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Showing episodes and shows of
Dr. Kirstin Birkhaug
Shows
Civics In A Year
Remember The Ladies
A century of episodes calls for a wider lens, and we open it fully: the founding wasn’t just hammered out in halls and pamphlets by famous men—it was argued, nurtured, and lived by women whose ideas changed the course of American liberty. We pull threads from homes and letters into the political tapestry, showing how civic virtue took shape through family, education, economic agency, and public authorship.We explore Abigail Adams’s push for legal and economic recognition within marriage and household management, Mercy Otis Warren’s “deep cut” anti-federalist critique that helped spur the Bill of Righ...
2025-11-21
13 min
Civics In A Year
Phillis Wheatley, First Poet Of A New Nation
We trace Phillis Wheatley’s journey from captivity to literary force, exploring how her poems speak to faith, freedom, and belonging during the American founding. We highlight her craft, the battle to be believed, and why her voice reframes the Revolution.• capture in Africa and arrival in Boston • education in the Wheatley home and early brilliance • eulogy poems, public readings, and patronage • the publication controversy and authorship “trial” • patriotism and British identity in tension • faith shaping moral claims about slavery • “On Being Brought” and its paradoxes • letter to Samson Occom and “modern Egyptians” • why...
2025-11-19
17 min
Civics In A Year
Judith Sargent Murray and the Roots of American Feminism
A forgotten voice sharpened the edge of American liberty—she did it with clarity, courage, and a printing press that didn’t always want her words. We sit down with Dr. Kirstin Burkhaugto explore the life and legacy of Judith Sargent Murray, the self-taught Boston writer whose 1790 essay On the Equality of the Sexes argued that women possess the same moral and intellectual capacities as men. Years before Mary Wollstonecraft’s landmark work, Murray was already building a distinctly American case for women’s political equality—rooted in empirical observation, everyday experience, and a Universalist theology that saw all souls as o...
2025-11-18
11 min
Civics In A Year
Mercy Otis Warren: The Pen That Pressed for the Bill of Rights
We trace the life and ideas of Mercy Otis Warren, the writer who helped secure a culture of liberty—and a Bill of Rights—without a seat at the Convention. From a rare classical education to salons with the Sons of Liberty, her pen shaped policy and public virtue.• Mercy Otis Warren’s early education and family background• Hosting and influencing the Sons of Liberty network• Friendship with John Adams and first published poem• Plays, poems, essays, and a pioneering Revolution history• Anti‑Federalist critique and Observations on the New Constitution• Locke’s influence, individua...
2025-11-17
15 min
Civics In A Year
Martha Washington And Deborah Sampson: Two Paths Of Courage
We explore how Martha Washington and Deborah Sampson advanced the Revolution through very different forms of leadership. One shaped morale and public life; the other broke barriers to fight and spy under a borrowed name.• Pairing Martha Washington and Deborah Sampson through military connection• Deborah Sampson’s enlistment as Robert Shirtliff and covert missions• Self-treatment of wounds to protect her identity• Discovery, honorable discharge, and veteran legacy• Martha Washington’s destroyed correspondence and historical traces• Presence at Valley Forge and role in sustaining morale• Defining the social tone for the early capital and first...
2025-11-14
13 min
Civics In A Year
Abigail and John: How a Marriage Shaped American Politics
Power changes when it meets a clear-eyed partner. That’s the thread that runs through our conversation with Dr. Kirsten Birkhaug as we trace the political and personal partnership of John and Abigail Adams—two sharp minds who treated marriage like a working lab for ideas that would shape the early republic. We open with why their story is the right entry point for Women of the Founding, then follow the through line from courtship candor to presidential counsel, guided by the letters that map their lifelong exchange.John’s reputation as a formidable thinker grows more intere...
2025-11-13
14 min
Acton Line
Acton Rundown | October 2025
This month on the Acton Rundown, Dan and Dylan chat about upcoming Acton events and new video content. Essays and Books:Universal Basic Community Now! | Acton Institute The Evidence of Things Not Seen: Reflections on Faith, Science, and Economics | Vernon L. Smith Video Content: What Is the Collins Center for Abrahamic Heritage? Upcoming Events: 2025 Pittsburgh Dinner | Acton Institute Orthodox Christian Social Thought: The Kingdom of God and the Common Good | Acton Institute 2025 Portland Dinner | Ac...
2025-10-06
13 min
This Constitution
Season 1 Extra, Episode B | A Woman’s Voice in America’s Revolution: The Legacy of Mercy Otis Warren
Mercy Otis Warren was no ordinary figure in America’s founding story. How many women of her time had the opportunity to receive a classical education, let alone become influential political thinkers and writers? As one of the few, Warren used her intellect and talent to champion liberty during the American Revolution. But why is her name so often left out of the history books?In this episode of This Constitution, Matthew Brogdon sits down with Kirstin Birkhaug, assistant professor of political science at Hope College, to uncover the life and work of this revolutionary thinker. What ma...
2025-01-27
34 min