Episode 326: Maureen Connors Santelli, The Greek Revolution in Early America

With Ukrainian sovereignty and democracy under attack, Americans have been wondering: Should our government be doing more than placing economic sanctions on Russia? Should I, as a U.S. military veteran, travel to Ukraine and offer to fight in their army? What would official U.S. military involvement mean for the politics of Europe and in our age of nuclear weapons?

While the situation in Ukraine is new and novel, Americans’ desire to assist other nations seeking to create or preserve their democracies and republics is not new. Maureen Connors Santelli, an Associate Professor of History at Northern Virginia Community College and author of The Greek Fire: American-Ottoman Fervor in the Age of Revolutions, joins us to investigate the Greek Revolution and early Americans’ reactions to it.

This episode is supported by an American Rescue Plan grant to the Omohundro Institute from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

About the Show

Ben Franklin’s World is a podcast about early American history.

It is a show for people who love history and for those who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world.

Ben Franklin’s World is a production of the Omohundro Institute.

Episode Summary

Maureen Connors Santelli, an Associate Professor of History at Northern Virginia Community College and author of The Greek Fire: American-Ottoman Fervor in the Age of Revolutions, joins us to investigate the Greek Revolution and early Americans’ reactions to it.

During our investigation, Maureen reveals details about the Greek Revolution and its place within the larger Age of Revolutions; Early Americans’ interst in the Greek cause for independence; And information about Americans’ two responses to the Greek Revolution: their official response and their unofficial response.

What You’ll Discover

The Greek Revolution and its place in the Age of Revolution
Similarities and differences between the American Revolution & Greek Revolution
Influence of the American Revolution on the Greek Revolution
American interest in the Greek Revolution
The start of the Greek Revolution
President James Monroe
Secretary of State John Quincy Adams
The United States’ official response to the Greek Revolution
The Monroe Doctrine
Everyday Americans’ response to the Greek Revolution
Ways the Greek independence movement united Americans
How Americans transported gathered money and supplies to Greece
Impact of American aid to Greece
Impact of the Greek Revolution on the early United States

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Episode 017: François Furstenburg, When the United States Spoke French
Episode 052: Ronald A. Johnson, Early United States-Haitian Diplomacy
Episode 124: James Alexander Dun, Making the Haitian Revolution in Early America
Episode 314: Colin Calloway, Native Americans in Early American Cities
Episode 323: Michael Witgen, American Expansion and the Political Economy of Plunder

Time Warp Question

In your opinion, how might 19th-century trade, diplomacy, and American society have been different if the United States had formally recognized and supported the Greek Revolution?