Andrew Wehrman Interview Episode 87

Matt Crawford speaks with author Andrew Wehrman about his book: The Contagion of Liberty. At the height of The Revolutionary War a smallpox epidemic broke out and in response General Washington ordered the inoculation of the Continental Army. If not for that we may not exist as the nation we are. Washington however was not leading the charge, quite the opposite the colonists were the ones demanding it. Wehrman takes us through this revolution within The Revolution and what those who wanted inoculation had to go through to get it, the socio-economic issues in providing it and how race and gender played a role. A fantastic new dimension to our independence that is eerily prescient now.