Giving Compass' Take:

• In this episode of Hidden Brains, experts discuss the long history of America's political divide and the benefits and problems associated with it. 

• How can funders best support the improvement of our political system? What efforts for cooperation have proven successful in the past? 

• Learn how college students are trying to tame the political divide. 

The nastiness of American politics today may seem extreme compared to the tone of earlier eras. But historian David Moss says our nation's founders were also happy to sling mud. Thomas Jefferson's supporters said John Adams had a "hideous hermaphroditical character." Adams called Alexander Hamilton that "bastard brat of a Scotch peddler." Beyond the obnoxious language, there were also deep disagreements about what it meant to be a nation.

Moss argues that the intensity of our partisan disagreements shouldn't be cause for alarm. He believes our democracy is much more resilient than we realize, and that conflict, however bitter, can be productive.

Read the full article about the history of America's political divide at NPR.