How the Founders Replaced a Government They Were Sent to Fix
In 1787, Congress approved a convention in Philadelphia for one job: revise the Articles of Confederation. James Madison got to town early with a plan to replace them.
This is part 1 of our three-part series on how the Constitution got made, and it covers everything before the Convention starts. Where the idea of a constitution comes from, why a sovereign Parliament pushed the colonies out the door, and how 13 states that thought of themselves as 13 countries ended up in the same room.
Along the way: Magna Carta and one important sheepskin, Thomas Paine going viral in 1776, John Adams writing the Massachusetts Constitution by himself, Washington talking his own officers out of a mutiny, Rhode Island printing money, and the dinner at Ben Franklin's house where the Virginia Plan came together.
Part 2 is the convention itself. Part 3 is the aftermath: ratification and the Federalist Papers.
Read books, not slop.
CHAPTERS
0:00 A three-part series on the Constitution
3:15 What is a constitution?
5:16 Magna Carta
7:46 The Glorious Revolution
11:22 Blackstone and a sovereign Parliament
13:48 The Declaration of Independence
18:57 Thomas Paine and Common Sense
26:09 Chapter 2: State constitutions
29:02 John Adams and the Massachusetts Constitution
34:29 Chapter 3: The Articles of Confederation
36:36 Washington and the Newburgh Conspiracy
43:55 Thirteen states, thirteen trade wars
45:18 Rhode Island prints money
49:33 Annapolis: the meeting nobody came to
51:08 "The sole and express purpose"
54:19 James Madison, father of the Constitution
57:50 Aristotle and Polybius
1:00:20 Montesquieu
1:03:30 Madison trains for the convention
1:06:22 Madison shows up early
1:08:24 James Wilson
1:10:16 Gouverneur Morris
1:10:36 Dinner at Ben Franklin's house
1:12:24 The Virginia Plan
1:16:22 Franklin's warning
THE BOOKS
Power and Liberty by Gordon Wood: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0197546919?ref_=cm_sw_r_ffobk_cp_ud_dp_6KS92BPR54NZ54ZA8Z5F&bestFormat=true
The Quartet by Joseph Ellis: https://www.amazon.com/dp/080417248X?ref_=cm_sw_r_ffobk_cp_ud_dp_9R555Q022SZPXX6767BE&bestFormat=true
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Plain, Honest Men, Richard Beeman
The Summer of 1787, David O. Stewart
Common Sense, Thomas Paine
The Spirit of the Laws, Montesquieu
American Nations (our episode): https://youtu.be/okuhTCYu7iU
Medici (our episode): https://youtu.be/tSZjpatCJqM
FOLLOW
X: https://x.com/books_bros_pod
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