Constitutional Chats Presented By Constituting America

Constitutional Chats Presented By Constituting America

The idea of the United States acquiring Greenland is not a new idea.  This idea has been kicked around since the 19th century but revisited with the new presidential administration.  Why would the US have an interest in acquiring Greenland?  What are the strategic and economic advantages in doing so?  How could this acquisition be compared to the Louisiana Purchase?  And can it even happen?  There are lots of questions surrounding this timely topic and to help our student panel address them, we are happy to welcome back Jim Pinkerton.  Jim is a longtime...

Constitutional Chats Presented By Constituting America

When one presidential administration ends, another begins.  While the public watches the transition on TV, behind the scenes there’s a well orchestrated symphony executing the plan to bring in a new administration.  To walk us through the nuts and bolts of what happens behind the scenes, we are joined by a veteran of one such transition as a guest today!  Sean Spicer served as the 30th White House Press Secretary and Acting White House Communications Director during the first Trump administration and will share his insight into this historic day.

Constitutional Chats Presented By Constituting America

How do you create limited, but at the same time, strong and effective government?  In tackling this problem, our Founders relied on three branches with each branch having strong offensive and defensive weapons to use against the other branches’ possible encroachments.  The Founders understood an ineffective government is just as dangerous to liberty as an authoritarian government.  They wanted a strong executive branch but didn’t want that power concentrated in one person to devolve into tyranny.  To walk us through this fascinating topic, we are pleased to welcome...

Constitutional Chats Presented By Constituting America

Free speech was so important to our Founders they wrote it into the First Amendment to the Constitution.  Over the last decade, we have seen an erosion of free speech support through cancel culture, suppression on college campuses and “fact checkers” on social media platforms.  Did we finally reach a tipping point and are beginning to rally once again around the idea of free speech?  Just this week we saw Meta announce they will no longer use fact checkers but community notes in their platforms.  To discuss this topic with our all-star student panel, we are pleased to...

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...