Podcast
Ben Franklin's World
Hosted by Liz Covart · EN
This is a multiple award-winning podcast about early American history. It’s a show for people who love history and who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world.
Each episode features conversations with professional historians who help shed light on important people and events in early American history.
38episodes
Episodes
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BFW Revisited: A Declaration in Draft, 2026
4d ago01:23:12Tap to summarizeEvery American knows Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, but was he really its sole architect? In this revisited episode, we sit down with three scholars to pull back the curtain on how the Declaration came to be written. Danielle Allen of Harvard University, Patrick Spero of the American Philosophical Society, and Peter Onuf of the University of Virginia reveal that the Declaration was never one man's work. Together, they show how John Adams — not Jefferson — was the intellectual architect behind "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." How Benjamin Franklin changed the Declaration with just four or five surgical edits. And what the Second Continental Congress cut from Jefferson's original draft, including his striking grievance blaming King George III for the international slave trade. Originally recorded in 2017 as part of Ben Franklin's World's Doing History to the Revolution series, this episode pairs with Episode 446 and Episode 447 to mark the Declaration's 250th anniversary. Danielle’s Website | Book Patrick's Website | BookPeter's Website | BookShow Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/141 RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES🎧 Episode 018: Our Declaration🎧 Episode 440: Jefferson's Cut Grievance🎧 Episode 443: How Independence Happend, Pt 1: The Lee Resolution, 1776🎧 Episode 444: How Independence Happened, Pt 2: The Model Treaty🎧 Episode 445: How Independence Happened, Pt 3: Articles of Confederation🎧 Episode 446: The Declaration of Independence at 250SUPPORT OUR WORK🎁 Make a Donation to Ben Franklin’s WorldREQUEST A TOPIC📨 Topic Request Form📫 liz@benfranklinsworld.comWHEN YOU'RE READY🗞️ BFW Gazette Newsletter 👩💻 Join the BFW Listener Community🌍 Join the History Explorers ClubTAKE THE QUIZ🧭 Discover How You Explore History (under 2 minutes)👉 https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/quizLISTEN 🎧🍎 Apple Podcasts 💚 Spotify 🎶 Amazon Music🛜 PandoraCONNECT🦋 Liz on Bluesky👩💻 Liz on LinkedIn🛜 Liz’s WebsiteSAY THANKS💜 Leave a review on Apple Podcasts💚 Leave a rating on Spotify*Book links are affiliate links. Every purchase supports the podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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446 The Declaration of Independence at 250
2w ago00:46:24Tap to summarize250 years after its signing, the Declaration of Independence remains an unfinished document. Its famous assertion "that all men are created equal" and endowed with unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness stands not as a settled truth, but as a call every generation of Americans must answer on its own terms. What did the founders mean by "all men are created equal?" Who did they believe was eligible to pursue life, liberty, and happiness? And how are the generations living in the United States today thinking through their own answers? Four historians join us to explore these questions. Robert Parkinson and Steve Sarson draw on their new books to help us understand what it meant in 1776. Anthea Hartig and Virginia Scharff show us how two 250th anniversary museum exhibitions use objects to make the Declaration's living legacy tangible, and to remind us that its promises have always been claimed not just in words, but in action.Rob's Book | Steve's Book | Smithsonian Exhibit | Autry ExhibitShow Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/403 EPISODE OUTLINE00:00:00 Introduction00:00:44 Celebrating the Declaration of Independence00:03:50 The Declaration As An Ongoing Experiment00:04:14 Anthea Hartig on the National Museum of American History00:05:30 Virginia Scharff on the Autry Museum of the American West00:07:58 Robert Parkinson on Understanding the Declaration00:19:17 Steve Sarson on the Declaration's Philosophical Argument00:21:10 The Original Meaning of the Declaration00:34:47 Conclusion00:41:16 The Massachusetts Historical Society's Declaration ExhibitRECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES🎧 Episode 018: Our Declaration🎧 Episode 141: A Declaration in Draft🎧 Episode 394: The Pursuit of Happiness🎧 Episode 415: The Many Declarations of Independence🎧 Episode 439: When the Declaration of Independence Was News in 1776🎧 Episode 440: Jefferson's Cut GrievanceSUPPORT OUR WORK🎁 Make a Donation to Ben Franklin’s WorldREQUEST A TOPIC📨 Topic Request Form📫 liz@benfranklinsworld.comWHEN YOU'RE READY🗞️ BFW Gazette Newsletter 👩💻 Join the BFW Listener Community🌍 Join the History Explorers ClubTAKE THE QUIZ🧭 Discover How You Explore History (under 2 minutes)👉 https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/quizLISTEN 🎧🍎 Apple Podcasts 💚 Spotify 🎶 Amazon Music🛜 PandoraCONNECT🦋 Liz on Bluesky👩💻 Liz on LinkedIn🛜 Liz’s WebsiteSAY THANKS💜 Leave a review on Apple Podcasts💚 Leave a rating on Spotify*Book links are affiliate links. Every purchase supports the podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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445 How Independence Happened, Pt 3: The Articles of Confederation
3w ago01:25:31Tap to summarizeThe man Congress chose to draft the United States’ first constitution refused to vote for independence. John Dickinson wrote a bold plan, one with a strong central government, religious liberty protections that included women, and a question in the margins about whether Congress should abolish slavery. Congress stripped out nearly all of these ideas and provisions. What replaced it sparked a debate over federal vs. state power that has never gone away. This is the third episode in our How Independence Happened series. In Part 1, we explored Richard Henry Lee's Virginia Resolution of June 7, 1776. In Part 2, we examined the Model Treaty and how the new United States made foreign alliances. In this third part, we're joined by historians Jane Calvert and Jonathan Gienapp so we can investigate the Articles of Confederation, the third element of independence. Jane's Website | BookJonathan's Website | BookShow Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/445 EPISODE OUTLINE00:00:00 Introduction00:03:34 The Articles of Confederation00:08:29 Why A Confederation Was Important00:12:49 Why the Second Continental Congress Create A Formal Union00:21:44 Drafting the Articles of Confederation00:22:38 John Dickinson's Role in Drafting the Articles00:45:50 The Founding Generation's Ideas About Government01:05:40 Viewing the Articles of Confederation in Context01:13:07 The Unwritten Constitution of the PeopleRECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES🎧 Episode 179: Governance During the Critical Period🎧 Episode 258: John Dickinson, Life, Religion, & Politics🎧 Episode 323: American Expansion and the Political Economy of Plunder🎧 Episode 366: James Wilson & the U.S. Constitution🎧 Episode 443: How Independence Happened, Pt 1: The Lee Resolution🎧 Episode 444: How Independence Happened, Pt 2: The Model TreatySUPPORT OUR WORK🎁 Make a Donation to Ben Franklin’s WorldREQUEST A TOPIC📨 Topic Request Form📫 liz@benfranklinsworld.comWHEN YOU'RE READY🗞️ BFW Gazette Newsletter 👩💻 Join the BFW Listener Community🌍 Join the History Explorers ClubTAKE THE QUIZ🧭 Discover How You Explore History (under 2 minutes)👉 https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/quizLISTEN 🎧🍎 Apple Podcasts 💚 Spotify 🎶 Amazon Music🛜 PandoraCONNECT🦋 Liz on Bluesky👩💻 Liz on LinkedIn🛜 Liz’s WebsiteSAY THANKS💜 Leave a review on Apple Podcasts💚 Leave a rating on Spotify*Book links are affiliate links. Every purchase supports the podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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444 How Independence Happened, Part 2: The Model Treaty
4w ago01:18:50Tap to summarizeDeclaring independence on July 2, 1776 was only the beginning. To actually become a nation, the United States needed something else: foreign allies, international recognition, and the credibility to negotiate as an equal among the world's great powers. Five days after Richard Henry Lee introduced his famous Virginia Resolution, the Continental Congress appointed a committee of five — John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Dickinson, Robert Morris, and Benjamin Harrison — to figure out how to achieve international recognition. The result was the Model Treaty: a document we almost never discuss today, but one that Adams considered his most important contribution to Congress and the nation. Historians Sara Georgini and Eliga Gould guide us through Adams's revolutionary blueprint for American foreign policy and how the founders understood that the United States would need to become a "treaty worthy" nation before France would take them seriously. This is the second episode in a three-part series. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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443 How Independence Happened, Part 1: The Lee Resolution
Jun 1601:17:42Tap to summarizeDeclaring independence on July 2, 1776, was only the beginning. To actually become a nation, the United States needed something else: foreign allies, international recognition, and the credibility to negotiate as an equal among the world's great powers. Five days after Richard Henry Lee introduced his famous Virginia Resolution, the Continental Congress appointed a committee of five — John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Dickinson, Robert Morris, and Benjamin Harrison — to figure out how to achieve international recognition. The result was the Model Treaty: a document we almost never discuss today, but one that Adams considered his most important contribution to Congress and the nation. Historians Sara Georgini and Eliga Gould guide us through Adams's revolutionary blueprint for American foreign policy and the founders' understanding that the United States would need to become a "treaty-worthy" nation before France would take it seriously. This is the second episode in a three-part series. Sara’s Website | Book Lige's Website | BookShow Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/444 EPISODE OUTLINE00:00:00 Introduction00:00:21 Three Legs of Independence00:01:17 The Second Continental Congress Votes Independence00:02:58 The Second Leg of Independence: Foreign Alliances00:03:28 The Model Treaty00:07:12 Why the Virginia Resolution Included Foreign Alliances00:19:00 Specifics of the Model Treaty00:21:30 Founders' Goals for the Model Treaty00:28:21 The Model Treaty Drafting Committee00:41:20 The Model Treaty as a Document00:39:15 The Story of Common Sense00:50:07 Commercial Alliances01:04:42 The Model Treaty's Place in the American RevolutionRECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES🎧 Episode 007: John Adams & the Adams Papers Documentary Project🎧 Episode 128: American Revolutions: A Continental History🎧 Episode 193: Partisans: The Friendship & Rivalry of Jefferson & Adams🎧 Episode 432: How France & Spain Helped Save the American Revolution🎧 Episode 433: Entangled Alliances: Haiti, France, & the American Revolution🎧 Episode 443: How Independence Actually Happened, Pt 1: The Lee ResolutionSUPPORT OUR WORK🎁 Make a Donation to Ben Franklin’s WorldREQUEST A TOPIC📨 Topic Request Form📫 liz@benfranklinsworld.comWHEN YOU'RE READY🗞️ BFW Gazette Newsletter 👩💻 Join the BFW Listener Community🌍 Join the History Explorers ClubTAKE THE QUIZ🧭 Discover How You Explore History (under 2 minutes)👉 https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/quizLISTEN 🎧🍎 Apple Podcasts 💚 Spotify 🎶 Amazon Music🛜 PandoraCONNECT🦋 Liz on Bluesky👩💻 Liz on LinkedIn🛜 Liz’s WebsiteSAY THANKS💜 Leave a review on Apple Podcasts💚 Leave a rating on Spotify*Book links are affiliate links. Every purchase supports the podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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BFW Revisited: Reading the Declaration of Independence for Equality
Jun 900:51:25Tap to summarizeOn July 4th, 2026, the United States marks 250 years since the Declaration of Independence announced a new nation to the world. But how well do we actually know the document we're celebrating? Most of us can recite "We hold these truths to be self-evident," but how many of us have read all 1,337 words, and traced the argument the Declaration actually makes? Danielle Allen, the James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University and author of Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality, reveals how New Hampshire's desperate need for a functioning government set the Continental Congress on the path toward independence, why the Declaration was authored by many voices — not just Thomas Jefferson — and how a slow, careful reading of the document uncovers a powerful argument that freedom and equality are entwined. You cannot have one without the other. This is the essential starting point for Ben Franklin's World's Independence at 250 series. Danielle’s Website | Book | Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/018 RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES🎧 Episode 119: The Heart of the Declartion🎧 Episode 141: A Declaration in Draft🎧 Episode 415: The Many Declarations of Independence🎧 Episode 438: The American Revolution and the Fate of the World🎧 Episode 439: When the Declartion of Independence War News in 1776🎧 Episode 440: Jefferson's Cut Grievance and the British Monarchy's Role in SlaverySUPPORT OUR WORK🎁 Make a Donation to Ben Franklin’s WorldREQUEST A TOPIC📨 Topic Request Form📫 liz@benfranklinsworld.comWHEN YOU'RE READY🗞️ BFW Gazette Newsletter 👩💻 Join the BFW Listener Community🌍 Join the History Explorers ClubTAKE THE QUIZ🧭 Discover How You Explore History (under 2 minutes)👉 https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/quizLISTEN 🎧🍎 Apple Podcasts 💚 Spotify 🎶 Amazon Music🛜 PandoraCONNECT🦋 Liz on Bluesky👩💻 Liz on LinkedIn🛜 Liz’s WebsiteSAY THANKS💜 Leave a review on Apple Podcasts💚 Leave a rating on Spotify*Book links are affiliate links. Every purchase supports the podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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442 Everyday Military Life in the American Revolution
Jun 201:23:57Tap to summarizeWhen we picture the American Revolution, we picture battles. But for the men and women who actually lived and fought in it, the 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. They discuss how the armies were structured, what soldiers actually ate, what camp followers endured, and how soldiers found humanity amid grinding hardship. You'll hear about a Black Continental soldier who had eaten nothing but bread for eleven days, and was still writing letters home that went unanswered. A Georgia soldier who agreed to fight for the British just to escape a prison ship, then deserted and marched across two states to rejoin Nathanael Greene's army. And you'll discover why John Adams believed the most dangerous moment of the Revolution wasn't a battle at all.Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/403 EPISODE OUTLINE00:00:00 Introduction00:05:44 Structure of the British and Continental Armies00:10:33 Militia, German Soldiers, and Indian Allies00:20:43 Everyday Life in the American War for Independence00:25:80 Camp Followers00:33:10 Downtime in the Army00:36:59 Soldiers' Letters00:46:00 Food Procurement & Supply Chains00:50:27 Supplementing Rations00:55:34 War Mementoes & Plunder00:58:36 Medical Care in the Army01:08:07 The Revolution in ContextRECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES🎧 Episode 158: The Revolutionaries' Army🎧 Episode 122: The Men Who Lost America🎧 Episode 252: The Highland Soldier in North America🎧 Episode 302: From Inoculation to Vaccination, Pt 2🎧 Episode 348: Valley Forge🎧 Episode 374: The Revolutionary War in the WestSUPPORT OUR WORK🎁 Make a Donation to Ben Franklin’s WorldREQUEST A TOPIC📨 Topic Request Form📫 liz@benfranklinsworld.comWHEN YOU'RE READY🗞️ BFW Gazette Newsletter 👩💻 Join the BFW Listener Community🌍 Join the History Explorers ClubTAKE THE QUIZ🧭 Discover How You Explore History (under 2 minutes)👉 https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/quizLISTEN 🎧🍎 Apple Podcasts 💚 Spotify 🎶 Amazon Music🛜 PandoraCONNECT🦋 Liz on Bluesky👩💻 Liz on LinkedIn🛜 Liz’s WebsiteSAY THANKS💜 Leave a review on Apple Podcasts💚 Leave a rating on Spotify*Book links are affiliate links. Every purchase supports the podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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BFW Revisited: Valley Forge
May 2601:08:17Tap to summarizeMost of us learned the same story: During the winter at Valley Forge, George Washington's army suffered and endured. Ragged soldiers huddled together in frozen huts and gnawed on shoe leather for food. But what if that story is mostly myth? Military historian Ricardo Herrera, author of Feeding Washington's Army: Surviving the Valley Forge Winter of 1778, reveals what was really happening during the winter of 1777–1778. Valley Forge wasn't a place of frozen inactivity, it was a hub of military operations. The army's survival depended not on virtue and willpower alone, but on the armed foraging columns Washington sent into the Pennsylvania countryside to seize food, horses, and supplies from the civilians he was fighting to protect. Rick’s Website | Book |Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/348 RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES🎧 Episode 158: The Revolutionaries' Army🎧 Episode 189: The Little Ice Age🎧 Episode 301: Innoculation to Vaccination, Part 1🎧 Episode 302: Innoculation to Vaccination, Part 2🎧 Episode 332: Occupied Philadelphia🎧 Episode 333: Occupied YorktownSUPPORT OUR WORK🎁 Make a Donation to Ben Franklin’s WorldREQUEST A TOPIC📨 Topic Request Form📫 liz@benfranklinsworld.comWHEN YOU'RE READY🗞️ BFW Gazette Newsletter 👩💻 Join the BFW Listener Community🌍 Join the History Explorers ClubTAKE THE QUIZ🧭 Discover How You Explore History (under 2 minutes)👉 https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/quizLISTEN 🎧🍎 Apple Podcasts 💚 Spotify 🎶 Amazon Music🛜 PandoraCONNECT🦋 Liz on Bluesky👩💻 Liz on LinkedIn🛜 Liz’s WebsiteSAY THANKS💜 Leave a review on Apple Podcasts💚 Leave a rating on Spotify*Book links are affiliate links. Every purchase supports the podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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441 The Escapes of David George
May 1901:15:56Tap to summarizeWhen David George lay sick with smallpox in Savannah during the Revolutionary War, he faced three possible outcomes: death, re-enslavement, or freedom. Greg O'Malley, Professor of History at UC Santa Cruz, follows David George across six decades and three continents, from enslaved Virginia to the Muscogee Creek nation, and from British-occupied Georgia to Nova Scotia to Sierra Leone, in his new book, The Escapes of David George: An Odyssey of Slavery, Freedom, and the American Revolution. It's a story that will change how you think about what the Revolution actually delivered, and for whom. Greg’s Website | Book Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/403 EPISODE OUTLINE00:00:00 Introduction 00:01:14 Welcome to Ben Franklin's World 00:02:31 Introducing Greg O'Malley and David George 00:05:43 David George's Odyssey Begins 00:08:12 The Rare Narrative of David George 00:11:07 Authenticating David George's Voice 00:13:39 David George's Multiple Escapes from Slavery 00:20:30 David George's Conversion to Christianity 00:24:53 Why Baptist? The Appeal of Evangelical Faith 00:29:52 David George's Family and Name 00:37:12 Life in Nova Scotia as a Refugee Preacher 00:42:03 Journey to Sierra Leone 00:54:44 Piecing Together David George's Later Years 00:59:49 Discovering the Silver Bluff Baptist Church 01:06:24 Time Warp: What If David George Stayed? 01:10:29 Reflections and TakeawaysRECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES🎧 Episode 008: Final Passages: The Intercolonial Slave Trade 🎧 Episode 322: Running from Bondage in Revolutionary America🎧 Episode 424: Dunmore's Proclamation🎧 Episode 434: The Frank Brothers: Freeborn Black Soldiers🎧 Episode 440: Brooke Newman, Jefferson's Cut Grievance and the British Monarchy's Role in Slavery SUPPORT OUR WORK🎁 Make a Donation to Ben Franklin’s WorldREQUEST A TOPIC📨 Topic Request Form📫 liz@benfranklinsworld.comWHEN YOU'RE READY🗞️ BFW Gazette Newsletter 👩💻 Join the BFW Listener Community🌍 Join the History Explorers ClubTAKE THE QUIZ🧭 Discover How You Explore History (under 2 minutes)👉 https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/quizLISTEN 🎧🍎 Apple Podcasts 💚 Spotify 🎶 Amazon Music🛜 PandoraCONNECT🦋 Liz on Bluesky👩💻 Liz on LinkedIn🛜 Liz’s WebsiteSAY THANKS💜 Leave a review on Apple Podcasts💚 Leave a rating on Spotify*Book links are affiliate links. Every purchase supports the podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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BFW Revisited: Running from Bondage in the American Revolution
May 1200:57:40Tap to summarizeShe fled on horseback in the thick of war. Her six-year-old son rode with her. The white tailor at her side would pass, when anyone asked, as her husband. Her name was Sarah. She was one of tens of thousands of enslaved people who self-emancipated during the American Revolution, and one of the many women earlier histories barely noticed. In this Revisited episode, Karen Cook-Bell, author of Running from Bondage: Enslaved Women and the Remarkable Fight for Freedom in Revolutionary America, recovers their stories. We learn how Lord Dunmore's 1775 proclamation reshaped the landscape of resistance, why motherhood drove women to flee rather than keeping them in place, and what creative, subversive strategies they used to slip out of bondage and into freedom. This is the companion conversation to Ep. 440's exploration of Jefferson's cut grievance. If Brooke Newman gave us the view from the throne, Karen Cook-Bell gives us the view from the ground. And it changes what the proclamations look like. Karen's Website | Book |Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/322RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES🎧 Episode 137: The Washingtons' Runaway Slave, Ona Judge🎧 Episode 157: The Revolution's African American Soldiers🎧 Episode 162: Dunmore's New World🎧 Episode 312: The Domestic Slave Trade🎧 Episode 424: Dunmore's Proclamation and the American Revolution in Virginia🎧 Episode 440: Jefferson's Cut Grievances and the British Monarchy's Role in SlaverySUPPORT OUR WORK🎁 Make a Donation to Ben Franklin’s WorldREQUEST A TOPIC📨 Topic Request Form📫 liz@benfranklinsworld.comWHEN YOU'RE READY🗞️ BFW Gazette Newsletter 👩💻 Join the BFW Listener Community🌍 Join the History Explorers ClubTAKE THE QUIZ🧭 Discover How You Explore History (under 2 minutes)👉 https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/quizLISTEN 🎧🍎 Apple Podcasts 💚 Spotify 🎶 Amazon Music🛜 PandoraCONNECT🦋 Liz on Bluesky👩💻 Liz on LinkedIn🛜 Liz’s WebsiteSAY THANKS💜 Leave a review on Apple Podcasts💚 Leave a rating on Spotify*Book links are affiliate links. Every purchase supports the podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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