About this episode

The episode discusses the signing of the Declaration of Independence and its historical significance with guest A.J. Jacobs.

For this 4th of July weekend, our "50 Weeks That Shaped America" series lands in, no surprise, 1776 and the signing of the Declaration of Independence. 250 years ago, a group writing assignment fell in Thomas Jefferson's lap, and he drafted a document that spurred a revolution. Jody, Niki and Kellie travelled up to Boston to WBUR's Cityspace and were joined by A.J. Jacobs, author of "The Year of Living Constitutionally" to talk about how the document came together, some of the key changes that were made to it -- and how it has served as a guiding light in the 250 years since. Join our America250 newsletter community ! Subscribe for free to get the latest news and analysis of how America250 is playing out. Paying subscribers get access to early, ad-free versions of the show. Plus bonus features throughout the year. To support our work and get access to everything, subscribe now . This Day is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories. If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: ThisDayPod.com Get in touch if you have any ideas for future topics, or just want to say hello…

People in this episode

Hosts: Jody Avirgan, Niki, Kellie

Guest: A.J. Jacobs

Topics covered

• Declaration of Independence
• American history
• Thomas Jefferson
• revolution
• Boston
• July 4th
• historical documents

Keywords

• Declaration of Independence
• Thomas Jefferson
• A.J. Jacobs
• American Revolution
• Boston
• history podcast
• July 4th

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: WBUR, Radiotopia

Books & works: The Year of Living Constitutionally

More episodes of This Day (An America 250 History Show)

• A Declaration Abstention w/ John Dickerson (Revolutionary Rerun) · July 21, 2026 · 14 min
• Franklin's French Fantasies w/ Mike Duncan (Revolutionary Rerun) · July 19, 2026 · 32 min
• Lexington, Concord, and Menotomy? (Revolutionary Rerun) · July 16, 2026 · 16 min
• Liberty Trees (Revolutionary Rerun) · July 14, 2026 · 25 min
• Ben Franklin's ALMANACK (Revolutionary Rerun) · July 12, 2026 · 18 min
• A Show We Love: "The Rest Is History" on George Washington · July 8, 2026 · 1h 13m

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the This Day (An America 250 History Show) podcast page.