Constitutional Chats Presented By Constituting America

Constitutional Chats Presented By Constituting America

It’s 1787.  Under the current Articles of Confederation the American experiment is struggling.  James Madison knew a new guiding document was needed.  Once opposed to a Bill of Rights, it was Madison who would ultimately introduce the Bill of Rights in 1789.  Why was Madison originally opposed to a Bill of Rights?  What documents influenced him?  Why were the Bill of Rights necessary and what were the criticisms of the Constitution before the Bill of Rights?  Discussing this momentous event in history with our student panel, we are happy to welcome...

Constitutional Chats Presented By Constituting America

Why does Constituting America do the work we do in educating young people about the U.S. Constitution and our country’s founding principles?  Think about this.  According to our guest, in a spectral analysis of the Declaration of Independence, in Thomas Jefferson’s original draft, he wrote “our fellow subjects.”  In the draft we all know, he used “our fellow citizens.”  The difference in that word is remarkable.  It shows the change in thinking that we were once subjects to a government but now we are citizens who can dictate our government so that it works...

Constitutional Chats Presented By Constituting America

For our annual online academic study this year, we are taking a journey through our republic with Alexis de Tocqueville’s “Democracy in America.” It is perhaps the best book ever written about America and democracy, according to our guest today.  In this work, De Toqueville takes on an almost prophetic voice in predicting the future of  our country and our constitutional republic. How was De Tocqueville  able to leverage his knowledge of philosophy to accomplish this?  What truths was he willing to tell us about our governmental institutions?  To walk us through...

Constitutional Chats Presented By Constituting America

The 1st Amendment recognizes our God-given right to free speech without government restriction.  But what is a college student to do when it’s their own college suppressing their free speech?  What is that student to do when that suppression directly leads to hate speech and violent threats from their fellow students simply for having a differing opinion?  Our guest was such a student.  We are delighted to welcome back to Constituting American Evita Duffy.  Evita won our “We the Future” contest back in 2010.  Since that time, she attended the University of...

Constitutional Chats Presented By Constituting America

Picture this:  You are a young child growing up in a suburb of Boston.  You happen to a big fan of the musical “Hamilton” and through an educational TV show, you learn that the park where you regularly ride your bike and your neighborhood is portrayed in the musical you love!  This is exactly what happened with this week’s special guest, Sabrina Bhattacharjya.  Now a 14-year old historian, Sabrina has dived deep into the history of her town, Lexington, Massachusetts.  This is where the infamous “shot heard ‘round the world” took place that started the...

Constitutional Chats Presented By Constituting America

The electoral college is one of the most important characteristics of our republic, but it is also perhaps the most misunderstood.  Every time we vote for President the merit of the electoral college is debated. But what is it? Why was it created?  How does it protect small states, and preserve state identity?  Should we view it as a problem itself or an effective solution to a problem? To address all of these questions and so much more, we are delighted to have Michael Maibach, electoral college expert and Distinguished Fellow for Save Our States, as our special guest this...

Constitutional Chats Presented By Constituting America

It’s 1787 and you are a delegate to the Constitutional Convention.  You represent a midsize state and arriving 3 days late, you encounter James Madison’s Virginia Plan to allocate representation among the states proportionally.  You realize how this would be a detriment to smaller states who are needed to ratify the Constitution.  What do you do?  You are Roger Sherman from Connecticut and you draft the Connecticut Compromise which allocates representation in the lower chamber based on population but guarantees equal state representation in the upper chamber.  Why...

Constitutional Chats Presented By Constituting America

He was an actor, governor and our 40th president.  Today, we are discussing the presidency of Ronald Reagan.  Though now a modern icon of conservatives, Reagan’s political leanings were originally democrat as a supporter of FDR and Truman.  During his presidential term, through what lens did Reagan approach the limitations placed on government?  In what way was he a Constitutional originalist?  How did this belief factor into navigating a constitutional crisis like the Iran Contra Affair?  To guide us in this chat, we are pleased to welcome back an alumni of the...

Constitutional Chats Presented By Constituting America

Today, we are discussing our country’s 34th President, Dwight Eisenhower.  A Texan by birth but raised in Kansas, Eisenhower graduated from West Point and during World War II served as the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe and was promoted to 5-star General of the US Army. Twice elected President, Eisenhower notably led our country as we entered the Cold War. In what ways did Eisenhower’s military experience shape his views on domestic and foreign policy?  What civil rights advancements were made during his tenure?  What was his overall sense of...

Constitutional Chats Presented By Constituting America

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt served as the 32nd US President and was our longest serving president, having run for and won four elections to the presidency.  FDR was President during two tumultuous events in US history, the Great Depression and the outbreak of World War II.  Pulling a page from the Woodrow Wilson playbook, FDR expanded the administrative state even further.  In what ways did FDR expand the scope and size of the federal government?  Why did the American people elect him four times to the office of the presidency? What did he mean when he spoke of...