How The Massachusetts Constitution Shaped American Government
About this episode
The episode discusses how the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780 influenced American government and addresses misconceptions about John Adams.
John Adams has a branding problem. If your mental picture comes from a musical, a miniseries, or the vague sense that he “wanted to be king,” we put that claim on trial by reading his work where it matters most: the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780, the oldest functioning written constitution and a direct ancestor of the U.S. Constitution. We’re joined by Dr. Beienberg to trace what Adams actually argues for and why the rest of the founding generation quietly treats Massachusetts as the mod...
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