Episode 182: Contagion of Liberty: Smallpox, Freedom, and America's First Culture War with Andrew Wehrman

In this episode of Reckoning, historian Andrew Wehrman, author of Contagion of Liberty, explores how smallpox and inoculation shaped the American founding—and ignited some of the earliest debates over liberty, risk, and public health.

Long before COVID-19, Americans wrestled with questions of bodily autonomy, religious belief, communal obligation, and government authority, all in the shadow of a deadly disease and without modern medical knowledge. From local resistance to inoculation to George Washington’s controversial decision to mandate it in the Continental Army, this conversation places early American public health in its full moral and political context.

By looking closely at how Americans responded to smallpox, this episode shows why vaccine controversy is not a modern anomaly—but a recurring feature of American life—and what our past can (and cannot) teach us about navigating public health crises today.

Professor Andrew Wehrman specializes in the political and cultural history of Colonial America and the early United States with an emphasis on medicine and disease. Before joining the faculty at CMU in 2015, he was an assistant professor at Marietta College where he earned the John G. And Jeanne McCoy Professorship, the college’s highest honor for teaching. In 2023, Wehrman was named a Distinguished Lecturer by the Organization of American Historians.

He is the author of The Contagion of Liberty: The Politics of Smallpox in the American Revolution, which was selected as one of the best books of the year by Havard Public Health Magazine, was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and was the winner of the Peter J. Gomes Memorial Book Prize from the Massachusetts Historical Society for the best book on Massachusetts and New England History.

His media appearances include op-eds and interviews in major print outlets (such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, NBCNews.com, and Voice of America), radio (NPR), television (CSPAN), and many podcasts (including Ben Franklin’s World, The Daily Stoic, This Podcast Will Kill You, and America Dissected).