Defoe's True-Born Englishman argues that “there are no true-born Englishmen.”
1. The Pirate History Podcast episode 343, “The True-Born Englishman,” follows Daniel Defoe as his political writing becomes part of the show's chronology.
2. Matt is the host and narrator, and Daniel Defoe matters because his pamphlets, poems, and petitions shaped the argument around William III.
3. The episode asks what Defoe was doing after his secret work for the crown and why his writing suddenly mattered to Parliament.
4. Matt recaps Defoe's birth as Daniel Foe, his Puritan merchant family, and his schooling among non-conformists.
5. He says Defoe supported Monmouth's rebellion against James II and later went into business selling wine and stockings.
6. The episode describes Defoe trying multiple times to organize a sea voyage that would have been long, profitable, and adventurous.
7. Matt explains that Defoe backed William of Orange in 1688 and continued supporting William III during the Nine Years' War.
8. He says the war damaged Defoe's silk and wine business because France stopped supplying the goods he sold in London coffee houses.
9. The episode notes that Defoe's pamphlet An Account of the Late Horrid Conspiracy to Depose Their Present Majesties defended William and drew the attention of Thomas Tennyson and King William.
10. Matt says William then gave Defoe a job described as “writing within doors,” which Matt interprets as secret work for the crown.
11. The episode connects Defoe's travel for that work to dockyards, warehouses, supplies, military readiness, and England's capabilities during the Nine Years' War.
12. Matt says those notes became Essay upon Projects in 1697 after the war ended, and that the book argued for better trade, maritime capacity, and industrial productivity.
13. He says William III and some ministers treated the book as a practical guide for reforms, which drew suspicion from other politicians.
14. Matt describes the political smear that labeled Defoe the king's “catamite,” tying it to attacks on William's sexuality after Queen Mary's death in 1694.
15. The episode explains that William kept a standing army after the Treaty of Ryswick because he expected another war, while the Tories argued to disband it.
16. Matt says those anti-Dutch attacks became nationalistic and xenophobic, and Defoe answered with The True-Born Englishman.
17. He reads Defoe's poem as satire that claims English identity is built from mixtures of Britons, Romans, Saxons, Danes, and Normans rather than purity.
18. The episode then shifts to Defoe's Legion's Humble Address to the Lords, where he defended the Kentish petitioners and carried the text with 16 bodyguards into the House of Commons.
19. The tone is conversational, partisan, and self-correcting, with Matt pausing to explain terms, quote poetry, and comment on a difficult source.
20. Listeners who like early modern British politics, Defoe, or satire will get the most from this; listeners wanting a short pirate-only episode may skip it.
