America's Founding Fathers

Explaining the importance of getting a well-rounded understanding of the Founders; Professor Guelzo explores Washington's fears about post-Revolutionary America; Washington's concerns about how people could administer their own affairs.

Before the ratification of the Constitution, there are presidents of the Congress created by the Articles of Confederation; the failures of one president, Thomas Mifflin, offer a window into the problems facing the United States of America in 1783.

Money issues abound in the new United States; why the abundance of land is a problem; what compels states to print their own paper money; how Robert Morris attempts to restore the links between commerce, agriculture and government finances.

Exploring the many roles Benjamin Franklin plays in the formative years of the republic; this includes his part as an independent printer, a public "gentleman", a nobleman of nature and a tradesman cynical of the wealthy and powerful.

How books by Enlightenment thinkers like John Locke and Adam Smith influence Thomas Jefferson's political philosophy; Jefferson's fierce critiques of religion and commerce; the ways he nevertheless betrays the Enlightenment principles he holds dear.

Shays's Rebellion sparks unease in the entire Confederation; following this dramatic insurgency and its leader; learning how Shays's Rebellion prompts many to consider a strong government as essential to liberty and property.

Alexander Hamilton's views about the American Republic; the fictions of hierarchy and aristocracy; the compact between rulers and ruled; the division of power into small packets; Hamilton's suspicions of the behavior of the Confederation Congress.

How James Madison becomes the prime mover of the United States Constitution; the key is a 1786 conference he organizes between several states; the assembly transforms into a deliberation over how to put the Confederation out of business.

Seeing Patrick Henry in a new light as the most self-contradictory Founder; the influence of the Reverend Samuel Davies; how the Awakeners shape his oratorical skills; the public funding of Christianity; his accomplishments as governor of Virginia.

James Madison details what he calls "the vices of the political system of the United States"; exploring these vices, including state failure to comply with constitutional requisitions; his most important suggestions for a new frame of government.

Exploring the start of the Constitutional Convention; how and why the Founders assemble to craft a new, improved system of government; central to this is the plan set out by Edmund Randolph, which aims at stopping those who would want to destroy it.

One speech by William Paterson halts the Randolph Plan from sailing smoothly to adoption; what Paterson's arguments are; why he supports a simple amendment to the Articles of Confederation instead of a rewrite; what his alternative plan looks like.

Turning to a deadlock between the New Jersey and Virginia plans for a national government at the Constitutional Convention; Roger Sherman's compromise of two branches of government plays an important role in moving the debate forward.

How the report by the Convention's Grand Committee ends the first great battle over the U.S. Constitution; it settles what the American Congress will look like; it also raises slavery, an issue that soon dominates the debates.

Turning to the shape of the new national executive; pondering some of the concerns and fears the delegates have about executive power; James Wilson's argument for the need for an executive chosen not by Congress but by a national election.

John Rutledge's Committee of Detail answers the call to help answer unresolved questions about the national executive; how "Dictator John" helps develop a working document that includes features seen as the cornerstone of American constitutionalism.

Rufus King questions the admission of slaves into the rule of representation at the debates; exploring the dissonance between liberty and slavery in the new United States; how Rufus King predicts the angry tiger slavery becomes in America.

The business of the Committee on Postponed Parts is to reconcile demands about the shape of the new national president, and to learn about the Committee on Style, whose sole task is to wordsmith the Convention's agreements into a single document.

The U.S. Constitution is printed by John Dunlap and David Claypoole and shared with the general public; what happens next; how George Washington uses a cover letter to mitigate shock; how the Founders brace themselves for state conventions.

Professor Guelzo explains the daring act of aggression the Federalist Papers are; he outlines the six themes Hamilton, under the pseudonym "Publius", believes will demonstrate the indispensability of the new constitution.

The fate of the new constitution depends on the state ratifying conventions; neutralizing Patrick Henry is the Federalists' most important task; going inside the battleground of the ratifying convention at Richmond on June 2, 1788.

Examining hurdles to electing George Washington as the first President of the United States; how the Constitution finally gets its Bill of Rights; how this task is undertaken by James Madison, the one man who most vehemently opposes such a bill.

As the first Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton has the responsibility of handling the new nation's debts. Discover how Hamilton sees debt not as a problem but as an asset, and how he argues for the establishment of a national bank.

After the ratification of the Constitution, Thomas Jefferson begins to form the nation's first political party; he does this by assembling allies, appealing to selected individuals to run for Congress and playing for control of the media.

When the national government proposes an excise tax on whiskey, it leads to the Whiskey Rebellion; going back to the summer of 1794; meeting William Findley, a self-styled republican who sees Republican societies as vehicles for political strategy.

How the location of the nation's new capital is decided upon; how the streets of Washington are organized; what happens when Washington asks Congress for money; it all starts with Benjamin Banneker's surveying mission of the iconic site.

New international crises; the 28 articles of John Jay's eponymous treaty with Great Britain, which addresses unfinished business from the Treaty of Paris; the subsequent uproar that boosts polarization between America's political parties.

According to Professor Guelzo, John Adams is the brain of the republic; following the Founder as he becomes the first vice president, then the second president of the nation; he suffers catastrophic blunders that sap him of any political advantages.

Crevecoeur's "Letters from an American Farmer" presents Americans at the end of the 18th century; the demographics of the early United States; the early stirrings of abolitionist and women's suffrage movements; America's cultural fear of strangers.

Timothy Dwight plays a pivotal role in cementing the early nation's ties with the Christian faith; how Christianity, when defined and defended as a virtue, is seen by Dwight and others as a necessary component of republican government.

Meeting Secretary of War James McHenry, who is 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 brings about military changes.

Focusing on some conflicts between Thomas Jefferson's political philosophies and the reality of American life; his belief that an economy based on the independent farmer has no need for imports or exports; this leads to the Embargo Act of 1807.

Aaron Burr's duel with Alexander Hamilton is one of the most infamous chapters in the history of the Founding Fathers; what is equally important is what happens next; the Constitution protects even the liberties of someone like Burr.

Exploring the court of Chief Justice John Marshall; he devises a national judicial sovereignty to match the constitutional and economic sovereignty envisioned by Madison and Hamilton; saving the United States from Jacobin Republicanism.

The "age of the Founders" ends with the War of 1812 and James Madison at the helm of government; why the United States is unprepared for war; a closer look at the state of the nation as it is bequeathed to Madison's successor, James Monroe.

Learning the fates of each of the Founding Fathers; closing 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.