218 episodes
Live at the National Constitution Center National Constitution Center
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4.6 • 130 Ratings
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Live constitutional conversations and debates featuring leading historians, journalists, scholars, and public officials hosted at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia and across America. To watch National Constitution Center Town Halls live, check out our schedule of upcoming programs at constitutioncenter.org/townhall. Register through Zoom to ask your constitutional questions in the Q&A or watch live on YouTube at YouTube.com/ConstitutionCenter.
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The Legacy of Emmett Till: From Tragedy to Activism
Janai Nelson, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, joins Ronald Collins, author of Tragedy on Trial: The Story of the Infamous Emmett Till Murder Trial, to discuss the tragedy of Emmett Till’s murder, the shocking story of the trial that followed, and its impact on the Civil Rights Movement. Thomas Donnelly, chief content officer at the National Constitution Center, moderates.
Additional Resources
Ronald K. L. Collins, Tragedy on Trial: The Story of the Infamous Emmett Till Murder Trial (2024)
H.R.55 - Emmett Till Antilynching Act
President Joseph Biden,Remarks by President at Signing of H.R. 55 (March 29, 2022)
Joy-Ann Reid, Medgar and Myrlie: Medgar Evers and the Love Story That Awakened America (2024)
Valerie Russ, “A former Temple U law professor speaks about how the Emmett Till murder trial shaped the Civil Rights Movement," The Philadelphia Inquirer (April 11, 2024)
Liz Fields, “The story behind Nina Simone’s protest song, 'Mississippi Goddam,'” PBS (Jan. 14, 2021)
Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley, National Monument
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Continue today’s conversation on social media @ConstitutionCtr and #AmericasTownHall
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. -
Justice Stephen Breyer on Reading the Constitution
On Thursday March 28 at the NCC, Jeffrey Rosen sat down with Justice Stephen Breyer to discuss his new book, Reading the Constitution: Why I Chose Pragmatism, Not Textualism. Justice Breyer deconstructs the textualist philosophy of the current Supreme Court’s majority and makes the case for a better way to interpret the Constitution based on pragmatism.
Resources
Justice Stephen Breyer, Reading the Constitution: Why I Chose Pragmatism, Not Textualism (2024)
Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org.
Continue today’s conversation on social media @ConstitutionCtr and #AmericasTownHall
Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate, at bit.ly/constitutionweekly.
You can find transcripts for each episode on the podcast pages in our Media Library. -
Lincoln’s Lessons: Then and Now
Acclaimed Lincoln historians Sidney Blumenthal, author of the three-volume The Political Life of Abraham Lincoln, and Harold Holzer, author of the new book Brought Forth on This Continent: Abraham Lincoln and American Immigration, assess Lincoln’s life and legacy to unveil remarkable similarities between the 19th century and today. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.
Additional Resources
Harold Holzer, Brought Forth on This Continent: Abraham Lincoln and American Immigration
Sidney Blumenthal, Wrestling With His Angel: The Political Life of Abraham Lincoln, Vol. II, 1849-1856
Abraham Lincoln, Cooper Union Address (1860, February 27)
Harold Holzer, Lincoln at Cooper Union: The Speech That Made Abraham Lincoln President
Stay Connected and Learn More
Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org.
Continue today’s conversation on social media @ConstitutionCtr and #AmericasTownHall
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. -
Democracy Checkup: Preparing for the 2024 Election
Richard Hasen, author of A Real Right to Vote, Sarah Isgur, senior editor of The Dispatch, and Lawrence Lessig, author of How to Steal a Presidential Election, provide a health check on the state of American democracy, and look ahead to potential areas of vulnerability in the run-up to the 2024 election. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.
Additional Resources
Richard L. Hasen, A Real Right to Vote: How a Constitutional Amendment Can Safeguard American Democracy
Lawrence Lessig and Matthew Seligman, How to Steal a Presidential Election
Jeffrey Rosen, “The Supreme Court Says States Can’t Keep Trump Off the Ballot," We the People, National Constitution Center
Trump v. Anderson (2024)
Sarah Isgur and David French,“Indictment Watch: The Supreme Court Decides Whether States Can Disqualify Trump,” Advisory Opinions, The Dispatch
Richard L. Hasen, “The Supreme Court Just Delivered a Rare Self-Own for John Roberts,” Slate (March 5, 2023)
Conference Report, “Carter-Baker Commission: 16 Years Later” (2021)
Trump v. Anderson, Amicus brief of Richard L. Hasen, Edward Foley and Ben Ginsburg
Stay Connected and Learn More
Continue today’s conversation on social media @ConstitutionCtr and #AmericasTownHall
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 Pursuit of Happiness: A Book Launch and Conversation with Jeffrey Rosen and Jeffrey Goldberg
On Presidents Day 2024, NCC President and CEO Jeffrey Rosen launched his new book at the NCC in conversation with Jeffrey Goldberg, editor in chief of The Atlantic. They discuss The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America. This program was recorded live on February 19, 2024, and presented in partnership with The Atlantic.
Additional Resources:
Jeffrey Rosen, The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America (2024)
Cicero, The Tusculan Disputations (ca. 45 BC)
The Quill Project
The King James Bible (1611)
Pythagoras, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
The Webster-Hayne Debates
Trump v. Anderson
“Should President Trump Be Allowed on the 2024 Ballot?,” We the People podcast (Jan. 11, 2024)
“Rhetoric of Freedom,” The Atlantic (Sept. 1999)
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Continue 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. -
Following Tubman’s Trail: Unveiling Stories of the African American Quest for Freedom
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 More
Continue 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.
Customer Reviews
Intelligent Discussion
Intelligent, interesting & important discussion on Constitutional matters.
Every US citizen should listen to The Constitution Center podcasts, etc.
Democracy, Populism, Tyranny
Todays episode was by far the worst in memory. This show is usually informative and balanced. Today’s show was nothing but one meme and bumper sticker against Trump after another. No mention was made of the Obama-era scandals of political spying at the FISA courts, the current weaponization of DOJ against the leading presidential candidate (which the panelist promote indirectly), and unmentioned BLM riots, which the left accepted as almost the only exception to Covid restrictions. The young panelists conflate complaining of or alleging fraud with “tyranny”—yet they have selective amnesia about Stacy Abrams alleging the same thing, and how about Hillary saying that Russia put Trump in office, making him “illegitimate” because “he knows he lost.” Today’s show was Sesame Street talks partisan politics. I hope that today’s departure from reality will be an anomaly.
Frustrated but love the show overall
I listened to your FDR/Supreme Court episode. It was fine…if it was a seminar at the Brookings Institution on how to justify packing today’s court and messaging the public against Originalist interpretation. It was unfit for the Constitution Center. We need institutions like you to actually present the best of both sides. Ken (?) is a talented historian who has written about conservatives. He is not a conservative. It was poor judgment to not enrich this conversation with ideological diversity. It rated it a 4 only because I respect the CC. It was a poorly organized panel. Thanks.