Joshua Waechter

Ph.D. Student

San Antonio, Texas

Education

B.A. History, Hillsdale College, 2020

M.Phil. History, Oxford University (St. Anne's College), 2022

M.A. Politics, Hillsdale College, 2024

“I came here because I knew the quality of the professors and their serious commitment to academic excellence and truth-seeking. Above all else, I wanted teachers who would take a serious interest in deepening my education, rather than looking for a teaching assistant so they could prioritize their own research.”

About

The son of an Air Force officer, Joshua grew up all across the United States before his family finally settled in San Antonio, TX. He studied History as a Hillsdale undergraduate before going on to read History of Political Thought at Oxford. While finishing his master’s, he was involved with Pembroke College’s Quill Project, which utilizes specially-designed software to model the debates and negotiations that resulted in iconic legal texts such as the U.S. Constitution. In the world of politics, Joshua has interned for Texas Values, the Heritage Foundation, and the White House. He was also a participant in the Hertog Foundation’s Political Studies Program and the Salvatori Center Program on Leo Strauss.

Research Interests

Early American Republic

State Constitutionalism

Politics and Religion

Selected Publications

“The Reverend Elisha Williams, the ‘celebrated Mr. Lock,’ and the Letter Concerning Toleration in America.” Pietas 2, No.2, Fall 2023: 1-23.

"A German Tocqueville? The Unrecognized Importance of Francis Lieber’s Letters to a Gentleman in Germany, or The Stranger in America." Humanitas 35, Nos. 1 & 2, 2022: 93-112.

“Winston Churchill’s Statesmanship Before the First World War, 1912-1914.” Grand Alliance: Churchill Studies at Hillsdale College 1, No.1, 2022: 54-59.

Conference Presentations

"The Theory and Practice of Regulating Immigration During the Early Republic.” Presented at the Ciceronian Society Conference, Harrisonburg, VA, March 2025.

"What Does It Mean to Have a Constitution? Debates Surrounding the Connecticut Convention of 1818." Presented at the Michigan Political Science Association, Flint, MI, October 2023.

“Debates over Suffrage in the Constitutional Conventions of Maine and Massachusetts.” Presented at the annual British-American Nineteenth-Century Historians’ Conference, Warwick, UK, October 2021.

Languages

German

Ancient Greek