The American Story: A Narrative History of the United States

Prof. Mitton discusses how Jim Crow laws were actually a progressive policy response to conditions in the South. And we begin a thematic approach to 20th Century American history with a brief outline of how we got from a deeply racist progressive Democrat in the White House (Woodrow Wilson) to a progressive African-American Democrat President just a century later.

Was the American West built by rugged individualism or by massive Federal intervention? Much of today's partisan battles are rooted in the stories both sides tell about the history of this era of American history. But the truth often lies outside either party's interpretation of events. For instance, can you tell the story of how the settlement of the West by Anglo-Americans led to the passage of the 16th Amendment establishing the income tax? What is the connection between the Transcontinental Railroad and the cultural breakthrough of womens' suffrage? Join Dr. Heath Mitton as he explores these and other lasting impacts of the Progressive Era.

Following the Civil War American's attention turned to the "civilizing" and "reclamation" of the arid West. How the trans-continental railroad and the gold rush of 1849 laid the groundwork for the rise of Western political power and set the stage for a century of contradictory anti-Federal political animus in Western states.

Beginning with Emancipation and the Election of 1864 through the end of the Civil War and the period known as Reconstruction. Why did the American North not offer a "Marshall Plan" of sorts for the American South? How did the Secretary of War's decision to barricade himself in his office lead to the impeachment of Andrew Johnson? Dr. Mitton explores the decisions that shaped the end of slavery and war in the U.S.

Professor Heath Mitton takes us to the brink of Civil War with an exploration of American politics in the 1850s. How did the "slave power" of the American South come to the point that they valued the institution of slavery over the benefits of Union? Are there parallels in ideology in contemporary U.S. politics?

As we review the final flash points of the sectional crisis that finally led to civil war, Dr. Mitton identifies the genesis of the judicial doctrine known as "original intent" as the 1857 Dred Scott case when U.S. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney held that African Americans, whether free not, could never become American citizens because, as Taney saw it, that would clearly violate the original intent of the country's Founders.

Which American state was founded as a free labor experiment; which experiment was then abandoned for the more profitable model of human slavery? In this episode Dr. Mitton debunks the theory that slavery was an unprofitable enterprise in the era of industrialized capitalism and free labor markets. By 1860, far from declining, American slavery was surging as a profitable business model.

"Democracy! Don’t you recognize that these are the waters of the deluge? Can’t you see them advancing ceaselessly with gradual but irresistible force?...Let us attempt, then, to foresee the future with open eyes and steady gaze.” -Alexis de Tocqueville
In 1831, when Alexis de Tocqueville landed in New York, the United States was a country in transition. Caught somewhere in the evolution from an agrarian economy to commercial mercantilism, the young republic was a stage for competing and contradictory social paradigms. This episode explores the Frenchman's observations of early America, where he saw what has come to be known as the “soft despotism” of individuals in a democracy attempting to bend political power to their own benefit.

A broad discussion of the art of compromise in American politics, focusing on the Compromise of 1790 between Jefferson, Madison, and Hamilton. Why are ideological arguments ill-suited to the compromise needed to govern?

The concept of states' rights and the idea of state nullification of Federal laws is as old as the American Republic itself. In this episode we get into the beginnings of the sectional crisis in the 1820s, and trace these popular contemporary themes of conservative Constitutional interpretation to their ideological roots.