This Constitution
This Constitution is an every-two-weeks podcast ordained and established by the Center for Constitutional Studies at Utah Valley University, the home of Utah’s Civic Thought & Leadership Initiative.
Co-hosted by Savannah Eccles Johnston and Matthew Brogdon, This Constitution equips listeners with the knowledge and insights to engage with the most pressing political questions of our time, starting with Season 1, focusing on the powers and limits of the U.S. presidency.
Episodes
54 episodes
Season 4, Episode 1 | A Watery Revolution: How the Sea Decided American Independence
When we picture the American Revolution, we see George Washington on horseback, minutemen at Concord, and the signing of the Declaration. But what if the real story of independence was written not on land, but on water? In this seas...
Season 3, Episode 19 | Saving Principles: Frederick Douglass, the Declaration, and the Soul of Civic Education
Why has civic education taught students to look to Washington, when citizenship starts in their own neighborhood?In this episode, host Matthew Brogdon sits down with David Bobb, president of the Bill of Rights Institute, to explore the s...
Season 3, Episode 18 | Who Counts as the Press? From Printing Presses to Afroman
Does the freedom of the press protect only journalists with printing presses or everyone with something to say?From the founding era to social media, the line between “speech” and “press” has blurred. In this episode, host Savannah Eccle...
Season 3, Episode 17 | Congress Underrated: Representation, Gridlock, and What We Miss
Is Congress the most underrated institution in American government? Widely criticized for gridlock, partisanship, and dysfunction, it’s often seen as the weakest branch. But what if that frustration reflects a misunderstanding of what Congress ...
Season 3, Episode 16 | Religion in the Public Square: When Protestants, Catholics, and Jews Learned to Get Along (Mostly)
How did America move from the religious pluralism of the founding era to the “Judeo-Christian consensus” of the twentieth century? Why did that consensus begin to fracture?In this episode of This Constitution, Matthew Brogdon co...
Season 3, Episode 15 | For God and Country: How Religious Pluralism Shaped the American Founding
When we think of the American Founders, we typically imagine figures like Washington, Jefferson, and Madison—all Protestant gentlemen. But what about the Catholics? And how did a nation built on religious establishments become a model for relig...
Season 3, Episode 14 | From London to Paris: How the World Received America's Breakup Letter
Did you know that while Americans were celebrating independence on July 4, 1776, it took until August for the news to reach London? Across the Atlantic, the reaction was far more muted, highlighting how information traveled slowly in the 18th c...
Season 3, Episode 13 | George Washington and the Constitutional Design of Article II
Was the American presidency meant to be weak, or was it powerful from the start?In this episode of This Constitution, Savannah Eccles Johnston sits down with Dr. Sai Prakash to examine the original design of Article II and how G...
Season 3, Episode 12 | Announcing Independence: How the Declaration Went Viral in 1776
What good is a declaration if no one hears it? After the Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, the real work began: Announcing it to the American people and the world. In this episode of ...
Season 3, Episode 11 | Not Just Jefferson: How Congress's Red Pen Helped Create the Declaration We Know
Who really wrote the Declaration of Independence? Was it Thomas Jefferson’s carefully crafted vision, or the outcome of an intense, compromise-driven process inside Congress?In this episode of This Constitution, host Savannah Ec...
Season 3, Episode 10 | Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King Jr.: Two Visions of the Constitution and Equality
How can the same Declaration of Independence lead Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King Jr. to such different conclusions about the Constitution? In this special MLK Day episode of This Constitution, host Savannah Eccle...
Season 3, Episode 9 | The Collaborative Origins of the Declaration: Unpacking Jefferson’s Role
Was Thomas Jefferson the sole author of the Declaration? In this episode of This Constitution, Matthew Brogdon sits down with Holly Megson, senior documentary editor on the Quill Project at Pembroke College, Oxford, to trace how the De...
Season 3, Episode 8 | The Weaver of Our Foundational Fabric: Justice for John Adams
What if the Declaration of Independence wasn’t just Jefferson’s triumph, but John Adams’s victory too?In this episode of This Constitution, Savannah Eccles Johnston and Matthew Brogdon make the case for giving John Adams his due...
Season 3, Episode 7 | The Declaration and Slavery: The Question 1776 Could Not Settle
Did you know that Thomas Jefferson originally wrote a fierce condemnation of slavery into the Declaration of Independence, only for Congress to remove it before signing the final document? And did you know that in 1776, no one was certain wheth...
Season 3, Episode 6 | The Declarations That Shaped the Declaration
What if the story of American independence didn’t actually begin with Jefferson at his writing desk? What if long before the Declaration of Independence, more than a hundred towns, counties, militias, and even grand juries had already taken mat...
Season 3, Episode 5 | Thomas Paine: Revolutionary, Not Patriot
Did you know the man who wrote Common Sense, the pamphlet that inspired Americans to fight for independence, died alone with only six mourners at his funeral? In this episode of This Constitution, Savannah Eccles Johnston and ...
Season 3, Episode 4 | Were the British Really That Bad? The Grievance Politics That Justified the Revolution
How did the Americans go from loyal British subjects to full-blown revolutionaries? Were the British really that bad, or were the colonists simply overreacting?In this episode of This Constitution, Savannah Eccles Johnston and M...
Season 3, Episode 3 | The Folk Origins of Freedom: How Ordinary Americans Shaped the Declaration
Have you ever wondered where America’s revolutionary ideas really came from? Was it the genius of the Founders? What if the story of the Constitution didn’t begin in Philadelphia in 1776, but in colonial homes, small-town churches, and the stub...
Season 3, Episode 2 | The Black-Robed Regiment: The Preachers Who Fought for Independence
What if the American Revolution didn’t begin in the halls of Congress, but in the pews of colonial churches? In this episode of This Constitution, hosts Savannah Eccles Johnston and Matthew Brogdon uncover the spiritual and...
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Season 3, Episode 1 | 1777: The Crucible That Forged George Washington
Season 3 of This Constitution focuses on the people and events surrounding the making of the Declaration of Independence.What if America’s Revolution had collapsed before it truly began? In this episode of This Constitution<...
Season 2, Episode 18 | America’s Greatest Invention: Collective Constitution-Making
What if America’s greatest strength wasn’t just its leaders, but the way everyday people came together to shape history? In this episode of This Constitution, host Matthew Brogdon sits down with Nicholas Cole of Oxford’s Pembroke Colle...
Season 2, Episode 17 | George Washington: Merit, Power, and the Birth of Civilian Leadership
Did you know that George Washington could have become an American Caesar, but instead chose to walk away from power? Unlike Napoleon or Cromwell, he rejected dictatorship and dynasty, setting the precedent for civilian control of the military, ...
Season 2, Episode 16 | Parties and the Constitution: Why the Founders Feared Parties and Created Them Anyway
How did a political system founded by leaders who warned against factions end up making political parties an indispensable part of democracy? And why has the United States remained a two-party nation for nearly two centuries?In this epis...
Season 2, Episode 15 | Special Counsels vs. the Presidency: Who Holds the Power?
How should a democracy balance the need for independent investigations of government wrongdoing with the president’s constitutional authority over prosecutions? Where do we draw the line?In this episode of This Constitution, hos...
Season 2, Episode 14 | High Crimes or Political Fights? When Impeachment Becomes a Constitutional Battleground
When we hear “impeachment,” most of us immediately think: the President. But what if that’s only part of the story? In this episode of This Constitution, Savannah Eccles Johnston and Matthew Brogdon explore the lesser-known history of ...
