Lecture series · recorded 2006–2007
The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History Lecture Series
The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History Lecture Series is a free lecture series (14 recordings, 8.7 hours) you can stream or download at freecapitalists.org, with Thomas E. Woods, Jr..
This weekly course was presented by Thomas E. Woods, Jr., in 2006-2007.
U.S. HistoryBig GovernmentMedia and CultureWar and Foreign PolicyU.S. EconomyGlobal EconomyTaxes and SpendingLegal SystemBooms and Busts
Cover painting: Mary Chesnut watches the shelling of Fort Sumter from a Charleston rooftop, 12 April 1861. See every painting in the art gallery.
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01
36:47 Download MP3
Themes and Lessons from Colonial America 2006
Fischer’s book Albion’s Seed described four British folkways into the colonies. The four were Puritans to New England, aristocrats to Virginia, Quakers to Pennsylvania, and borderland immigrants to Appalachian backcountry.
Read the transcript 6,209 words
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02
40:06 Download MP3
The Constitution: Four Disputed Clauses 2006
As of 1790, all original thirteen colonies had ratified the Constitution. Four clauses have caused great trouble ever since: The War Powers Clause; The Commerce Clause; The Necessary and Proper Clause; and, The General Welfare Clause.
Political TheoryU.S. History
Read the transcript 6,793 words
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03
36:08 Download MP3
The Principles of '98 2006
1798 was an important year. The Principles of ’98 influenced all of American history. The Alien and Sedition Acts and the Kentucky Resolutions revealed these principles.
Political TheoryU.S. History
Read the transcript 6,064 words
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04
44:29 Download MP3
Lysander Spooner and Other Antebellum Radicalism 2006
Lysander Spooner in the antebellum period has been overlooked. He was a radical abolitionist lawyer. He wrote The Unconstitutionality of Slavery. William Lloyd Garrison felt the Constitution was a bloody pro-slavery compact.
Political TheoryU.S. History
Read the transcript 7,148 words
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05
30:00 Download MP3
Secession and the American Experience 2006
States had the right to secede. The War Between the States was not launched to free slaves. Lincoln believed that whites were superior and favored the deportation of freed slaves. The South was for free trade; the North wanted protectionism.
Political TheoryBig GovernmentMedia and CultureU.S. History
Read the transcript 4,772 words
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06
38:41 Download MP3
Secession and War 2006
Secession is a progressive, not a reactionary force. It is civilized. Jefferson Davis argued that because secession is not mentioned in the Constitution it is retained by the states under the Tenth Amendment. Thomas Jefferson said that the time for separation had not yet come.
Political TheoryU.S. HistoryWar and Foreign Policy
Read the transcript 6,497 words
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07
43:00 Download MP3
Reconstruction 2006
Reconstruction is the readmission of the Southern states to the Union. Lincoln decided that ten percent of the eligible voters in 1860 had to take an oath of loyalty to the Union. Andrew Johnson, after Lincoln, added that wealthy Southern Planters had to beg for pardons. The Southern states were militarily occupied.
U.S. HistoryWar and Foreign Policy
Read the transcript 7,207 words
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08
37:12 Download MP3
Myths and Facts About Big Business 2006
Rockefeller, Carnegie, Dow, Hill, and other great American businessmen did more for America than all the big-government programs combined. These men were market entrepreneurs, not political ones.
Capital and Interest TheoryProduction TheoryU.S. Economy
Read the transcript 6,429 words
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09
35:18 Download MP3
The 1920s 2007
In the 1920s Presidents Harding and Coolidge never got close to the poll favorites of Washington, Lincoln and FDR when ranked, because they killed fewer, taxed less, made their administrations almost invisible, and sought no wealth or glory. Without grand programs, Harding and Coolidge presided over one of the most economically prosperous times in America’s history. Income tax rates fell from 73 percent to 40 percent and later to 25 percent. Most people in the lower income brackets saw most of their income tax burden eliminated altogether. Isolationist is a smear term, but in reality, the American administrations in the 1920s disarmed naval ordinance, joined the Four Power Pact, and the Nine Power Pact. Holding international meetings is hardly isolationist action. Starting the Student Exchange Program fostered international relations. Lecture 9 of 14 from Tom Woods’ The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History lecture series.
Read the transcript 6,225 words
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10
35:04 Download MP3
The Economics of the New Deal and World War II 2007
While many Americans were hungry and destitute, FDR ordered the slaughter of six million pigs and the destruction of ten million acres of cotton. Public-sector jobs created by the New Deal displaced or destroyed private-sector jobs. World War II didn’t end the Great Depression; a return to free-market activity after the war did.
U.S. EconomyU.S. HistoryWar and Foreign Policy
Read the transcript 5,664 words
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11
32:08 Download MP3
The History of Foreign Aid Programs 2007
The Marshall Plan didn’t help get Europe back on its feet: free markets did. The Plan was another failed giveaway program. The Plan’s disastrous legacy was the wrongheaded approach it inspired in foreign aid programs for the rest of the century.
Global EconomyTaxes and Spending
Read the transcript 5,087 words
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12
36:39 Download MP3
Civil Rights and the Supreme Court 2007
The doctrine was separate but equal according to the Constitution. Segregation was not unconstitutional. Brown v. Board of Education consolidated several cases about separation, and stated that if schools were separate they were, ipso facto, not equal.
Political TheoryLegal SystemMedia and Culture
Read the transcript 5,776 words
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13
41:34 Download MP3
Welfare Programs and the Great Society 2007
From 1950 to 1980, Americans were indeed Losing Ground. Charles Murray’s book on social policy debunks welfare programs. The programs are the problem. It is not possible to design a wealth transfer program that will not produce net harm.
Big GovernmentTaxes and SpendingU.S. History
Read the transcript 7,113 words
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14
32:16 Download MP3
Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression 2007
Boom-busts were a feature of markets. Under consumption caused the depression. WWII ended the Great Depression. All three Keynesian beliefs were inaccurate. Only the Austrian Business Cycle Theory got it right.
Political TheoryBooms and BustsU.S. EconomyU.S. History
Read the transcript 4,774 words
People in this series
Speakers
Thomas E. Woods, Jr..
Recording dates, summaries and topics for 14 of these 14 lectures come from the Mises Institute's page for The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History Lecture Series, checked 2026-09-27.
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About this series
- Is The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History Lecture Series free to listen to?
- Yes. All 14 mirrored recordings stream in the browser or download as audio, at no cost and with no signup.
- How long is The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History Lecture Series?
- 14 recordings, 8.7 hours in total.
- Who lectures in The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History Lecture Series?
- Thomas E. Woods, Jr.
- When was The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History Lecture Series recorded?
- 2006–2007, per the recording dates recovered for this series.
- Is there a transcript of The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History Lecture Series?
- Yes. Every lecture in the series has one, 85,758 words in total, free to read on each lecture's page and searchable in the browser.
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