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Eli Merritt is a political historian at Vanderbilt University where he researches the ethics of democracy, the interface of demagogues and democracy, and the founding principles of the United States.

He is the editor of How to Save Democracy: Inspiration and Advice From 95 World Leaders as well as of The Curse of Demagogues: Lessons Learned from the Presidency of Donald J. Trump. His book Disunion Among Ourselves: The Perilous Politics of the American Revolution is scheduled for publication in June of 2022. 

He writes the Substack newsletter American Commonwealth. 

​Dr. Merritt completed his B.A. in History at Yale; M.A. in Ethics at Yale, M.D. at Case Western Reserve; internal medicine internship at the Lahey Clinic; and psychiatry residency at Stanford.

He has written for the Los Angeles Times, Seattle Times, New York Times, New York Daily News, USA Today, International Herald Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, Nashville Tennessean, San Francisco Medicine Magazine, The Journal of the American Medical Association, The American Journal of Legal History, and numerous other publications. Read More 

At Vanderbilt he has served as a visiting scholar in three departments: The Department of History, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, and the Center For Biomedical Ethics and Society. At Yale he graduated with Magna Cum Laude with Distinctions in the Major and went on to publish an article that is a precursor of Disunion Among Ourselves. The article, “Sectional Conflict and Secret Compromise: The Mississippi River Question and the United States Constitution” (American Journal of Legal History), has been widely cited.