Exploring The Roots Of The American Revolution

Federalist Radio Hour

Radio America

News Commentary, News, Politics

4.5 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 3 July 2025

⏱️ 58 minutes

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Summary

On this episode of "The Federalist Radio Hour," Wilfred McClay, the Victor Davis Hanson Chair in Classical History and Western Civilization at Hillsdale College, joins Federalist Senior Elections Correspondent Matt Kittle to reflect on the roots of the American Revolution and explain how a history of self-governance sparked the Founding Fathers' fight for independence.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	The weather. Tomorrow, expect a... Biting cold front. Mmm, how naughty. I wonder what I'll be wearing or taking off. The night will be wild and untamed. Expect heavy, lashing rain that'll soak you to the skin. By Monday, temperatures will rise, slowly but surely, reaching their peak in the afternoon.
0:23.0	Not in the mood for miserable weather?
0:25.8	Fly cheaply to Turkey with Sun Express.
0:50.8	Sun Express, non-stop sunshine. And we are back with another edition of the Federalist Radio Hour.
0:55.1	I'm Matt Kittle, senior elections correspondent at the Federalist and your experienced Sherpa on today's quest for knowledge. As always, you can email the show at
1:01.1	radio at thefederalist.com. Follow us on X at FDRLST. Make sure to subscribe wherever you
1:08.4	download your podcast and, of course, to the premium version of our website as well.
1:14.2	Our guest today is Hillsdale College history professor, Dr. Bill McLeigh.
1:19.4	On this Independence Week, we take a closer look at the miracle of the founding generation and the founding values as we approach the 250th anniversary
1:30.3	of this great republic. Bill, thank you so much for joining us on this edition of the Federalist
1:36.8	Radio. Oh, it's my pleasure. This is, I really, I really want to emphasize the miracle
1:43.2	because the older I grow, the more I know, the more I
1:48.0	deeply believe in the miracle of the founding generation.
1:54.0	But you have been featured in a number of places, And I just watched a really good video starring you.
2:06.4	You were talking about the roots of revolution.
2:10.6	You know, this stuff did not happen overnight.
2:13.7	This miracle was many, many years in the making. Before we get to that founding generation,
2:21.6	let's talk about their experiences, their parents' experiences before we got to the revolution
2:30.1	era. Well, thank you and thank you for your kind words about the video. I think one way to answer
2:41.5	your question is to say that the revolution wasn't a sort of sudden thing. It didn't just sort of arise on the spur of the moment
2:53.4	with people saying, hey, let's do this crazy thing. It had to do with the fact that their
3:03.9	parents and parents' parents had parents had experienced a considerable experience of governing
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