Hello and welcome to a history of the United States.

Episode 157, The Constitutional Convention,

Part 1, The Attendees. In late 2010, back when I was a 17-year-old putting out the early

episodes of my Alexander the Great podcast series, I was in college doing an A-level course on

US politics and government. Being 17,

and British, it's safe to say that my knowledge of US history at the time was fairly basic.

I knew the general sweeps, obviously. I'd been reading history books ever since I could read,

but I hadn't read anything that went

into lots of detail before this course.

And it started with the basics of US politics and government, the Constitution.

And to explain the Constitution, it started off with the Constitutional Convention.

That lesson was arguably the point where my fascination

with American history started, and as a result, led to this series existing at all. Why am I telling

you this? Because what we're going to cover over the next few episodes is going to define nearly

everything that comes after in American history.

And I love the story of the Constitutional Convention. This means we're going to go into some

classic history of the United States podcast detail covering the Constitutional Convention and really

take our time. It will pay off in the end. Though I do find it all ridiculously

fascinating, so we'd probably be covering it to the same level, even if there was no payoff. But

there will be. Anyway, enough waffle. On with the history. Last time out, we covered the meeting

of the commissioners to remedy defects of the federal government,

which, because that title is a mouthful, usually gets referred to as the Annapolis Convention.

...