North Carolina wasn’t just late to ratify the Constitution—its opposition practically forced America to add the Bill of Rights.

In this episode, host Donald Bryson and Guest Paul Newby, Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, discuss the Hillsborough Convention (where anti-federalists refused to ratify the Constitution), the years that the state was in limbo, and the Fayetteville Convention, where North Carolina is the second-to-last state to join the Union.

What happens when a revolution stops short of real governance?

In this episode, Host Donald Bryson and guest Dr. Andrew Taylor, professor of American politics at NC State University, explore how debt pressures, disunity, and weak national institutions shaped North Carolina’s politics—and how those strains paved the way to ratification.

Blood-soaked fields near Greensboro. Cornwallis wins the day, but at a devastating cost. Examine the strategic brilliance of Nathanael Greene and the path to Yorktown that followed.

In this episode, host Donald Bryson welcomes Thomas Sobol, Supervisory Park Ranger at Guilford Courthouse National Military Battlefield, to explore the pivotal Southern Campaign of the American Revolution and how the Battle of Guilford Courthouse set the stage for ultimate victory at Yorktown.