🎧 Full episodes available wherever you get podcasts.

The Supreme Court is often presented as one of the few institutions in American government that stands above politics. A body of impartial legal experts applying the Constitution without regard to ideology, partisanship, or public opinion. But a closer look at American history tells a very different story.

In this episode of Past Is Prologue, I trace the political history of the Supreme Court from the Founding Era to the present day. We’ll examine how the Court established its own authority under John Marshall, how it defended slavery under Roger Taney, how it protected laissez-faire capitalism during the Lochner Era, how it expanded civil rights under the Warren Court, and how modern controversies surrounding the shadow docket reflect a much older pattern in American political life.

The point here is not that judges are merely politicians in robes or that legal reasoning is meaningless. The Court is a real legal institution that operates within constitutional traditions and constraints. But the idea that it has ever existed entirely outside politics is difficult to sustain when viewed through the broader sweep of American history.

Topics discussed include:

John Marshall and the creation of judicial review

The expansion of Supreme Court power in the early republic

Roger Taney and the Dred Scott decision Slavery, constitutional interpretation, and political power

The Lochner Era and judicial protection of capitalism

The Warren Court and the civil rights revolution Brown v. Board of Education

The conservative legal movement and the Federalist Society

The Roberts Court and the shadow docket

The myth of judicial neutrality

The relationship between law, power, and democratic governance

This episode is ultimately about the role of the Supreme Court in American political life — and why debates over judicial neutrality, constitutional interpretation, and political power are far older than today's headlines.

Chapters 00:00 The Shadow Docket and a Modern Controversy 05:53 Why the Supreme Court Was Never Neutral 06:31 John Marshall and the Creation of Judicial Power 11:24 Roger Taney and the Politics of Slavery 18:18 The Lochner Era and Constitutional Capitalism 26:01 The Warren Court and Liberal Judicial Activism 32:47 The Conservative Legal Revolution 38:16 The Shadow Docket and the Roberts Court 40:49 The Supreme Court as a Political Institution 42:54 Outro

📌 Subscribe for long-form historical analysis that connects past and present without the mythology. #USHistory #SupremeCourt #SCOTUS #AmericanHistory #Constitution #HistoryPodcast #PoliticalHistory #JudicialReview #Law #PastIsPrologue #Politics #judicialhistory #judiciary #judicialbranch #robertscourt #warrencourt #education #educational #educationalvideo #jurisprudence #originalism #textualism

Watch more episodes:

Andrew Jackson: The Rise of the American Strongman https://youtu.be/9KkUlDt3x-A

America Never Had a “Golden Age” of Journalism https://youtu.be/FsSN1fIYsjo

How Religion Helped Americans Cope with Capitalism (1820s–1840s) https://youtu.be/MgDZmwCL-RM

Why “The Founding Fathers Would Have…” Is Almost Always Wrong https://youtu.be/-zCJKAU0Ry0

🎧 Subscribe to How the HELL Did We Get Here? for long-form U.S. history that connects the past directly to the present.

Andrew Jackson is one of the most important — and controversial — figures in American history. To supporters, he was the champion of the “common man,” the war hero who democratized American politics and challenged entrenched elites. To critics, he was a violent authoritarian whose presidency expanded executive power, intensified white supremacy, accelerated Native dispossession, and helped normalize a dangerous style of populist politics.

In this episode, we examine Jackson’s rise from impoverished frontier orphan to military hero, slaveholding plantation owner, and eventually president of the United States. We explore the War of 1812, the Battle of New Orleans, the “corrupt bargain” of 1824, the birth of Jacksonian Democracy, the spoils system, Indian Removal, and the transformation of American political culture during the Market Revolution.

More importantly, we ask a larger question: Did Andrew Jackson truly democratize America, or did he simply create a new form of mass politics built around executive aggression, expansion, and popular resentment?

Topics include: The frontier culture that shaped Jackson Duels, violence, and honor culture The Creek War and Battle of New Orleans Slavery and westward expansion The Election of 1824 and the “corrupt bargain” The rise of modern political parties Martin Van Buren and party organization The spoils system Indian Removal and the Trail of Tears Populism and presidential power

📚 Major sources include: The Market Revolution — Charles Sellers What Hath God Wrought — Daniel Walker Howe American Lion — Jon Meacham Give Me Liberty! — Eric Foner The American Pageant

Time Stamps/Chapters: 00:00 — Jackson arrests a federal judge 02:26 — Welcome + why Jackson matters 03:32 — Sources + guiding question 05:48 — Jackson’s backcountry childhood 06:54 — Revolutionary trauma and hatred of the British 08:47 — Gambling, debt, and the young frontier striver 09:28 — Law, Tennessee, and Jackson’s rise 10:42 — Wealth, slavery, land speculation, and contradiction 13:52 — Rachel Jackson and the scandal that followed him 16:36 — Honor culture, violence, and Jackson’s temper 17:38 — The Charles Dickinson duel 19:04 — Thomas Hart Benton and another bullet in Jackson’s body 20:41 — Old Hickory and militia leadership 22:14 — The Creek War and Horseshoe Bend 23:34 — The Treaty of Fort Jackson and Native dispossession 25:04 — The Battle of New Orleans 27:30 — Martial law and extraordinary executive power 30:04 — The First Seminole War and Spanish Florida 31:44 — John Quincy Adams turns Jackson’s recklessness into expansion 32:44 — Jackson enters the politics of 1824 34:38 — The House decision and the “corrupt bargain” 35:52 — Jacksonian Democracy becomes a political identity 37:42 — The election of 1828 and mass party politics 38:44 — Democracy expands — for white men 39:48 — Van Buren builds the Jacksonian coalition 41:28 — The Petticoat Affair 43:58 — Rotation in office and the spoils system 45:28 — Indian Removal and Jackson’s darkest legacy 47:26 — Worcester v. Georgia and the limits of judicial power 48:58 — The Trail of Tears and the cost of Jacksonian Democracy 49:45 — The Nullification Crisis 51:28 — Jackson defends the Union against South Carolina 52:46 — The Bank War begins 54:10 — Jackson vetoes the Bank 54:35 — Pet banks, censure, and accusations of monarchy 55:29 — Democrats, Whigs, and hardened party identities 56:03 — The Specie Circular and the Panic of 1837 57:31 — Jackson’s larger legacy 58:07 — Democracy for whom?

📌 Subscribe for unvarnished U.S. history that connects the dots.

#AndrewJackson #USHistory #AmericanHistory #JacksonianDemocracy #HistoryPodcast #TrailOfTears #WarOf1812 #Politics #History #HowTheHellDidWeGetHere #USHistory #AndrewJackson #JohnQuincyAdams #ElectionOf1824 #CorruptBargain #AmericanPolitics #electoralcollege #usahistory #americanhistory #education #educational #earlyrepublic #democracy #republic #politics #americanpolitics #politicalhistory #usa #unitedstates #america #jacksonianamerica #president #americanpresident #electoralcollege #APUSH #politicalparties #democrats

Note: An earlier upload accidentally contained an unedited audio export. This version contains the finalized episode audio.

🎧 Full episodes available wherever you get podcasts.

From the partisan newspapers of the Founding Era to yellow journalism, wartime propaganda, cable news, and the algorithm-driven chaos of social media, the American media has never been as objective or neutral as many people imagine. In this episode of Past Is Prologue, I trace the long history of misinformation, propaganda, and partisan media in the United States.

We’ll examine how newspapers helped shape the political battles of the early republic, how sensationalist journalism pushed the country toward war in 1898, how the federal government coordinated propaganda during the world wars, and how modern media ecosystems evolved through talk radio, Fox News, social media, and the internet age. The point here is not that journalism is useless or inherently corrupt. Some of the most important reforms in American history happened because journalists exposed abuses of power.

But media systems are always shaped by incentives — political incentives, economic incentives, and technological incentives — and those pressures often reward outrage, simplification, fear, and spectacle over nuance or accuracy. Topics discussed include: Partisan newspapers in the 1790s Andrew Jackson and political media networks Yellow journalism and the Spanish-American War The USS Maine World War I propaganda and the Committee on Public Information McCarthyism and television Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers The repeal of the Fairness Doctrine Rush Limbaugh and talk radio Roger Ailes and Fox News Trump, social media, and algorithm-driven information ecosystems The fragmentation of shared reality in modern America This episode is ultimately about the relationship between media, money, power, and democracy — and why the problems Americans associate with “fake news” are much older than Facebook or Twitter.

Chapters 00:00 — Cold open: the myth of “objective media” 02:05 — Welcome + today’s guiding question 03:00 — The partisan press of the Founding Era 05:20 — Newspapers as political weapons in the 1790s 07:35 — Andrew Jackson and mass political media 09:15 — The penny press and sensational journalism 11:20 — Yellow journalism and the Spanish-American War 13:50 — “Remember the Maine!” and manufactured outrage 15:40 — World War I propaganda and the CPI 18:20 — Selling war to the public 20:05 — Radio, mass communication, and emotional politics 22:10 — McCarthyism and the power of television 24:15 — Vietnam, credibility collapse, and the Pentagon Papers 26:30 — Watergate and distrust of institutions 27:40 — The Fairness Doctrine and its repeal 29:00 — Rush Limbaugh and partisan talk radio 30:15 — Cable news and the rise of Fox News 31:00 — Roger Ailes and conservative media strategy 33:05 — Fragmentation and separate media realities 34:30 — The internet changes everything 36:20 — Algorithms, outrage, and attention economics 38:00 — Social media and the collapse of shared reality 39:40 — Trump and modern populist media politics 42:00 — Why misinformation thrives 43:30 — Final takeaway: the media was never neutral 44:40 — Closing

📌 Subscribe for long-form historical analysis that connects past and present without the mythology. #USHistory #FakeNews #HistoryPodcast #AmericanHistory #MediaHistory #Politics #Propaganda #FoxNews #Trump #Journalism #PoliticalHistory #PastIsPrologue