Season 4, Episode 2 | Splitting Sovereignty: How the Colonies Defended Local Control

About this episode

This episode explores the debate over local governance during the American Revolution with constitutional scholar Sean Beienburg.

Was the American Revolution really about breaking away from Britain? Or was it first a fight over who had the right to govern local communities? In this episode, host Matthew Brogdon sits down with constitutional scholar Sean Beienburg to unpack the forgotten federalism debate at the heart of the American Founding. Long before the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution, Americans were already arguing that Parliament could not truly represent people living thousands of miles away. Wha...

People in this episode

Host: Matthew Brogdon

Guest: Sean Beienburg

Topics covered

• American Revolution
• local control
• federalism
• governance
• colonial history

Keywords

• American Revolution
• local control
• federalism
• governance
• colonial communities

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Declaration of Independence, Constitution

Places: Britain

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