Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America has been called by Harvey Mansfield the “best book ever written on democracy and the best book ever written on America." What can a 200-year-old book teach us about democracy in America today?
Scholars—Jeremy Jennings, author of Travels with Tocqueville Beyond America; Olivier Zunz, author of The Man Who Understood Democracy: The Life of Alexis de Tocqueville; and Catherine Zuckert of the University of Notre Dame—discuss Tocqueville’s masterpiece and its lessons for modern Americans with Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center. 
This conversation was streamed live on March 6, 2023.
Additional Resources

Jeremy Jennings, Travels with Tocqueville Beyond America

Olivier Zunz, The Man Who Understood Democracy: The Life of Alexis de Tocqueville

Catherine Zuckert, “The Saving Minimum? Tocqueville on the Role of Religion in America—Then and Now,” American Political Thought

Michael Oakeshott, “The Masses in Representative Democracy”

 
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, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app.

Lessons from Tocqueville in America

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.

History

Society & Culture

News

As Meta surpassed 2 billion users in 2019, the company created an independent oversight board to review appeals of controversial decisions involving content moderation. Members of Meta’s Oversight Board Michael McConnell of Stanford Law School and Kenji Yoshino of New York University School of Law discuss the board’s recent work, including its efforts to ensure free and fair elections in advance of the 2024 presidential election. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.
This program is made possible through the generous support of Citizen Travelers, the nonpartisan civic engagement initiative of Travelers.

Additional Resources

Meta Oversight Board


Former President Trump's suspension, Meta Oversight Board decision (2021)

Meet the Board


Brazilian general's speech, Meta Oversight Board decision (2023)


Altered Video of President Biden, Meta Oversight Board decision (2023)


Oversight Board Announces New Cases on Israel-Hamas Conflict for Expedited Review (Dec. 2023)


United States posts discussing abortion, Meta Oversight Board decision, (2023)


Referring to Designated Dangerous Individuals as “Shaheed”, Meta Oversight Board decision, (2023)


Cambodian prime minister, Meta Oversight Board decision (2023)


Reporting on Pakistani Parliament Speech, Meta Oversight Board decision (2023)

How to Appeal to the Oversight Board



Stay Connected and Learn More

Questions or comments about the show? Email us at programs@constitutioncenter.org


Continue the conversation by following us on social media @ConstitutionCtr.


Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate.

Subscribe, rate, and review wherever you listen.

Join us for an upcoming live program or watch recordings on YouTube.

Support our important work.


Donate

Ensuring Election Integrity: Insights From Meta’s Oversight Board

Michael Gerhardt, author of the new book FDR’s Mentors: Navigating the Path to Greatness, and Andrew Busch, author of Reagan's Victory: The Presidential Election of 1980 and the Rise of the Right, join Jeffrey Rosen to explore the pivotal elections of 1932 and 1980. They compare the transformative presidencies of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan, and trace how founding-era debates between Hamilton and Jefferson over the scope of federal and executive power re-emerged during the New Deal and Reagan Revolution. This program originally streamed live on April 16, 2024. 
 
Resources: 

Michael J. Gerhardt, FDR’s Mentors: Navigating the Path to Greatness (2024) 

Andrew E. Busch, Ronald Reagan and the Politics of Freedom (2001) 

Andrew E. Busch, Reagan's Victory: The Presidential Election of 1980 and the Rise of the Right (2005) 

Andrew E. Busch, The Constitution on the Campaign Trail: The Surprising Political Career of America’s Founding Document (2007) 


Friedrich Hayek, “The Road to Serfdom,” Teaching American History (May 21, 2020) 

Ronald Reagan, Remarks to Commonwealth Club members on March 4, 1983, Reagan Library (July 19, 2018) 

Franklin D. Roosevelt, Undelivered Address Prepared for Jefferson Day, The American Presidency Project 

 

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.

America’s Most Consequential Elections: From FDR to Reagan

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


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 Legacy of Emmett Till: From Tragedy to Activism

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.

Justice Stephen Breyer on Reading the Constitution

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.

Lessons from Tocqueville in America

Download our free app to listen on your phone