The American Story: A Narrative History of the United States
Summary: American history is more than a collection of interesting stories, so why is it most often presented as such? It matters why things happened in the order they did. Join social historian Dr. Heath Mitton as he unpacks the story of the American Republic with special attention to how social and economic factors drove the politics of ideas, from the American Revolution through the presidency of Barack Obama. These episodes originally aired as a regular segment on 610 KVNU's For The People radio program originating from Logan, UT throughout 2013. Daily episodes of For The People may be downloaded separately.
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- Artist: Andy Rasmussen
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As we review the final flash points of the sectional crisis that finally led to civil war, Dr. Mitton identifies the genesis of the judicial doctrine known as "original intent" as the 1857 Dred Scott case when U.S. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney held that African Americans, whether free not, could never become American citizens because, as Taney saw it, that would clearly violate the original intent of the country's Founders.
Which American state was founded as a free labor experiment; which experiment was then abandoned for the more profitable model of human slavery? In this episode Dr. Mitton debunks the theory that slavery was an unprofitable enterprise in the era of industrialized capitalism and free labor markets. By 1860, far from declining, American slavery was surging as a profitable business model.
"Democracy! Don’t you recognize that these are the waters of the deluge? Can’t you see them advancing ceaselessly with gradual but irresistible force?...Let us attempt, then, to foresee the future with open eyes and steady gaze.” -Alexis de Tocqueville In 1831, when Alexis de Tocqueville landed in New York, the United States was a country in transition. Caught somewhere in the evolution from an agrarian economy to commercial mercantilism, the young republic was a stage for competing and contradictory social paradigms. This episode explores the Frenchman's observations of early America, where he saw what has come to be known as the “soft despotism” of individuals in a democracy attempting to bend political power to their own benefit.
A broad discussion of the art of compromise in American politics, focusing on the Compromise of 1790 between Jefferson, Madison, and Hamilton. Why are ideological arguments ill-suited to the compromise needed to govern?
The concept of states' rights and the idea of state nullification of Federal laws is as old as the American Republic itself. In this episode we get into the beginnings of the sectional crisis in the 1820s, and trace these popular contemporary themes of conservative Constitutional interpretation to their ideological roots.
Did Alexander Hamilton's ideal of a strong, centralized federal government and his commitment to American industrialization provide the foundation for the United States' global dominance?
Dr. Mitton explores the surprising and even conflicting political climates that gave us the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.
