What turned America's most famous British loyalist into its most dangerous revolutionary? What does a public humiliation in a Whitehall chamber have to do with the Declaration of Independence? And, if the man who designed the American constitution believed men were angels, would he have bothered?

Peter and Afua trace how a candle-maker's son who pulled lightning from the sky and a sickly scholar obsessed with the fall of Rome built the architecture of the most powerful republic in history.

0:00 Franklin: the 18th century's global multimedia superstar

6:10 Poor Richard's Almanac and the art of building a platform from scratch

9:45 From kite and key to the Royal Society — Franklin's lightning moment

13:20 A proud Briton in London: the comfortable life that couldn't last

16:00 The Hutchinson letters, a Whitehall ambush, and an hour of public savaging

18:30 The moment Franklin stopped thinking of himself as British

21:00 Enter James Madison: the smallest man in public life and the biggest thinker

24:30 Two thousand years of history as a laboratory of political failure

28:00 Taxation without representation, the Intolerable Acts, and the radicalisation of Madison

31:30 'If men were angels, no government would be necessary'

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Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas:

Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com

Join Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.

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Stay connected with Legacy:

Instagram: @originallegacypodcast

TikTok: @legacy_productions

Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com

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The Founding Fathers | The O.G.'s | 2

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The Founding Fathers | The O.G.'s | 2