Launched in 2024, This Constitution podcast is now in its fourth season.
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About
This Constitution is an every-two-weeks podcast ordained and established by the Center for Constitutional Studies at Utah Valley University, the home of Utah’s Civic Thought & Leadership Initiative.
Co-hosted by Savannah Eccles Johnston and Matthew Brogdon, This Constitution equips listeners with the knowledge and insights to engage with the most pressing political questions of our time.
Season 4 | Winning Independence
Ep. 1 | How The Sea Decided America's Independence | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 2 | Splitting Sovereignty: How the Colonies Defended Local Control | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 3 | How Do You Govern While Fighting a War? | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 4 | Valley Forge: When the Revolution Almost Froze to Death | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 5 | The Fourth-of-July Question America Needs to Ask | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 6 | The Revolution's Southern Campaign: Americans vs. Americans | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 7 | George Washington's Greatest Victory Was Not in Battle | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 8 | The American Revolution Was a Woman's War | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 9 | Why Congress Can't Run a War—But Won One Anyway | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 10 | The Founders' Hidden Weapon: American Diplomacy | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 11 | The Newburgh Conspiracy: Washington Saves the Republic | Apple | Spotify
Season 3 | The Making of the Declaration of Independence
Ep. 1 | Does the Separation of Powers Make Gov't More Powerful? | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 2 | State vs. Federal: How Identity Shapes American Democracy | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 3 | Folk Origins of Freedom: Ordinary People and the Declaration | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 4 | The Grievance Politics That Justified the Declaration | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 5 | Thomas Paine: Revolutionary, Not Patriot | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 6 | The Declarations That Shaped the Declaration | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 7 | Slavery: The Question the Declaration Could Not Settle in 1776 | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 8 | The Weaver of Our Foundation Fabric: Justice for John Adams | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 9 | The Collaborative Origins of the Declaration: Jefferson's Role | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 10 | Douglass and King: Two Visions of Constitution and Equality | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 11 | How Congress's Red Pen Helped Create the Declaration We Know | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 12 | How the Declaration Went Viral in 1776 | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 13 | George Washington and the Constitutional Design of Article II | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 14 | How the World Received America's Breakup Letter | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 15 | How Religious Pluralism Shaped the American Founding | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 16 | Religions in the Public Square: Learning to Get Along | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 17 | Congress Underrated: Representation and Gridlock | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 18 | Who Counts as the Press? From Printing Presses to Afroman | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 19 | Saving Principles: Frederick Douglass and the Declaration | Apple | Spotify
Season 2 | The Framers' Answer to the Problem of Checks and Balances
Ep. 1 | Does the Separation of Powers Make Gov't More Powerful? | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 2 | State vs. Federal: How Identity Shapes American Democracy | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 3 | Surviving the Senate: Executive Confirmations | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 4 | Understanding the Shot Heard 'Round the World | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 5 | Judicial Confirmations: Checks, Balances, or Political Theater? | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 6 | Executive Agreements vs. Treaties: Skirting the Constitution? | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 7 | Checks, Balances, and Budget Showdowns | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 8 | Executive Resistance: The Veto Power As a Constitutional Check | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 9 | The Legislative Power Grab: Constitutional Check or Power Grab? | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 10 | The Emancipation Proclamation: The Path to Juneteenth | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 11 | Courting Controversy: Judicial Review and the Constitution | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 12 | John Dickinson: The Reluctant Revolutionary | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 13 | Judging the Judges: Impeachment and the Courts | Apple | Spotify
Season 1 | The Powers and Limits of the U.S. Presidency
Ep. 1 | Above the law? Executive Privilege and Presidential Immunity | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 2 | An Elected Monarch? Creating the American Presidency | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 3 | George Washington Builds the Presidency | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 4 | Lincoln Saved the Union. Did He Violate the Constitution? | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 5 | Where's the Party? Presidential Selection Gone Wrong? | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 6 | Is the Electoral College the Best We Can Do? | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 7 | Ballots, Not Bullets: A 2024 Election Recap | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 8 | Starting Wars or Just Finishing Them? POTUS as Commander in Chief | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 9 | Who Needs Congress? POTUS as Chief Executive | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 10 | Myth of the Modern Presidency: The Office Since T.R. | Apple | Spotify
Ep. 11 | How to Thwart a Tyrant: Lincoln's Lyceum Address | Apple | Spotify
Season 1 Extra | Episode A | The Pursuit of Happiness | Apple | Spotify
Season 1 Extra | Episode B | The Legacy of Mercy Otis Warren | Apple | Spotify
Season 1 Extra | Episode C | Shakespeare and the U.S. Constitution | Apple | Spotify
Season 1 Extra | Episode D | The Real Truth about Judicial Review | Apple | Spotify
About This Constitution's Hosts
Savannah Eccles Johnston is an assistant professor of Constitutional Government, Civics & Law and director of the Master of Arts in Constitutional Government, Civics & Law (MACGCL) program at UVU.
She received her PhD in political science from Claremont Graduate University. Her research focuses on ideology and American political thought.
Her dissertation, What Enemy Hath Done This: The Death of the Fusion Movement and the Rise of Illiberal Conservatism, focuses on the theoretical division within the fusion (modern conservative) movement between classical liberalism and traditionalist conservatism and demonstrates how illiberalism—or the theoretical critique of liberalism—has gained the upper hand within the conservative intellectual movement over time.
Matthew Brogdon is the Larry H. & Gail Miller Family Foundation senior director of the Center for Constitutional Studies and associate professor of Political Science at Utah Valley University.
Most recently, Dr. Brogdon was an associate professor of Political Science at the University of Texas at San Antonio, where he taught broadly in the fields of American politics, constitutionalism and political philosophy.
Brogdon’s scholarship examines American constitutionalism with special attention to the federal judiciary. He has published on the constitutional origins of judicial federalism and the development of the federal courts, among other topics.
He earned his PhD in Political Science from Baylor University.