In this episode, John discusses the religious beliefs of some of the most prominent and impactful of the founding fathers. John begins by briefly reviewing over the broad strokes of the religious history of the British North American colonies from the early 1600s to 1770, discussing the religious diversity of the colonies, the most common denominations and the Great Awakening. John then explains the fundamentals of one of the most important belief systems embraced by a number of the founding fathers he covers later in the episode: Deism.

John spends a few minutes on the religious beliefs of each of the following American leaders: Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Samuel Adams, Elias Boudinot and John Jay. He separates the men into two basic groups, the Deists and the Orthodox Christians and compares and contrasts their beliefs and how those beliefs impacted the structure of American government. John closes by giving his conclusions based on what he has learned by putting together this podcast.

In this episode, John finishes his discussion of the Constitutional Convention and the ratification of the document that created the current United States government. John briefly recaps the major accomplishments of the first two months of the Constitutional Convention and then discusses the Committee on Postponed Parts and how it proposed to resolve some of the major debates still taking place among the delegates. John profiles the presidency, as envisioned by the delegates, and explains what it was about the office, its powers and the concerns for how the person who filled the position would be selected that made the convention agree to the Electoral College.

Finally, John covers in some detail the process of ratification in the 13 states. He explains the motivations and perspectives of the various groups that influenced the process of ratifying the Constitution, how the process differed in each of the 13 states and which states had the most difficult time getting their conventions to approve the Constitution. John also briefly touches on the Federalist Papers and why they are so important to our understanding and interpretation of the Constitution.

In this episode, John does a deep dive into the Constitutional Convention. He goes into detail about how the debate over the Virginia Resolves shaped the direction of the convention, how it was that the "nationalists" like James Madison and James Wilson seized control of the debate with the Virginia Resolves to achieve their goals of reform and the way these proposals were received by delegates to the convention who did not participate in the process of shaping the resolves. John explains how the Virginia Plan, as the resolves came to be called, represented a revolution in the government of the United States and the many ways in which it was a radically different form of government than the Articles of Confederation.

John will also cover the major points of debate between those who wanted significant changes and those who did not, including the central argument that occupied the convention for the first half of its time together: proportional versus equal representation in the legislature. John also remarks upon the "indispensable men" of the convention, the arguments over the future of slavery in the United States and the specific powers that the new legislative, executive and judicial branches of the national government would have under the constitution.

The Onion article mentioned in the episode:

https://theonion.com/area-man-passionate-defender-of-what-he-imagines-consti-1819571149/

In this episode, John gets into the details of how the Constitutional Convention came together and what the agenda was for those most responsible for putting it together. John reviews through the weaknesses of the government under the Articles of Confederation that pushed the likes of James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and Robert Morris to call for a much stronger central government. He then explains how those men, thinking of themselves as "nationalists", recruited George Washington to their cause in order to bring legitimacy and popular support to their arguments.

Finally, John discusses the days leading up to the first meeting of the full Constitutional Convention, on May 25, 1787. He goes over the men who planned an agenda to strengthen the national government: who they were, what they decided to emphasize and how they came together to execute a plan that would help to dictate the direction of the full convention.

In this episode, John gives a broad strokes rundown of both how the Constitution was created and the process by which it was ratified. John discusses the major controversies at the convention that needed to be resolved and explains very generally what the interests and motivations of the delegates at the convention were. John then breaks down the ratification process in the various states, briefly discussing how difficult or not it was from one state to the next.

In this episode, John explains how the Constitutional Convention was actually created and put into motion in 1787. John discusses the dire situation in which the young United States found itself, with threats from foreign adversaries and all sorts of domestic disputes and disorder, and how the government created by the Articles of Confederation was unable to resolve any of these major problems. John talks about the push by the "nationalists", as they came to be called, like James Madison, Robert Morris and Alexander Hamilton, to form a much stronger central government than the one that existed under the Articles of Confederation.

There is, of course, opposition to these kinds of reforms and John covers who opposed the push for big, bold changes to the national government and why they felt the way they did. Finally, John talks about the Annapolis Convention, how it led directly to the Constitutional Convention and how Madison led the delegates from Virginia and Pennsylvania in meetings in the days before the full Constitutional Convention met so that the nationalists could set the agenda when the full body began its sessions.

In this episode, John discusses the many challenges the United States faced as it emerged victorious from the Revolutionary War and sought to solidify its standing as an independent republic. John talks about the infamous Newburgh Conspiracy among a number of Continental Army officers, why it emerged and how George Washington was narrowly able to stop it from happening. John lists a number of the very serious difficulties the United States encountered as it tried to gain its footing and why those challenges were made more difficult under the first form of government, the Articles of Confederation.

Finally, John explains the structure of the Articles of Confederation government. He gives a detailed description of how the government operated, why it was made to operate in this fashion and what became the glaring weaknesses of it that forced many of the founding fathers to call for major reforms very shortly after the the Revolutionary War had ended.

In this episode, John goes through the events of the Revolutionary War from the signing of the alliance with France in 1778 to the conclusion of the War with the Treaty of Paris in 1783. John explains the shifts in strategy and emphasis undertaken by the British after their defeat at Saratoga and how the Continental Army, George Washington and the United States' new French allies counter the British military and government. John breaks down what led to the British defeat, who participated in the peace negotiations and the complicated diplomatic interests Americans had to navigate as they sought to get the best they could from the peace process.