edward ayers, welcome. it is an honor to have you. >> my pleasure. thank you. >> and joanne freeman class of 1954 professor of american history and of american studies at yale university. where she specializes in the politics and political culture of the revolutionary and early national periods. she's co-host with ed ayers of the very popular american history podcast back story and it's great to unite these co-podcasters together. and is the author of many books as well including and most relevant for our discussion tonight the path breaking "affairs of honor: national politics in the new republics" as well as "field of block: shy lens in congress and the road to the civil war." joanne, it is such an honor to have you with us. >> thanks for having me. >> norman ornstein resident scholar at the american enterprise institute where he studies politics, elections and the u.s. congress. his books include "one nation after trump: a guide for the perplexed, the disillusioned, depressed and not yet departed." i love norman's book titles the next one we did a

edward ayers is tucker boat right professor of the humanities at the university of richmond.

and as the great american historian edward ayers likes to say, i am a fan of revisionist history justi am a fan of revisionist medicine. the history of law and legislation is a particularly interesting case in part because lawyers and historians view and use the past in distinct ways. with the former, by vocation, having an instrumental view of the past. we're fortunate today to have with us both a historically minded legal scholar and a historian of the law. saul cornell is paul and diane gunther chair in law. saul cornell is paul and their chair in history at -- university. he earned his ph. d. at the university of pennsylvania. his first book was the city of the other founders, anti federalism and the dissenting tradition in america. 1788 to 1828. he subsequently published extensively on the second amendment in the history of gun regulation including his 2006, book a well regulated militia, the founding fathers in the origins of gun control. his articles have appeared in leading journals, such as the -- and the yale law journal. he offered the chapter on the right to bear arms in t