In this episode, John discusses the circumstances surrounding the presidential election of 1796. John explains how the Democratic Republican Party and the Federalist Party had become more or less fully formed partisan organizations by the time the election was to take place and what the issues were that divided the two of them. John goes into detail about how each party viewed itself, its place in American Politics and each party’s vision for the future of the United States as the election approached.

John then goes on to discuss what actually happened in the presidential election of 1796 and how it was that John Adams ended up as the winner. John reviews the mechanism of the electoral college and how it functioned quite differently from today; he closes with a brief discussion of the rift between John Adams and Alexander Hamilton within the Federalist Party.

In this episode, John discusses the origins of the United States’ first political parties: the Federalist Party and the Democratic Republican Party. John goes over the various factors that created enough political division to account for political parties coming into existence, despite the fact that this was not anticipated at the Constitutional Convention or during the ratification process. John breaks down the issues that created opposing constituencies for two political parties, including the interpretation of the constitution, Alexander Hamilton’s financial program and whether the United States should more closely align itself with Britain or with France in the early years of the new Republic.

John also covers the fundamentals of the Whiskey Rebellion and how it contributed to the political divisions that resulted in the two party system of late 18th century America. John explains what drove the rebels to take the actions they did and how the Washington Administration’s response to the Whiskey Rebellion instilled hope or fear about the new federal government depending on the perspective of those who observed events as they unfolded. Finally, John talks about the French Revolution and how it served to solidify the already-existing political divisions and make it easy for opposing forces to organize into Federalist and Democratic Republican camps.

In this episode, John dives into the details of westward expansion after the Revolutionary War and the ways that both the movement of the United States and white Americans west affected Native Americans. John begins with a brief recap of how Native Americans and European-descended white settlers had interacted prior to the Revolution and then explains how the Revolution affected the relationship between Native Americans and whites in some general and specific ways. John talks about the motivations for those on either side of the divide and how the existence of an independent United States, various state governments and white Americans eager for cheap land on the frontier created existential challenges for Native Americans east of the Mississippi River.

John then discusses the new approach of the George Washington Administration and the new Federal government under the U.S. Constitution, beginning in 1789. He explains what Washington and Henry Knox, his closest collaborator in Native American policy early on, were thinking and trying to achieve as they took power. Finally, John discusses why Washington’s policies failed to work out as he’d hoped and how the administration and Congress then chose to approach westward expansion and Native Americans in the 1790s.