In this episode, John reviews through what he has learned so far doing the show. John covers a variety of topics that he has gone into detail on in previous episodes, stretching all the way back to the very first How the Hell Did We Get Here. John starts out by talking about the Pre-Columbian period and the years between Columbus and the settlement of Jamestown, before discussing all the things he learned about the colonial period that he did not know before he started researching for the show, including the plantation of Ireland, how it affected English settlement of North America, Oliver Cromwell’s Western Design, and other lesser known historical tidbits.

John goes on to cover the American Revolution, the creation of the U.S. Constitution after the Articles of Confederation showed itself to be unworkable, and the ways that the experiment in democratic republicanism brought about unexpected problems and benefits. John Also talks about the first three presidential administrations and the things he learned that went on during those administrations. There’s also a pretty spicy assessment of the Trump administration before he gets to the history stuff, so don’t say we didn’t warn you!

In this episode, John does a deep dive into the early years of the Judicial Branch of the federal government. John begins by explaining how courts, judges and lawyers were perceived by the colonists in the decades before the American Revolution and what role it was in society and in the colonial governments that these elements played. John then discusses the changes that Americans wanted to see in the judicial system upon achieving independence from Great Britain and how the rapid evolution of democracy in the various states led to a push for a more uniform legal system in the country and a less hostile view of lawyers, judges and the judiciary more broadly by the time of the Constitutional Convention.

Finally, John covers the impact of the Marshall Court in general and the Marbury v. Madison case decided by that court in particular. John gives some background about who John Marshall was, how he ended up as the Chief Justice and his approach toward that position before explaining the details of the Marbury case. John concludes by breaking down the concept of Judicial Review and how the Judicial Branch was transformed by the other branches’ acceptance of the notion that judges and justices should exercise this authority in the U.S. government.

In this episode, John discusses the circumstances that allowed the Jefferson administration to complete the Louisiana Purchase from France. John explains how it was that France came to acquire Louisiana again and what it was that drove Napoleon to sell the territory to the U.S. less than five years after acquiring it. John also talks about the Lewis and Clark expedition and its importance to the foundation of an American presence in the middle of North America.

John also goes through the Jefferson administration’s decision to go to war with the Barbary Pirates in 1801. John covers the background of the conflict and why it was that Jefferson, despite his general opposition to warfare, decided that pursuing aggressive action against the Barbary states was warranted. John discusses how the conflict was ultimately resolved and why it was an important event in early American history.