The Great American Story: The Progressive Era

The Great American Story: The Progressive Era

From The Hillsdale College Online Courses Podcast by Hillsdale College

May 21, 2026 · 51 min

About this episode

The episode discusses the roots of the Progressive movement and features guest Wilfred McClay, exploring America's historical challenges and triumphs.

On this episode of The Hillsdale College Online Courses Podcast, Jeremiah and Juan discuss the roots of the Progressive movement before introducing Wilfred McClay. Americans have overcome many challenges throughout our history, including the American Revolution, the Civil War, the Great Depression, two World Wars, and the Cold War. Studying the great stories from our past inspires us to preserve the blessings of liberty in our day. Now you can study these stories with Hillsdale College. Hillsdale’s free online course, “The Great American Story: A Land of Hope,” explores the history of America as a land of hope founded on high principles. In presenting the great triumphs and achievements of our nation’s past, as well as the shortcomings and failures, it offers a broad and unbiased study of the kind essential to the cultivation of intelligent patriotism. The progressives attempted to address the challenges posed by modern American life through a series of institutional changes that conflicted with the founders’ understanding of constitutional government. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

People in this episode

Hosts: Jeremiah, Juan

Guest: Wilfred McClay

Topics covered

  • Progressive movement
  • American history
  • liberty
  • patriotism
  • institutional changes

Keywords

  • Progressive Era
  • American Revolution
  • Civil War
  • Great Depression
  • World Wars
  • Cold War
  • constitutional government

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Hillsdale College

Books & works: The Great American Story: A Land of Hope

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