This Constitution

The Battle of Yorktown marked a turning point in the American Revolution, leading to the British surrender on October 19, 1781. But how did George Washington and his allies achieve this decisive victory? In this episode of This Constitution , hosts Savannah Eccles Johnston and Matthew Brogdon explore the military strategies, international alliances, and pivotal decisions that led to Britain's...

Women in colonial America were legally invisible. Married women could not own property, vote, serve on juries, or speak publicly on politics. Yet the American Revolution was a watershed, inviting women into political life as boycotters, writers, and even voters. What opened that window, and why did it close so abruptly? In this episode of This Constitution , Savannah Eccles Johnston sits down with...

America was born with a promise and a lie. Frederick Douglass lived in the gap. How did a fugitive slave become one of the nation’s most radical constitutional thinkers? Why did he reject the Garrisonian view of the Constitution as a “covenant with death” and come to see it as anti-slavery? In this episode of This Constitution, Matthew Brogdon sits down with Bradley  Rebeiro, law professor at Brig...

Could the American Revolution have ended not on a battlefield, but in a mutinous meeting at Newburgh? What happens when the army that won independence is told there’s no money to pay it? Can a republic survive when its officers have just grievances and the power to enforce them? And how did George Washington stop a coup without firing a shot, by reaching for his spectacles? In this episode of The...

The American Revolution was fought on battlefields, but victory depended on winning another fight overseas: the battle for international support. As the colonies challenged the British Empire, American diplomats had to convince foreign powers that the new nation deserved recognition, financial assistance, and a place among the nations of the world. In this episode, Matthew Brogdon and Savannah Ecc...

Congress went to war in 1775 against the most powerful empire in the world, but could a legislative body actually run a war? With no executive departments, no Pentagon, and little experience managing a national military, the Second Continental Congress had to figure out how to transform colonial militias into a Continental Army, appoint a commander in chief, supply the troops, and direct a war tha...

The American Revolution wasn't fought only on battlefields. It unfolded in homes, farms, towns, and military camps, where women faced shortages, violence, displacement, and the enormous responsibility of keeping families and communities alive. In this episode, Savannah Eccles Johnston speaks with historian Carol Berkin, Presidential Professor of History (Emerita) at Baruch College, and author...

The American Revolution wasn't won by ideals alone. It required an army. But how do you build a fighting force from scratch when your citizens believe standing armies are the tools of tyrants? And how does that ragtag collection of farmers, apprentices, and adventurers end up creating something far more lasting than military victory: a shared national identity? In this episode, Matthew Brogdo...

The Southern Campaign is one of the most overlooked turning points of the American Revolution. This episode asks a sharper question: what happened when the fight for independence stopped looking like British regulars against American patriots and started looking like Americans fighting Americans? In this episode of This Constitution, Savannah Eccles Johnston and Matthew Brogdon examine why the Bri...

Are Americans Declaration People or Constitution People? The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are two of America’s most important founding documents, but this episode asks a deeper civic question: which one actually defines who Americans are? In this Fourth of July episode, Savannah Eccles Johnston is joined by Dr. Leah Murray, Brady Presidential Distinguished Professor of Politica...

What Happens When an Army Freezes and a Government Can’t Supply It? Valley Forge is remembered as one of the great symbols of American endurance, but this episode asks a deeper constitutional question: what happens when a revolution depends on a government too weak to supply its own army? In this episode, co-hosts Savannah Eccles Johnston and Matthew Brogdon tell the story of the Continental Army’...

When we talk about America's founding, we tend to jump straight from the Declaration of Independence to the Constitution. But what held the country together in the eleven years between? What happened after independence was declared? Who ran the war? Who paid for the army? And how did thirteen quarreling states manage to hold together long enough to win? In this episode, co-hosts Savannah Eccl...

Was the American Revolution really about breaking away from Britain? Or was it first a fight over who had the right to govern local communities? In this episode, host Matthew Brogdon sits down with constitutional scholar Sean Beienburg to unpack the forgotten federalism debate at the heart of the American Founding. Long before the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution, Americans were alr...

When we picture the American Revolution, we see George Washington on horseback, minutemen at Concord, and the signing of the Declaration. But what if the real story of independence was written not on land, but on water?  In this season premiere, host Matthew Brogdon sits down with National Book Award–winning historian Nathaniel Philbrick (author of Bunker Hill , Valiant Ambition , In the Heart of...

Why has civic education taught students to look to Washington, when citizenship starts in their own neighborhood? In this episode, host Matthew Brogdon sits down with David Bobb, president of the Bill of Rights Institute, to explore the state of civic education in America as the country approaches its 250th birthday. Together, they make the case that civic life begins not in Washington, D.C. but i...

Does the freedom of the press protect only journalists with printing presses or everyone with something to say? From the founding era to social media, the line between “speech” and “press” has blurred. In this episode, host Savannah Eccles Johnston talks with legal commentator and former DOJ official Sarah Isgur about how the First Amendment’s protection of the press has evolved and whether it has...

Is Congress the most underrated institution in American government? Widely criticized for gridlock, partisanship, and dysfunction, it’s often seen as the weakest branch. But what if that frustration reflects a misunderstanding of what Congress is designed to do? In this episode of This Constitution , Matthew Brogdon sits down with Princeton professor Frances E. Lee, author of A Case for Congress ,...

How did America move from the religious pluralism of the founding era to the “Judeo-Christian consensus” of the twentieth century? Why did that consensus begin to fracture? In this episode of This Constitution , Matthew Brogdon continues his conversation with James Patterson, associate professor of public affairs at the Institute for American Civics at the University of Tennessee. They explore how...

When we think of the American Founders, we typically imagine figures like Washington, Jefferson, and Madison—all Protestant gentlemen. But what about the Catholics? And how did a nation built on religious establishments become a model for religious pluralism? In this episode of This Constitution , Matthew Brogdon and James Patterson, associate professor of public affairs at the Institute for Ameri...

Did you know that while Americans were celebrating independence on July 4, 1776, it took until August for the news to reach London? Across the Atlantic, the reaction was far more muted, highlighting how information traveled slowly in the 18th century and how the bold step of declaring independence was experienced differently on each side of the ocean. In this episode of This Constitution , Savanna...

Was the American presidency meant to be weak, or was it powerful from the start? In this episode of This Constitution , Savannah Eccles Johnston sits down with Dr. Sai Prakash to examine the original design of Article II and how George Washington shaped the presidency in practice. They explore the Vesting Clause, the creation of a unitary executive, and why early Americans ultimately embraced a st...

What good is a declaration if no one hears it? After the Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, the real work began: Announcing it to the American people and the world.  In this episode of This Constitution , host Savannah Eccles Johnston is joined by Matthew Brogdon to explore how the Declaration of Independence was published, proclaimed, and received in 17...

Who really wrote the Declaration of Independence? Was it Thomas Jefferson’s carefully crafted vision, or the outcome of an intense, compromise-driven process inside Congress? In this episode of This Constitution , host Savannah Eccles Johnston is joined by Matthew Brogdon to examine how Congress transformed Thomas Jefferson’s original draft of the Declaration of Independence into the document the...

How can the same Declaration of Independence lead Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King Jr. to such different conclusions about the Constitution?  In this special MLK Day episode of This Constitution , host Savannah Eccles Johnston is joined by Dr. Lucas Morel, professor of ethics and politics at Washington and Lee University, to delve into how Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King Jr. int...

Was Thomas Jefferson the sole author of the Declaration? In this episode of This Constitution , Matthew Brogdon sits down with Holly Megson, senior documentary editor on the Quill Project at Pembroke College, Oxford, to trace how the Declaration of Independence actually took shape inside the Second Continental Congress. Together, they move beyond the familiar image of Jefferson writing alone and u...