The History of Illiberalism in America

We the People

Steven Hahn, author of Illiberal America: A History, and Manisha Sinha, author of The Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic: Reconstruction, 1860–1920, join Thomas Donnelly to explore the history of illiberalism in America and to assess illiberal threats facing our democracy today. 

Resources: 

  • Steven Hahn, Illiberal America: A History (2024) 
  • Manisha Sinha, The Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic: Reconstruction, 1860-1920 (2024) 
  • Abraham Lincoln, “ "Speech to the Young Men’s Lyceum of Springfield” (1838), Founders’ Library 
  • 13th Amendment, Interactive Constitution 
  • Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, Founders’ Library 
  • Steven Hahn, The Roots of Southern Populism: Yeoman Farmers and the Transformation of the Georgia Upcountry, 1850-1890 (1985) 
  • Marcia Coyle, “The U.S. Supreme Court Cases Built on a ‘Rotten Foundation’,” Constitution Daily (May 2022) 

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