WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - This Week in Western Civilization - March 16-22

Episode Date: March 23, 2026

This week, Olivia Finch discusses the anniversaries of the birth of James Madison, the death of Julius Caesar, and Samoset's introduction to the Plymouth Colony settlers.

Welcome to this week in Western Civilization on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. I'm your host, Olivia Finch, bringing you snapshots of history in context. Hello, everyone. Today we'll be covering one important birth, one important death, and one notable event that happened between March 15th and March 21st in Western Civ. On March 16th, 1751, American politics, politician and fourth president of the United States, James Madison, was born in Port Conway, Virginia. Along with being the nation's fourth president, Madison is best known for writing the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights, writing the Federalist Papers in cooperation with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, and being the shortest U.S. president so far at

5 feet 4 inches, which some of my friends will inevitably remind me is still an inch taller than I am. I did not wish for a Bill of Rights to be added to the Constitution, but with a compelling response to the various state ratifying conventions for a Bill of Rights, I thought

it would be acceptable to include an enumeration of rights as long as it would not endanger the fundamental structure of the government. On March 15th, 44 BC, Roman General and politician Julius Caesar was stabbed to death at the age of

during a meeting of the Roman Senate as part of a conspiracy of his former friends, who were displeased with his being named dictator of Rome for life and saw him as a tyrant. Besides getting stabbed on the aides of March, Caesar is best known for conquering Gaul for the Roman Republic and writing a book on his exploits, being on one side of the Roman civil war between himself and Pompey's forces, and for the social reform he attempted to bring to Rome after defeating Pompey. On March 16, 1621, an Abinaki Native American man walked into Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts and startled the settlers there by greeting them in English with, welcome, Englishman,

my name is Samoette and asking for beer. Samoset would later introduce the settlers to Squanto, the last surviving member of the Patuxet tribe, who was instrumental in helping Plymouth Colony survive. You've been listening to This Week in Western Civilization with Olivia Finch, on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. I hope you enjoyed this episode, and I'll see you next week.