How to Build a Nation in 15 Weeks Podcast
1) Series Conclusion
After four seasons, more than 70 hours, and 75 episodes, Harry and Jon share some parting thoughts on the Constitution, the problems and struggles of interpretation, the role of politics and compromis...Show More
2) The Presidency: the 22nd and 25th Amendments
Despite the constitutional convention’s tentative rejection of term limits, early presidents establish a custom of two terms (each for their own reasons). After a few presidents flirt with a third (no...Show More
3) Elections: the 20th Amendment
Poor initial planning leaves Congressional terms and Congressional sessions badly out of sync, and 130 years’ worth of long and short sessions. A dispute over shipping subsidies rebalances the session...Show More
4) Democracy, Part 2: the 24th and 26th Amendments
The 24th Amendment goes halfway toward removing poll taxes—one of the many historical practices used to suppress voting on the basis of race and class—before the Supreme Court expands the scope of the...Show More
5) Democracy, Part 1: the 17th, 23rd, and DC Voting Rights Amendments
120 years of corruption and deadlocks finally allow reformers to achieve direct election of Senators, with the hope of a more responsive and functional Senate. (Points for trying, we suppose.) An abse...Show More
6) The Child Labor Amendment
Popular opinion rises against child labor, and the Supreme Court shrugs. Congress tries again, but the Court is unmoved. Congress passes an amendment, ratification stalls, we take a detour through Kan...Show More
7) Prohibition: the 18th & 21st Amendments
A multi-decade organizing project by the WCTU and ASL and the malapportionment of state legislatures leads to the passage of the 18th Amendment, with support from various factions. Alcohol use goes do...Show More
8) Taxation: the 16th Amendment
The delegates to the Constitutional Convention create distinctions without comprehensible differences. The advocates of broad taxation join the adversaries to luxuries to tax the carriage-riding class...Show More
9) Announcing Season 4: Remodeling
We’re back for the final season of How to Build a Nation in 15 Weeks. Join us as we discuss events and amendments from the past 100 years that remodeled the written Constitution into what it is today,...Show More
10) Reconstruction: Conclusion
We discuss the decisions and events leading to the end of formal Reconstruction, culminating with the corrupt bargain ending the election of 1876 and the continuing attacks on multiracial democracy in...Show More