Steven and David Read the Federalist Papers

Continuing with the question, "How did the writers of the Federalist Papers imagine America," Steven and David are suddenly distracted by a related question: "How did the ancient Athenians imagine Greece?" Along the way, everybody also learns what "Amphictyonic" means.

Steven and David welcome their friend Gabriella Wilke from Commonweal Magazine to help them parse out the rhetoric and promise of Federalist 17

In which Steven and David get distracted by an earnest detour into the jurisprudence of Anthony Scalia

As Steven often reminds us, politics is an endless conversation

James Madison makes the case that we need to think locally

Hamilton asks, how do we avoid being attacked by our enemies, and how do we avoid becoming slaves to each other?

Steven and David look at Federalist 12, where Thomas Jefferson suggests that if America moves from farm work to manufacturing, we risk becoming slaves. It was a weird time.

The Value of Union to Commerce and the Advantages of a Navy - Alexander Hamilton

James Madison - The Size and Variety of the Union as a Check on Faction We continue our journey. We are hope, despite the times.

Steven and David offer you what, back in the eighties, we would have called "a very special episode."

Alexander Hamilton - Union as a Barrier to Faction and Insurrection

Alexander Hamilton draws on Thomas Hobbes and John Locke in a battle of wits against the Jeffersonian Anti-Federalists

Hamilton looks to the western territories, and becomes convinced the thing that will really save us is a national debt.

Alexander Hamilton returns, and has a bevy of antique quotations to bring to bear. Steven and David wrestle with the mighty torrent of prose, and find their way through the labyrinth.

In this, John Jay's last contribution for a while, he shows us he is thinking about the future, and the long-term effects of this new form of government. Steven and David also take a delightful detour into 'Originalism,' and the ideas of Edmund Burke.

Steven and David marvel at the prescient visions of Alexander Hamilton--a veritable Walt Disney--and the rotten luck of John Jay.

"There's an anxiety at the heart of Federalist 3," Steven says. It's a fear that when republics grow too big, they cannot be maintained. We dive deep into the question in this episode.

Steven and David look at John Jay's arguments against confederation and for the Union, and liken it to "building the plane while you're trying to fly it," but ... you know ... in a good way.

Steven and David kick off their reading with the first Federalist Paper, penned by Alexander Hamilton. During the hour, they talk about why they're doing this, and what it all might mean.