Jeff welcomes back Dr. Jason Stevens, Professor of History and Political Science at Ashland University and the Director of Teacher Programs at the Ashbrook Center, to talk about the conflicting political ideologies at the heart of the Progressive Era, spanning three decades at the end of the nineteenth century and the dawn of the twentieth century. Particularly, their conversation with focus on two speeches that offer drastically different understandings of American government and its future: “The Authors and Signers of the Declaration” (1907) by Woodrow Wilson and “Speech on the 150th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence” (1926) by President Calvin Coolidge.

Jeff welcomes Natalie Taylor, Associate Professor of Political Science at Skidmore College, to the show for a conversation on Susan B. Anthony’s “Is it a Crime for a U.S. Citizen to Vote?” Their conversation explores how to understand the Constitution’s relationship to the Declaration of Independence, the history of women’s suffrage during the nineteenth century, women’s rights (and lack thereof) during the Founding, and Anthony’s lasting legacy on road to the passing of the 19th Amendment.

Jeff welcomes Daniel Gullotta, Doctoral Candidate in Religious Studies at Stanford University and the host of The Age of Jackson podcast, to the show for a conversation on American prophets. Daniel is a scholar on religion in early American history and is a graduate of Yale University’s Divinity School, in the Master of Arts in Religion program. Their conversation will examine the life and times of three influential American religious leaders from the Early Republic: Joseph Smith, Robert Matthews, and Nat Turner.

Jeff welcomes back Dr. Lucas Morel, Professor of Politics at Washington and Lee University and a Visiting Graduate Faculty Member in Ashland University’s Masters of American History and Government program, to talk about Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address. Lucas is a renowned scholar on American political thought and Abraham Lincoln, having recently published a new book called Lincoln and the American Founding. Their conversation will examine the crucial last twelve months of the American Civil War, Lincoln’s evolving sentiments on emancipation and reconstruction, and how Justice Clarence Thomas was right when he claimed that the speech is Lincoln’s Sermon on the Mount.

Building on our recent conversation with Fox News Contributor Mollie Hemingway, Jeff welcomes Joe Fornieri, Professor of Political Science at the Rochester Institute of Technology and the Director of the Center for Statesmanship, Law, and Liberty, to the show for a discussion on the history of free speech and journalism in America. Their conversation stretches from Colonial America and seditious libel all the way through to modern day, where academia and digital media are raising new questions about the role of free speech and the press in our experiment in self-government.

Jeff welcomes Fox News contributor and Senior Editor of The Federalist, Mollie Hemingway, for a conversation on media and political society. Their conversation covers what’s wrong with contemporary journalism, its relation to politics, and how thoughtful engagement with American Founding principles is good for journalism — and for the country.

In this episode of The American Idea, Jeff welcomes friend and colleague Dr. Jason Stevens, Professor of History and Political Science at Ashland University and the Director of Teacher Programs at the Ashbrook Center, to talk about the most famous speech in American history: Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Their conversation covers the importance of the Battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War, Lincoln’s devotion to our Founding principles, and a fascinating reading of the speech line-by-line (it’s only 272 words, after all!)

On this episode of The American Idea, Jeff welcomes Dr. Lucas Morel, Professor of Politics at Washington and Lee University and a Visiting Graduate Faculty Member in Ashland University’s Masters of American History and Government program, to talk about Frederick Douglass’s most well-known and controversial speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” A long-time friend of Ashbrook, Lucas is a renowned scholar on political philosophy and black American politics, having published five books and many articles. Their conversation will examine the life and political thought of Douglass, his escape from slavery in the Antebellum South, and how – as Lucas puts it – Douglass came to love “a country that did not love him back.”

Jeff welcomes Dr. Cara Rogers, Assistant Professor of History at Ashland University and published scholar of Thomas Jefferson, to talk about Jefferson’s important (but understudied) Letters to Roger Weightman and Henry Lee. Their conversation will examine the surprising legacy of the Declaration of Independence in the days of the Early Republic, Jefferson’s hopes for his country and what we would become as a nation – hope that is needed more than ever today.