Episodes

Here is a list of all of our episodes. Click on the episode link for the corresponding episode page, which includes a summary of the episode’s discussion, a Further Reading list, and more.

Ep. 31: Holidays in Early America

  • Ken Owen, Michael Hattem, and Roy Rogers discuss the origins and development of holidays in early America, including Christmas, thanksgivings, Pope’s Day, and the Fourth of July.

Ep. 30: The Electoral College in Early America

  • Ken Owen, Michael Hattem, and Roy Rogers explore the origins of the Electoral College and its early development prior to the Civil War, including the debates at the Constitutional Convention and during ratification, its implementation in the first few presidential elections, and how it changed during the first half of the nineteenth century.

Ep. 29: The Supreme Court in Early America

  • Ken Owen, Michael Hattem, Roy Rogers, and Mark Boonshoft discuss the origins and early development of the Supreme Court. Topics include the Court’s colonial antecedents, debates during the Constitutional Convention and ratification, and the significance of the Jay and Marshall courts and their most important decisions.

Ep. 28: Political Parties in Early America

  • As the presidential election of 2020 nears, Ken Owen, Michael Hattem, Roy Rogers, and Lindsay Chervinksy discuss the origins of political parties over the course of the eighteenth century.

Ep. 27: Sport in Early America

  • In this episode, Ken Owen, Michael Hattem, and Roy Rogers discuss the development of sport in early America, from the pre-contact to the Civil War.

Ep. 26: Political Violence in Early America, Part II

  • In the second of a two-part discussion, Ken Owen, Michael Hattem, and Roy Rogers discuss the development of political violence in early America, from the American Revolution to the Civil War.

Ep. 25: Political Violence in Early America, Part I

  • In the first of a two-part discussion, Ken Owen, Michael Hattem, and Roy Rogers discuss the origins of political violence in early America, from Jamestown to the American Revolution.

Ep. 24: Impeachment in Early America

  • The JuntoCast returns as Ken Owen, Michael Hattem, and Roy Rogers explore the origins and history of impeachment in early America.

Ep. 23: The Election of 1800

  • In this episode, Ken Owen, Michael Hattem, and Roy Rogers, discuss the history and significance of the presidential election and “revolution” of 1800.

LIVE: Elections in Early America

  • In this timely episode, Ken Owen, Michael Hattem, Roy Rogers, and special guest Jeffrey L. Pasley discuss the role and development of elections in early America.

Ep. 21: The Bill of Rights

  • Ken Owen, Michael Hattem, and Roy Rogers discuss the Bill of Rights, including its antecedents in British history and the colonial context, the politics that brought it about, and its legacy in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Extra!, Ep. 3: The Hamilton Moment

  • Ken Owen, Michael Hattem, Roy Rogers, Nora Slonimsky, and Joanne Freeman continue their discussion from our previous episode on the life and times of Alexander Hamilton by thinking about the current “Hamilton Moment,” as well as the “peaks and valleys” of Hamilton’s legacy throughout American history.

Ep. 20: Alexander Hamilton

  • Ken Owen, Michael Hattem, Roy Rogers, Nora Slonimsky, and, special guest, Joanne Freeman discuss the life and times of Alexander Hamilton, including the impact of his early life in the Caribbean, his roles in the war, the Constitution, and the first party system, and his untimely death at the hand of Aaron Burr in the nation’s most infamous political duel.

Extra!, Ep. 2: Printers in Early America

  • Ken Owen, Michael Hattem, and Roy Rogers follow episode 19 on “print culture” with a discussion about printers in early America, including the fiscal and political challenges of being a printer, their role in curating and circulating information, and how the occupation changed after the Revolution.

Ep. 19: Print Culture in Early America

  • Ken Owen, Michael Hattem, Roy Rogers, and Jonathan Wilson explore “print culture” in early America, including its increasing role throughout the period from colonial society and the imperial resistance to the American Revolution and the early republic.

Extra!, Ep. 1: The “Originality Crisis” in American Revolution Scholarship?

  • Ken Owen, Michael Hattem, Roy Rogers, and Liz Covart discuss a question that arose from a keynote talk by Woody Holton at the recent Massachusetts Historical Society conference on the American Revolution, i.e., “Is there an ‘originality crisis’ in American Revolution scholarship?”

Ep. 18: The Coming of the American Revolution

  • Ken Owen, Michael Hattem, Roy Rogers, and Liz Covart discuss the coming of the Revolution, including both its long-term origins and short-term causes, and debate the importance of imperial identity, popular participation, ideas and ideology, and the character of the resistance movement.

Ep. 17: Morgan’s American Slavery, American Freedom

  • In our second “classic works” episode, Ken Owen, Michael Hattem, and Roy Rogers revisit Edmund Morgan’s American Slavery, American Freedom (1975), winner of the 2013 Junto March Madness.

Ep. 16: Loyalists in Early America

  • Ken Owen, Michael Hattem, and Christopher Minty discuss issues relating to loyalists and the American Revolution, including how to define a loyalist and/or loyalism, the impact of loyalists on the Revolutionary War and the impact of the war on loyalists, and the fate of loyalists in the new post-revolutionary world.

Ep. 15: Founders in Early America

  • Ken Owen, Michael Hattem, and Roy Rogers discuss the individualism that forms the foundation of our cultural memory of the Revolution, the idea of “second-tier” or “forgotten” founders and how those tiers are constructed, and the recent redefinition of what constitutes a “founder” and its impact on how we understand the American Revolution.

Ep. 14: Popular Protest in Early America

  • Ken Owen, Michael Hattem, Roy Rogers, and Liz Covart discuss popular protest in early America, including the moral economy of the colonial period, the Stamp Act riots and the development of protest during the imperial crisis, and Shays’ Rebellion and the Whiskey Rebellion in the early republic.

Ep. 13: Education in Early America

  • Michael Hattem, Roy Rogers, and Mark Boonshoft discuss education in early America, including its role in the colonial period, the American Revolution, and the early republic.

Ep. 12: Bailyn’s Ideological Origins of the American Revolution

  • Ken Owen, Michael Hattem, Roy Rogers, and Mark Boonshoft revisit a classic work in the field of early American history, Bernard Bailyn’s The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution, first published in 1967.

Ep. 11: The Declaration of Independence

  • In celebration of July 4, Ken Owen, Michael Hattem, and Roy Rogers discuss the Declaration of Independence, including why it took so long to achieve independence, the utility of the document itself, and strategies for teaching the Declaration.

Ep. 10: Gender in Early America

  • Ken Owen, Michael Hattem, Roy Rogers, and Sara Damiano discuss how female gender roles changed from the colonial period through the American Revolution, as well as the ways in which gender historians approach archival sources and approaches to teaching gender history.

Ep. 9: The Early American Presidency

  • In honor of President’s Day, this month’s episode features Ken Owen, Michael Hattem, and Roy Rogers discussing issues related to the development of the Presidency in the early republic, including the initial defining of the office by Federalists and John Adams’ and Thomas Jefferson’s challenges in navigating that office, as well as the role of the Presidency in public memory.

Ep. 8: Thomas Paine and Common Sense

  • Ken Owen, Michael Hattem, Roy Rogers, and Ben Park discuss Thomas Paine, including reconsidering the importance of his most famous work, Common Sense, his life as an eighteenth-century transatlantic radical, and his legacy today compared to that of the other “founders.”

Ep. 7: The Great Awakening

  • Ken Owen, Michael Hattem, Roy Rogers, and Mark Boonshoft discuss the Great Awakening, including its historiography, its relationship to the American Revolution, and its contemporary significance.

Ep. 6: The Continental Congress

  • Ken Owen, Michael Hattem, and Roy Rogers discuss the Continental Congress, including a number of recent popular histories about it, its popular and academic historiography, and various aspects of its importance.

Ep. 5: The Constitution

  • Ken Owen, Michael Hattem, Roy Rogers, and Tom Cutterham discuss the Constitution of the United States, including recent historiography, its overall significance, and originalism.

Ep. 4: Religion in Early America

  • Ken Owen, Michael Hattem, and Roy Rogers discuss religion in early America, including its relationship to the American Revolution as well as historiographical developments and pedagogical practices.

Ep. 3: Teaching the U.S. History Survey

  • Ken Owen, Michael Hattem, Roy Rogers, and Joseph Adelman discuss various approaches and issues regarding teaching the first half of the U.S. history survey, including where to begin, where to end, what primary and secondary sources work well, and the survey’s biggest challenges.

Ep. 2: The American Revolution

  • Ken Owen, Michael Hattem, Roy Rogers, and Eric Herschthal use the recent MCEAS conference, “The American Revolution Reborn,” as a springboard to launch into a discussion on questions of periodization, Atlantic and global contexts, the limits of “republicanism,” and the value of recovering “lived experience.”

Ep. 1: Academic Historians and Popular History

  • Ken Owen, Michael Hattem, and Roy Rogers discuss academic historians’ relationship with popular history, what lies behind the appeal of the most popular works of history, the role of popular history in the classroom, and how academic historians can reach a broader audience beyond the friendly confines of academia.