Dr. Lynn Price Robbins and Isaac S. Loftus welcome historian Dr. Matthew Mason to explore the struggle for the moral high ground during the American Revolution. They unpack how the language of slavery and freedom shaped public debate—and how it became central to understanding the war itself.

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CHAPTERS:
0:00 - Introductions
1:13 - Making Sense of “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death!”
4:36 - “Men of Their Time” is Factually Inaccurate
6:40 - Explaining Politcal Slavery
9:47 - How Slavery Played A Larger Role in The American Revolution Than We Used to Believe
14:31 - The Complicated Mythology Around The Revolution
16:34 - Any Acknowledgement of The Inherent Hypocrisy
19:11 - Anti Slavery Movement in the 18th Century vs The Abolition Movement in the 19th Century
23:41 - Morale High Ground: Anti Slavery Sentiments In the Colonies and England
26:19 - Why Did It Matter Who Had the Moral High Ground?
29:11 - Defining the American Revolution vs the Revolutionary War
31:56 - Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation
33:39 - Parsing The Religiosity of the Founders
40:09 - The Surprising Perspective of Benjamin Rush
43:20 - Changing Your Own Perspective on History
46:52 - The Global Perspective on The American Colonies
51:15 - Where to Visit and How to Find Matthew

EPISODE LINKS:
Dr. Matthew Mason - https://history.byu.edu/directory/matthew-mason
Seeking the High Ground: Slavery and Political Conflict in the British Atlantic World - https://www.upress.virginia.edu/title/10097/
Slavery and Politics in the Early American Republic - https://uncpress.org/9780807859230/slavery-and-politics-in-the-early-american-republic/
Patrick Henry “Give Me Liberty” Speech - https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/patrick.asp
Samuel Johnson Quote - https://www.samueljohnson.com/tnt.html
Abolitionism - https://www.britannica.com/topic/abolitionism-European-and-American-social-movement
“For the Cause of Liberty is the Cause of GOD” - https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=evans;cc=evans;rgn=main;view=text;idno=N11353.0001.001
Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation, 1775 - https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/spotlight-primary-source/lord-dunmores-proclamation-1775
Jean-Jacques Dessalines episode - https://youtu.be/wWhBPfjnf2Y?si=AEUfPw4sFW92RvGK
Sheldon Cooper “Fun With Flags” - https://youtu.be/_e8PGPrPlwA?si=G3SZhnVHnutApwmb
Benjamin Rush - https://www.britannica.com/biography/Benjamin-Rush
Pennsylvania Abolition Society - https://www.paabolition.org
Apostles of Disunion: Southern Secession Commissioners and the Causes of the Civil War – https://www.upress.virginia.edu/title/1156/
Somerset Decision of 1772 - https://www.gilderlehrman.org/sites/default/files/inline-pdfs/AppenA.pdf
Museum of the American Revolution – https://www.amrevmuseum.org
BlueSky - https://bsky.app/profile/matthewmason.bsky.social

PODCAST INFO:
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Political Rhetoric and the Moral High Ground - Dr. Matthew Mason