Infantryman training in Ft Knox, Kentucky, 1942. US Office of War Information.

In the aftermath of the shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, Americans of all political stripes are wrestling with one big question: who should, and shouldn’t, have access to guns? So in this hour of BackStory, that’s the question we’ll be pushing back through the centuries.

On this episode, the History Guys look at the changing ways Americans have regulated gun ownership, and at what those weapons have meant to different segments of society. They consider the importance of the militia to the drafting of the Second Amendment, and explore the central role of the state in arming citizens. They also pay a visit to a 21st century version of the armories of the past: a gun show.

Guests Include:

• Kevin Sweeney, Amherst College, on the role of the state in arming early Americans.
• Adam Winkler, University of California, Los Angeles, on gun control in the Wild West and the Black Panthers’ embrace of the Second Amendment.
• Laura Browder, University of Richmond, on why the image of the gun-toting frontier woman continues to resonate.

Show Segments:

Listen to individual segments from the episode.

Further Exploration:

Resources galore! Peruse a list of outside sources compiled by the BackStory team to provide a more complete picture of the history of gun ownership in America, and consult a bibliography of works used in the making of this episode.

Even Further:

Read the listener discussion that helped shape this show.

President Grant taking the oath of office, 3/4/1873. [LOC]

Why was Washington’s voice trembling when he took the Oath of Office? Why did Lincoln’s contemporaries greet his now-famous second inaugural… with a shrug? What incoming president in the 1870s feared the specter of a rival inauguration by armed opponents? And in the larger scheme of things, why do inaugurations really matter, anyway?

Guests Include:

• Joanne Freeman, Yale University, on the incredibly high stakes of the nation’s first U.S. presidential inauguration.

• Tim McBride, former personal aide to George H.W. Bush, on how to project the right inaugural image.

• William J. Cooper, Louisiana State University, on the three inaugurations of Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

• George Rable, University of Alabama, on Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address, an extraordinary speech that garnered a collective shrug in its own time.

• Greg Downs, City College of New York, on the specter of a two dueling inaugurations after the hotly disputed election of 1876.

Show Segments:

Listen to individual segments from the episode.

Further Exploration:

Read the listener discussion that helped shape this episode.

Become an expert! Check our further readings on presidential inaugurations.

Infantryman training in Ft Knox, Kentucky, 1942. US Office of War Information.

The US has the highest rate of civilian gun ownership in the world. How did this come to be? Was America’s “gun culture” present from the very beginning?

On this episode, the History Guys look at who has had access to guns in the U.S., and what those guns have meant to the people who have owned them. They also consider the importance of guns at the time the Second Amendment was drafted, and explore the central role government has played in the dissemination of firearms to citizens. And they pay a visit to a 21^st century version of the armories of the past: a gun show.

Guests Include:

• Kevin Sweeney, Professor of American Studies and History at Amherst College
• Adam Winkler, Professor of Law at the University of California, Los Angeles
• Laura Browder, Professor of American Studies at the University of Richmond

Show Segments:

Listen to individual segments from the episode.

Further Exploration:

Resources galore! Peruse a list of outside sources compiled by the BackStory team to provide a more complete picture of the history of gun ownership in America, and consult a bibliography of works used in the making of this episode.

Even Further:

Read the listener discussion that helped shape this show.

Attendees at the 1952 Republican National Convention, Chicago, IL (LOC)

Republicans and Democrats are gearing up to nominate their presidential candidates. We can be almost certain that there won’t be many surprises.

American political conventions haven’t always been so predictable. Before they became scripted for TV, conventions were where some of the most critical policy questions were resolved, and where political careers were made or ruined. This week, we venture into the back rooms, chaotic halls, and streets where these dramas unfolded. We consider the radical roots of the convention ritual itself, and explore the ways that ritual was mainstreamed. Over the course of the hour, the History Guys hear the voices of anti-corruption crusaders in the 1820s, women’s rights activists at Seneca Falls, and civil rights workers in 1964, all of whom turned to conventions as venues for change. Through it all, we ask how well American political conventions have lived up to their promise of representing constituents back home.

Guests Include:

• Lloyd Snook, lawyer and former Virginia delegate to the Democratic National Convention

• Michael Holt, Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Virginia

• Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, Washington, D.C., delegate to the U.S. Congress

• Dr. Leslie McLemore, civil rights activist

• Nancy Hewitt, Professor of History and Women’s Studies at Rutgers University

• Richard Bensel, Professor of Political Science at Cornell University

Further Exploration

• Resources galore! Peruse a list of outside sources compiled by the BackStory team to offer a more complete picture of the unconventional history of conventions in the United States, and consult the bibliography of sources used in the making of the making of this episode.

• Listen to individual show segments.
• See the photograph of “sleepy delegate” Lloyd Snook.

Even Further

• See the listener discussion that helped shape this show.

• See a listing of the music used in this episode.

“The great Bartholdi statue, Liberty enlightening the world,” Currier & Ives, 1885 (Library of Congress)

Almost two centuries after Alexis de Tocqueville said that the U.S. was an exceptional case in the history of modern nations, the idea of “American Exceptionalism” is alive and well. Almost every GOP candidate for president in 2012  invoked the notion, each suggesting that President Obama doesn’t sufficiently embrace it. And so you might be surprised that, 90 years ago, it was American communists who were Exceptionalism’s biggest fans.

From the Puritan vision of a “city upon a hill” to the 19th century concept of manifest destiny; from Woodrow Wilson’s vision of the U.S. as a worldwide model to Ronald Reagan’s invocation of the Puritans; this episode looks at the changing meanings of Exceptionalism, and explores some of the ways Americans have invoked history to justify their sense of superiority in the world.

Guests Include

• Mark Peterson, Professor of History at the University of California, Berkeley

• Paul Kramer, Associate Professor of History at Vanderbilt University

• Katherine Meizel, Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology at Bowling Green State University

Further Exploration

Listen to individual show segments.

Resources galore! The BackStory team has pulled together some outside material to help you navigate the wild world of weather, including a bibliography of the sources consulted in the making of this episode.

Even Further

See a listing of music used in the episode.

Read the listener comments that helped shape this episode.

The victory of the USS Constitution over the HMS Guerriere in the War of 1812 by Anton Otto (credit: The Navy-Naval Historical Center)

“The Star Spangled Banner,” Tecumseh, the Battle of New Orleans, Andrew Jackson, the burning of Washington, D.C. and the Library of Congress: These are the schoolbook flashcards associated with the War of 1812. Yet while the war was vividly remembered for the first 50 years after it was fought, its history has largely failed to capture imaginations since then.

In this hour of BackStory we go beyond the trivia to take a closer look at the War of 1812. On the occasion of its bicentennial, we ask what this now-obscure war did to shape the United States. Why did we fight it to begin with? What did we have to prove and did we prove it? What drama and passion did Francis Scott Key see in this war that inspired him to pen the “Star Spangled Banner”? What about this war have we chosen to remember and how ?

We want your input as we shape this episode. Do you remember being taught the War of 1812 in school? If so, how was it taught and what facts or stories about the war stood out to you? What is your sense of how the war shaped the country, if it shaped it at all? What did we gain or lose from fighting it? Please share your stories, questions, and ideas below.

"Uncle Sam's Youngest Son, Citizen Know Nothing," ca. 1854 (Library of Congress)

When it comes to partisan politics, Americans are deeply conflicted. On the one hand, we complain that extreme polarization precludes the possibility for civil discourse. On the other, we”re nostalgic for a time when people really cared. We want an engaged citizenry without the deep fissures in the body politic, but can we have it both ways? Have we ever had it both ways?

On this special post-midterm election podcast, the History Guys reflect on Americans’ distaste for contemporary politics. Has Washington sunk to a new low, or is it merely American-constitutional-democracy-as-usual? Does partisanship threaten to tear our society apart at the seams, or is keeping us together?

This podcast features a special guest appearance by syndicated radio talk show host Randi Rhodes, who explains what it’s like to be a liberal in an industry dominated by conservatives.

Michael Kinsley, founding editor of Slate.com, talks about why he’s not worried about objectivity in the new media landscape.

Excerpted from: Just the Facts?: Partisanship & the Press

Matthew Goodman tells the story of an elaborate hoax involving “lunar man-bats” in the early days of the penny press.

Excerpted from: Just the Facts?: Partisanship & the Press

The History Guys discuss Thomas Jefferson’s sometimes contradictory ideas about a free press.

Excerpted from: Just the Facts?: Partisanship & the Press

Historian Marcus Daniel explains that the bitter rhetoric of editors in the 1790s played a key role in the birth of our democracy.

Excerpted from: Just the Facts?: Partisanship & the Press

From FDR to Sarah Palin, leaders on both sides of the political aisle have long claimed Thomas Jefferson as their own.  So what did Jefferson really stand for? That’s the question at the root of this special podcast, produced in conjunction with HISTORY.com.

In Part One, the History Guys take on the perennial debate over the appropriate role of central government. Did Jefferson think it should be pared-down and limited, or robust enough to confront external threats if and when they arise?

In Part Two,  the History Guys look at Jefferson’s idea of a “wall of separation” between church and state.  How did the personal beliefs of Jefferson and his contemporaries influence the framing of the Constitution itself?

PART TWO

PART ONE

From FDR to Sarah Palin, leaders on both sides of the political aisle have long claimed Thomas Jefferson as their own.  So what did Jefferson really stand for? That’s the question at the root of this special podcast, produced in conjunction with HISTORY.com.

In Part One, the History Guys take on the perennial debate over the appropriate role of central government. Did Jefferson think it should be pared-down and limited, or robust enough to confront external threats if and when they arise?

In Part Two,  the History Guys look at Jefferson’s idea of a “wall of separation” between church and state.  How did the personal beliefs of Jefferson and his contemporaries influence the framing of the Constitution itself?

PART ONE

PART TWO

Guests Include:

• Marcus Daniel, historian and author of Scandal and Civility: Journalism and the Birth of American Democracy
• Matthew Goodman, author of The Sun and the Moon: The Remarkable True Account of Hoaxers, Showmen, Dueling Journalists, and Lunar Man-Bats in Nineteenth-Century New York
• Michael Kinsley, founding editor of Slate.com

Show Highlights

• Peter Porcupine — Marcus Daniel explains that the bitter rhetoric of editors in the 1790s played a key role in the birth of our democracy.
• Jefferson & the Press — The History Guys discuss Thomas Jefferson’s sometimes contradictory ideas about a free press.
• Lunar Manbats — Matthew Goodman tells the story of an elaborate hoax involving “lunar man-bats” in the early days of the penny press.
• New Media & Objectivity — Michael Kinsley talks about why he’s not worried about objectivity in the new media landscape.

Web Exclusive

The Adorable Origins of Yellow Journalism
When did news become so… jaundiced? It’s hard to say. But we do know when it got yellow. Associate producer Rachel Quimby tells the story of the Yellow Kid– an improbable character who found himself at the center of the late nineteenth-century newspaper wars.

Further Reading

Want to dig deeper into the history of partisanship and the press? Check out this list of resources compiled by the History Guys to learn more.

Check out the music in our “Partisanship and the Press” show.