In The Past Lane - The Podcast About History and Why It Matters

The Pit Stop is a weekly mini-episode from In The Past Lane, the podcast about history and why it matters. Every Monday, The Pit Stop tells you what happened in American history this week - in just about 5 minutes. We drop these minis in between our full-length episodes that feature interviews with historians about their latest books, feature pieces, and more. 

For more information about the In The Past Lane podcast, head to our website, www.InThePastLane.com 

Production Credits for The Pit Stop

Original music and Voice Over by Devyn McHugh 

Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions, "Pat Dog" via the Free Music Archive 

Executive Producer: Lulu Spencer

Technical Advisors: Holly Hunt and Jesse Anderson

Photographer: John Buckingham

Graphic Designer: Maggie Cellucci

Website by: ERI Design

Legal services: Tippecanoe and Tyler Too

Social Media management: The Pony Express

Risk Assessment: Little Big Horn Associates

Growth strategies: 54 40 or Fight

© In The Past Lane, 2019

The Pit Stop is a weekly mini-episode from In The Past Lane, the podcast about history and why it matters. Every Monday, The Pit Stop tells you what happened in American history this week - in just about 5 minutes. We drop these minis in between our full-length episodes that feature interviews with historians about their latest books, feature pieces, and more. 

For more information about the In The Past Lane podcast, head to our website, www.InThePastLane.com 

Production Credits for The Pit Stop

Original music and Voice Over by Devyn McHugh 

Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions, "Pat Dog" via the Free Music Archive 

Executive Producer: Lulu Spencer

Technical Advisors: Holly Hunt and Jesse Anderson

Photographer: John Buckingham

Graphic Designer: Maggie Cellucci

Website by: ERI Design

Legal services: Tippecanoe and Tyler Too

Social Media management: The Pony Express

Risk Assessment: Little Big Horn Associates

Growth strategies: 54 40 or Fight

© In The Past Lane, 2019

The Pit Stop is a weekly mini-episode from In The Past Lane, the podcast about history and why it matters. Every Monday, The Pit Stop tells you what happened in American history this week - in just about 5 minutes. We drop these minis in between our full-length episodes that feature interviews with historians about their latest books, feature pieces, and more. 

For more information about the In The Past Lane podcast, head to our website, www.InThePastLane.com 

Production Credits for The Pit Stop

Original music and Voice Over by Devyn McHugh 

Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions, "Pat Dog" via the Free Music Archive 

Executive Producer: Lulu Spencer

Technical Advisors: Holly Hunt and Jesse Anderson

Photographer: John Buckingham

Graphic Designer: Maggie Cellucci

Website by: ERI Design

Legal services: Tippecanoe and Tyler Too

Social Media management: The Pony Express

Risk Assessment: Little Big Horn Associates

Growth strategies: 54 40 or Fight

© In The Past Lane, 2019

This week at In The Past Lane, the American History podcast, it's time for a special Labor Day episode where I speak with historian Erik Loomis about his new book, "A History of America in Ten Strikes." The annual Labor Day holiday is often marked by last trips to the beach and backyard barbecues. But Labor Day was established by American workers in 1882 to draw attention to three things: First, the essential role of workers in creating all of the nation's wealth and abundance. Second, that American workers faced constant threats to their well-being by abusive and greedy employers who forced them work long hours for inadequate pay. And third, that if workers succumbed to this oppression, America would cease to be a democracy. Rather, it would gradually resemble an old world society ruled by a small aristocracy. Long before 1882 and certainly ever since, American workers have had to fight for fairness, justice, equality, and dignity in the workplace. And these concerns are very much alive in 2019. So, as we debate issues like the $15 minimum wage, Medicare for all, Social Security, corporate taxation, automation and robots, and so on, we'd do well to look into the long history of workers and their struggles for a slice of the American dream.

In the course of our discussion, Erik Loomis explains:

Why the history of work and workers is central to US history.

How the onset of the industrial revolution created new conditions for the exploitation of workers – and as a consequence – the first strikes.

Why We should think of the groundswell of self-emancipation of enslaved people during the Civil War as, in the words of WEB DuBois, a general strike.

Why laissez-faire is a myth that obscures the fact that the role of the government in labor-capital conflicts nearly always determines their outcome.

How and why racism has been a persistent obstacle to workers of different racial and ethnic backgrounds uniting along class lines against their employers.

Why workers in the Gilded Age believed in capitalism, but also believed that it had become rigged in favor of business over workers.

How small but influential groups of socialists, anarchists, and communists within the labor movement have benefited workers, but also exposed the labor movement to persecution in the name of anti-communism.

How federal policies and court decisions since the 1950s – especially Ronald Reagan's firing of 11,000 Air Traffic Controllers in 1981 - have dramatically weakened the American labor movement.

And, finally, what are we to make of recent labor actions – especially walkouts and strikes by teachers.

Recommended reading:

Erik Loomis, A History of America in Ten Strikes (The New Press, 2018) Philip Dray, There Is Power in a Union: The Epic Story of Labor in America

Melvyn Dubofsky, We Shall Be All: A History of the Industrial Workers of the World

Steven Greenhouse, Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present, and Future of American Labor

Emily Guendelsberger, On the Clock: What Low-Wage Work Did to Me and How It Drives America Insane

David Montgomery, The Fall of the House of Labor

Edward T. O'Donnell, Henry George and the Crisis of Inequality: Progress and Poverty in the Gilded Age

More info about Erik Loomis - website

Follow In The Past Lane on

Twitter @InThePastLane

Instagram @InThePastLane

Facebook: InThePastLanePodcast

YouTube: InThePastLane

Music for This Episode

Jay Graham, ITPL Intro (JayGMusic.com)

Kevin McCleod, "Impact Moderato" (Free Music Archive)

Andy Cohen, "Trophy Endorphins" (Free Music Archive)

Borrtex, "Perception" (Free Music Archive) Jon Luc Hefferman, "Winter Trek" (Free Music Archive)

The Bell, "I Am History" (Free Music Archive)

Production Credits

Executive Producer: Lulu Spencer

Technical Advisors: Holly Hunt and Jesse Anderson

Podcasting Consultant: Dave Jackson of the School of Podcasting

Podcast Editing: Wildstyle Media

Photographer: John Buckingham

Graphic Designer: Maggie Cellucci

Website by: ERI Design

Legal services: Tippecanoe and Tyler Too

Social Media management: The Pony Express

Risk Assessment: Little Big Horn Associates

Growth strategies: 54 40 or Fight

Recommended History Podcasts

Ben Franklin's World with Liz Covart @LizCovart

The Age of Jackson Podcast @AgeofJacksonPod

Backstory podcast – the history behind today's headlines @BackstoryRadio

Past Present podcast with Nicole Hemmer, Neil J. Young, and Natalia Petrzela @PastPresentPod

99 Percent Invisible with Roman Mars @99piorg

Slow Burn podcast about Watergate with @leoncrawl

The Memory Palace – with Nate DiMeo, story teller extraordinaire @thememorypalace

The Conspirators – creepy true crime stories from the American past @Conspiratorcast

The History Chicks podcast @Thehistorychix

My History Can Beat Up Your Politics @myhist

Professor Buzzkill podcast – Prof B takes on myths about the past @buzzkillprof

Footnoting History podcast @HistoryFootnote

The History Author Show podcast @HistoryDean

More Perfect podcast - the history of key US Supreme Court cases @Radiolab

Revisionist History with Malcolm Gladwell @Gladwell

Radio Diaries with Joe Richman @RadioDiaries

DIG history podcast @dig_history

The Story Behind – the hidden histories of everyday things @StoryBehindPod

Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen – specifically its American Icons series @Studio360show

Uncivil podcast – fascinating takes on the legacy of the Civil War in contemporary US @uncivilshow

Stuff You Missed in History Class @MissedinHistory

The Whiskey Rebellion – two historians discuss topics from today's news @WhiskeyRebelPod

American History Tellers ‏@ahtellers

The Way of Improvement Leads Home with historian John Fea @JohnFea1

The Bowery Boys podcast – all things NYC history @BoweryBoys

Ridiculous History @RidiculousHSW

The Rogue Historian podcast with historian @MKeithHarris

The Road To Now podcast @Road_To_Now

Retropod with @mikerosenwald

© In The Past Lane, 2019

The Pit Stop is a weekly mini-episode from In The Past Lane, the podcast about American history and why it matters. Every Monday, The Pit Stop tells you what happened this week in American history - in just about 5 minutes. We drop these minis in between our full-length episodes that feature interviews with historians about their latest books, feature pieces, and more. 

For more information about the In The Past Lane podcast, head to our website, www.InThePastLane.com 

Production Credits for The Pit Stop

Original music and Voice Over by Devyn McHugh 

Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions, "Pat Dog" via the Free Music Archive 

Executive Producer: Lulu Spencer

Technical Advisors: Holly Hunt and Jesse Anderson

Photographer: John Buckingham

Graphic Designer: Maggie Cellucci

Website by: ERI Design

Legal services: Tippecanoe and Tyler Too

Social Media management: The Pony Express

Risk Assessment: Little Big Horn Associates

Growth strategies: 54 40 or Fight

© In The Past Lane, 2019

The Pit Stop is a weekly mini-episode from In The Past Lane, the podcast about history and why it matters. Every Monday, The Pit Stop tells you what happened in American history this week - in just about 5 minutes. We drop these minis in between our full-length episodes that feature interviews with historians about their latest books, feature pieces, and more. 

For more information about the In The Past Lane podcast, head to our website, www.InThePastLane.com 

Production Credits for The Pit Stop

Original music and Voice Over by Devyn McHugh 

Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions, "Pat Dog" via the Free Music Archive 

Executive Producer: Lulu Spencer

Technical Advisors: Holly Hunt and Jesse Anderson

Photographer: John Buckingham

Graphic Designer: Maggie Cellucci

Website by: ERI Design

Legal services: Tippecanoe and Tyler Too

Social Media management: The Pony Express

Risk Assessment: Little Big Horn Associates

Growth strategies: 54 40 or Fight

© In The Past Lane, 2019

This week at In The Past Lane, the American History podcast, I speak with historian Saul Cornell, author of "A Well-Regulated Militia: The Founding Fathers and the Origins of Gun Control in America." The recent mass shootings in Dayton, OH and El Paso, TX have reignited the national debate over gun control, so this seemed like a good time to do an episode on the history of the Second Amendment. Because plunging into this history makes clear that there is a great deal of mythology around what the Founders had in mind when they wrote the Second Amendment. Exposing this mythology as something at odds with the historical record reveals that the Second Amendment does not prohibit gun control.

In the course of our discussion, Saul Cornell explains:

The two main myths about the Second Amendment that gun rights advocates invoke, namely: 1) that the amendment was intended to allow the citizenry to rise up and overthrow the federal government by force of arms if they deemed it tyrannical and 2) that it established an individual's right to possess and bear arms.

Why the framers of the Constitution were chiefly concerned about the need for strong state militias and not an individual's right to arms.

How gun control in the late-18th and early 19th century was both extensive and intrusive.

How this regulation was justified in the name of an ideal the Founders subscribed to: the right of citizens to live in a peaceful society.

How the Second Amendment underwent a radical reinterpretation in the 1970s, one that emphasized a libertarian claim to a near absolute right of an individual to possess and bear arms.

And, finally, an assessment of the current state of the gun control movement.

Recommended reading:

Saul Cornell, A Well-Regulated Militia: The Founding Fathers and the Origins of Gun Control in America (Oxford U. Press)

Saul Cornell, Whose Right to Bear Arms Did the Second Amendment Protect?

Saul Cornell, "The Second Amendment Case for Gun Control," The New Republic, August 4, 2019 Saul Cornell, "Gun Anarchy and the Unfree State: The real history of the Second Amendment," The Baffler, October 3, 2017.

Jeffrey Toobin, "Politics Changed the Reading of the Second Amendment—and Can Change It Again" The New Yorker, August 5, 2019

More info about Saul Cornell - website

Follow In The Past Lane on

Twitter @InThePastLane

Instagram @InThePastLane

Facebook: InThePastLanePodcast

YouTube: InThePastLane

Music for This Episode

Jay Graham, ITPL Intro (JayGMusic.com)

Kevin McCleod, "Impact Moderato" (Free Music Archive)

Andy Cohen, "Trophy Endorphins" (Free Music Archive)

Hyson, "Signals" (Free Music Archive) Jon Luc Hefferman, "Winter Trek" (Free Music Archive)

The Bell, "I Am History" (Free Music Archive)

Production Credits

Executive Producer: Lulu Spencer

Technical Advisors: Holly Hunt and Jesse Anderson

Podcasting Consultant: Dave Jackson of the School of Podcasting

Podcast Editing: Wildstyle Media

Photographer: John Buckingham

Graphic Designer: Maggie Cellucci

Website by: ERI Design

Legal services: Tippecanoe and Tyler Too

Social Media management: The Pony Express

Risk Assessment: Little Big Horn Associates

Growth strategies: 54 40 or Fight

Recommended History Podcasts

Ben Franklin's World with Liz Covart @LizCovart

The Age of Jackson Podcast @AgeofJacksonPod

Backstory podcast – the history behind today's headlines @BackstoryRadio

Past Present podcast with Nicole Hemmer, Neil J. Young, and Natalia Petrzela @PastPresentPod

99 Percent Invisible with Roman Mars @99piorg

Slow Burn podcast about Watergate with @leoncrawl

The Memory Palace – with Nate DiMeo, story teller extraordinaire @thememorypalace

The Conspirators – creepy true crime stories from the American past @Conspiratorcast

The History Chicks podcast @Thehistorychix

My History Can Beat Up Your Politics @myhist

Professor Buzzkill podcast – Prof B takes on myths about the past @buzzkillprof

Footnoting History podcast @HistoryFootnote

The History Author Show podcast @HistoryDean

More Perfect podcast - the history of key US Supreme Court cases @Radiolab

Revisionist History with Malcolm Gladwell @Gladwell

Radio Diaries with Joe Richman @RadioDiaries

DIG history podcast @dig_history

The Story Behind – the hidden histories of everyday things @StoryBehindPod

Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen – specifically its American Icons series @Studio360show

Uncivil podcast – fascinating takes on the legacy of the Civil War in contemporary US @uncivilshow

Stuff You Missed in History Class @MissedinHistory

The Whiskey Rebellion – two historians discuss topics from today's news @WhiskeyRebelPod

American History Tellers ‏@ahtellers

The Way of Improvement Leads Home with historian John Fea @JohnFea1

The Bowery Boys podcast – all things NYC history @BoweryBoys

Ridiculous History @RidiculousHSW

The Rogue Historian podcast with historian @MKeithHarris

The Road To Now podcast @Road_To_Now

Retropod with @mikerosenwald © In The Past Lane, 2019

The Pit Stop is a weekly mini-episode from In The Past Lane, the podcast about history and why it matters. Every Monday, The Pit Stop tells you what happened in American history this week - in just about 5 minutes. We drop these minis in between our full-length episodes that feature interviews with historians about their latest books, feature pieces, and more. 

For more information about the In The Past Lane podcast, head to our website, www.InThePastLane.com 

Production Credits for The Pit Stop

Original music and Voice Over by Devyn McHugh 

Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions, "Pat Dog" via the Free Music Archive 

Executive Producer: Lulu Spencer

Technical Advisors: Holly Hunt and Jesse Anderson

Photographer: John Buckingham

Graphic Designer: Maggie Cellucci

Website by: ERI Design

Legal services: Tippecanoe and Tyler Too

Social Media management: The Pony Express

Risk Assessment: Little Big Horn Associates

Growth strategies: 54 40 or Fight

© In The Past Lane, 2019

This week at In The Past Lane, the American History podcast, I speak with historian Jeffrey A. Engel, co-author of "Impeachment: An American History." With all the talk about impeachment over the past two years, this seems like a superb moment to do an episode on the history of this rarely-used constitutional mechanism.

In the course of our discussion, Jeffrey Engel explains:

Why the Founders' fear of potential abuse of power by a president or high government official led them to include an impeachment provision in the US Constitution.

Why the Founders made a key distinction between maladministration – essentially doing a bad job as president – and actions taken by the president that harm the nation. Only the latter required impeachment.

How the Founders meant by "high crimes and misdemeanors" actions that might not be illegal, but are judged to be harmful to the nation.

Why Republicans decided to impeach President Andrew Johnson in 1868 and how Johnson's own actions and personality played a key role in his near removal from office.

What Richard Nixon did to merit the commencement of impeachment proceedings against him – a process he avoided by resigning.

How in the aftermath of Watergate, Congress changed the rules to allow future special prosecutors investigating alleged presidential wrongdoing greater freedom and independence.

And how that reform led to the wide-ranging investigation of President Bill Clinton that started with a sketchy land deal in Arkansas and ended up focused on an affair between the president and a 22-year old intern named Monica Lewinsky.

And in turn, how that experience led to new rules that restricted the independence of special prosecutors, leading to the current day complaints by some that SC Robert Mueller was not allowed to fully investigate the many charges against President Trump.

And, finally, what it means that we might soon witness the third impeachment effort in the last 50 years, after having only one impeachment in the first 185 years of the nation's history.

Recommended reading:

Jeffrey Engel, et al, Impeachment: An American History (Modern Library Press)

Howard Fields, High Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Nixon Impeachment— Roadmap for the Next One

Richard A. Posner, An Affair of State: The Investigation, Impeachment, and Trial of President Clinton

David O. Stewart, Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln's Legacy Cass R. Sunstein, Impeachment: A Citizen's Guide

Jeffrey Toobin, A Vast Conspiracy: The Real Story of the Sex Scandal That Nearly Brought Down a President

Laurence Tribe and Joshua Matz, To End a Presidency: The Power of Impeachment

Brenda Wineapple, The Impeachers: The Trial of Andrew Johnson and the Dream of a Just Nation

More info about Jeffrey Engel - website

Follow In The Past Lane on

Twitter @InThePastLane

Instagram @InThePastLane

Facebook: InThePastLanePodcast

YouTube: InThePastLane

Music for This Episode

Jay Graham, ITPL Intro (JayGMusic.com)

Kevin McCleod, "Impact Moderato" (Free Music Archive)

Andy Cohen, "Trophy Endorphins" (Free Music Archive)

Blue Dot Sessions, "Sage the Hunter" (Free Music Archive) Jon Luc Hefferman, "Winter Trek" (Free Music Archive)

The Bell, "I Am History" (Free Music Archive)

Production Credits

Executive Producer: Lulu Spencer

Technical Advisors: Holly Hunt and Jesse Anderson

Podcasting Consultant: Dave Jackson of the School of Podcasting

Podcast Editing: Wildstyle Media

Photographer: John Buckingham

Graphic Designer: Maggie Cellucci

Website by: ERI Design

Legal services: Tippecanoe and Tyler Too

Social Media management: The Pony Express

Risk Assessment: Little Big Horn Associates

Growth strategies: 54 40 or Fight

© In The Past Lane, 2019

Recommended History Podcasts

Ben Franklin's World with Liz Covart @LizCovart

The Age of Jackson Podcast @AgeofJacksonPod

Backstory podcast – the history behind today's headlines @BackstoryRadio

Past Present podcast with Nicole Hemmer, Neil J. Young, and Natalia Petrzela @PastPresentPod

99 Percent Invisible with Roman Mars @99piorg

Slow Burn podcast about Watergate with @leoncrawl

The Memory Palace – with Nate DiMeo, story teller extraordinaire @thememorypalace

The Conspirators – creepy true crime stories from the American past @Conspiratorcast

The History Chicks podcast @Thehistorychix

My History Can Beat Up Your Politics @myhist

Professor Buzzkill podcast – Prof B takes on myths about the past @buzzkillprof

Footnoting History podcast @HistoryFootnote

The History Author Show podcast @HistoryDean

More Perfect podcast - the history of key US Supreme Court cases @Radiolab

Revisionist History with Malcolm Gladwell @Gladwell

Radio Diaries with Joe Richman @RadioDiaries

DIG history podcast @dig_history

The Story Behind – the hidden histories of everyday things @StoryBehindPod

Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen – specifically its American Icons series @Studio360show

Uncivil podcast – fascinating takes on the legacy of the Civil War in contemporary US @uncivilshow

Stuff You Missed in History Class @MissedinHistory

The Whiskey Rebellion – two historians discuss topics from today's news @WhiskeyRebelPod

American History Tellers ‏@ahtellers

The Way of Improvement Leads Home with historian John Fea @JohnFea1

The Bowery Boys podcast – all things NYC history @BoweryBoys

Ridiculous History @RidiculousHSW

The Rogue Historian podcast with historian @MKeithHarris

The Road To Now podcast @Road_To_Now

Retropod with @mikerosenwald

The Pit Stop is a weekly mini-episode from In The Past Lane, the podcast about history and why it matters. Every Monday, The Pit Stop tells you what happened in American history this week - in just about 5 minutes. We drop these minis in between our full-length episodes that feature interviews with historians about their latest books, feature pieces, and more. 

For more information about the In The Past Lane podcast, head to our website, www.InThePastLane.com 

Production Credits for The Pit Stop

Original music and Voice Over by Devyn McHugh 

Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions, "Pat Dog" via the Free Music Archive 

Executive Producer: Lulu Spencer

Technical Advisors: Holly Hunt and Jesse Anderson

Photographer: John Buckingham

Graphic Designer: Maggie Cellucci

Website by: ERI Design

Legal services: Tippecanoe and Tyler Too

Social Media management: The Pony Express

Risk Assessment: Little Big Horn Associates

Growth strategies: 54 40 or Fight

© In The Past Lane, 2019