The Great Courses
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Series
America's Founding Fathers volume 36
Language
English
Description
In the first part of this last episode, learn the fates of each of the Founding Fathers discussed in this course. Then, close 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).
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Series
America's Founding Fathers volume 6
Language
English
Description
Shays's Rebellion would spark unease not just about tax increases and their impact on landowners but on the entire Confederation. As you follow this dramatic insurgency and its fascinating leader, you'll learn how Shays's Rebellion prompted many to consider a strong government as essential to liberty and property.
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Series
America's Founding Fathers volume 2
Language
English
Description
Before the ratification of the Constitution, there were presidents not of the United States but of the Congress created by the Articles of Confederation. As you'll discover, the failures of one president, Thomas Mifflin, offer a window into the potent problems facing the United States of America in 1783.
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Series
America's Founding Fathers volume 30
Language
English
Description
Timothy Dwight, a president at Yale University, played a pivotal role in cementing the early nation's ties with the Christian faith. Come to see how Christianity, when defined and defended as a virtue, was seen by Dwight and others as a necessary component of republican government.
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Series
America's Founding Fathers volume 35
Language
English
Description
The "age of the Founders" ends with the War of 1812 and James Madison at the helm of government. You'll learn why the United States was disastrously unprepared for war, and you'll get a closer look at the state of the nation as it was bequeathed to Madison's successor, James Monroe.
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Series
America's Founding Fathers volume 4
Language
English
Description
No one in the 1780s defined the idea of an "American" as much as Benjamin Franklin. Here, explore the many roles Franklin played in the formative years of the republic: as independent printer, public "gentleman," nobleman of nature, and tradesman cynical of the wealthy and powerful.
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Series
America's Founding Fathers volume 10
Language
English
Description
In a private study, James Madison detailed what he called "the vices of the political system of the United States." Here, explore these vices, including state failure to comply with constitutional requisitions and the provincial nature of state legislatures. Also, examine his most important suggestions for a new frame of government.
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Series
America's Founding Fathers volume 5
Language
English
Description
Explore how books by Enlightenment thinkers like John Locke and Adam Smith influenced Thomas Jefferson's political philosophy. Also, consider Jefferson's fierce critiques of religion and commerce, and the ways he nevertheless betrayed (as a large-scale slave owner) the Enlightenment principles he held so dear.
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Series
America's Founding Fathers volume 12
Language
English
Description
One speech by William Paterson, a member of the New Jersey delegation, halted the Randolph Plan from sailing smoothly to adoption. What were Paterson's arguments? Why did he support a simple amendment to the Articles of Confederation instead of a rewrite? What did his alternative plan look like?
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Series
America's Founding Fathers volume 17
Language
English
Description
It was Rufus King who, at the debates, questioned the admission of slaves into the rule of representation. First, explore the dissonance between liberty and slavery in the new United States. Then, come to see how Rufus King predicted the angry tiger slavery would become in America.
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Series
America's Founding Fathers volume 25
Language
English
Description
Whiskey, on the frontier of the early Republic, was a major business. So when the national government proposed an excise tax on whiskey, it led to the Whiskey Rebellion. Go back to the summer of 1794 and meet William Findley, a self-styled republican who saw Republican societies as vehicles for political strategy.
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Series
America's Founding Fathers volume 11
Language
English
Description
Go inside the start of the Constitutional Convention, where you'll learn how and why the Founders assembled to craft a new, improved system of government. Central to this was the plan set out by Edmund Randolph, which aimed at stopping a jealous Congress or greedy state legislatures from destroying it.
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Series
America's Founding Fathers volume 28
Language
English
Description
According to Professor Guelzo, if George Washington was the heart of republic, John Adams was its brain. Follow the Founder as he becomes the first vice president, then the second president of the nation, where he suffers catastrophic blunders that sap him of any political advantages he once had.
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Series
America's Founding Fathers volume 14
Language
English
Description
Discover how the report by the Convention's Grand Committee, chaired by Elbridge Gerry, ended the first great battle over the US Constitution. As you'll find out, it settled for good what the American Congress would look like, but it also raised an issue that would soon dominate the debates: slavery.
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Series
America's Founding Fathers volume 29
Language
English
Description
Crevecoeur's Letters from an American Farmer presented Americans at the end of the 18th century as a people unlike any other nation. From this starting point, explore the demographics of the early United States, witness the early stirrings of abolitionist and women's suffrage movements, and probe America's cultural fear of strangers.
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Series
America's Founding Fathers volume 22
Language
English
Description
First, examine hurdles to electing George Washington as the first president of the United States. Then, follow the story of how the Constitution finally got its Bill of Rights, and how this task was undertaken by the one man who most vehemently opposed such a bill: James Madison.
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Series
America's Founding Fathers volume 19
Language
English
Description
One day after the Constitutional Convention ended, the document was printed in 500 copies by John Dunlap and David Claypoole and shared with the general public. What happened next? How did George Washington use a cover letter to mitigate shock? How did the Founders brace themselves for the inevitable state conventions?
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Series
America's Founding Fathers volume 24
Language
English
Description
In the past, Thomas Jefferson denounced political parties. Now, after the ratification of the Constitution, he began to form the nation's first political party. Discover how he did this by assembling allies, appealing to selected individuals to run for Congress, and playing for control of the media.
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Series
America's Founding Fathers volume 27
Language
English
Description
With a new nation came new international crises. In this episode, go inside the 28 articles of John Jay's eponymous treaty with Great Britain, which addressed unfinished business from the Treaty of Paris, and the subsequent uproar that gave a boost to polarization between America's political parties.
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Series
America's Founding Fathers volume 18
Language
English
Description
The Committee on Postponed Parts, headed by David Brearley, was the Convention's most effective committee. Its business, as you'll learn, was to reconcile demands about the shape of the new national president. You'll also learn about the Committee on Style, whose sole task was to wordsmith the Convention's agreements into a single document.