Government often gets a bad rap. But each episode of the new podcast “Government That Doesn’t Suck,” hosted by Professors Greg Jackson and Lindsey Cormack, tells a surprising origin story of a feature of government important to the country, from the internet to the National Park Service to the roads that connect the nation.

New episodes drop every other Monday. Use this link to follow on your favorite listening platform or on YouTube for full video episodes: Government That Doesn’t Suck

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After four years of fighting, the war in the northern colonies settles into a stalemate. It rages in the southern colonies, but the American southern army suffers the worst calamities of the war. An army of frontiersmen known as the Overmountain Men deliver a spark of hope for the American cause at the Battle of Kings Mountain. Then, an American column led by Brigadier General Daniel Morgan stuns a British column at the Battle of Cowpens. The Americans finally gain the momentum, and they ride it to an historic conclusion.

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After boosting American morale with successes at Trenton and Princeton, the American main army suffers seemingly disastrous losses outside Philadelphia in 1777. The British capture the American capital, but the accomplishment comes with unintended consequences. A campaign by the British northern army to take control of the Mohawk and Hudson rivers starts well but then falters. Near Albany, New York, the American northern army saves the war effort with a shocking result at the pair of engagements known as the Battle of Saratoga.

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During the American Revolutionary War, three pairs of battles were critical to the outcome. When the war begins in earnest in August of 1776 with the Battle of Brooklyn, it does not go well for General George Washington and the new Continental Army. The British army relentlessly pushes the American army out of New York. By Christmas, George Washington is desperate for a victory. He leads daring attacks at the Battle of Trenton and the Battle of Princeton to keep hope for independence alive.

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In the 1870s, Bill Longley adds his name to the list of infamous outlaws of the Old West. He roams his home state of Texas, adopting different names and robbing and killing. In the summer of 1876, while on the run after a murder in Uvalde County, Longley lands in a small-town love triangle which leads to his downfall.

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In the closing days of the Old West era, Burt Alvord forms an outlaw gang to rob trains in southern Arizona Territory. As the constable of Willcox, Arizona he has the perfect cover story: he can plan the robbery and then make sure his fellow lawmen don’t catch the bandits. His idea works well the first time, but it hits a major roadblock the second time in the form of Wells Fargo express messenger Jeff Milton. In the town of Fairbank, near Tombstone, Jeff Milton fights Burt Alvord’s gang in one of the final train robberies of the Old West.

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Frank and John Reno become troublemakers at a young age in Jackson County, Indiana. After the Civil War, they form one of the earliest outlaw gangs of the Old West era. They rob post offices, stores, banks, and trains. The Pinkerton Detective Agency locates and arrests the outlaws, but the gang continually evades justice … until the Jackson County Vigilance Committee vows to deliver frontier justice.

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Robert Clay Allison serves under Confederate cavalry commander Nathan Bedford Forrest in the Civil War and then drifts west to Texas. He works as a cowboy before starting his own ranch in Colfax County, New Mexico. There, he becomes a feared supporter of the settlers of Colfax County as they battle rich investors and the corrupt network known as the Santa Fe ring. After the so-called Colfax County War, Clay Allison ends up in a confrontation with Wyatt Earp in Dodge City.

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In 1893, Crawford Goldsby suffers humiliation at a dance at Fort Gibson in the Cherokee Nation. His plan for revenge lands turns him into an outlaw who is on the run in Oklahoma Territory. He forms a gang with a pair of brothers and they become the terror of the territory before Cherokee Bill ends up in the courtroom of the Hanging Judge, Isaac Parker.

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Before James Middleton Riley becomes known as Doc Middleton, he steals horses in Texas, escapes from prison in Texas, and escapes from jail in Nebraska. From his base in the Sandhills of northern Nebraska, Doc Middleton becomes the king of the horse thieves, and powerful forces join together to stop him. Later in life, Middleton becomes one of the legends of the West who joins Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West show. 

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