RPTM Podcast Episode Fifteen: Education, The Boston Massacre, and Late Colonial Life

Next Rule of History: Remove the term Un-American from your vocabulary. And as a bonus, don’t listen to anyone that uses the term “Un-American” as they surely have an agenda. With the first ten rules in place, you can seem where one would violate multiple rules before they violate number 11.  As you scroll through social media, the nonsensical term  “Un-American” is applied to any person or idea that doesn’t fit a certain narrative. You must ask yourself, what is American then? Is it a deep respect for the powers that be and the status quo? Is it a violent police state that subdues minorities? Is it a suppression of free speech and oligarchic control of a rigged election? Is its entrepreneurial spirit? A freedom both of mind and of economic choices? Is it seeking out the boundaries of science, technology, and culture in a manifest destiny approach? Is it apple pie?

The answer is, as to no one’s shock, maybe?

The human experience as well as the American experience is multifaceted and complex. The worldviews of a housewife from the 17th century will most certainly clash with those of a gay black man in the 1980s. And that is okay, there is room for many types of Americans to sit at the table. When a political pundit uses the term “Un-American” they are really saying that “you don’t belong here.” They want to dehumanize and demote any oppositional viewpoint or lifestyle. America means something to me, and it means something to you. It means something to Abraham Lincoln, and something completely different to Iraqi child soldier. We need to sit back and not validate each other’s worldviews, but validate that they exist. 

HIGHLIGHTS

• The Townshend Acts were a series of measures passed by the British Parliament in 1767 that taxed goods imported to the American colonies. But American colonists, who had no representation in Parliament, saw the Acts as an abuse of power. 
• Eighteenth-century changes in educational approaches reflected the changing needs of American society. 
• The Boston Massacre was a deadly riot on March 5, 1770, on King Street in Boston. It began as a street brawl between American colonists and a lone British soldier but quickly escalated to a chaotic, bloody slaughter. 
• The wealthy Colonial Women from Europe of the later colonial years enjoyed life like that they would have experienced in Europe. Wealth enabled them to live in grand townhouses and colonial mansions. 
• The American colonial diet varied depending on the settled region in which someone lived. Local cuisine patterns had been established by the mid-18th century. 

CHAPTERS
0:00​ Start
0:37​ Intro
2:45​ The Townshend Acts
9:09​ Colonial Education
14:45​ The Boston Massacre
22:04​ Late Colonial Women
30:42​ Late Colonial Diet
35:52​ Outro

RESOURCES
Townshend Acts
THE SURPRISING HISTORY OF THE 18TH CENTURY’S EDUCATIONAL INFLUENCE
Colonial Era Education in the United States
Boston Massacre
​Colonial Women
American Diet

Episode 14

RPTM Podcast

Episode 16