Podcasts
Ben Franklin’s World
Episode 415: The Many Declarations of Independence
During our exploration of the Declaration of Independence, Emily reveals why there isn’t one definitive copy of the Declaration of Independence and why it matters. How people in 1776 engaged with the Declaration, from public readings to personal annotations on copies of the document. And, how generations of Americans—from abolitionists to suffragists—have interpreted the Declaration’s promise of equality and liberty.
Your Most Obedient & Humble Servant
Episode 58: Our Unnatural Enemies May Be Turned From Us
Dr. Emily Sneff joins Kathryn Gehred to discuss a letter from Polly Palmer to John Adams dated 4 August 1776, in which Palmer thanks Adams for sending her one of the earliest printings of the Declaration of Independence.
We the People
Emily Sneff on When the Declaration of Independence Was News
In this episode, historian Emily Sneff discusses her new book, When the Declaration of Independence Was News, which focuses on the nation’s founding document at the moment of its creation in 1776, before anyone knew what the legacy of the Declaration would be or if the United States would win the war against Great Britain. The book explores how the Declaration was communicated to people in the new nation and across the Atlantic world and reveals the stories of the many people involved in declaring independence, from printers to soldiers to diplomats to translators. Julie Silverbrook, chief content and learning officer at the National Constitution Center, moderates.
Civics 101
What Did the World Really Think About the Declaration of Independence?
For Americans today, it's a treasure. Scripture. The thing that made us. It wasn't always that way, though. This is the story of the Declaration of Independence before it was enshrined in our collective national consciousness. Back when it was a news headline and we had no control what others thought of it. Our guest is Emily Sneff, author of When the Declaration of Independence was News.
Unsung History
The Declaration of Independence
The Continental Congress voted to break from Great Britain on July 2, 1776, and approved the text of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, but it took weeks for the news to spread throughout the new country and even longer to reach the country they were breaking from and the countries with whom they hoped to find alliances. Along the way, people learned the news from printed broadsides, newspapers, public readings, and letters from friends. I’m joined in this episode by Dr. Emily Sneff, author of When the Declaration of Independence Was News.
Historically Thinking
When the Declaration of Independence Was News: Emily Sneff on how people first encountered independence
"There was a time when the Declaration of Independence was news...” Those are the words of my guest Emily Sneff in her new book When the Declaration of Independence Was News. It is a book that reframes the Declaration and enables us to see it in a new way: at a moment when the success of the Revolution was far from inevitable, and when the mere existence of the Declaration forced people to choose sides—or to reconsider everything they had previously believed about authority, loyalty, and politics.
Ben Franklin’s World
Episode 439: Emily Sneff, When the Declaration of Independence Was News in 1776
What happens when the most important document in American history leaves the room where it was written, with no plan for how to tell the world? The Second Continental Congress voted for independence on July 2, 1776, and produced one of the most iconic texts in history to explain why. But Congress had no communication strategy. It sent a single copy to France, which was lost at sea. Printers across the new nation set the text however they liked, introducing errors along the way. And translations happened only because individuals and state governments took it upon themselves. Emily Sneff, author of When the Declaration of Independence was News, joins us to explore how people actually learned about the Declaration of Independence in 1776, through broadsides, newspaper columns, public readings, pulpit announcements, and verbal translations at treaty councils with Indigenous nations.
Interviews