. Find Will Tanner on X here: https://x.com/Will_Tanner_1 Find his Substack here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/ Find Paulos on X here: https://x.com/myth_pilot Find his website here: https://www.mythpilot.com/

In this episode, Will speaks with Alexander Svetski, the author of "The Bushido of Bitcoin," about how societies that place an emphasis on human excellence, namely the chivalric societies of Europe and Bushido Japan, are in a conflict with the democratic value of mediocrity. They discuss nobility, Rhodesia, hard money, and what the connection is between honest money and honest societies. Find Will Tanner on X here: https://x.com/Will_Tanner_1 Find his Substack here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/ Find Svetski on X here: https://x.com/SvetskiWrites Find his website here: https://www.bushidoofbitcoin.com/

In this episode, Will and Kevin Dolan, the founder of EXIT and the Natalism Conference, discuss what role fraternal networks like EXIT fill in our culture, why they're important, how EXIT relates to similar networks of the past, and what the future looks like as the Westphalian state declines. They also discuss what natalism is and why it matters. Find Will Tanner on X here: https://x.com/Will_Tanner_1 Find his Substack here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/ Find Kevin Dolan on X here: https://x.com/extradeadjc Find EXIT here: https://exitgroup.us/

In this episode, Will and J Burden discuss the history of the Cold War with a focus on Rhodesia. They discuss what the American and British decision to side with the communists shows, and how egalitarianism was a primary motivation of both sides throughout the conflict.  Find Will Tanner on X here: https://x.com/Will_Tanner_1 Find his Substack here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/ Find J Burden on X here: https://x.com/_jburden

In this episode, Will and Rory Duncan, a man born in Rhodesia and now living in South Africa, discuss how Rhodesia fell and the parallels to South Africa. They focus on Rhodesian culture, the Bush War era, Mugabe's tyranny, and race communism in South Africa, while also commenting on many of the good aspects of Rhodesia and South African history and culture.  Find Will Tanner on X here:https://x.com/Will_Tanner_1 Find his Substack here:https://www.theamericantribune.news/ Find Rory on X here:https://x.com/RoryDun76684897

In this episode, Will and Stormy Waters discuss the potential purpose of President Donald Trump's sovereign wealth fund, with a focus on how it could enable a domestic Industrial Golden Age of the sort seen under the McKinley presidency. Find Will Tanner on X here: https://x.com/Will_Tanner_1 Find his Substack here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/ Find Stormy on X here: https://x.com/NormanDodd_knew

In this episode, Will and Ben Kelleran discuss the continued relevance of the sort of companies that were prominent and powerful in the pre-War World, with a focus on the trends leading to commodities making a comeback. They particularly focus on how a society changes for the better when its wealth is real rather than phantom, and what wer're seeing that could lead us back there. Find Will Tanner on X here: https://x.com/Will_Tanner_1 Find his Substack here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/ Find Ben on X here: https://x.com/BR_Kelleran Check out his site here: https://www.kontrariankorner.com/

In this episode, Will and Don Shift discuss preparing for the continuing South Africanization of America, with a focus on what we can learn from the American frontier. They discuss everything from Indian raids to cartels, illegal mining gangs to farm attacks.  Find Will Tanner on X here: https://x.com/Will_Tanner_1 Find the article on our Substack here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/the-south-african-crystal-ball-signal Find Don Shift on X here: https://x.com/DonShift3 Find Don's website here: https://www.donshift.com/

In this episode, Will and the guys who run Smoke River Ranch discuss how regenerative ranching works, how it combats the problems with fiat-age industrial agriculture, and what the English estate system of yesteryear teaches us about fixing agriculture today.  Find Will Tanner on X here: https://x.com/Will_Tanner_1 Find their article on our Substack here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/soil-and-money Find Untapped Growth on X here: https://x.com/untappedgrowth Find VeritasVital on X here: https://x.com/VeritasVital Find Smoke River Ranch here: https://www.smokeriverranch.com/

In this episode, Will and EM Burlingame discuss the difference between an organic, noble society and how externally imposed, inorganic hierarchy rots society from the inside. They discuss everything from early Christianity to fox-hunting with a focus on what periods saw the noble building of an organic whole and how mercantile calculation has financialized everything and, in the process, destroyed much of what made the Occident functional. They also discuss what is needed to bring back the good aspects of the Old World. Find Will Tanner on X here: https://x.com/Will_Tanner_1 Find EM on X here: https://x.com/EMBurlingame

This was an interview of Will originally conducted by J. Burden; given its relevance to this podcast, Mr. Burden has been gracious enough to let me republish it for The Old World. In this show, J. Burden and Will Tanner discuss how agricultural protection laws called the Corn Laws built the prosperous England that existed before the Great War. They focus on how the laws enabled legacy-minded landowners to invest in the countryside, create the conditions that led to the Industrial Revolution, and serve the empire rather than toil at work. They also discuss how the free trade ideology destroyed that social structure, and what the consequences of that destruction were. Find Will Tanner on X here: https://x.com/Will_Tanner_1 Find Will on Substack here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/ Find Burden on X here: https://x.com/_jburden Find his podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/@j.burden

In this episode, Will and OW Root discuss what a gentleman ought to wear, with a focus on the history of men's clothing and how what was worn in our heyday relates to what men should wear now. They also discuss some common faux pas and pitfalls for those getting into the subject, and comment on what can be done to get people to dress better Find Will Tanner on X here: https://x.com/Will_Tanner_1 Find Will on Substack here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/ Find OW on X here: https://x.com/NecktieSalvage Find his website here: https://linktr.ee/necktiesalvage

In this episode, Will and South African community security specialist K9 Reaper discuss how South Africa went from bad to worse over the past decade, with a focus on how politicians and community apathy have enabled crime and decay. They also discuss what Americans learn from the situation and what you can do to prepare for South Africanization. Find Will Tanner on X here: https://x.com/Will_Tanner_1 Find Will on Substack here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/ Find K9 on X here: https://x.com/k9_reaper

n this episode, Will and Dmitry discuss the societal upheaval that was the shift from a focus on income generated by capital, namely land, to a focus on capital asset appreciation. They discuss how this potentially leads to societal instability, impermanence in fortunes, and what effect it has on human flourishing. They also question if Elon's Mars project is multi-generational. Find Will Tanner on X here: https://x.com/Will_Tanner_1 Find Will on Substack here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/ Find Dimitry on X here: https://x.com/BackTheBunny Find Dimitry on Substack here: https://thedosagemakesitso.substack.com/

In this episode, Will and Raw Egg Nationalist discuss what the English countryside is like, and how the toxic mixture of death taxes and mass migration have eroded its former power, wealth, and beauty. To illustrate these changes, they discuss everything from the fox-hunting aristocracy to the obliterated village economies that now cater to tourists. Find Will Tanner on X here: https://x.com/Will_Tanner_1 Find Will on Substack here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/ Find REN on X here: https://x.com/Babygravy9 Check out his website here: https://www.raweggstack.com/

In this episode, Will and EM Burlingame discuss the history of the American "mob state" and its parallels to the Praetorian Guard of the Roman Empire, with a focus on how a new aristocracy will rise in the fight to demolish that mob state. They also discuss the capital assets of importance to that new aristocracy, how trusts and legal fictions diminish real world power, and historical parallels to this situation Find Will Tanner on X here: https://x.com/Will_Tanner_1 Find Will on Substack here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/ Find EM Burlingame on X here: https://x.com/EMBurlingame Check out his website here: https://emburlingame.substack.com/

In this episode, Will and Space Age Maximalist discuss what social structures and colonization methods of the past would be relevant when our civilization colonizes the solar system, with a particular focus on the East India Company and Anglo-American methods of settlement. Find Will Tanner on X here: https://x.com/Will_Tanner_1 Find Will on Substack here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/ Find Space Age Maximalist on X here: https://x.com/SpaceAgeHerr Find Space Age Maximalist on his website here: https://spaceagemaximalist.substack.com/

In this episode, Will and Alex Petkas, host of The Cost of Glory Podcast, discuss the Roman Aristocracy in the Late Republic period influenced America's Founding Fathers, with a particular focus on the great men about whom Plutarch wrote. They cover everything from the landed basis of Rome's cursus honorum-chasing politicians to the disdain for the commercial side of things present in Rome and the Tidewater. Find Will Tanner on X here: https://x.com/Will_Tanner_1 Find Will on Substack here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/ Find Alex on X here: https://x.com/costofglory Find Alex on his website here: https://www.costofglory.com/

In this episode, Will and Rowdy Yates discuss the history of Rhodesia, with a particular focus on its war against the world, communist and "free," during the 1965-79 Bush War. Additionally, they discuss its roots, its culture, and its Old World nature. Find Will Tanner on X here: https://x.com/Will_Tanner_1 Find Will on Substack here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/ Find Rowdy Yates on X here: https://x.com/RowdyHODL

In this episode, Will and John discuss the corrosive roots of liberalism and how natural hierarchy serves as an antitode to a force that otherwise turns into various forms of Leninism. Find Will Tanner on X here: https://x.com/Will_Tanner_1 Find Will on Substack here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/ Find John Carter on X here: https://x.com/martianwyrdlord Find Johann on Substack here: https://barsoom.substack.com/

In this episode, Will and Pine Baron discuss whether the virtues and values of the old aristocracies are relevant to the modern world, with a focus on the duties and attachment to a community that come from holding real estate in an area. They also discuss self-made success and being agentic. Find Will Tanner on X here: https://x.com/Will_Tanner_1 Find Will on Substack here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/ Find Pine Baron on X here: https://x.com/SpiritofPines

In this episode, Will Tanner and Stormy Waters discuss the concept of the American aristocracy, with an eye toward the socially beneficial effects of such a group, to whom the term refers, given America's lack of a peerage, and if any modern members of the wealth elite qualify. Links Find Will Tanner on X here: https://x.com/Will_Tanner_1 Find Will on Substack here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/ Find Stormy on X here: https://x.com/NormanDodd_knew

In this episode, Will Tanner and Johann Kurtz discuss the moral and practical support for inheritance, with an eye toward how building dynasties and dynastic wealth builds civilization. LINKS Find Will Tanner on X here: https://x.com/Will_Tanner_1 Find Will on Substack here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/ Find Johann on X here: https://x.com/JohannKurtz Find Johann on Substack here: https://becomingnoble.substack.com/