After fifteen months and 46 episodes, Unprecedential is packing up and going to the beach. Today’s episode features Adam and Elayne reflecting on their favorite conversations thus far. They also draw out some general lessons about constitutional governanc

The Bill of Rights provides a great number of protections for accused and convicted criminals: it promises trial by jury; it prohibits “cruel and unusual” punishment. And in this system, defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

From today’s vantage point, the Founding era often seems a time churning with decisive hopefulness. The 1789 Constitutional Convention certainly featured vehement debate, as Gary Schmitt and Joseph Bessette noted in our last episode. But optimism appeared

When the Constitutional Convention began in 1787, delegates were tasked with creating a government that could simultaneously avoid monarchy’s overreaches and the Articles of Confederation’s ineffectiveness. In other words, the Convention needed to craft a

Since the 19th Amendment ratified women’s right to vote in 1920, the quest for women’s equality in America has taken many turns. But the philosophical lineage behind the legal and cultural debates about women’s rights remains visible in today’s disagreeme

Both historically and constitutionally, the freedom to worship has been a centerpiece of American politics. For much of their history, Americans viewed religious devotion as a linchpin of human experience and deserving of legal protection. But traditional

The relationship between politics and religion is inevitably fraught. In the American context, various confessions have evaluated America’s political arrangement differently over time, but some themes of the debate remain the same. Does America’s constitu

Higher education is supposed to provide space for citizens to generate new ideas, consider old ones, and debate about society’s priorities. But these intellectual activities depend upon open channels of dialogue, which face profound challenges from politi

The pandemic has dramatically emphasized the authority that scientific expertise commands in our political culture. As the CDC has periodically updated its guidelines over the course of the year, states, localities, and businesses adapted their policies i

As Ivana Stradner and Gary Schmitt noted in Unprecedential’s previous episode, the United States maintains many political, economic, and cultural interests abroad. One of the United States’ most crucial efforts abroad is the dissemination of unflinching,