Constitutionally Speaking

By National Review

Education History

What's Constitutionally Speaking about?

In Constitutionally Speaking, Jay Cost and Luke Thompson make the case for the average American to study the Constitution. They both think that for citizens to get the most out of their government, it is important for them to understand how the Constitution works. And their hope is that this podcast can serve as a nonpartisan (and fun!) source of information for people of all political persuasions.

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Episode 73: The Electoral C...

09.23.2021

In this week’s episode, Jay and Luke examine what makes members of Congress tick. The answer: paranoia. Specifically, the all-abiding fear that they might lose reelection. The congressional drive toward reelection frames their entire career in Congress, especially how they ...

Constitutionally Speaking episodes:

09.23.2021 Episode 73: The Electoral Connection In this week’s episode, Jay and Luke examine what makes members of Congress tick. The answer: paranoia. Specifically, the all-abiding fear that they might lose reelection. The congressional drive toward reelection frames their entire career in Congress, especially how they ...
09.16.2021 Episode 72: Congress Since the 1990s In this final installment of their "Historical Congress" series, Luke and Jay discuss various facets of the legislative group since the 1990s.
09.09.2021 Episode 71: Congress’s Post-Watergate Period Jay and Luke discuss Congress’s evolution and role after the Watergate scandal.
09.02.2021 Episode 70: Congress Confronts the Presidential Government — Progressivism, the New Deal, and the Great Society Luke and Jay take a look at Congress's confrontation with reform, from the collapse of the Populist movement through the rise of modern American liberalism. As the Civil War generation fades into the past, new cleavages and governing patterns emerge.
08.26.2021 Episode 69: The Rise of the Senate in the 19th Century Jay and Luke take a look at the long period of congressional dominance in the 19th century, and they explain how congressional supremacy survived everything from the Civil War to civil-service reform.
08.19.2021 Episode 68: Congress and the Civil War Jay and Luke discuss Congress and the mid 1800s.
08.12.2021 Episode 67: From Ratification to Reconstruction Luke and Jay talk through the early development of Congressional power, the appearance of the committee system, and how the formation of political parties shaped the rules, habits, and customs of Congress.
08.05.2021 Episode 66: The Constitutional Congress Jay and Luke take a look at the formal structures and rules that govern Congress in the Constitution. Why does each Chamber get to set its own rules? What's the deal with judging qualifications? Why do we have a Speech ...
07.29.2021 Episode 65: A Deep Dive on Congress Jay and Luke are back, this time to discuss the roots of our modern-day Congress.
06.18.2020 Episode 64: Van Buren II and Tyler Too [Part 2] Picking up with Martin Van Buren in Jackson's cabinet, Jay and Luke trace the Little Magicians rise to the vice presidency, his political knife fighting with John C. Calhoun, and his successful introduction of the party convention system. His presidency, ...
06.01.2020 Episode 63: Martin Van Buren: The Red Fox of Kinderhook [Part 1] Martin Van Buren, nicknamed the Red Fox of Kinderhook and the Little Magician, was the first American president born after American independence, the first raised in a home where English was not the primary language, and the first true political ...
05.26.2020 Episode 62: One-Term Wonders: John Quincy Adams, the Last Jeffersonian? Like his father in so many ways, JQA was a man of immense talents, a statesman of vast achievements, a brilliant political mind, and -- like his father -- a one-term president. JQA may, still, be the most qualified person ...
03.20.2020 Episode 61: The Decline, Fall, and Peculiar Afterlife of Federalism [The Federalists, Part 3] The Adams administration saw the rapid, shocking collapse of Federalism as an organized force in American political life. The regnant faction that had forced through ratification, secured America's diplomatic position, and stabilized the public credit, disappeared utterly from the national ...
03.20.2020 Episode 60: The Federalist Agenda: Foreign and Domestic Policy [The Federalists, Part 2] Foreign policy became a key divide between Federalists and the emerging Jeffersonian Republicans, all the more so as Britain and France escalated a rolling series of continental wars. At the same time, domestic polarization around Hamilton's plan of public finance ...
03.17.2020 Episode 59: The Age of Federalism [The Federalists, Part 1] Welcome to our three-episode miniseries on Federalism. We're taking a deep dive into America's first political party, which governed for the first twelve years under the Constitution, then collapsed entirely. Who were the Federalists? What did they believe? Why were ...
03.04.2020 Episode 58: Alexander Hamilton on Impeachment No Founding Father thought more deeply about the presidency than Alexander Hamilton. He was an enthusiastic supporter of a strong chief executive and believed the president had a central and vital role to play in American government, both at home ...
02.26.2020 Episode 57: George Mason [The Virginians, Part 7] In this final episode of the Virginians miniseries, Jay and Luke discuss George Mason, the godfather of Virginia republicanism. Mason was instrumental in writing the Virginia Constitution in 1776. He was the primary author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, ...
02.19.2020 Episode 56: Patrick Henry [The Virginians, Part 6] In this episode of the Virginians miniseries, Jay and Look look at the life of Patrick Henry. Perhaps the greatest orator in the history of the United States of America, Henry was an essential part of the “revolutionary vanguard” in ...
02.12.2020 Episode 55: John Marshall [The Virginians, Part 5] In this episode, Jay and Luke discuss John Marshall, perhaps the least appreciated of all the Founding Fathers. A delegate to the Virginia ratifying convention in 1788, Marshall also served briefly as secretary of State before becoming chief justice in ...
02.05.2020 Episode 54: James Monroe [The Virginians, Part 4] In this episode, Jay and Luke discuss the life and times of James Monroe. A junior partner in the “Virginia Dynasty,” Monroe was the fourth Virginian to be president of the United States — and the only Anti-Federalist ever to ...
01.29.2020 Episode 53: James Madison [The Virginians, Part 3] In this episode, Jay and Luke discuss James Madison, often hailed as the Father of the Constitution. Madison’s life remains a bit of a puzzle, as he transitioned from being a strong Federalist in the 1780s to a leading Republican ...
01.22.2020 Episode 52: Thomas Jefferson [The Virginians, Part 2] In this episode, Jay and Luke examine Thomas Jefferson, one of the most puzzling of the Founders. Simultaneously the rhetorician of American equality and a lover of the trappings of aristocracy, Jefferson remains a hard man to pin down. Jay ...
01.15.2020 Episode 51: George Washington [The Virginians, Part 1] In this episode, Jay and Luke look at the life and political career of George Washington, with a particular emphasis on how his experience during the Revolutionary War created in him a strong belief in the need for a strong ...
07.30.2019 Episode 50: Money, Money, Money Jay and Luke dig through the twisted, confusing, and occasionally sordid history of campaign finance to tell you where we are, how we got here, and why McCain-Feingold was a terrible law. From Martin Van Buren to Citizens United, get ...
07.18.2019 Episode 49: How Did We Get Here, Primarily Speaking? Description: Jay and Luke have a look at how we wound up with the unusual primary system we have today. Ever since John Adams, America's constitutional system for selecting the president has created tensions and frustrations. Indeed, it's not too ...
06.27.2019 Episode 48: The Unimpeachable Return Jay and Luke are back, this time discussing the future structure of this very podcast and giving a deep explanation of impeachment.
03.27.2019 Episode 47: Just How Elastic Is the Elastic Clause? Jay and Luke dive headfirst into the Louisiana Purchase to explore the battle over the Elastic Clause.
03.14.2019 Episode 46: Who Reviews: Marbury v. Madison and the Marshall Court In this episode of Constitutionally Speaking, Jay and Luke discuss the origins of judicial review.
02.26.2019 Episode 45: The Revolution of 1800 In this episode of Constitutionally Speaking, Jay and Luke discuss the Election of 1800. This contest, pitting Thomas Jefferson against John Adams, is not simply important because it was the first time power transferred from one party to another. It ...
02.14.2019 Episode 44: The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions In this episode of Constitutionally Speaking, Jay and Luke discuss the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of 1798.
01.31.2019 Episode 43: Constitutional Moments: Last Treaty in Paris In this episode of Constitutionally Speaking, Jay and Luke discuss the foreign crisis of 1793 to 1795 and its impact on the development of executive power.
01.23.2019 Special Episode: Hamilton and the Free Press [42] In this special episode, Luke speaks to the First Families and St. Andrew's Society of New York at the Down Town Association. His speech covers Alexander Hamilton's attitude towards the free press.
01.14.2019 Episode 41: A Republic, If You Can Keep It: The Ninth and Tenth Amendments In this final episode from our Bill of Rights series, Jay and Luke read the Ninth Amendment and Tenth Amendments together, trace the political fight between Federalists and Antifederalists underlying these amendments, and show how they frame the relationship between ...
01.02.2019 Episode 40: The Eighth Amendment: A Cruel and Unusual Episode This week the guys dig into the Eight Amendment's prohibitions on excessive fines and bail, and on cruel or unusual punishments.
12.06.2018 Episode 39: For Twenty Dollars More — Understanding the Seventh Amendment Luke and Jay spend this episode digging into the peculiar American institution of the civil jury: recruiting your fellow citizens to decide disputes over everything from a cow to a global corporation. The civil jury grows in response to concerns ...
11.28.2018 Episode 38: Know Your Rights Jay and Luke take you through the parts of the Sixth Amendment, from speedy and public trials, to the subpoena power. What constitutes an impartial trial and why do we have to have trials in the locality where a crime ...
11.21.2018 Episode 37: Pleading the Fifth, Part Two: Protecting Your Conscience and Taking Your Stuff Today, Jay and Luke talk about the second half of the Fifth Amendment, which means digging into the right against self-incrimination, the guarantee of due process of law, and finally the Takings Clause.
11.15.2018 Episode 36: Pleading the Fifth [Part 1] Today, Luke and Jay talk about the first half of the Fifth Amendment. What's so grand about a Grand Jury? Where does it come from and why do we still use it? The guys unpack that and more, looking all ...
10.30.2018 Episode 35: Introducing the Jury Amendments In this episode, Jay and Luke take a step back before diving into the jury amendments. We have a look at how the jury amendments turn from building institutions and rights around confidence in neighbors to protect one another from ...
10.18.2018 Episode 34: The Fourth Amendment: Hinge of the Bill of Rights In this week's episode, Jay and Luke take a look at the Fourth Amendment.
10.10.2018 Episode 33: No Quarter: Understanding the Third Amendment In this week's episode, Jay and Luke dig into the most successful, and therefore least controversial, of the the ten amendments that make up the Bill of Rights: the prohibition on quartering soldiers. But there's a lot more to the ...
10.02.2018 Episode 32: Lawyers, Guns, and Money In this week's episode the guys talk guns. It's the Second Amendment episode, and we're digging in to the right to bear arms: Where did it come from, what did it mean, how was it implemented, and does it still ...
09.24.2018 Episode 31: Freedom of Speech! (Plus Press, Petition, and Assembly) This week, Jay and Luke dig into the second part of the First Amendment. They show how Congress curtailed Madison's original protections for free speech and a free press, while taking a look at what these freedoms meant as a ...
09.19.2018 Episode 30: The Religion Clauses In this episode, the guys discuss the First Amendment “Religion Clauses”, which prohibit the establishment of a national church and guarantee the right to free exercise of religion. They spend some time looking at Madison’s initial draft of the amendment ...
09.04.2018 Episode 29: Understanding the First Amendment Today, Jay and Luke begin digging into the Bill of Rights, starting with the First Amendment. Most Americans don't realize that what we know as the First Amendment was originally the Third Amendment in Madison's planned version of the Bill ...
08.28.2018 Episode 28: Introducing the Bill of Rights In this episode, Jay and Luke introduce the principles underpinning the Bill of Rights.
08.20.2018 Episode 27: The Rise of the Political Parties In this episode of Constitutionally Speaking, Jay and Luke discuss the rise of the political parties.
07.14.2018 Ep. 26: The Price of Greatness, Part 3 In this episode, Jay and Luke finish their discussion of Jay's new book, The Price of Greatness: Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and the Creation of American Oligarchy. They focus on politics and policy during the Age of Jefferson and beyond. ...
07.13.2018 Episode 26: The Price of Greatness, Part 3 In this episode, Jay and Luke finish their discussion of Jay’s new book, 'The Price of Greatness: Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and the Creation of American Oligarchy. They focus on politics and policy during the Age of Jefferson and beyond.'
06.25.2018 Episode 25: The Price of Greatness: Part 2 In this episode of Constitutionally Speaking, Jay and Luke continue their discussion of Jay’s new book, 'The Price of Greatness: Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and the Creation of American Oligarchy.'

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