Upcoming Episodes!

Episode 306 "Facts and Fiction" (coming August 5!) How could slavery exist in a "Christian nation"? What myths have been created since the Founding to depict the Founders as engaging in the beliefs and practices of evangelical Christians? What amendments have been proposed to place Christianity in the Constitution? Do slogans and pledges and rituals that arose many decades after the Founding demonstrate that America was founded to be Christian? Blake, Marshall, and Mike discuss these topics as they explore both the facts of the Founding they have uncovered and the fictions about it that have stayed with Americans even in the 21st century. And Blake concludes our "A Christian Nation?" series with a wrap-up of what we have learned about how "Christian" America really is — and was meant to be.

New Series: "The American System" -- Episode 401 "Internal Improvements" (coming August 19): In the 1820s, Henry Clay proposed an activist role for the United States Government in envisioning, funding, and overseeing improvements in America's infrastructure and in taking action to ensure economic stability in the United States. He called it the "American System." But opposition to such activism arose — based on the observation that the Constitution does not explicitly permit it — and continues in some form to this day. This series explores America's choices in giving government a role in building things and in addressing economic challenges. In Episode 401 ("Internal Improvements"), Marshall explains how John Quincy Adams proposed a program of "Internal Improvements" to American infrastructure but was stymied by populist Democrats —  exemplified by Andrew Jackson — who feared that a government empowered to do such things also would gain the power to abolish slavery. It would take a civil war to tip the balance in favor of government activism.

Episode 402 "Enter Lincoln" (coming September 2!) -- For obvious reasons, Abraham Lincoln's presidency is best remembered for his emancipation of America's slaves, determination to preserve the Union in the face of Southern secession, and leadership in the American Civil War. But an often-overlooked aspect of his administration was its promotion of the United States Government as an active, positive actor in such matters as infrastructure improvement and economic affairs. In this conclusion to the series, Marshall leads our discussion of how the first four years of Lincoln’s presidency in the 1860s were among the most consequential in U.S. history for civic infrastructure and economic reform, rivaling the achievements of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal of the 1930s and Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society of the 1960s.