Live at the National Constitution Center

What were the key texts, authors, and sources the framers looked to when drafting the Constitution? Scholars Richard Albert of the University of Texas at Austin, Jonathan Gienapp of Stanford University, and Colleen Sheehan of Arizona State University explore what books were on the shelves of founders like James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, and where some of the ideas behind the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution came from, in a conversation moderated by National Constitution Center President and CEO Jeffrey Rosen. They discuss the influence of ancient and contemporaneous philosophers, thinkers, and writers—including Plutarch, Aristotle, Montesquieu, Jean-Jacques Barthélemy, John Locke, Emer de Vattel, William Blackstone, David Hume, and more.Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org.Additional resources and transcript available at constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/media-library

Scholars Bernadette Meyler of Stanford Law School, Alison LaCroix of the University of Chicago Law School and co-editor of the new book, Cannons and Codes: Law, Literature, and America's Wars, and political scientist Catherine Zuckert of the University of Notre Dame and Arizona State University recently joined Jeffrey Rosen for a discussion exploring the ways literature—including the works of Daniel Defoe, James Fenimore Cooper, Jane Austen, Mark Twain, Tracy Smith, and others—has intersected with the Constitution and American democracy from the nation’s founding, to the Civil War, and beyond.Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org.Additional resources and transcript available at constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/media-library.

Preeminent legal scholar Akhil Reed Amar of Yale Law School, host of the Amarica’s Constitution podcast, joins National Constitution Center President and CEO Jeffrey Rosen to discuss the big constitutional questions confronted by early Americans, as described in Amar's groundbreaking new book, 'The Words That Made Us: America's Constitutional Conversation, 1760-1840.'Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org.Additional resources and transcript available at constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/media-library.

In light of the critical events and national debates over the past year about race, rights, and equality, the National Constitution Center hosts a discussion exploring the question: “Do we need a third Reconstruction?” Last week, Jeffrey Rosen was joined by Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund; professor Wilfred Codrington III of Brooklyn Law School; political scientist William Allen; and professor Kurt Lash of the University of Richmond School of Law and author of a new two-volume series, The Reconstruction Amendments. They explored the first Reconstruction following the Civil War, and the Civil Rights movement as a kind of second “reconstruction”—and then considered whether we need a third era of reconstruction in America today.Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org.Additional resources and transcript available at podcast@constitutioncenter.org.

On the heels of election 2020, bills that may change voting and the election process have been introduced at the federal level and in numerous states including Georgia. In this panel, experts discuss the most significant legislation being considered, the constitutional issues they present, and what the Supreme Court might say. Theodore Johnson of the Brennan Center for Justice; Rich Lowry of the National Review; Ilya Shapiro of the Cato Institute; and Kim Wehle, author of What You Need to Know About Voting—And Why, join Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center. The National Constitution Center and the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University presented this new panel in their ongoing partnership of conversations about how to restore the guardrails of American democracy. This program was also made possible with support from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF).  

This week we’re sharing a constitutional class taught online featuring Harvard historian, New Yorker staff writer, and podcast host Jill Lepore. Professor Lepore explores the ideas that animated the founding of America, sparked the constitutional convention, and continue to shape American life today. She also answers questions about the convention and more from both National Constitution Center President Jeffrey Rosen and from the students in our virtual audience, via our Chief Learning Officer Kerry Sautner.For more information on past and upcoming National Constitution Center classes, visit constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/online-civic-learning-opportunities.Additional resources and transcript available at constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/media-libraryQuestions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org.

In 1789, both the U.S. Bill of Rights and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen guaranteed American and French citizens the freedom of religion. How has the concept of religious liberty been applied, protected, and interpreted in both countries over the past two centuries? French political scientist Denis Lacorne and law professor Mathilde Philip-Gay join American political scientist Jonathan Laurence and law professor Michael McConnell for a discussion exploring the similarities and differences. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.This program was presented in partnership with The Cultural Services of the French Embassy as part of a series on freedom of religion and speech in France and the United States.Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org.Additional resources and transcript available at constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/media-library

Dorothy Wickenden, executive editor at The New Yorker and author of the new book The Agitators: Three Friends Who Fought for Abolition and Women's Rights, and Thavolia Glymph, Duke University historian and author of the book The Women's Fight: The Civil War's Battles for Home, Freedom, and Nation, discuss the early days of the abolition movement and the fight for women’s rights, the complicated relationship between the two movements, and heroes like Harriet Tubman who served as leaders of both. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.This program is made possible through the generous support of the McNulty Foundation in partnership with the Anne Welsh McNulty Institute for Women's Leadership at Villanova University, and is presented as part of the Center’s Women and the Constitution initiative.Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org.Additional resources and transcript available at constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/media-library

This week, back in 1973, the last U.S. combat troops left South Vietnam, and America’s eight-year intervention in the Vietnam War ended. In 2019, the National Constitution Center hosted a program featuring activist Kim Phúc Phan Thi, and we’re sharing that conversation from our archives this week. When she was nine years old, Phuc was severely injured, running from her bombed village, when an Associated Press photographer captured her and others in one of the most famous photographs from the Vietnam War, which later won the Pulitzer Prize. In this moving program, Phúc discusses her firsthand experience of the Vietnam War and its impact; Mark Bowden, contributing writer for The Atlantic and author of Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam offers historical context; and classical composer and jazz trumpeter Hannibal Lokumbe performs and discusses the piece he was moved to compose after seeing Phúc’s photograph. Phúc was also awarded the Jeffrey Rosen moderates.

Last week, experts joined NCC President Jeffrey Rosen to consider how we can foster compromise under the Constitution and in American politics today. They also explored prominent issues in the news including whether or not to end the filibuster; if Congress might benefit from less, not more, transparency; and how to incentivize legislators to work together in a more bipartisan way. The panel featured political scientists Steven Teles of Johns Hopkins University and Sarah Binder of the George Washington University and the Brookings Institution; Daniel Stid, director of the U.S. Democracy Program at the Hewlett Foundation; and Reihan Salam, president of the Manhattan Institute.This program was presented in partnership with the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University.Additional resources and transcript available at constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/media-libraryQuestions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org.