Historian and Professor Allen C. Guelzo reveals how America's Founding Fathers played their own unique roles in shaping the grand story of the U.S. Constitution.

1: George Washington's Doubts

• Could the American experiment succeed? George Washington, one of the most iconic Founders, had strong doubts. After explaining the importance of getting a well-rounded understanding of the Founders, Professor Guelzo explores Washington's fears about post-Revolutionary America and his concerns about how people could administer their own affairs....

2: Thomas Mifflin's Congress

• Before the ratification of the Constitution, there were presidents not of the United States but of the Congress created by the Articles of Confederation. As you'll discover, the failures of one president, Thomas Mifflin, offer a window into the potent problems facing the United States of America in 1783....

3: Robert Morris's Money

• Money issues abounded in the new United States. Why was the abundance of land (and the lack of hard coin) such a problem? What compelled states to print so much of their own unsecure paper money? How did Robert Morris attempt to restore the links between commerce, agriculture, and government finances?

4: Benjamin Franklin's Leather Apron

• No one in the 1780s defined the idea of an "American" as much as Benjamin Franklin. Here, explore the many roles Franklin played in the formative years of the republic: as independent printer, public "gentleman," nobleman of nature, and tradesman cynical of the wealthy and powerful....

5: Thomas Jefferson's Books

• Explore how books by Enlightenment thinkers like John Locke and Adam Smith influenced Thomas Jefferson's political philosophy. Also, consider Jefferson's fierce critiques of religion and commerce, and the ways he nevertheless betrayed (as a large-scale slave owner) the Enlightenment principles he held so dear....

6: Daniel Shays's Misbehavior

• Shays's Rebellion would spark unease not just about tax increases and their impact on landowners - but on the entire Confederation. As you follow this dramatic insurgency and its fascinating leader, you'll learn how Shays's Rebellion prompted many to consider a strong government as essential to liberty and property....

7: Alexander Hamilton's Republic

• Professor Guelzo takes you inside Alexander Hamilton's views about the American Republic: the fictions of hierarchy and aristocracy; the voluntary compact between rulers and ruled; the division of power into small packets; and his suspicions of the behavior of the Confederation Congress....

8: James Madison's Conference

• How did James Madison become the prime mover of the United States Constitution? The key, it turns out, is a 1786 conference he organized between several states. Originally intended to discuss commercial regulations, the assembly would transform into a deliberation over how to put the Confederation out of business....

9: Patrick Henry's Religion

• Come to see Patrick Henry in a new light: as the most self-contradictory-and most often defeated-Founder. Topics include the influence on Henry of the Reverend Samuel Davies, how the Awakeners shaped his brilliant oratorical skills, the public funding of Christianity, and his unremarkable accomplishments as governor of Virginia....

10: James Madison's Vices

• In a private study, James Madison detailed what he called "the vices of the political system of the United States." Here, explore these vices, including state failure to comply with constitutional requisitions and the provincial nature of state legislatures. Also, examine his most important suggestions for a new frame of government....

11: Edmund Randolph's Plan

• Go inside the start of the Constitutional Convention, where you'll learn how and why the Founders assembled to craft a new, improved system of government. Central to this was the plan set out by Edmund Randolph, which aimed at stopping a jealous Congress or greedy state legislatures from destroying it....

12: William Paterson's Dissent

• One speech by William Paterson, a member of the New Jersey delegation, halted the Randolph Plan from sailing smoothly to adoption. What were Paterson's arguments? Why did he support a simple amendment to the Articles of Confederation instead of a rewrite? What did his alternative plan look like?...

13: Roger Sherman's Compromise

• Turn to a moment of great exhaustion at the Constitutional Convention: a deadlock between the New Jersey and Virginia plans for a national government. Roger Sherman's compromise of two branches of government (one equal, one proportional) would play an important role in moving the debate forward....

14: Elbridge Gerry's Committee

• Discover how the report by the Convention's Grand Committee, chaired by Elbridge Gerry, ended the first great battle over the U.S. Constitution. As you'll find out, it settled for good what the American Congress would look like - but also raised an issue that would soon dominate the debates: slavery....

15: James Wilson's Executive

• Turn now to the next great issue facing the Convention: the shape of the new national executive. After pondering some of the concerns and fears the delegates had about executive power, you'll focus on James Wilson's argument for the need of an executive chosen not by Congress but by national election....

16: John Rutledge's Committee

• John Rutledge's Committee of Detail answered the call to help answer unresolved questions about the role of the national executive. Here, learn how "Dictator John" helped develop a working document that included a number of features now seen as the cornerstone of American constitutionalism....

17: Rufus King's Slaves

• It was Rufus King who, at the debates, questioned the admission of slaves into the rule of representation. First, explore the dissonance between liberty and slavery in the new United States. Then, come to see how Rufus King predicted the angry tiger slavery would become in America....

18: David Brearley's Postponed Parts

• The Committee on Postponed Parts, headed by David Brearley, was the Convention's most effective committee. Its business, as you'll learn, was to reconcile demands about the shape of the new national president. You'll also learn about the Committee on Style, whose sole task was to wordsmith the Convention's agreements into a single document....

19: John Dunlap and David Claypoole's Broadside

• One day after the Constitutional Convention ended, the document was printed in 500 copies by John Dunlap and David Claypoole and shared with the general public. What happened next? How did George Washington use a cover letter to mitigate shock? How did the Founders brace themselves for the inevitable state conventions?

20: Alexander Hamilton's Papers

• Chief Justice John Marshall would call the Federalist Papers the "complete commentary on our constitution." Here, Professor Guelzo explains the daring act of aggression these lanmark political writings were, and outlines the six themes Hamilton (under the pseudonym "Publius") believed would demonstrate the indispensability of the new constitution....

21: Patrick Henry's Convention

• The fate of the new constitution depending on the state ratifying conventions. And because Virginia's consent was necessary to make the overall ratification process work, neutralizing Patrick Henry was the Federalists' most important task. Go inside the battleground of the ratifying convention at Richmond on June 2, 1788....

22: George Washington's Inaugural

• First, examine hurdles to electing George Washington as the first president of the United States. Then, follow the story of how the Constitution finally got its bill of rights, and how this task was undertaken by the one man who most vehemently opposed such a bill: James Madison....

23: Alexander Hamilton's Reports

• As the first Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton had the responsibility of handling the new nation's foreign, state, and domestic debts. In this lecture, learn how Hamilton saw debt not as a problem but an asset, and discover how he argued for the establishment of a national bank....

24: Thomas Jefferson's Party

• In the past, Thomas Jefferson denounced political parties. Now, after the ratification of the Constitution, he began to form the nation's first political party. Discover how he did this by assembling allies, appealing selected individuals to run for Congress, and playing for control of the media....

25: William Findley's Whiskey

• Whiskey, on the frontier of the early Republic, was a major business. So when the national government proposed an excise tax on whiskey, it led to the Whiskey Rebellion. Go back to the summer of 1794 and meet William Findley, a self-styled republican who saw Republican societies as vehicles for political strategy.

26: Benjamin Banneker's Survey

• How was the location of the nation's new capital decided upon? How were the streets of Washington organized? What happened when Washington asked Congress for money? It all started, as you'll learn, with Benjamin Banneker's surveying mission of the iconic site on the eastern branch of the Anacostia River....

27: John Jay's Treaty

• With a new nation came new international crises. In this lecture, go inside the 28 articles of John Jay's eponymous treaty with Great Britain, which addressed unfinished business from the Treaty of Paris, and the subsequent uproar that gave a boost to polarization between America's political parties....

28: John Adams's Liberty

• According to Professor Guelzo, if George Washington was the heart of republic, John Adams was its brain. Follow the Founder as he becomes the first vice president, then the second president of the nation, where he suffers catastrophic blunders that sap him of any political advantages he once had....

29: Hector Saint John de Crevecoeur's Americans

• Crevècoeur's Letters from an American Farmer presented Americans at the end of the 18th century as a people unlike any other nation. From this starting point, explore the demographics of the early United Sates, witness the early stirrings of abolitionist and women's suffrage movements, and probe America's cultural fear of strangers....

30: Timothy Dwight's Religion

• Timothy Dwight, a president at Yale University, played a pivotal role in cementing the early nation's ties with the Christian faith. Come to see how Christianity, when defined and defended as a virtue, was seen by Dwight and others as a necessary component of republican government....

31: James McHenry's Army

• Meet another often-overlooked Founder, Secretary of War James McHenry, who was responsible for putting the nation's army into play for the first time. Despite political backstabbing, and against the backdrop of the Quasi-War with France, McHenry brought about military changes still with us today....

32: Thomas Jefferson's Frustration

• Focus on some of the many conflicts between Thomas Jefferson's political philosophies and the reality of American life. Chief among these was his belief that an economy based on the virtuous independent farmer had no need of imports or exports - which led to the controversial Embargo Act of 1807....

33: Aaron Burr's Treason

• Aaron Burr's duel with Alexander Hamilton, resulting the latter's death, is one of the most infamous chapters in the history of the Founding Fathers. But, as you'll learn, what's equally important is what happened next: that the Constitution protected even the liberties of someone like him, who meant it harm....

34: John Marshall's Court

• Explore the court of Chief Justice John Marshall. In major court cases like Marbury v. Madison and McCulloch v. Maryland, Marshall would devise a national judicial sovereignty to match the constitutional and economic sovereignty envisioned by Madison and Hamilton, and to save the United States from Jacobin Republicanism....

35: James Madison's War

• The "age of the Founders" ends with the War of 1812 and James Madison at the helm of government. You'll learn why the United States was disastrously unprepared for war, and you'll get a closer look at the state of the nation as it was bequeathed to Madison's successor, James Monroe....

36: Alexis de Tocqueville's America

• In the first part of this last lecture, learn the fates of each of the Founding Fathers discussed in this course. Then, close with a look at Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America, which suggests the new nation's focus on self-interest instead of virtue (as well as a lack of art and culture)....

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