This Constitution
by Savannah Eccles Johnston & Matthew Brogdon
Latest episode
Season 4, Episode 14 | The Untold Story of Yorktown: Hamilton…
Season 4, Episode 14 | The Untold Story of Yorktown: Hamilton…
About this podcast
This Constitution is an every-two-weeks podcast ordained and established by the Center for Constitutional Studies at Utah Valley University, the home of Utah’s Civic Thought & Leadership Initiative.
Co-hosted by Savannah Eccles Johnston and Matthew Brogdon, This Constitution equips listeners with the knowledge and insights to engage with the most pressing political questions of our time, starting with Season 1, focusing on the powers and limits of the U.S. presidency.
Episodes
The newest 20 of 67 episodes
- Season 4, Episode 14 | The Untold Story of Yorktown: Hamilton, Washington, and the French · 32 min · Season 4 Episode 14The 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…
- Season 4, Episode 13 | "Remember the Ladies: From Political Invisibility to Revolutionary Backlash · 43 min · Season 4 Episode 13Women 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…
- Season 4, Episode 12 | Was the Constitution Anti-Slavery? How Frederick Douglass Changed His Mind · 41 min · Season 4 Episode 12America 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…
- Season 4, Episode 11 | The Newburgh Conspiracy: When Washington Saved the Republic (Again) · 42 min · Season 4 Episode 11Could 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…
- Season 4, Episode 10 | The Founders’ Hidden Weapon: American Diplomacy · 33 min · Season 4 Episode 10The American Revolution was fought on battlefields, but victory depended on winning another fight overseas: the battle for international support. As the colonies challenged the…
- Season 4, Episode 9 | Why Congress Can't Run a War—But Won One Anyway · 29 min · Season 4 Episode 9Congress 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…
- Season 4, Episode 8 | The American Revolution Was a Women's War · 46 min · Season 4 Episode 8The 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…
- Season 4, Episode 7 | Why George Washington's Greatest Victory Wasn't Winning Battles · 31 min · Season 4 Episode 7The 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…
- Season 4, Episode 6 | When Americans Fought Americans: The Southern Campaign of the Revolution · 29 min · Season 4 Episode 6The 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…
- Season 4, Episode 5 | The Fourth-of-July Question America Needs to Ask · 31 min · Season 4 Episode 5Are Americans Declaration People or Constitution People? The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are two of America’s most important founding documents, but this…
- Season 4, Episode 4 | Valley Forge: When the Revolution Almost Froze to Death · 37 min · Season 4 Episode 4What 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…
- Season 4, Episode 3 | How Do You Govern When You’re Also Fighting a War? · 39 min · Season 4 Episode 3When 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…
- Season 4, Episode 2 | Splitting Sovereignty: How the Colonies Defended Local Control · 55 min · Season 4 Episode 2Was 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…
- Season 4, Episode 1 | A Watery Revolution: How the Sea Decided American Independence · 49 min · Season 4 Episode 1When 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…
- Season 3, Episode 19 | Saving Principles: Frederick Douglass, the Declaration, and the Soul of Civic Education · 52 min · Season 3 Episode 19Why 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…
- Season 3, Episode 18 | Who Counts as the Press? From Printing Presses to Afroman · 33 min · Season 3 Episode 18Does 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”…
- Season 3, Episode 17 | Congress Underrated: Representation, Gridlock, and What We Miss · 36 min · Season 3 Episode 17Is 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…
- Season 3, Episode 16 | Religion in the Public Square: When Protestants, Catholics, and Jews Learned to Get Along (Mostly) · 33 min · Season 3 Episode 16How 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…
- Season 3, Episode 15 | For God and Country: How Religious Pluralism Shaped the American Founding · 33 min · Season 3 Episode 15When 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…
- Season 3, Episode 14 | From London to Paris: How the World Received America's Breakup Letter · 33 min · Season 3 Episode 14Did 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…
