Liz Covart

https://traffic.libsyn.com/benfranklinsworld/444_Model_Treaty.mp3 In June 1776, the Second Continental Congress faced a question every new nation must answer: how do you make other countries take you seriously? Declaring independence was one thing. Convincing France, Spain, or the Netherlands to risk war on your behalf was another. The founders understood from the beginning that without foreign recognition and support, the United States could not achieve its independence.

https://traffic.libsyn.com/benfranklinsworld/443_Lee_Resolution.mp3 On July 2, 1776, the Second Continental Congress voted to declare independence. But that vote didn't begin with the Declaration of Independence. It began on June 7, 1776, when Richard Henry Lee of Virginia introduced a three-part resolution that would set the American Revolution on its definitive course. Lee's resolution called for independence, foreign alliances, and a confederation of states. Think of it as a three-legged stool.

https://traffic.libsyn.com/benfranklinsworld/442_Everyday_Military_Life.mp3 When we picture the War for American Independence, we picture battles. But for the men and women who actually lived and fought in it, the American Revolution was also a job with mess rotations, night watches, short rations, and children underfoot. Historians Eugene Procknow, Gabriel Neville, and Thomas Sobol pull back the curtain on everyday military life during the War for Independence.