Elizabeth M. Covart is an independent scholar located in Boston, Massachusetts. She attended the Pennsylvania State University and the University of California, Davis, where she received her Ph.D. in early American history. In addition to writing her first book, tentatively titled America’s First Gateway: Albany, New York, 1614-1830, Liz hosts “Ben Franklin’s World: A Podcast About Early American History.” She also enjoys working in the field where she leads tours of revolutionary Boston and volunteers at a local historical society. For more information about Liz, her blog Uncommonplace Book, and her podcast visit elizabethcovart.com.
But what still hightens our Apprehensions is that those unexpected proceedings may be preparatory to new Taxations upon us: For if our Trade may be taxed why not our Lands? Why not the produce of our Lands and every Thing we possess or make use of? This we apprehend annihilates our Charter Rights to Govern […]
“The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world…He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our […]
Silas Deane assisted the Patriot cause as a congressman, merchant, and diplomat. In 1776, Deane undertook a mission to France as the Patriots’ official, unofficial envoy. Officially, Deane arrived in Paris to conduct business as a private merchant. Unofficially, the Second Continental Congress had tasked Deane with securing supplies for the army and presents for […]
After the Americans’ stunning victory at Saratoga on October 17, 1777, King Louis XVI ordered his ministers to negotiate a formal alliance between France and the United States. Conrad Alexander Gérard of France and Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane, and Arthur Lee of the United States negotiated the terms of the Franco-American alliance in the Treaty […]
Have you ever tried to imagine what it would have been like to witness an important historical event? If so, the Boston Tea Party Annual Reenactment is a must-attend event. On Monday December 16, 2013, I attended the 240th Anniversary Boston Tea Party Annual Reenactment presented by the Old South Meeting House and the Boston […]
The Treaty that Redefined North America On Wednesday August 10, 1763, crowds of Bostonians gathered after nightfall and stood watch over the harbor. Under the glow of the bonfires that lined the town’s shoreline, the people assembled to view a fireworks display, which signified the importance and special nature of the occasion: Earlier that afternoon, […]
“Tory Stories” After attending the “No Tax on Tea!” program at the Old South Meeting House, I walked to nearby King’s Chapel, the first Anglican Church in Massachusetts.[1] The steeple-less, hand-hewn, granite-block church sits on the edge of Boston’s first burial ground. In 1686, Governor Edmund Andros thwarted the Puritans’ refusal to sell land to […]
“No Tax on Tea! A Colonial Tea Debate”[1] On Friday July 5, I returned to the Old South Meeting House for the “No Tax on Tea! A Colonial Tea Debate” program. Unlike “Whispers of Revolution: Plotting the Boston Tea Party,” this event invited audience members to “[assume] the role of a Patriot or Loyalist to […]
My Quest As a historian, I am interested in how people understand and interact with the past. I find the question of how present-day Americans relate to the American Revolution and War for Independence particularly fascinating. This curiosity led me to explore the 32nd Annual Boston Harborfest, the largest Fourth of July celebration in the […]
Yesterday marked the 170th anniversary of the commemoration of the Bunker Hill Monument. It took the Bunker Hill Monument Association, thousands of individual donors, a craft and bake sale organized by Sarah Josepha Hale, a large donation from philanthropist Judah Touro, and seventeen years to complete construction of the 221-foot tall obelisk, the first major […]
