{"podcast":{"title":"The American Idea","slug":"the-american-idea-3723802","podcast_index_feed_id":3723802,"rss_url":"https://media.rss.com/amideapodcast/feed.xml","website_url":"https://rss.com/podcasts/amideapodcast","image_url":"https://media.rss.com/amideapodcast/20221108_061125_bfec74f0f38da83852b24c4693542ed7.jpg","author":"Ashbrook Center","episode_count":237,"summary":"The American Idea explores America's history and principles and what they mean today. The podcast is a production of the Ashbrook Center and hosted by Dr. Jeff Sikkenga.","last_synced_at":"2026-06-25T00:20:17.135791+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-american-idea-3723802"},"episode":{"title":"Thomas Willing: The Revolution’s Forgotten Financier","slug":"thomas-willing-the-revolution-s-forgotten-financier","published_at":"2026-03-11T11:31:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-american-idea-3723802/thomas-willing-the-revolution-s-forgotten-financier","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-american-idea-3723802","url":"https://rss.com/podcasts/amideapodcast/2522300","audio_url":"https://content.rss.com/episodes/44047/2522300/amideapodcast/2026_02_04_21_31_36_c3b0cd66-ae53-4942-86dc-c3575e247cf3.mp3","summary":"When we think of the American Revolution, we usually consider the ideas and animated the patriots and those leaders who organized and directed the war. Largely forgotten in all of this is a simple question: how was it all financed? And who did it? Thomas Willing, one of the most prominent merchants of the Middle Colonies, was at the forefront of solving the logistical and financial problems that plagued the American cause from the outset. Why, then, is he overlooked in all mainstream histories? Jeff meets with author Richard Vague to discuss Willing’s place in American Founding. You can get his book about Willing here: https://a.co/d/05py4B72 Host: Jeff Sikkenga Executive Producer: Jeremy Gypton Subscribe: https://linktr.ee/theamericanidea Homepage: https://ashbrook.org/the-american-idea-podcast/","meta_description":"When we think of the American Revolution, we usually consider the ideas and animated the patriots and those leaders who organized and directed the war. La…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2212,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-american-idea-3723802/episodes/thomas-willing-the-revolution-s-forgotten-financier/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-american-idea-3723802/thomas-willing-the-revolution-s-forgotten-financier.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}