278 Polygamy: An Early American History
Ben Franklin's World
Liz Covart
4.4 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 14 July 2020
⏱️ 55 minutes
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| 0:00.0 | Ben Franklin's world is a production of the |
| 0:02.7 | O'Mohandro Institute. Hello and welcome to episode 278 of Ben Franklin's world. |
| 0:17.3 | The podcast dedicated to helping you learn more about how the people and |
| 0:21.8 | events of our early American past have shaped the present day world we live in. |
| 0:26.0 | And I'm your host, Liz Kovart. |
| 0:29.0 | Polygony is not a practice that often comes to mind when many of us think about early America, but it turns |
| 0:35.0 | out that polygamy was a ubiquitous practice among many different groups of early Americans who |
| 0:39.8 | lived in the 17th and 18th centuries. Sarah Pearsall, a university teaching officer, fellow, and historian at the University of Cambridge, |
| 0:48.0 | joins us to discuss the surprising history of polygamy in North America, |
| 0:51.0 | with details from her book, |
| 0:53.0 | Polygamy, an early American history. |
| 0:56.1 | Now, during our conversation, Sarah reveals |
| 0:59.6 | how and why many Native American and West African |
| 1:01.8 | peoples practice polygamy. The ways in which polygamy offered |
| 1:05.3 | practitioners economic, social, and political power, and how and why monogamy became so powerfully |
| 1:11.8 | embedded in the early United States. |
| 1:14.8 | But first, are you a member of the Ben Franklin's world listener community on Facebook? |
| 1:20.6 | We have a lot happening in the listener community right now between interesting posts and conversations with listeners like yourself |
| 1:27.0 | and weekly live conversations on Tuesday night at 8 p.m. Eastern with our book club. |
| 1:32.0 | Plus, anyone who wants to join those live |
| 1:35.0 | weekly conversations is more than welcome. Holly and I often use the book club book |
| 1:39.6 | as just a starting point for a larger conversation about early American history. |
... |
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