Hi, I'm Jeff Sickinga, executive director of the Ashbrook Center, and this is the American

idea, where we discuss the ideas, people, and events that have made America what it is today.

We believe that by understanding our history and our principles, we can better

live up to the promise of the American founding and preserve our ongoing experiment in self-government.

Welcome to the American Idea. I want to welcome everyone to this episode of the American Idea. Today we're going to be

doing an episode that's part of a series that we're doing for America 250, remembering, returning

back to founding debates, founding principles, founding documents to help us us understand their meaning not only for our

founding period, but also what they mean have meant through American history and what they

mean for today. Today we're going to be focusing on, of course, one of the most famous,

maybe the most famous work of American political science, the Federalist.

And we're going to be talking particularly about the important, great, noteworthy, really

essential contribution of Alexander Hamilton into the Federalist.

And I'm joined for that conversation by an old friend, a personal friend of

mine, but also, of course, a great friend of the Ashbrook Center and, of course, of this

podcast. Many of our listeners have heard Steve with us here before on the American idea.

Professor Steve Knott is the Thomas and Mabel Guy chair in American History and Government

at Ashland University.

He is also, of course, Professor Emeritus at the Naval War College.

Before the Naval War College, many of you know, Steve was co-chair of the Presidential Oral History

Program at the Wonderful Miller Center at the University of Virginia, where he did very important

work in the history of American

presidency. He teaches courses in the master's program here at Ashland University on the presidency,

...