The American Founding with Jay Cost

Federalists carried the day at the Pennsylvania ratifying convention in October 1787, but Antifederal arguments were spreading rapidly. Newspapers all across the country were publishing works by Antifederalists like Brutus, Centinel, and Federal Farmer. The battle between the two sides was going to be lengthy and closely fought. We all know that the Antifederalists were against the Constitution, b...

In this week's episode of The American Founding, Dr. Jay Cost examines the fight to ratify the Constitution in Pennsylvania. Federalist supporters of the Constitution pushed for an early convention to keep opposition from rising. Their gambit succeeded, as Pennsylvania became just the second state to ratify. But their bare-knuckled tactics provoked outrage from Anti-Federalist opponents, demonstra...

The Constitution received overwhelming support at the Constitutional Convention, but it was not unanimous. The most prominent opponent was George Mason of Virginia. A widely respected Revolutionary leader, Mason played a constructive role at the Convention, but ultimately could not bring himself to sign. Join us as we discover how Mason's opposition inspired the Anti-Federalist movement that would...

On the back of the great seal is the Latin phrase, Novus Ordo Seclorum, or "new order of the ages." How exactly did the Constitution usher in this new order? What precisely was new about it? What was it supposed to look like? In this week's episode of the American Founding, we look at the Constitution in its entirety, trying to understand what kind of new order for the ages the Framers sought to i...

This week's episode of The American Founding will look at John Adams. A brilliant but unconventional political thinker, his legacy is perhaps the most misunderstood of all the Founders. Condemned in his day as a turncoat against the republicanism of the American Revolution, Adams was in fact deeply worried about the potential rise of oligarchy, or the rule of the rich. Many of his warnings were pr...

In this episode of The American Founding, Cost examines the political thought of Thomas Jefferson. A brilliant and complex individual, Jefferson leaves a legacy of inconsistency. The advocate for individual liberty, he owned hundreds of slaves. A politician devoted to government frugality, he died deeply in depth. What can the sphinx-like Jefferson tell us about America and its traditions? 

The gruesome assassination of conservative Charlie Kirk yesterday is without precedent. Kirk was murdered in broad daylight merely for speaking his mind. Scores of his political opponents took to social media to cheer his untimely death, another sign of a culture that rejects the basic principles of the First Amendment.   Free speech is not an incidental right to the republic. The United States of...

This episode will look at the political theory and social status of George Washington. Remembered by Henry Lee as, "First in War, First in Peace, First in the Hearts of His Countrymen," Washington occupied an ambiguous place in the nation. For here was a country premised on social and political equality, yet with an individual who clearly was its first person. Washington was keenly aware of his ro...

In this episode of the American Founding, Dr. Cost will take a close look at the political theory of Alexander Hamilton. The author of most of the Federalist essays, Hamilton nevertheless did not participate at the Constitutional Convention nearly as much as James Madison, Gouverneur Morris, or others. Still, he offered a boldly elitist theory of constitutional government. While it was wildly out...

On this episode of the American Founding, Dr. Cost discusses how the Constitution lays out the concept of federalism, or power sharing between the state and national governments. The states were granted an important but ambiguous role in the early Constitution, and it would be up to later generations to determine exactly where the line between state and federal authority belonged.

In this episode of the American Founding, Dr. Cost explores the system of checks and balances that runs through the Constitution. It was not enough that the branches of government be separate from one another. Each must have the ability to defend itself from encroachments on its power. To develop this idea the Framers borrowed heavily from the ancient Roman Republic, which carefully balanced power...

By popular request ... the first episode of the original Constitutionally Speaking! In this inaugural episode, Jay and his co-host Luke Thompson discuss "Why the Constitution Matters."   Look for more of these old episodes in coming weeks and months!

In this episode of the American Founding, Dr. Cost breaks down the Electoral College. A subject of a great deal of contemporary criticism, the Electoral College is perhaps the most misunderstood part of the Constitution. The Framers created it as an institution to place the president above the political fray, but it never really worked and was abandoned after the Election of 1800. Still, understan...

In this episode of the American Founding, Dr. Cost examines the compromise of slavery forged at the Constitutional Convention. While most delegates understood on an intellectual level that slavery was incompatible with a free republic, all were willing to compromise on the issue. Thus, the Constitution reflected an oligarchy, where political power was related to ownership of human beings. At the s...

In this episode of the American Founding, Dr. Cost discusses the "Great Compromise" at the Constitutional Convention that led to the United States Senate. The delegates at the Convention decided on a House apportioned by population while each state would have an equal share in the Senate. This compromise was necessary in 1787 and remains essential today, Dr. Cost argues, because a republic as larg...

In this episode of the American Founding, Dr. Cost gives an overview of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, starting with a look at the Virginia Plan. Drafted mainly by James Madison, this plan envisioned a bold national government — but would the other delegates agree? Dr. Cost goes on to discuss some of the big personalities at the Convention, including James Wilson, Gouverneur Morris, and Al...

In this episode of the American Founding, Dr. Cost introduces the "Man with the Plan" — James Madison. This unassuming son of a Virginia planter would emerge in 1787 as the most brilliant political philosopher the Founding generation would have. His plan? Go big. The way to save the United States was to build a truly national republic. 

On this episode of the American Founding, Jay examines how the Articles of Confederation failed to hold the country together in the 1780s. By the middle of the decade, it was clear to many nationalists that the Articles were a bad system of government. And when Daniel Shays and his Regulators began seizing Massachusetts courthouses in 1786, it was finally time to act. 

This episode will look at "America's Mulligan," the Articles of Confederation. The first system of government in the United States, the Articles lasted from 1777 until 1789. They are largely remembered as a failure. Yet in creating this system of government, the Americans were drawing upon the lessons of history and theory. 

This episode explores the English tradition of political liberty in colonial America. Drawing on hundreds of years of English experiences, the Americans expected a government of limits, which respected the civil rights and property rights of its subjects. When George III and the English Parliament began violating those rights, colonial Americans began their revolution. 

This episode explores why the United States in 1776 well uniquely suited to a republican form of government. Freed from the constraints of European medievalism, the Americans were free to create a society more egalitarian than any the western world had seen. 

In this inaugural episode of the American Founding with Jay Cost, Dr. Cost argues that the American Founding remains of continuing importance. Those of us who defend the Constitution against those seeking radical change need to understand what the arguments the Founders made in defense of the institutions they created.