Season 2, Episode 3 | Surviving the Senate: Executive Confirmations

Season 2 Episode 3

Why does the President need the Senate’s approval to appoint people to the executive branch? Why is it so hard to get those people confirmed? And has the whole process become more about political the…

Published on 7 months, 1 week ago

Season 2, Episode 2 | State vs. Federal Power: How Identity Shapes American Democracy

Season 2 Episode 2

State vs. Federal Power: How Identity Shapes American Democracy

Do you feel more Texan than American? If you had to choose, would you say you’re a Texan first and an American second? What about an Ala…

Published on 7 months, 3 weeks ago

Season 2, Episode 1 | Does the Separation of Powers Actually Make the Government More Powerful?

Season 2 Episode 1

What if the very system designed to keep our leaders in check… is starting to fail?

In this episode of This Constitution, hosts Savannah Eccles Johnston and Matthew Brogdon kick off Season 2 with a de…

Published on 8 months ago

Season 1 Extra, Episode D | The Standard Story of Judicial Review in American Politics Gets It All Wrong

Season 1 Episode 15

Host Matthew Brogdon talks with Keith Whittington, Yale Law School, about Keith’s book, his book, Repugnant laws: Judicial Review of Acts of Congress from the Founding to the Present, outlining the h…

Published on 8 months, 3 weeks ago

Season 1 Extra, Episode C | The Bard's Blueprint: Shakespeare and the Foundation of American Governance

Season 1 Episode 13

How can the words of a 16th-century playwright possibly hold the key to understanding American governance today? The answer may lie in the very heart of classical education—a time-tested foundation f…

Published on 9 months, 1 week ago

Season 1 Extra, Episode B | A Woman’s Voice in America’s Revolution: The Legacy of Mercy Otis Warren

Season 1 Episode 12

Mercy Otis Warren was no ordinary figure in America’s founding story. How many women of her time had the opportunity to receive a classical education, let alone become influential political thinkers …

Published on 9 months, 3 weeks ago

Season 1 Extra, Episode A | The Pursuit of Happiness: Virtue in the Founding Era

Season 1 Episode 12

What does the "pursuit of happiness" really mean? It’s a question we often skim over, but the Founding Fathers had a very specific idea in mind—one deeply rooted in classical virtue and self-mastery.…

Published on 10 months ago

Season 1, Episode 11 | How to Thwart a Tyrant: Lincoln's Lyceum Address

Season 1 Episode 11

What if the biggest threats to our democracy aren’t coming from outside our borders, but from within? In 1838, a young Abraham Lincoln warned exactly about that in his Lyceum Address. Standing before…

Published on 10 months, 2 weeks ago

Season 1, Episode 10 | Myth of the Modern Presidency: The Office Since TR

Season 1 Episode 10

What happened to the presidency around the turn of the 20th century? How did it go from being a strong institution under leaders like Washington and Lincoln to one that progressives saw as weak and i…

Published on 11 months ago

Season 1, Episode 9 | Who Needs Congress? POTUS as Chief Executive

Season 1 Episode 9

Who Needs Congress? POTUS as Chief Executive 

Who holds the real power in Washington's sprawling federal bureaucracy? In this episode, Savannah Eccles Johnston and Matthew Brogdon explore the Presiden…

Published on 11 months, 2 weeks ago