Podcasts · History · Government

Give Me Liberty: The Making of American Exceptionalism

National Review

13 episodes · in order

Historian Richard Brookhiser joins constitutional scholar Luke Thompson to examine thirteen historical documents and recount their role in the development of liberty.

Episodes

  1. Episode 1: The First General Assembly

    · 27 min · S1 E1

    Self-rule: the great gift of Jamestown to the American experiment. Jamestown is not what we would call a free society, yet it was crucial in forming our American understanding of the principle of self-governance.…

  2. Episode 2: Religious Liberty Begins in Queens

    · 27 min · S1 E2

    For years, individuals far and wide have traveled to the United States of America to escape religious persecution. A freedom that is uniquely American, religious freedom has come to be known as a cornerstone of…

  3. Episode 3: Liberty to Criticize Our Rulers

    · 31 min · S1 E3

    The freedom of expression is a core component of liberty. Now a well-known symbol for freedom of the press, John Peter Zenger shaped American history when he was famously acquitted in a libel suit. In this episode,…

  4. Episode 4: The National Birth Certificate

    · 34 min · S1 E4

    Long before it was ever written, the principle of liberty existed in the heart of Americans. In 1776, dozens of men famously declared that all men are endowed with “certain unalienable rights” in the Declaration of…

  5. Episode 5: These Our Brethren

    · 36 min · S1 E5

    Slavery — a prevalent force in early American ideas. How did the idea of slave holding intersect with the evolving principles of liberty? Rick and Luke dive into the case study of the Constitution of the New York…

  6. Episode 6: Secure the Blessings of Liberty

    · 33 min · S1 E6

    In 1787, the Founding Fathers signed the most influential document in American history. Right next to the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution guarantees the “blessings of liberty” to Americans…

  7. Episode 7: Movements in This Hemisphere

    · 32 min · S1 E7

    In the early 1800s, there was a struggle for liberty across the world. In his annual message delivered to Congress, later known as the Monroe Doctrine, James Monroe delivered perhaps one of the best known declarations…

  8. Episode 8: Letting Them Vote

    · 29 min · S1 E8

    Can liberty ever fully exist when half of the country’s population is disenfranchised? In 1848, The Declaration of the Seneca Falls Convention, using the model of the Declaration of Independence, demanded the rights of…

  9. Episode 9: Abraham Lincoln Goes Back to Basics

    · 27 min · S1 E9

    As Abraham Lincoln said in his famous Gettysburg Address, the United States of America was conceived in liberty. By the time the Civil War broke out, most of the country’s population had abandoned these long…

  10. Episode 10: The Mother of Exiles

    · 32 min · S1 E10

    A famous sonnet written to raise money for the construction of a pedestal for the Statue of Liberty, Rick and Luke discuss how “The New Colossus” set out the symbolism and impact of the Statue of Liberty for…

  11. Episode 11: The Practical Meaning of Economic Equality

    · 33 min · S1 E11

    Famously proclaiming that we “shall not crucify mankind on a cross of gold,” William Jennings Bryan delivered a plea for the coinage of silver, which he believed would help combat the rampant economic inequality of the…

  12. Episode 12: The Great Arsenal of Democracy

    · 31 min · S1 E12

    Around the time of World War II, the United States once again faced the question of what it means to be a force of power on the world stage and preserve liberty both at home and abroad. In this episode, Rick and Luke…

  13. Episode 13: Across Europe This Wall Will Fall

    · 29 min · S1 E13

    The late 1980s saw a new kind of threat to liberty — one that infected sovereign nations far and wide. In one of the most famous speeches delivered by Ronald Reagan, he issued a rallying cry for liberty, exclaiming…

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