In this episode of the America at 250 podcast, Yale professors Beverly Gage and Joanne Freeman question Professor David Blight about his recent DeVane Lecture series installments covering the early Republic, the concept of a Slave Power conspiracy in antebellum politics, and the slave narratives that shaped public understanding of bondage. The conversation extends and reflects on themes from Blight's lectures, including Frederick Douglass's writing and oratory and the political meaning Douglass drew from the Fourth of July. As a companion piece to the America at 250: A History course, the podcast format lets the three historians discuss and debate the material in a more informal register than the formal Battell Chapel and Sprague Hall lectures.