- [Narrator] Funding for this edition of One-On-One with Steve Adubato has been provided by PSEG Foundation.

Bergen New Bridge Medical Center.

The New Jersey Education Association.

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- This is One-On-One.

- I'm an equal American just like you are.

- The way we change Presidents in this country is by voting.

- A quartet is already a jawn, it’s just The New Jawn.

- January 6th was not some sort of violent, crazy outlier.

- I don't care how good you are or how good you think you are, there is always something to learn.

- I mean what other country sends comedians over to embedded military to make them feel better.

- People call me 'cause they feel nobody's paying attention.

_ It’s not all about memorizing and getting information, it’s what you do with that information.

- (slowly) Start talking right now.

- That's a good question, high five.

(upbeat music) - Hi, everyone.

Steve Adubato.

Our co-anchor and executive producer, Jacqui Tricarico.

This is "Remember Them," also seen on one-on-one?

Hey, Jacqui, 250th anniversary of America.

No?

- Yeah, celebrating 250 years of American history and here in New Jersey, New Jersey really was destined to be at the crossroads of the American Revolution because of where it was situated between New York and Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

And, you know, we get to speak to two historians about the people and the places here in New Jersey that meant so much to the American Revolution and to the creation of the United States of America as we know it today.

And, Steve, if people wanna learn more about the American Revolution, specifically here in New Jersey, there's something that they can do.

They can download an app, it's called the Liberty Trail New Jersey app.

And you can go on these self-guided tours to these destinations, these really important landmarks here in New Jersey to learn more about why they were so important to our history.

And one other thing I wanna mention, Steve, go onto Google in your Google search bar and type in semiquincentennial.

You'll get a nice little surprise if you do that.

(chuckles) - So something interesting comes up, Jacqui?

- You'll see.

(chuckles) Now I know you're gonna do it right after we stop.

- We will.

Hey, but a little bit later on in the second half, we have a professor, Dr.

Jonathan Mercantini, who is the Associate Provost of Special Projects and Professor of History at Kean University, one of our longtime higher ed partners.

But up front, Jacqui, we have our good friend Nick Ferroni, who is the host of "Historically Correct."

A history teacher at Union High School.

This guy's great, right?

- Yeah.

And you can find, he has a ton of really interesting fact-based YouTube videos that are part of this historically correct series he's been doing all across the state, another great way to learn more this year, during our 250th year.

- As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of America, we kick off with Nick Ferroni.

Let's remember the Revolutionary War.

(bright music) - I'm Nick Ferroni, Jersey guy, history teacher, and your host of "Historically Correct."

I'm hitting the battlefield's back roads and sharing the stories you didn't get in your history class, And I'm gonna be hitting folks with pop quizzes to find out how well Jerseyans really know their history right where it all happens.

And try not to make your history teachers look bad.

We take it personally.

So, let's see who really knows their revolutionary roots, starting with the Garden State.

This is "Historically Correct."

(playful music) - He is back by popular demand.

He's Nicholas Ferroni, creator, executive producer, and host of "Historically Correct."

And he is also a terrific public school teacher at Union High School.

Good to see you, my friend.

- Great to see you.

When you say popular demand, I'm assuming my mom called over and over for you to have me back on.

So that's why I'm here, right?

- The other reason is we couldn't find anyone who knew more about the Revolutionary War than you.

Hey, listen, put this in context.

"Historically Correct," we're gonna put up some websites for people to find out more information.

We are, in fact, this is part of our celebration of the 250th anniversary of the great United States of America.

Flaws and all, still a great country.

What the heck is "Historically Correct?"

- So "Historically Correct" is basically me taking what I do in the classroom out on location.

It's partnered with the American Battlefield Trust and it's in honor of America 250.

So we basically go from state to state that was involved in the American Revolution and highlight the major locations, tell the unknown stories, highlight the places, and show people where they should go to not only honor America, but just to learn how we got to where we are today and how we became the country we are.

- Okay, play word association, you ready?

- Mm-hmm.

- The Liberty Trail is?

- Liberty Trail is the trail that defines America, that literally takes the thread from every state that was involved in the American Revolution and literally led to the current point we are, which is why we're currently celebrating 250 years.

- All right, you're good at this.

How about the battle, this can't be right.

The Battle of Connecticut Farms in Union New Jersey, June 7th, 1780.

What?

- Can't be right?

Again, my hometown, the Battle of Connecticut Farms was one of the last few battles where the British were actually going to Morristown to get Washington and they were intercepted here.

So the battle was so much more significant.

I teach, where I teach, about a mile away, there's the Connecticut Farms Church, which actually dates back towards the revolution.

And there's actually a mass burial of British and Hessian soldiers there.

But iconically enough, Hannah Caldwell, the Union County Seal, Anna Caldwell was the Patriot Preacher's wife was accidentally or intentionally killed by a British soldier.

And now she's been immortalized in the Union County Seal.

So there's, every town in New Jersey has some deeply rooted revolutionary history.

Mine, I think is just a little more exceptional.

I may be biased.

- All right, the Battle of Monmouth.

There are people in Monmouth County and across the state, all 21 counties, they wanna know, what was the Battle of Monmouth?

- It was not only the hottest battle of the American Revolution, imagine wool uniforms in 100 plus degree heat, it was also the longest battle, lasted over nine hours.

It was one of the first battles where America could actually show what they've been learning over the past few years, 'cause we have Baron von Steuben.

There's a statue of him actually at the Battle of Monmouth.

He was a Prussian captain who came to America, who literally wrote the handbook that the Army uses today.

And without his help, we would not have won the American Revolution.

But he was given the task of training, professionalizing the American soldiers, the Patriots and the militia.

And without him, I mean even Washington himself would say, we arguably would not be here today celebrating 250.

- Would we as a country be here, and would the Revolutionary War, Nick, would it have played out the way it did if it were not for New Jersey?

- I mean New Jersey is known as the crossroads of the revolution for very good reason.

The turning point started here with Trenton.

Major battles were here.

I mean, it's arguably, every state, Virginia, obviously, their slogan for 250 is, America was made in Virginia.

I mean, I honestly can argue every state can stake that claim, especially New Jersey.

So again, in Fort Lee, if Washington doesn't retreat from Fort Lee in 1776, 77 going back to Pennsylvania, we are not having this conversation right now.

- Okay, explain, sorry for interrupting.

- That's alright.

- Explain Fort Lee, Trenton, Philadelphia.

- Okay, so Washington's set up in Fort Lee, the British are now taking New York, Washington's literally watching across the Hudson as the British are taking Fort Washington.

- Hold on, let's be clear.

Let's be clear.

New York was more sympathetic to the British thing, them controlling us, than in New Jersey.

New Jersey and New York not in the same place here.

- I mean, honestly, you can say that, but I think people became more loyalists who were undivided when the British came there.

People will definitely align with their best interests.

And when the British take over in New York, Cornwallis comes right across the Hudson to Fort Lee, Washington is now deciding, does he retreat across New Jersey, which has a large loyalist population.

Again, as Ken Burns points out a lot in the "American Revolution" series, it was a civil war.

So Washington makes his way back, crosses the Delaware into Pennsylvania, and now he's gotta figure out how we get New Jersey back.

Because if Cornwallis keeps making his way as he is doing, I mean eventually he's gonna head south even more, and the war would obviously have been ended before it started.

- And the Battle of Princeton is where in that?

- So the Battle of Princeton, again, we always like to celebrate like Patrick Mahomes for back-to-back Super Bowls, which is significant.

But Washington won back-to-back battles.

Trenton was a big battle, but right after Trenton, he kept going north and they surprised the British in Princeton at nighttime to get a back-to-back battle.

So now they showed they could stand toe-to-toe.

It's kinda like the scene in "Rocky" where he cuts Drago and it's like that's his moment that they realize that he has a chance.

It's like this is kind of the moment where we realize America has a chance.

Things have not been going well until this point.

See, if you were a betting person, you would not been betting on America to win this revolution at this point.

- Nick, what would you want the nine plus million New Jerseyans to remember, to think about, and to be focused on as it relates to our 250th anniversary and its connection to the Revolutionary War?

- I would say my biggest takeaway, even as a history teacher, what I was learning, I thought I knew history until I had to research for a history show.

And there are so many stories and so many narratives and so many tales that are so inspiring that are worthy of a Disney movie, but have never made it to textbooks.

And my takeaway would be, regardless of what background you are, your race, your ethnicity, your gender, your sexuality, people from all walks of life took part, contributed, and sacrificed for us to be sitting in this experiment, which it was an experiment 250 years ago.

So many people sacrificed and everybody contributed.

It wasn't just white Christians against British soldiers.

It was people of color, enslaved people, Jewish people, and Muslim people, Italian American.

There were so many people contributed for this cause.

And I think the story, that gets lost because we always had this mental image of one group versus the other, when it was so much more inclusive.

And I think if more people learned that and understood that they'd be much more open and empathetic.

- Hey Nick, it could have gone the other way, huh?

- Easily.

It probably should have gone the other way, yeah.

- Well what do you mean should have?

You mean based on the odds?

- Well, it's based on the odds, based on luck.

You know, Washington escapes Long Island because of fog.

It's like everything had to have worked out.

There were so many what ifs, there were so many chances that things could have turned differently.

Again, Washington, I mean, so many people argued he could have died early on.

He wasn't the general to lead from the back.

He was the general leading from the front.

And if he would've died early on, I mean, again, the next in command, things would not have been the same.

The leadership was so important and what he brought to it and the commitment he brought.

He was a fighter, he wasn't the sit back in the back with a horse, point the sword, and tell people to go.

He was the, I'm gonna lead you into battle type person.

Which also caused problems with his aids, 'cause they were losing their minds, because their general is putting his life on the line.

- I don't wanna turn this into a thing about Washington, 'cause we.

- Yeah, I'm sorry.

- No, not you, me.

I'm fascinated by Washington.

Check out our "Remember Them" series.

Our website will come up right now, SteveAdubado.org.

We did a special on Washington.

He was a reluctant president.

After the Revolutionary War played out the way he did, he was the obvious choice for many because of his stature and what he did as a general during the Revolutionary War.

He did not want to be president.

- Well, when he turned over command at the end of the revolution, it's believed that King George said, if that's what he did, he's the greatest man to ever live.

Because at that time, all we knew and known was Monarchy.

And no one could imagine somebody turning over power.

Even the founding fathers were skeptical that he was gonna turn over his resignation.

So he was definitely somebody who just wanted to go back to private life.

Which again, we all know this, and this should be a testament for anyone.

You always give power to people who don't want it, 'cause they're less likely to abuse it.

- Wait, hold on one second, are you saying that some people in politics wanna stay longer than they should or even the Constitution says, but Washington didn't even want to be president, he felt he had done his service and didn't want the power?

- He did not want the power.

And that's why you always give power to people that don't want it.

And again, I will make this argument.

Many historians will justify it.

If anybody else was our first president, we'd be back in the monarchy or some strong authoritarian sort of rule.

Again, after two terms, he stepped down.

He wasn't obligated to, the 22nd Amendment wasn't passed yet.

He turned the presidency down.

- Hold on, wait a minute, wait a minute.

Wait, wait a minute.

The two term presidency only came into effect after FDR, a Democrat.

Hey, listen, I'll try four terms.

Yeah, I'll try packing the Supreme Court to get everything I want.

So everybody understands, that's what happened.

And then it was like, no, no, no, it's two terms after this.

That was not the case for Washington.

He did it voluntarily.

- He did, and there were, his farewell address is pretty eerie because it's very similar today about divisive nature, the north and south regional interest divisions, the development of political parties.

So he touched on, he was definitely a prophet in that sense where he predicted a lot of what was gonna happen.

But he also knew to that the greatest way for our experiment to endure was to exchange power without anybody having to die, or be killed, or a war to happen.

Which is what had happened, I mean the first election was pretty significant because it showed an exchange of power without any violence.

- Our country has an amazing history, and George Washington, the Revolutionary War, the role of New Jersey, all important.

Nick Ferroni.

Nicholas Ferroni is creator, executive producer, and host of "Historically Correct," and a great teacher at Union High School.

Thank you my friend, we'll talk again.

Thank you, Nick.

- Always, thank you.

Thank you so much, Steve, bye-bye.

- You got it, stay with us, we'll be right back.

- [Narrator] To watch more One on One with Steve Adubato find us online and follow us on Social media.

- [Narrator] Five New Jersey residents signed the Declaration of Independence in July 1776.

Each one put his life and liberty in danger with the stroke of a quill pen.

(pensive music) Francis Hopkinson had been appointed to the Royal Council for New Jersey in 1774, but he resigned soon after, having become an ardent supporter of independence.

John Witherspoon used his position as President of the College of New Jersey, now Princeton, to advocate civil and religious liberty and, ultimately, independence.

Abraham Clark of Elizabethtown was an ardent radical who advocated for greater equality in the state and nation.

John Hart was a large landowner and early advocate for independence.

He held much of the financial responsibility for the state in its early years.

Richard Stockton, out of all five, suffered the most devastating consequences following his decision to sign.

He was captured in the Army's retreat across New Jersey in the fall of 1776, and his possessions and estate were seized by the British.

Fighting for independence had real consequences for these and many other men and women throughout New Jersey.

- We are joined by Professor Jonathan Mercantini, who is the Associate Provost of Special Projects and Professor of History at Kean University, one of our longtime higher ed partners.

Good to see you, professor.

- Glad to be here, Steve.

Thanks.

- You got it, this is part of our celebration, our 250th anniversary of America.

Hey, let's do this.

Some of the people who mattered most in the Revolutionary War.

Governor William Livingston.

The ball's in your court, go.

- Yeah, I mean, Governor Livingston is really the key figure in New Jersey's Revolutionary Era, certainly in terms of the political leadership, and it's a little ironic because Livingston was a moderate and was someone who was not really strongly in favor of independence, even in the spring of 1776.

In fact, he's recalled to New Jersey from Philadelphia because he is not ready to vote for independence and the state wants to vote.

Once he becomes governor though, he is a steadfast patriot, he takes a very hard line against loyalists and even against those who are just kind of lukewarm or trying to remain neutral, even signing off on the execution of a couple of people, of people from New Jersey who were on their way to join a loyalist militia in Staten Island and are captured.

- Hold on, a loyalist simply means loyal to England.

- Loyal to the King.

Yes.

- Loyal to the crown, if you will.

- Loyal to the crown as it were.

- Okay.

So he took a hard line when he became governor.

Sorry for interrupting.

- Yup, he takes a hard line when he becomes governor and is really key.

I mean, I've said that the capital of New Jersey during the War for Independence is wherever Livingston is.

He's the central political figure.

He's the one that keeps it all running.

And of course, his home here at Liberty Hall is right here on Kean University's campus.

- Yeah, make that clear.

The Kean connection at Liberty Hall of Governor Livingston.

- Sure.

So Livingston's Home what he called Liberty Hall is here on Kean University's campus.

This was a house that he built in the early 1770s.

His niece marries John Kean, who's originally from South Carolina.

The home is out of the family for a little while, and then Susan Vanbro Livingston Kean Niemcewicz, buys the home in the early 19th century, and it's in the Kean family up through today.

- Amazing.

Let's try a couple others.

There are two colonels, Colonel Tye.

And Samuel, say the last name.

- Sutphin.

- Sutphin.

Who was Samuel Sutphin?

And who was Colonel Tye?

and why are they so significant when we talk about the Revolutionary War?

- Yeah, so Samuel Sutphin serves in the Patriot militia, serves in the pro independence militia.

He actually hired initially as a substitute for a wealthy landowner in Somerset County.

He serves throughout the duration of the war.

He sees combat several times, then he retires to New Jersey and eventually fights for, and it takes a long time, but succeeds in getting a pension for his war service.

And the, you know, 25, 30, 50 years after the war, United States government finally gets around to offering pensions to soldiers who served and Sutphin is able to get one.

But it's a story that highlights what enslaved people that were willing to fight for independence and put their lives on the line for what they hoped would be freedom.

In some cases they earned it.

He did, in many cases, certainly in other parts of the country, did not.

- So, professor, one second before we go to Colonel Tye.

So for those of us who learned about Crispus Attucks, right?

As if that was the only African American, like that's the name you learned going the to school in Newark and the public schools back in the day.

It's like Crispus Attucks like, you know that name.

He was African American.

He was in the revolutionary.

There were countless.

- Countless.

- Countless and not acknowledged.

Not appreciated, and treated like crap after that, for many, many years, fast forward civil war, slavery, we know the rest of the history.

Not even acknowledged.

- Yeah, all too often that history's been written out.

I mean, that's one of the really promising things that's come out of how historians have studied the American Revolution and the War for Independence in the last 50 years.

It's something, I think a story, those kinds of stories we hear a lot more of leading up to July 4, 2026 and beyond.

- Okay, Colonel Tye, first name?

- Colonel Tye is the name that he uses.

His enslaved name was Titus.

- But Colonel Tye.

- Well, he becomes an honorary colonel because of his military leadership for the crown for the British side.

So he's enslaved in Monmouth County.

He self emancipates, runs away, makes his way from Monmouth County across to Staten Island, joins a black loyalist militia, right?

Opening the question of, you know, if you were an enslaved person, was your better cause for independence on the British side or on the American side?

Colonel Tye believed with considerable justification that his best situation was on the British side.

He's leading militia raids into Monmouth County.

And the reason why we know so much about Colonel Tye is that he was one of the very few militia men, militia leaders, either white or black, that British regulars would actually work with, that they would actually collaborate with on raids, on different missions, trying to capture prominent patriot leaders trying to grab cattle, food, whatever it was that they needed.

So, you know, Colonel Tye is incredibly successful.

He ultimately is shot and killed in what would be his last raid in Monmouth County trying to capture a patriot commander.

- He matters.

- He matters.

He absolutely matters.

The people out at Sandy Hook have done a great job with him.

There's a new book that highlights him.

But his story I think is really important because it shows that there are legitimate reasons for choosing the British side, right?

I mean, you know, you talked about school and in school we all learned we're in America, this is America.

We think Americas were always the good guys.

This was a cut and dry.

Like of course we wouldn't want freedom and liberty, but it's not always that cut and dry.

And the Americans, black, white, male, women, enslaved free are making decisions based on what they think is best for themselves and best for their family.

- It's interesting, professor, you mentioned women, the right to vote happens in 1920, 1920?

- Correct.

- Okay.

So we're talking about the Revolutionary War, right?

No right to vote, not even a country yet.

And for years after we 13 colonies come together, not the right to vote, don't have the right to vote, but women were critically important in the Revolutionary War.

Go ahead.

- Steve, I'm gonna blow your mind.

So in New Jersey, and New Jersey was the only state from 1776 until, I think it's 1810 or 1812 women could vote in New Jersey if you were a property holding white woman in New Jersey.

Now, very, very few of them, but they absolutely could vote.

And in the Essex County elections in 1797 and 1798, you can look at the newspapers in Newark and both sides are trying to get women to vote for either the Democratic Republican cause or the Federalist cause.

So women, new Jersey's the only state where that happened but it's this brief moment that happens because of independence up until around 1810 or 1812 that women could vote and then that right to vote for women is taken away and yes, they can't vote again until 1920.

- First of all, thank you for that background.

Before we let this go, women were critical to the Revolutionary War effort for the colonies, right?

- Absolutely.

And in a variety of ways.

I mean, you know, Molly Pitcher who's kind of an amalgamation, right?

There's no one person that's Molly Pitcher, but she kind of is a combined story, a combined character, if you will.

- There's no Molly Pitcher?

- There's no single Molly Pitcher.

- So the Molly Pitcher in Monmouth County, not even a Molly Pitcher?

- But.

- Go ahead.

- She's probably a combination of like two or three women that served at the Battle of Monmouth that are performing different roles.

But it illustrates the larger point that you were talking about, which is that women are critical to the Patriot victory in the War for Independence because they are taking on roles.

Their husbands are off serving in the war, and so they're taking on more roles, larger roles and responsibilities back home.

But they are also, you know, they can also pass on information.

So we've been doing some research on the battles of Connecticut Farms in Springfield, Connecticut Farms is now union, so right here in central North Jersey, right close to Kean University.

And there's the Hessian Commander complains about how every outpost, how every home is an outpost.

And it might be the farmer, his wife, son or daughter, is willing to be a lookout and then convey the message, convey the alarm deeper into the interior when British and Hessian troops are moving.

So they're serving like a Paul Revere role, but on a much more, a smaller but much more regular basis.

- Professor Jonathan Mercantini, first time we had him, we're gonna have him back again to talk about a whole range of, I'm fascinated by brilliant historians like the professor and I cannot thank you enough, Associate Professor of Special Projects.

Professor of History at Kean University, one of our longtime partners.

Check out our interview with Dr.

Lamont Repollet that we just did with the President of Kean University.

Professor, thank you so much.

We appreciate it.

- Steve, this was a lot of fun.

Thank you.

- It sure was.

And very educational.

For Jacqui Tricarico the team at "Remember Them and One-on-One."

Thank you so much for watching.

We'll see you next time.

- [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by PSEG Foundation.

Bergen New Bridge Medical Center.

The New Jersey Education Association.

NJM Insurance Group.

NJ Transit.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

The Fund for New Jersey.

And by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

Promotional support provided by NJ.Com.

And by ROI-NJ.

- (Narrator) Public service.

It's what we do, at the PSEG Foundation Through volunteer hours, partnerships and our other contributions.

We're committed to empowering communities.

We work hand in hand with you, our neighbors, to educate young people, support research, environmental sustainability and equitable opportunities, provide training and other services all over New Jersey and Long Island.

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That's what drives us.

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