4th Period U.S. History

Mr. Stepp
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  • History
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Welcome to 4th Period U.S. History — or, as it’s more lovingly referred to, 4Push. This class explores the histories and experiences of the United States from what should be its rightful origins in 1676, all the way to the moment when men finally got off their collective asses and gave women their due rights—and the vote. We’ll be exploring what I consider the single driving line throughout U.S. history: Can we dominate anyone who isn’t white and male? This course will focus heavily on slavery and how it forms the very foundation of this country. We’ll examine the origins of U.S. government, how it’s supposed to work, and where the real power lies within its three branches. We’ll also cover gender, race, ethnicity, and religion—and yes, probably tear apart the idea that Americans are always amazing, heroic, and all-knowing. This class will shine light on the darker corners of our nation’s past and, hopefully, expose you to more than you ever realized. American history is vast and deeper than a few white dudes writing some bold-as-hell statements on parchment and sailing them back to England with a metaphorical middle finger. This isn’t your older relative’s history class that focused on memorizing dates and names. 4th Period U.S. History class aims to give you an unbiased look at U.S. history—the facts, as best as they can be represented, given what we know. This course will challenge you and make you think twice about what it means to be a citizen. I hope that realization brings growth—and maybe even a deeper connection to your fellow neighbors. Don’t be afraid of our past, even if you know there are some skeletons in those closets. We all have an experience and a history in this country. We all have a voice in this country. And you all have a welcome, waiting seat in this class. If you come have a seat and find you enjoy the course, your subscription to my main Spreaker HQ would go a long way in growing this class, and would help this poor teacher deliver high quality content to you lovely folks.  You can find my Spreaker page HERE.   Now, lets start class!

  1. Ep 54- Penny For Your Thoughts (And a Towel For Your Lap): From Emancipation to Assassination

    4d ago

    Ep 54- Penny For Your Thoughts (And a Towel For Your Lap): From Emancipation to Assassination

    In today's class, we dissect the absolute whiplash of a nation that went from celebrating the surrender at Appomattox to frantically dragging a dying, 6-foot-4 president across a muddy street just to save polite society from the embarrassment of him dying in a sinful playhouse. It is a rare and agonizing historical distinction to be one of the few men in human history who quite literally got to see his own thoughts pooling in his lap. On Good Friday, 1865, Abraham Lincoln didn’t just survive a four-year national slaughterhouse—he capped it off by committing the ultimate mid-nineteenth-century social blunder: getting his brains blown out in a low-class, morally bankrupt theater usually reserved for rowdy drunks and prostitution. We deconstruct the grand myths of the assassination, from John Wilkes Booth’s theatrical (and likely fabricated) stage-leap leg fracture to the bizarre, fraud-riddled reality of the famous Bixby Letter—a masterpiece of presidential empathy sent to a Confederate-sympathizing brothel madam who had completely lied to the government about her dead sons to scam pension money. Before the tragedy at Ford's Theatre, however, the war was fundamentally reshaped by executive decree. We dive deep into the legal machinery of the Emancipation Proclamation, examining it not as a sweeping moral wand, but as a cold, calculated weapon of military necessity that legally "freed" enslaved people only where the Union had zero power to enforce it. But the true horror of "The Broken Peace" isn't the bullet that entered Lincoln's skull or the complex legacy of his decrees; it’s the absolute political nightmare that walked into the Oval Office immediately after. Enter Andrew Johnson: a man who harbored a venomous, deep-seated psychological hatred for Lincoln’s aristocratic upbringing and a fierce disdain for the "do-nothing" office of the Vice Presidency. We track Johnson from his infamous, roaringly intoxicated 1865 Inauguration Day tirade—where a severe bout of typhoid fever and a massive dose of straight whiskey left senators hiding their faces in collective shame—straight into his catastrophic, white-supremacist betrayal of Reconstruction. You will discover how a paralyzed executive branch weaponized blanket pardons for Confederate generals, stood by as Southern states instituted "Black Codes" to re-enslave Black Americans in all but name, and triggered a constitutional civil war with a furious Radical Republican Congress that ended with a historic impeachment trial decided by a single, razor-thin vote. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/4th-period-u-s-history--5621461/support. Visit the class at Spreaker.com and follow! Link to the page HERE!  It would mean a lot and go a long way in helping grow class! Thank you for your support!

    59 min
  2. Ep 53-The Longest Day: Beyond the Beaches

    Jun 5

    Ep 53-The Longest Day: Beyond the Beaches

    On June 6, 1944, the course of modern history shifted on a 50-mile stretch of French coastline. But the story of D-Day is vastly larger than the iconic infantry charges on the sand. In this comprehensive lecture, we dive deep into the hidden machinery of "The Longest Day," exploring the surreal logistics, mind-bending psychological warfare, and catastrophic command failures that decided the fate of Western Europe. We reframe the entire invasion not just as a battle of raw firepower, but as the ultimate logistical gamble. You will discover how the Allies used a network of phantom rubber armies and double agents to completely hoodwink the German High Command, how ordinary French citizens launched a massive sabotage blitz triggered by coded BBC poetry broadcasts, and how a rigid Nazi chain of command was utterly paralyzed at the worst possible moment because Adolf Hitler took a heavy sleeping pill and his terrified inner circle refused to wake him up. Moving from the strategic grand design down to the boots-on-the-ground reality, we map out the distinct tactical geometry of all five invasion beaches—deconstructing why Utah was a fortunate mistake, while Omaha became an absolute meat grinder. We honor the "architecture of bravery" by unearthing the raw, individual human stories that broke Hitler’s Atlantic Wall: from a kilted Scottish bagpiper casually marching through a storm of machine-gun fire, to a 6-foot-7 "glider giant" who made the ultimate sacrifice to save his pinned-down platoon. Finally, we turn our lens backward to the American home front, capturing the suffocating anxiety of a nation that woke up in the middle of the night to frantic radio bulletins. We recount how millions of citizens flooded churches, smashed blood-donation records, and huddled around glowing wooden radios to join President Franklin D. Roosevelt in his historic national radio prayer. This episode is a gripping, fast-paced exploration of how a generation endured "The Longest Day" to trap Nazi Germany in an irreversible, two-front chokehold from which it would never recover. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/4th-period-u-s-history--5621461/support. Visit the class at Spreaker.com and follow! Link to the page HERE!  It would mean a lot and go a long way in helping grow class! Thank you for your support!

    1h 12m
  3. Ep 52-Advancing Death by Design: The Ledger of Decimation

    Jun 2

    Ep 52-Advancing Death by Design: The Ledger of Decimation

    Welcome to the 19th-century assembly line of human slaughter. In today's class, we are diving deep into the ultimate historical tragedy: what happens when stubborn military commanders trained in romantic, old-world Napoleonic tactics march tight, beautiful lines of men headfirst into modern, rapid-fire technology designed to effortlessly shred them. We will trace the bloody ledger of innovation from the naval depths of the green-eyed submarine USS Alligator to the hand-cranked, logic-defying humanitarian irony of the Gatling gun. Along the way, we will dissect the visceral horrors of being "gut shot" by a flattening soft-lead Minié ball, debunk the myth of the completely drunk battlefield "sawbones," and explore the macabre birth of the modern American funeral industry via entrepreneurial battlefield embalmers. From the unprecedented, staggering meat grinders of Antietam and Gettysburg to a bizarre, bioluminescent biochemical miracle in the mud of Shiloh, we’ll look at how humanity completely industrialized death—and how Abraham Lincoln used 272 words of pure poetry to try and give the carnage a sacred meaning. Grab batonet and dig in deep and mind your head; the Requa battery guns are loaded, the searchlights are on, and the reaper is getting an upgrade to 350 rounds a minute. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/4th-period-u-s-history--5621461/support. Visit the class at Spreaker.com and follow! Link to the page HERE!  It would mean a lot and go a long way in helping grow class! Thank you for your support!

    52 min
  4. Ep 51-The Ledger of Blood and Iron: How the Confederacy stood no chance

    May 29

    Ep 51-The Ledger of Blood and Iron: How the Confederacy stood no chance

    We are officially back on the clock, and the luxury of our self-indulgent intermission is over. Today, we drop the hammer on the cold, hard mathematics of the American Civil War. The sentimental mythology of the "Lost Cause" and the romanticized notions of Southern military chivalry end here. We are auditing the raw, operational assets of both the Union and the Confederacy to evaluate exactly why the North prevailed. The uncomfortable truth of 1861 is that before a single minié ball was fired, the war had already been won and lost on the balance sheets of industrial infrastructure, logistics, and demographic capital. We begin this forensic audit by dissecting the final political fracture: the catastrophic, highly divisive Election of 1860. When Abraham Lincoln secured the executive seat without appearing on a single Southern ballot, he did not just win an election—he triggered a full-blown corporate liquidation of the Republic. South Carolina’s immediate secession note cited Lincoln’s "House Divided" declaration that a government cannot endure permanently half-slave and half-free as a direct, existential threat to their agricultural economic model. But when the Confederacy struck Fort Sumter, they willfully blindfolded themselves to a terrifying reality: they were attempting to fight a modern, total war against a monolithic manufacturing machine while holding a remarkably losing hand. The rest of the period will be spent looking at the industrial spreadsheets that sealed the South's doom. We will contrast the numbers side-by-side: the Union's crushing 61% population dominance, which fed a relentless human assembly line of blue coats, against a Confederacy where nearly 40% of the population was enslaved human property. We will track how the North held 71% of the nation's railroad mileage to move troop logistics at mechanical speed, while the South suffocated under its own geographic isolation. Most damningly, we will look at a factory output ledger where the Union controlled a staggering 92% of the manufacturing capacity. The South mistakenly believed their King Cotton export dominance would force European alliance, but you cannot shoot raw cotton out of a cannon. Open your ledgers; it is time to look at the math of total slaughter. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/4th-period-u-s-history--5621461/support. Visit the class at Spreaker.com and follow! Link to the page HERE!  It would mean a lot and go a long way in helping grow class! Thank you for your support!

    52 min
  5. Movie Day: With a bit of philosophy thrown in

    May 27

    Movie Day: With a bit of philosophy thrown in

    Look, we were supposed to drop the hammer on the Lincoln Presidential Election of 1860 today. But the sun was out, the weather was immaculate, and quite frankly, the weekend was just too damn good to sacrifice to the altar of the relentless, soul-crushing corporate grind. For once, the cosmic ledger actually balanced in favor of my own happiness, and I flat-out refused to trade a rare moment of genuine peace just to keep a rigid, arbitrary syllabus on schedule. Let's be real: when the universe hands you a winning hand, folding it just to hit a deadline is a garbage business model. So, bury your notebooks and put your pens away—today is a state-sanctioned, completely un-guilty Movie Day. Before we drag your souls through the industrial-scale slaughter of the Civil War next period—which we have to audit in a single, high-stakes masterclass because the curriculum designers apparently think millions of deaths can be summarized in 45 minutes—we are pausing the assembly line to look at the ultimate toxic asset: a broken, over-worked self. We live in a deeply sick culture that treats the endless, exhausting grind like a religion, but honoring your goals means absolutely nothing if the executive operator is running on empty and ready to snap like a cheap piece of plastic. Stepping off the gas isn't a failure or a "skip day"—it’s a tactical preservation of capital so you don't completely liquidate your sanity. To prime your brains for the macro-level trauma coming next week, your mandatory screening is the 1989 cinematic masterpiece, Glory, which serves as the beautifully shot, Oscar-winning calm before the inevitable storm. But the real, unwritten lecture today comes from a personal epiphany I had this weekend out on the course, and it's a diagnostic audit of a major design flaw in the human firmware whether you've touched a golf club or not. Hole Nine, specifically, is the ultimate ego-stripping crucible, and it's a lot like sex—the harder you try to force it, the worse it gets. The absolute second you start overthinking your grip, over-analyzing the entry angle, and letting your hyper-logical brain micromanage the friction, the entire performance completely flaccids out into a deeply embarrassing, unmitigated disaster. The 9th hole proves that the analytical mind is a virus to human performance; you are at your absolute best only when you systematically murder the internal committee, empty the mental ledger, and get out of the way of a body that already natively knows how to execute. Grab some popcorn, kill your overthinking mind, and protect your energy—we have a republic to burn down next period.  Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/4th-period-u-s-history--5621461/support. Visit the class at Spreaker.com and follow! Link to the page HERE!  It would mean a lot and go a long way in helping grow class! Thank you for your support!

    22 min
  6. Ep 50- The Blood-Money Verdict: Dred Scott and his fight for freedom

    May 21

    Ep 50- The Blood-Money Verdict: Dred Scott and his fight for freedom

    Class is back in session, and today we are analyzing the ultimate systemic rot. In Episode 50, we break down the life and legal nightmare of Ethelred—historically mislabeled "Dred" because the American engine couldn’t even get his paperwork right before stripping his identity. We track the Scotts from the frozen, -24°F icebox of Fort Snelling back to a cholera-ridden, burning St. Louis, where a 20-year legal precedent was casually incinerated by a state court to protect cotton profits. We expose a federal judiciary that literally double-paid its judges to rule against humanity, culminating in Roger B. Taney's infamous 1857 ruling. We read Taney's horrific verbatim text, look at how the Supreme Court weaponized the 5th Amendment to turn geography into a joke, and examine the fallout that drove a backwater Illinois lawyer straight into the White House. Taney thought he permanently fixed the market on human bondage; instead, he lit the fuse for the Civil War. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/4th-period-u-s-history--5621461/support. Visit the class at Spreaker.com and follow! Link to the page HERE!  It would mean a lot and go a long way in helping grow class! Thank you for your support!

    44 min
  7. Ep 49- Kick the Can: The Blood-Money Compromises

    May 19

    Ep 49- Kick the Can: The Blood-Money Compromises

    Class is back in session. Today we look at the legal gymnastics of a nation trying to balance its books on the back of human bondage. Slavery wasn't just a moral failing; it was a highly lucrative system generating mountains of cash—a sin so profitable that neither political party dared to liquidate it. Instead, Congress spent thirty years passing frantic, short-term compromises to keep the system on life support. We break down the legislative ledger: the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which drew an arbitrary line in the sand; the Compromise of 1850, which introduced a brutal, federalized shakedown called the Fugitive Slave Act; and the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, where the cowardice of "popular sovereignty" outsourced the decision to the public, turning the prairie into a corporate war zone known as Bleeding Kansas. This isn't a story of great statesmen finding peace; it’s a forensic analysis of how the American republic repeatedly kicked the can down the road until it finally hit the brick wall of the Civil War. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/4th-period-u-s-history--5621461/support. Visit the class at Spreaker.com and follow! Link to the page HERE!  It would mean a lot and go a long way in helping grow class! Thank you for your support!

    40 min
  8. Ep 48-The Theft of Mexico: How to deal real estate with warfare

    May 14

    Ep 48-The Theft of Mexico: How to deal real estate with warfare

    In today's class we’re issuing a correction on the "Lone Star" ledger and diving into the receipts of the Mexican-American War. We investigate how Texas’s 1845 annexation was less of a legal merger and more of a "monstrous novelty" that ignored the lack of constitutional provisions for such a hostile takeover. We examine the "Invasion Americana" through the eyes of those who saw the fine print: President Herrera, who warned that the annexation trampled on international dignity; President Polk, who used the "Thornton Affair" to claim American blood was shed on American soil—despite the land being under heavy dispute; and U.S. Grant, who later admitted the war was an unjust land grab following the "bad example of European monarchies Finally, we frame the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo not as a peace deal, but as "Polk’s Louisiana Purchase"—a forced real estate closing where $15 million and a gun to the head secured half of Mexico’s territory. We’re moving past the "Manifest Destiny" myths to look at the true cost of the acquisition. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/4th-period-u-s-history--5621461/support. Visit the class at Spreaker.com and follow! Link to the page HERE!  It would mean a lot and go a long way in helping grow class! Thank you for your support!

    33 min
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About

Welcome to 4th Period U.S. History — or, as it’s more lovingly referred to, 4Push. This class explores the histories and experiences of the United States from what should be its rightful origins in 1676, all the way to the moment when men finally got off their collective asses and gave women their due rights—and the vote. We’ll be exploring what I consider the single driving line throughout U.S. history: Can we dominate anyone who isn’t white and male? This course will focus heavily on slavery and how it forms the very foundation of this country. We’ll examine the origins of U.S. government, how it’s supposed to work, and where the real power lies within its three branches. We’ll also cover gender, race, ethnicity, and religion—and yes, probably tear apart the idea that Americans are always amazing, heroic, and all-knowing. This class will shine light on the darker corners of our nation’s past and, hopefully, expose you to more than you ever realized. American history is vast and deeper than a few white dudes writing some bold-as-hell statements on parchment and sailing them back to England with a metaphorical middle finger. This isn’t your older relative’s history class that focused on memorizing dates and names. 4th Period U.S. History class aims to give you an unbiased look at U.S. history—the facts, as best as they can be represented, given what we know. This course will challenge you and make you think twice about what it means to be a citizen. I hope that realization brings growth—and maybe even a deeper connection to your fellow neighbors. Don’t be afraid of our past, even if you know there are some skeletons in those closets. We all have an experience and a history in this country. We all have a voice in this country. And you all have a welcome, waiting seat in this class. If you come have a seat and find you enjoy the course, your subscription to my main Spreaker HQ would go a long way in growing this class, and would help this poor teacher deliver high quality content to you lovely folks.  You can find my Spreaker page HERE.   Now, lets start class!

Information

  • Creator
    Mr. Stepp
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    60
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Copyright Mr. Stepp
  • Show Website
    4th Period U.S. History