Dr. Scott Stephenson

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278 appearances 1 recordings 1 series first heard Jul 2026 last heard 15 Jul

Dr. Scott Stephenson’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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American History Tellers · American Revolution | The Revolution Continues | 7 · 15 Jul 2026 podcast

By the time of the Revolution, many of the Lenape people had been forced from those original lands and were living in central and western Pennsylvania and what's now the state of Ohio.

but they were being pressed by both sides about what to do.

And there were factions that felt they were going to side and provide military assistance to the British.

There were some who tried to remain neutral.

There were some who actually were supportive of the American revolutionaries.

You can say that about the Cherokee people down in the southern Appalachian Mountains.

And the tragedy for all of those groups is that

They were treated basically the same after the Revolutionary War as enemy combatants, and that ultimately most of those nations suffered dispossession either immediately afterward or into the era of removal in the early 19th century.

again, another group of people sort of caught in between.

And, you know, war brings both great danger and peril, but can also create opportunities.

And that is certainly the case for people of African descent living in the British colonies, the vast majority of whom, of course, are living as enslaved people, although there is a free Black population, you know, in various parts of the colonies, certainly in Philadelphia.

So an example of a free black young man, a man named James Fortin, is actually a great example of one of the kinds of stories.

So James Fortin was born just a block, actually, from the front door of the Museum of the American Revolution near Dock Street and Third Street in Philadelphia.

And when he was nine years old, he actually was present at the Pennsylvania State House, we know it as Independence Hall, when the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence happens on July 8th of 1776.

So he hears those words, you know, all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, da-da-da-da-da.

And that really sticks with him.

He had been orphaned recently, but was free.

And as a 14-year-old, he actually enlists and serves aboard a privateer ship engaged in a cruise to capture British ships off of the east coast of New Jersey, Pennsylvania.

He comes back to Philadelphia in time for his 15th birthday.

This is early September of 1781.

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