The American Idea

In August 1861, General John C. Fremont—once America's most famous explorer and the Republican Party's first presidential nominee—issued an unauthorized order freeing all slaves in Missouri. President Lincoln swiftly revoked it, fearing the decision would drive crucial border states into Confederate hands. The clash between these two men revealed a fundamental tension: Fremont operated on moral urgency and personal instinct, while ...

What was the original purpose of Congress? What powers did the Founders give it to fulfill that purpose? How does that compare to the institution we see today, in which Americans profess very little trust. Explore the historical and constitutional roots of the “First Branch” and how time and some well-intentioned changes have distorted its powers and role within our government.

Host: Jeff Sikkenga

Executive Producer: Jeremy Gypton

Sub...

Discover how 55 delegates created the U.S. Constitution in just 88 days during the summer of 1787. Constitutional scholar Gordon Lloyd breaks down the Philadelphia Convention using his acclaimed "four-act drama" framework, revealing the behind-the-scenes negotiations, heated debates, and crucial compromises that shaped American government.

What You'll Learn:

✓ How Madison's Virginia Plan clashed with the New Jersey Plan

✓ The Connecti...

This episode explores James Ellman's book "Seeds of Victory: Defeat, Triumph, and the American Way of War" with host Jeff Sikkenga from the Ashbrook Center. This military strategy documentary examines how US war tactics follow a consistent pattern: initial strategic defeats followed by rapid adaptation and ultimate victory. From Washington's military disasters in New York (1776) to early setbacks in Korea, American military history...

14 August 1945: VJ Day, and with the end of fighting in the Pacific and Japan's surrender, World War 2 finally comes to an end. Dr. John Moser is joined today by author and historian Walter Borneman to discuss how and why the war ended when it did, and how that ending shaped the decades to come, and, indeed, our world today in political and strategic terms.

Read Walt's book, The Admirals, and learn more about WW2 in the Pacific - y...

What is the national debt? To whom or what does the U.S. government owe all this money? What does it mean to you today, your children and grandchildren tomorrow, and for the continued health of American political and economics institutions and norms?

Jeff discusses all these issues and more with Dr. Rob Wyllie, Professor of Political Economy.

Host: Jeff Sikkenga

Executive Producer: Jeremy Gypton

Subscribe: https://linktr.ee/theamerica...

Mercy Otis Warren not only wrote one of the first comprehensive histories of the American Revolution, she was also a leading Antifederalist thinker - and yet she is overlooked in most conventional histories of the era today. What makes her important and memorable? What can we learn from her today?

Join Dr. Cara Rogers Stevens this week as she discusses this important American Founder with Brenda Hafera, Senior Fellow at the Heritage...

American press freedom has never followed a straight path. The Founding Fathers envisioned newspapers as partisan political weapons, not neutral truth-tellers. This "messy" approach let citizens decide truth for themselves rather than accepting government-approved narratives.

Today's concerns about partisan media miss the point—embracing partisanship may produce healthier discourse than enforcing artificial neutrality. The real dan...

Jeff is joined by constitutional law scholar Dr. Joshua Dunn to discuss the recently ended 2025 US Supreme Court term and some of the more interesting and potentially important decisions, as well as what seem like some friction between some of the justices.

Get a free copy of Josh’s primary documents reader about the Judiciary: https://teachingamericanhistory.org/product/the-judiciary/

Get a free copy of Jeff’s primary documents read...

In celebration of the 249th anniversary of America's independence, we look back not so much on the history of the Declaration of Independence, but on its meaning. And not just its meaning then, but its enduring meaning and what we can and should take from it now.

This special episode contains the content of the first of three classes within our free, self-paced online course, "The American Idea." If you enroll, you can listen to tho...

Presidents are people, too, and fallible, short-sighted, disciplined, daring - and all the other traits we humans share. How have our presidents handled, or mishandled, their own money? What can we learn from them now?

Cara Rogers Stevens welcomes author and wealth management expert Megan Gorman to this show this week to discuss some of the highs and lows of presidential personal finance.

Read Megan's book on the topic: https://a.co/...

Who was William Blackstone? What did he contribute to English law, and how did his contributions directly impact the ideas in the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution? How is it that a British noble who opposed the American Revolution ended up serving as a major source of inspiration to the American Founders? Learn the details from this episode of The American Idea.

#blackstone #williamblackstone #commonlaw #americanfou...

Americans have faced, unfortunately, a number of movements and moments in our history where free speech - especially of a political nature - has been challenged and even quashed. Power-wielding opponents of free expression and debate have often sought to prevent debates and discussions from happening, in order to protect their interests. In this week's episode we explore a lesser-known example of this, in how slaveholders before th...

Paul Nitze served under eight different U.S. presidents, from during World War 2 through the end of the Cold War, and it was his thinking, laid down in NSC-68, that provided some of the most foundational ideas for how America dealt with the Soviet Union, eventually bringing about its collapse.

This week Jeff welcomes State Department historian and author James Graham Wilson to discuss Nitze, and his book about the man.

Read the book:...

Technology, especially social media and the near ubiquity of mobile devices, has changed our world, our personal lives, and interpersonal relations. A great many people are waking up to the mountain of evidence suggesting that this change has not been all, or even mostly, for the better.

American Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow and author Christine Rosen joins Jeff this week to discuss the impact of technology and our supposedly...