Live at the National Constitution Center

In celebration of Black History Month, explore the history of the African American fight for freedom during the Civil War and Reconstruction periods with historians Edda Fields-Black, author of Combee: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom during the Civil War, and James Oakes, author of Freedom National: The Destruction of Slavery in the United States, 1861-1865. Thomas Donnelly, chief content officer at the National Constitution Center, moderates.Additional Resources Edda L. Fields-Black, COMBEE: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom during the Civil War James Oakes, Freedom National: The Destruction of Slavery in the United States, 1861–1865 James Oakes, The Radical and the Republican: Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and the Triumph of Antislavery Politics UUSCT Pension Files Stay Connected and Learn MoreContinue the conversation on Facebook and Twitter using @ConstitutionCtr.Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate, at bit.ly/constitutionweekly.Please subscribe to Live at the National Constitution Center and our companion podcast We the People on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.

Caroline Fredrickson, Timothy Sandefur, and Ilan Wurman discuss their approaches to constitution drafting in the Constitution Drafting Project. They cover topics such as amending the Constitution, determining presidential eligibility, reinvigorating Congress, term limits for Supreme Court justices, and the influence of the Declaration of Independence on proposed amendments.

Scottish philosopher David Hume's profound impact on shaping America is discussed by Angela Coventry, Dennis Rasmussen, and Aaron Alexander Zubia. Topics include Hume's influence on the Founding Fathers, his ideas on happiness and property, his political philosophy, religious skepticism, and the importance of distinguishing epistemology and politics.

Several cases before the Supreme Court raise important questions at the intersection of technology and law. Join legal experts Alex Abdo of the Knight First Amendment Institute, Clay Calvert of the American Enterprise Institute, and David Greene of the Electronic Frontier Foundation for a conversation exploring key tech cases, including whether Florida and Texas can regulate the platforms’ content moderation policies. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.Additional ResourcesKnight Institute's Amicus Brief (in support of neither party), Moody v. NetChoice & NetChoice v. PaxtonClay Calvert, “Friends of the Court, Friends of the First Amendment: Exploring Amicus Brief Support for Platforms’ Editorial Independence,” AEI (Dec. 22, 2023)Knight Institute Amicus Brief in Murthy v. Missouri (in support of neither party)Clay Calvert, “Persuasion or Coercion? Understanding the Government’s Position in Murthy v. Missouri, Part I,” AEI (Jan. 8, 2024)David Greene, “In Jawboning Cases, there’s no getting away from textual analysis,” Knight First Amendment Institute (Nov. 7, 2023)David Greene, EFF Amicus Brief in O’Connor-Ratcliff v. Garnier and Lindke v. Freed (in support of Lindke and Garnier)Miami Herald Publishing Company v. Tornillo (1974)Stay Connected and Learn MoreContinue the conversation on Facebook and Twitter using @ConstitutionCtr.Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate, at bit.ly/constitutionweekly.Please subscribe to Live at the National Constitution Center and our companion podcast We the People on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.

Joyce Lee Malcolm and Eli Merritt discuss the origins of loyalists and patriots during the American Revolution, the fear of disunity and civil war, the road to independence, the complexity of slavery and the fear of demagogues, and the importance of civil and thoughtful conversations.

Robert Post, Sterling Professor of Law at Yale Law School, delves into the highly anticipated volumes from the Oliver Wendell Holmes Devise History of the Supreme Court, The Taft Court Making Law for a Divided Nation, 1921–1930. Post explores the history of the Taft Court and the contrasting constitutional approaches among its justices, including Louis Brandeis and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., among others. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.Additional Resources Robert Post, The Taft Court: Making Law for a Divided Nation, 1921–1930 Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390 (1923) Chas. Wolff Packing Co. v. Court of Ind. Relations, 262 U.S. 522 (1923) Whitney v. California (1927) Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969) Gitlow v. New York (1925) Stay Connected and Learn MoreContinue the conversation on Facebook and Twitter using @ConstitutionCtr.Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate, at bit.ly/constitutionweekly.Please subscribe to Live at the National Constitution Center and our companion podcast We the People on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.

The Espionage Act of 1917, one of the most contentious statutes relating to the First Amendment, is back in the news following the indictment of President Donald Trump for mishandling classified documents. What is the Espionage Act and how has it been used over time? Legal scholar Heidi Kitrosser, author of Reclaiming Accountability: Transparency, Executive Power, and the U.S. Constitution, and political historian Sam Lebovic, author of State of Silence: The Espionage Act and the Rise of America’s Secrecy Regime, explore the origins, history, and constitutional legacy of this World War I-era law. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.Additional Resources Sam Lebovic, State of Silence: The Espionage Act and the Rise of America's Secrecy Regime Espionage Act of 1917 and Sedition Act of 1918 (1917-1918) Defense Secrets Act of 1911 The Alien and Sedition Acts (1798) Schenck v. United States (1919) Heidi Kitrosser, Reclaiming Accountability: Transparency, Executive Power, and the U.S. Constitution Gorin v. United States, 312 U.S. 19 (1941) Heidi Kitrosser and David Schulz, “A House Built on Sand: The Constitutional Infirmity of Espionage Act Prosecutions for Leaking to the Press” United States v. Morison (4th Cir. 1988) Heidi Kitrosser, “The Espionage Act After the Mar-a-Lago Indictment,” Lawfare United States v. Morison (4th Cir. 1988) Stay Connected and Learn MoreContinue the conversation on Facebook and Twitter using @ConstitutionCtr.Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate, at bit.ly/constitutionweekly.Please subscribe to Live at the National Constitution Center and our companion podcast We the People on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.

Political scientists Frances Lee of Princeton University, Steven Levitsky of Harvard University and coauthor of Tyranny of the Minority, and Kurt Weyland of the University of Texas at Austin and author of Democracy's Resilience to Populism's Threat, explore some of the new theories and approaches to the challenges facing American democracy in 2023 and beyond, including proposed solutions. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.Additional Resources Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point Frances Lee, “Populism and the American Party System: Opportunities and Constraints” Kurt Weyland, Democracy's Resilience to Populism's Threat: Countering Global Alarmism Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, How Democracies Die Stay Connected and Learn MoreContinue the conversation on Facebook and Twitter using @ConstitutionCtr.Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate, at bit.ly/constitutionweekly.Please subscribe to Live at the National Constitution Center and our companion podcast We the People on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.

New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie and political scientist Melvin Rogers, author of The Darkened Light of Faith: Race, Democracy, and Freedom in African American Political Thought, explore the ways key African American intellectuals and artists—from David Walker, Frederick Douglass, and W.E.B. Du Bois to Billie Holiday and James Baldwin—reimagined U.S. democracy. Thomas Donnelly, chief content officer at the National Constitution Center, moderates.Additional Resources Melvin Rogers, The Darkened Light of Faith: Race, Democracy, and Freedom in African American Political Thought Melvin Rogers, The Undiscovered Dewey: Religion, Morality, and the Ethos of Democracy Kate Masur, Until Justice Be Done: America's First Civil Rights Movement, from the Revolution to Reconstruction Jamelle Bouie, “How Black Political Thought Shapes My Work”, New York Times David Walker David Walker, Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World (1829) Jamelle Bouie, “Why I Keep Coming Back to Reconstruction”, New York Times Martin Delany Jamelle Bouie, “What Frederick Douglass Knew that Trump and DeSantis Don’t”, New York Times Jamelle Bouie, “The Deadly History of ‘They’re Raping Our Women'”, Slate W.E.B. Dubois, The Souls of Black Folk Stay Connected and Learn MoreContinue the conversation on Facebook and Twitter using @ConstitutionCtr.Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate, at bit.ly/constitutionweekly.Please subscribe to Live at the National Constitution Center and our companion podcast We the People on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.

The election of 1800 was the first hotly contested partisan election in American history. Still, peaceful transfers of power continued for the next two centuries. But how? Carol Berkin, author of A Sovereign People: The Crises of the 1790s and the Birth of American Nationalism, and H.W. Brands, author of Founding Partisans: Hamilton, Jefferson, Madison, Adams, and the Brawling Birth of American Politics, join for an Election Day program to explore political partisanship and nationalism in early America. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.Additional Resources H.W. Brands, Founding Partisans: Hamilton, Madison, Jefferson, Adams and the Brawling Birth of American Politics Carol Berkin, A Sovereign People: The Crises of the 1790s and the Birth of American Nationalism Genet Affair National Constitution Center Founders' Library, The Alien and Sedition Acts Virginia Resolutions Stay Connected and Learn MoreContinue the conversation on Facebook and Twitter using @ConstitutionCtr.Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate, at bit.ly/constitutionweekly.Please subscribe to Live at the National Constitution Center and our companion podcast We the People on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.