Welcome to the History of the Americans podcast, episode 208.

I'm your host, Jack Heneman, and we're recording this episode on May 1st,

2026 in New Orleans.

We are telling the history of the lands now encompassed by the United States

from the beginning without intentional presentism. No sooner had I pressed the button on the last

episode, at the end of which I promised to proceed briskly to the story of the Quakers in New Jersey

and Pennsylvania, then my muse intervened.

I realized that many of the episodes of the next year, if not longer, would benefit from us all

knowing a few basic things about English politics in the 1680s, including especially the exclusion

crisis of 1679 to 1681 and the glorious revolution

of 1688. Both had a big impact on our own history. We've done this once before in episode

146 a couple of years ago.

Oliver's Army, what you need to know about the English Civil Wars.

At the beginning of that episode, I warned, quote,

that British listeners will no doubt find this overview tediously shallow and rife with rank generalizations and even error.

Guilty is charged.

The American analogy would be to cover the years between the run-up to our own civil war and the reconstruction of the South in one podcast episode.

But this is the history of the Americans.

So this overview, however shallow, will have to do for our purposes.

Well, the same applies this time. Then as now, my main source is Jonathan Healy's book, The Blazing World, a New History of Revolutionary England, which is a rollicking read, replete with wonderful little

details that fans of this podcast will certainly appreciate. There's a link in the show notes.

So here we go. As you know, if you listen to episode 146, or if you know a spot of English history, the English Civil Wars of the

...