How the Hell Did We Get Here?
John Miller
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S2E22 The Supreme Court Has Always Been Political
🎧 Full episodes available wherever you get podcasts. The Supreme Court is often presented as one of the few institutions in American government that stands above politics. A body of impartial legal…
S2E21 Who the Hell Was Andrew Jackson Anyway?
🎧 Subscribe to How the HELL Did We Get Here? for long-form U.S. history that connects the past directly to the present. Andrew Jackson is one of the most important — and controversial — figures in…
S2E20 America Never Had a “Golden Age” of Journalism
Note: An earlier upload accidentally contained an unedited audio export. This version contains the finalized episode audio.🎧 Full episodes available wherever you get podcasts.From the partisan…
S2E20 America Never Had a “Golden Age” of Journalism
🎧 Full episodes available wherever you get podcasts. From the partisan newspapers of the Founding Era to yellow journalism, wartime propaganda, cable news, and the algorithm-driven chaos of social…
S2E19 How the Hell Did Religion Help Americans Cope with Capitalism?
If you want to understand what the Market Revolution did to Americans—not just how they worked or what they earned, but how they understood the world—you have to look at religion. In the 1820s and…
S2E18 Why “The Founding Fathers Would Have…” Is Almost Always Wrong
If you’ve ever heard someone say “the Founding Fathers would have…” — there’s a good chance what follows is wrong. The Founders didn’t agree with each other. Not even close. This isn’t a typical…
S2E17 Why the Hell Did Utopian Societies Proliferate in 19th century America?
In the early decades of the 19th century, Americans did something extraordinary: they tried to build perfect societies. Not metaphorically. Not just politically. Literally. Across the young republic,…
S2E16 Populism in America: When “The People” Become a Weapon
When politicians rail against elites, corrupt institutions, rigged systems, and the betrayal of ordinary people, it can feel like a uniquely modern style of politics. It isn’t. In this episode of…
S2E15 How the Hell Did the Election of 1824 Transform American Politics?
The Election of 1824 is usually remembered for one phrase: the “corrupt bargain.” But that’s not really what made it a turning point. In 1824, Andrew Jackson won more popular votes and more electoral…
S2E14 “It’s an Emergency” How Crises Have Expanded State Power From 1798 to the Present
Look, I don’t like expanded police powers, surveillance, emergency declarations, suspension of normal rules… but this is an emergency. We can deal with civil liberties later. That logic isn’t new.…
S2E13 How the Hell Did the Missouri Compromise Sow the Seeds of Civil War?
The Missouri Compromise is often remembered as a clever fix — a temporary truce, a line on a map, a way to “save the Union.”But that’s not what it really was.In 1820, Congress faced a choice it had…
S2E12 How the Hell Did Americans React to the Panic of 1819?
The “Era of Good Feelings” is usually sold as a moment of national calm — a post-War of 1812 breather before Jacksonian chaos. But when the boom ends, that calm turns out to be thin. In 1819, the…
S2E11 America’s Oldest Panic: Immigration as a Political Weapon
Think America’s current immigration freak-out is some unprecedented modern breakdown?Nope. It’s one of our oldest political habits. In this episode of Past Is Prologue, John walks through the…
S2E10 What the Hell Ruined the Era of Good Feelings?
The “Era of Good Feelings” is usually sold as a victory lap after the War of 1812 — unity, calm, and confidence in the American experiment.But if you zoom in, it’s less a victory lap than a stress…
S2E9 The “Kids These Days” Lie: From Cicero to Gen Z
Older generations have been dragging “kids these days” for at least 2,000 years. From Cicero whining about Roman youth to boomers roasting Gen Z on TikTok, the script barely changes: lazy, entitled,…
S2E8 How the Hell Did America Outgrow "Small Government" (1815–1825)?
America has tried the “tiny federal government” experiment before. After the War of 1812, Jefferson’s minimalist republic simply couldn’t handle a big-power world—so a new generation rebuilt the…
S2E7 We Keep Crashing the Economy — Here’s Why
In this episode of Past Is Prologue, John looks at more than 200 years of American economic history to answer a deceptively simple question:Why does the United States keep crashing its own…
S2E6 How the Hell Was America Dragged Into Capitalism?
In this episode of How the Hell Did We Get Here?, John digs into Chapter 2 of Charles Sellers’ The Market Revolution: Jacksonian America, 1815–1846 — a pivotal moment when the United States was…
S2E5 From Steam Engines to ChatGPT: How Tech Revolutions Actually Play Out
In this episode of Past Is Prologue, John looks at what 250 years of American history can teach us about the rise of artificial intelligence.Rather than treating AI as a totally unprecedented…
S2E4 What the Hell Did the Market Economy Undo in America?
What did the United States look like before canals, factories, and cash wages rewired everyday life? In this episode, John explores Chapter 1 of Charles G. Sellers’s The Market Revolution: Jacksonian…
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How the Hell Did We Get Here? has published 63 episodes since August 2024, covering topics in Courses, Education.
How the Hell Did We Get Here? is currently highly active with new episodes every 2 weeks. Average episode length is 42m.
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