The American Revolution wasn’t just a War for Independence. The Revolution was part of a wider age of revolutions that reshaped the Atlantic World.
Ronald Angelo Johnson, the Ralph and Bessie Mae Lynn Chair of History at Baylor University, joins us to explore the American Revolution’s entanglement with the Haitian Revolution and the wider Atlantic World.
Drawing from his book, Entangled Alliances: Racialized Freedom and Atlantic Diplomacy during the American Revolution, Ron reveals how the 1763 Treaty of Paris reshaped French and British imperial policy, how Saint Domingue’s Black soldiers fought in the Siege of Savannah (1779), and how the flow of news, people, and ideas across the Atlantic forged powerful connections between two revolutionary movements.
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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.
Episode Summary
Ronald Angelo Johnson is the Ralph and Bessie Mae Lynn Chair of History at Baylor University and the co-editor of the Journal of the Early American Republic. He’s the author of Entangled Alliances: Racialized Freedom and Atlantic Diplomacy During the American Revolution, which re-examines the American Revolution through a wider Atlantic lens.
In this episode, Ron reveals:
- How the 1763 Treaty of Paris reshaped imperial strategy and colonial life in Saint Domingue
- The significance of over 500 Black soldiers from Saint Domingue fighting in the 1779 Siege of Savannah
- Why studying the Haitian and American Revolutions side by side provides us with a deeper, more honest picture of these revolutions
What You’ll Discover
- Why examine the American and Haitian Revolutions side-by-side
- The Treaty of Paris of 1763 and its impact on colonial North America
- Post-Seven Years’ War taxation
- The French demand for increased crop production in Saint Domingue
- The hardening of racial lines in Saint Domingue during the 1760s & 1770s
- The circulation of news between North America & Saint Domingue
- French entry and involvement in the American Revolution
- The Chasseur Volontaire Regiment
- British American reception of the Chasseur Volontaires Regiment
- French reports of the Chasseur Volontaires and their bravery
Links to People, Places, and Publications
Time Warp Question
In your opinion, what might have happened if the people of Saint Domingue had not taken an interest in the American Revolution? How might the course of the American and Haitian Revolutions have been different?
Complementary Episodes
🎧 Episode 052: Diplomacy in Black and White
🎧 Episode 151: Defining the American Revolution
🎧 Episode 228: The Boston Massacre (The King Street Riot)
🎧 Episode 325: The Everyday People of the American Revolution
🎧 Episode 361: The Fourth of July in 2026
🎧 Episode 421: Loyalism and Revolution in Georgia
🎧 Episode 432: How France and Spain Helped Win the American Revolution
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