In this episode, John gives a broad strokes rundown of both how the Constitution was created and the process by which it was ratified. John discusses the major controversies at the convention that needed to be resolved and explains very generally what the interests and motivations of the delegates at the convention were. John then breaks down the ratification process in the various states, briefly discussing how difficult or not it was from one state to the next.

In this episode, John explains how the Constitutional Convention was actually created and put into motion in 1787. John discusses the dire situation in which the young United States found itself, with threats from foreign adversaries and all sorts of domestic disputes and disorder, and how the government created by the Articles of Confederation was unable to resolve any of these major problems. John talks about the push by the "nationalists", as they came to be called, like James Madison, Robert Morris and Alexander Hamilton, to form a much stronger central government than the one that existed under the Articles of Confederation.

There is, of course, opposition to these kinds of reforms and John covers who opposed the push for big, bold changes to the national government and why they felt the way they did. Finally, John talks about the Annapolis Convention, how it led directly to the Constitutional Convention and how Madison led the delegates from Virginia and Pennsylvania in meetings in the days before the full Constitutional Convention met so that the nationalists could set the agenda when the full body began its sessions.

In this episode, John discusses the many challenges the United States faced as it emerged victorious from the Revolutionary War and sought to solidify its standing as an independent republic. John talks about the infamous Newburgh Conspiracy among a number of Continental Army officers, why it emerged and how George Washington was narrowly able to stop it from happening. John lists a number of the very serious difficulties the United States encountered as it tried to gain its footing and why those challenges were made more difficult under the first form of government, the Articles of Confederation.

Finally, John explains the structure of the Articles of Confederation government. He gives a detailed description of how the government operated, why it was made to operate in this fashion and what became the glaring weaknesses of it that forced many of the founding fathers to call for major reforms very shortly after the the Revolutionary War had ended.