How the Hell Did We Get Here?

In this episode, John discusses the origins of the United States’ first political parties: the Federalist Party and the Democratic Republican Party. John goes over the various factors that created enough political division to account for political parties coming into existence, despite the fact that this was not anticipated at the Constitutional Convention or during the ratification process. John breaks down the issues that created opposing constituencies for two political parties, including the interpretation of the constitution, Alexander Hamilton’s financial program and whether the United States should more closely align itself with Britain or with France in the earl...

In this episode, John dives into the details of westward expansion after the Revolutionary War and the ways that both the movement of the United States and white Americans west affected Native Americans. John begins with a brief recap of how Native Americans and European-descended white settlers had interacted prior to the Revolution and then explains how the Revolution affected the relationship between Native Americans and whites in some general and specific ways. John talks about the motivations for those on either side of the divide and how the existence of an independent United States, various state governments and...

In this episode, John gets into the first ever United States Congress and the beginnings of the first Washington Administration as they begin to govern under the recently ratified Constitution. John discusses the realization of the founding fathers that they will not be able to govern as they had envisioned and, instead, will have to embrace a governing system of democratic advocacy. John talks about how the Congress set up the basic structures for both the Executive and the Judicial branches as well as determining some of the ways in which the legislature would work with the new President.<...

In this episode, John sets up the circumstances the Washington Administration and the first Congress inherited as it formed the new national government under the Constitution. John talks about the expanding democratic rights Americans during and after the Revolution and how this dynamic affected the evolution of American government at the local, state and national levels in the 1770s, 80s and 90s. John also discusses the demands that newly empowered citizens were making of the their governments and how these demands made the governing and economic elite nervous, which resulted in the “conservative backlash” of the Constitution.

Fina...

In this episode, John discusses the religious beliefs of some of the most prominent and impactful of the founding fathers. John begins by briefly reviewing over the broad strokes of the religious history of the British North American colonies from the early 1600s to 1770, discussing the religious diversity of the colonies, the most common denominations and the Great Awakening. John then explains the fundamentals of one of the most important belief systems embraced by a number of the founding fathers he covers later in the episode: Deism.

John spends a few minutes on the religious beliefs of...

In this episode, John finishes his discussion of the Constitutional Convention and the ratification of the document that created the current United States government. John briefly recaps the major accomplishments of the first two months of the Constitutional Convention and then discusses the Committee on Postponed Parts and how it proposed to resolve some of the major debates still taking place among the delegates. John profiles the presidency, as envisioned by the delegates, and explains what it was about the office, its powers and the concerns for how the person who filled the position would be selected that made...

In this episode, John does a deep dive into the Constitutional Convention. He goes into detail about how the debate over the Virginia Resolves shaped the direction of the convention, how it was that the "nationalists" like James Madison and James Wilson seized control of the debate with the Virginia Resolves to achieve their goals of reform and the way these proposals were received by delegates to the convention who did not participate in the process of shaping the resolves. John explains how the Virginia Plan, as the resolves came to be called, represented a revolution in the government...

In this episode, John gets into the details of how the Constitutional Convention came together and what the agenda was for those most responsible for putting it together. John reviews through the weaknesses of the government under the Articles of Confederation that pushed the likes of James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and Robert Morris to call for a much stronger central government. He then explains how those men, thinking of themselves as "nationalists", recruited George Washington to their cause in order to bring legitimacy and popular support to their arguments.

Finally, John discusses the days leading up to...

In this episode, John gives a broad strokes rundown of both how the Constitution was created and the process by which it was ratified. John discusses the major controversies at the convention that needed to be resolved and explains very generally what the interests and motivations of the delegates at the convention were. John then breaks down the ratification process in the various states, briefly discussing how difficult or not it was from one state to the next.

In this episode, John explains how the Constitutional Convention was actually created and put into motion in 1787. John discusses the dire situation in which the young United States found itself, with threats from foreign adversaries and all sorts of domestic disputes and disorder, and how the government created by the Articles of Confederation was unable to resolve any of these major problems. John talks about the push by the "nationalists", as they came to be called, like James Madison, Robert Morris and Alexander Hamilton, to form a much stronger central government than the one that existed under the Articles...