Shane Leary, Benjamin Kleinerman

The Constitutionalist

The Constitutionalist is a podcast cohosted by Professor Benjamin Kleinerman, the RW Morrison Professor of Political Science at Baylor University and Founder and Editor of The Constitutionalist Blog, Shane Leary, a graduate student at Baylor University, and Dr. Matthew Reising, a John and Daria Barry Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Princeton University. Each week, they discuss political news in light of its constitutional implications, and explore a unique constitutional topic, ranging from the thoughts and experiences of America's founders and statesmen, historical episodes, and the broader p...

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Author

Shane Leary, Benjamin Kleinerman

Category

Government

Latest episode

Oct 15, 2026

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Episodes

Bonus Episode: "The Apple of Gold in the Picture of Silver" - Fireside Chat at The University of Toledo 15.10.2026

This bonus episode is a recording of a Fireside Chat that took place during Ben's week-long honors seminar with students in the University of Toledo's Institute of American Constitutional Thought and Leadership. The subject of the discussion is Abraham Lincoln's metaphor for the relationship between the Declaration of the Independence and the Constitution: "an apple of gold in a picture of silver....

Gordon Wood and America at 250 w/ C. Bradley Thompson 14.10.2026

C. Bradley Thompson has a web page which outlines his scholarship, teaching, and his leadership in broader Civics movement, which can be found here: https://cbradleythompson.com/about/ The Snow Institute for the Study of Capitalism can be found here: https://www.clemson.edu/centers-institutes/capitalism/sisc/   His most recent book is America's Revolutionary Mind: A Morel History of the Ameri...

Martin Diamond's "The Revolution of Sober Expectations" w/ Jason Jividen 07.10.2026

The opening sequence is an excerpt of the live recording of Martin Diamonds presentation from 1976 in Philadelphia. The entire speech can be view here: https://youtu.be/CWnLpXcVArE?si=33ikgnZcklmC9r0v The transcript of the speech can be read here: https://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/BicentenUSA02.pdf?x10619 Diamonds "Contemporary Thinkers" page: https://contemporarythinkers.org/martin-d...

No Country for Old Men w/ Carson Holloway 30.09.2026

Carson Holloway's bio on the UNO page can be found here: https://www.unomaha.edu/college-of-arts-and-sciences/political-science/about-us/directory/carson-holloway.php   His essay, "Tradition, Demonic Evil, and Despair in No Country for Old Men " appears in a volume he coedited with Micah Watson, Faith and Film: Modern Cinema and the Struggle to Believe , which can be found here: https://www.a...

"How the Declaration Disagrees with John Locke" w/Dan Burns 23.09.2026

Daniel Burns is Associate Professor of Politics at the University of Dallas where he teaches both in the excellent great books focused undergraduate program and in the Braniff Graduate School of the Liberal Arts: https://udallas.edu/academics/colleges-schools/school-of-liberal-arts/ The central discussion of this episode revolves around his recent essay: https://america250.aei.org/volume/natural-r...

Early State Constitutions w/Jordan Cash 17.09.2026

Jordan Cash is Associate Professor in the James Madison College at Michigan State University. Faculty web page: https://jmc.msu.edu/directory/c/jordan-cash His books include: - Adding the Lone Star: John Tyler, Sam Houston, and the Annexation of Texas . University Press of Kansas, 2024 - The Isolated Presidency . Oxford University Press, 2024 -  (with Kevin Burns) eds., Congressional Delibera...

David Clinton - George Washington's Farewell Address, Part 2 04.07.2025

David Clinton is Emeritus Professor of Political Science at Baylor University, where he studies international relations theory, American foreign policy, and the art and practice of diplomacy. The Constitutionalist is a podcast co-hosted by Professor Benjamin Kleinerman, the RW Morrison Professor of Political Science at Baylor University and Founder and Editor of The Constitutionalist Blog, Shane L...

David Clinton - George Washington's Farewell Address, Part 1 27.06.2025

David Clinton is Emeritus Professor of Political Science at Baylor University, where he studies international relations theory, American foreign policy, and the art and practice of diplomacy. David Clinton is Emeritus Professor of Political Science at Baylor University, where he studies international relations theory, American foreign policy, and the art and practice of diplomacy.   Timestamps: 0:...

The Foreign Policy of Publius - Federalist 3-5, Part 2 20.06.2025

The Constitutionalist is a podcast co-hosted by Professor Benjamin Kleinerman, the RW Morrison Professor of Political Science at Baylor University and Founder and Editor of The Constitutionalist Blog, Shane Leary, a graduate student at Baylor University, and Dr. Matthew Reising, a John and Daria Barry Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Princeton University. Each week, they discuss political news in l...

#63 - Federalist 3-5, Part 1 13.06.2025

On the sixty-third episode of the Constitutionalist, Shane and Matthew discuss Federalist papers 3-5, covering commerce, war, providence, and even George Washington's pet mule. We want to hear from you! Constitutionalistpod@gmail.com The Constitutionalist is proud to be sponsored by the Jack Miller Center for Teaching America’s Founding Principles and History. For the last twenty years, JMC has be...

#62 - The Mayflower Compact 06.06.2025

On the sixty-second episode of the Constitutionalist, Ben, Shane, and Matthew discuss the Mayflower Compact, and its implications for American political life as one of the nation's earliest constitutional compacts. We want to hear from you! Constitutionalistpod@gmail.com The Constitutionalist is proud to be sponsored by the Jack Miller Center for Teaching America’s Founding Principles and History....

#61 - Bureaucracy and the Constitution w/ Joseph Natali 30.05.2025

On the sixty-first episode, Shane and Ben are joined by Joseph Natali, a Ph. D. student at Baylor University dissertating on the constitutionalism of bureaucracy and how Presidents succeed or fail in exercising control over the executive branch. We want to hear from you! Constitutionalistpod@gmail.com The Constitutionalist is proud to be sponsored by the Jack Miller Center for Teaching America’s F...

#60 - Educating the Statesman with Shilo Brooks 24.05.2025

On the sixtieth episode, Matthew and Ben are joined by Shilo Brooks, Executive Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University, to discuss his immensely popular course "The Art of Statesmanship and the Political Life." We want to hear from you! Constitutionalistpod@gmail.com The Constitutionalist is proud to be sponsored by the Jack Miller Center f...

#59 - Tocqueville - The Omnipotence of the Majority 16.05.2025

On the fifty-ninth episode of the Constitutionalist, Ben and Matthew discuss Volume 1, Part 2, Chapter 7 of Alexis De Tocqueville's "Democracy in America" on the omnipotence of the majority. They discuss Tocqueville's warnings of the detrimental effects of democracy on the citizen. We want to hear from you! Constitutionalistpod@gmail.com The Constitutionalist is proud to be sponsored by the Jack M...

#58 - Montesquieu and the Founding with William B. Allen 09.05.2025

On the fifty-eighth episode, Shane, Matthew, and Ben are joined by William B. Allen, Professor Emeritus of Political Philosophy at Michigan State University, to discuss Montesquieu's political philosophy and its influence on the American Founding and eighteenth-century British politics. We want to hear from you! Constitutionalistpod@gmail.com The Constitutionalist is proud to be sponsored by the J...

#57 - Tocqueville's Point of Departure 25.04.2025

On the fifty-seventh episode of the Constitutionalist, Shane and Matthew discuss Volume 1, Chapter 2 of Alexis De Tocqueville's "Democracy in America." We want to hear from you! Constitutionalistpod@gmail.com The Constitutionalist is proud to be sponsored by the Jack Miller Center for Teaching America’s Founding Principles and History. For the last twenty years, JMC has been working to preserve an...

#56 - Federalist 37 18.04.2025

On the fifty-sixth episode of the Constitutionalist, Shane, Ben, and Matthew discuss Federalist 37, and Madison's teachings on political and epistemological limits. We want to hear from you! Constitutionalistpod@gmail.com The Constitutionalist is proud to be sponsored by the Jack Miller Center for Teaching America’s Founding Principles and History. For the last twenty years, JMC has been working t...

#55 - Gouverneur Morris with Dennis C. Rasmussen 11.04.2025

Purchase Professor Rasmussen's book here. We want to hear from you! Constitutionalistpod@gmail.com   The Constitutionalist is proud to be sponsored by the Jack Miller Center for Teaching America’s Founding Principles and History. For the last twenty years, JMC has been working to preserve and promote that tradition through a variety of programs at the college and K-12 levels. Through their America...

#54 - Defending the Electoral College (Martin Diamond and Herbert Storing) 04.04.2025

On the fifty-fourth episode of the Constitutionalist, Shane, Ben, and Matthew discuss the arguments of Martin Diamond and Herbert Storing in favor of preserving the Electoral College, presented to the Subcommittee on the Constitution of the Senate Judiciary Committee in July 1977. The readings may be accessed here: Martin Diamond: http://www.electoralcollegehistory.com/electoral/docs/diamond.pdf H...

#53 - Lincoln's Temperance Address 28.03.2025

On the fifty-third episode of the Constitutionalist, Shane, Ben, and Matthew discuss Lincoln's famous "Temperance Address," delivered on Washington's birthday in 1842 to the Washington Society in Springfield, Illinois. We want to hear from you! Constitutionalistpod@gmail.com The Constitutionalist is proud to be sponsored by the Jack Miller Center for Teaching America’s Founding Principles and Hist...

#52 - Texas Annexation - Adding the Lone Star with Jordan Cash 21.03.2025

On the fifty-second episode of the Constitutionalist, Shane, Ben, and Matthew are joined by Jordan Cash, Assistant Professor at the James Madison College at Michigan State University, to discuss Texas's declaration of independence from Mexico, and its annexation by the United States. We want to hear from you! Constitutionalistpod@gmail.com The Constitutionalist is proud to be sponsored by the Jack...

#51 - Madison on Property 14.03.2025

On the fifty-first episode of the Constitutionalist, Shane Leary and Matthew Reising discuss James Madison's Note on Property for the National Gazette, published March 27, 1792 We want to hear from you! Constitutionalistpod@gmail.com The Constitutionalist is proud to be sponsored by the Jack Miller Center for Teaching America’s Founding Principles and History. For the last twenty years, JMC has be...

#50 - The Constitution of 1787 07.03.2025

To commemorate the fiftieth episode of The Constitutionalist, Benjamin Kleinerman, Shane Leary, and Matthew Reising discuss the Constitution of 1787. We want to hear from you! Constitutionalistpod@gmail.com The Constitutionalist is proud to be sponsored by the Jack Miller Center for Teaching America’s Founding Principles and History. For the last twenty years, JMC has been working to preserve and...

#49 - Madison's Notes on Ancient and Modern Confederacies 28.02.2025

On the forty-ninth episode of The Constitutionalist, Benjamin Kleinerman, Shane Leary, and Matthew Reising discuss James Madison's "Notes on Ancient and Modern Confederacies," compiled in 1786, and his early thinking regarding confederacies, union, and the necessity of a new Constitution. We want to hear from you! Constitutionalistpod@gmail.com The Constitutionalist is proud to be sponsored by the...

#48 - Adams and Jefferson on Natural Aristocracy 21.02.2025

On the forty-eighth episode of the Constitutionalist, Shane Leary and Matthew Reising discuss John Adams and Thomas Jefferson's discussion of natural aristocracy, in a series of letter from August 14 to October 28 of 1813. We want to hear from you! Constitutionalistpod@gmail.com The Constitutionalist is proud to be sponsored by the Jack Miller Center for Teaching America’s Founding Principles and...

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