This is Episode 6 of The Savvy Citizen podcast.

I’m your host Kelley Keller and it is my privilege to present the 11th through 27th Amendments to the Constitution of the United States of America.

In the last episode, we read through the Bill of Rights, or the first 10 Amendments. Now, we turn to the 17 amendments that come after, ratified between 1795 and 1992.

For each amendment, I’ll identify the date of ratification, make a brief comment about its purpose, and read the text. We’ll revisit each amendment in greater detail in future episodes, but, for now, the goal is to read through them in short order and create a foundational resource for reference as we learn more down the road.

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This is Episode 5 of The Savvy Citizen podcast.

I’m your host Kelley Keller and it is my privilege to present the first 10 amendments to the United States Constitution, which are well known as the Bill of Rights.

In the previous episode, we read through the preamble and all 7 articles of the U.S. Constitution, which created our current structure of government. 

You may recall from that episode that there was a long and active debate between those whom we call the federalists and those whom we call the anti-federalists, regarding the addition of a Bill of Rights to the Constitution prior to ratification. 

The federalists were focused primarily on consolidating the power of the central government to ensure the country could move forward with more cohesion after the failure of the Articles of Confederation, which attempted, unsuccessfully, to hold the 13 states together by a shoestring of an alliance. 

The anti-federalists, on the other hand, were opposed to centralizing that much power in the federal government without an accompanying Bill of Rights and without sufficient safeguards to ensure the presidency couldn’t become a de facto monarchy. 

The anti-federalists also wanted to avoid an out-of-control judiciary and to confirm that the needs of local communities would be both heard and supported by a distant national government.

In the end, the federalists got their way with a ratified Constitution, and the anti-federalists won their battle for the bill of rights, which were adopted as the first 10 amendments to the Constitution in 1791, two years after the Constitution itself went into effect

The Bill of Rights are additions to the Constitution, they do not revise or replace any language in the original text. 

After the Bill of Rights was adopted, the Constitution was amended four years later, in 1795. It has been amended a total of 27 times, including the Bill of Rights, with the 27th Amendment being ratified in 1992.

We will cover the Bill of Rights in this Episode and Amendments 11 to 27 in the next Episode.

So, without further ado, I am pleased to present the first ten Amendments to the United States Constitution - the Bill of Rights - which were ratified effective December 15, 1791.

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I’m your host Kelley Keller and it is my privilege to present America’s third founding document: The Constitution of the United States of America.

In the previous episode, we took a high level look at the Articles of Confederation which functioned as America’s first Constitution.

But the Articles simply didn’t work and we needed an upgrade. While the Articles created a “firm league of friendship” between the states as well as a central government, the central government’s power was so limited that the government couldn’t function well. Specifically, the central government had no power to tax, or otherwise raise money, and was entirely dependent on the States for funding.

When the states convened a Constitutional Convention in the summer of 1787, their primary aim was to be sure the new government they created had sufficieConstitutiont national power to function, but not too much power that fundamental rights are at risk.

They accomplished this by separating the power of government into three co-equal branches with checks and balances. Memories were still sharp from the founders’ experience with the King of England and the powerful Parliament. The powers granted to each of the three branches are enumerated in the Constitution, everything else is reserved to the States.

The U.S. Constitution is surprisingly short. At only 4,400 words, it is the shortest (and oldest) written Constitution of any major government in the world. It has only been amended 27 times, with the last time being in 1992. 

The population at the time of The Constitution’s ratification was approximately 4 million, and today it is approximately 330,000,000. That the form of government our primary founding document created still survives is a testament to the founders and their capacious vision for a free nation.

Without further ado, I present to you the Constitution of the United States of America.

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This is Episode 3 of The Savvy Citizen podcast. I’m your host Kelley Keller and it is my privilege to present America’s second founding document: The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union adopted on November 15, 1777, ratified on March 1, 1781. 

The Articles of Confederation served as the United States’ first constitution. It was in force from its ratification until 1789, when the present-day Constitution went into effect.

Here is some background.

On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia drafted the resolution that proposed independence for the American colonies. The proposal had three parts:

• A declaration of Independence
• A call to form foreign allegiances through treaties
• A plan for confederation

On June 11, 1776, the Second Continental Congress appointed three committees, one to address each issue.  

The committee to draft a constitution for confederation of the states consisted of one member from each of the soon to be independent 13 states. John Dickinson of Pennsylvania (and for whom Dickinson College in my hometown of Carlisle, PA is named) chaired the confederation committee. After 6 drafts, the committee presented the Dickinson Draft of the Articles of Confederation to the Congress on July 12, 1776, just eight days after signing the Declaration of Independence. This first draft named the confederation "the United States of America." After considerable debate and revision, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation on November 15, 1777.

This "first constitution of the United States" established a "league of friendship" so to speak for newly sovereign and independent states. All powers, except those explicitly delegated to the federal government, which were few and far between, belonged to the states. The Articles also provided for a unicameral legislature, or Congress, with each state having one vote, regardless of population size, something that would change with the new Constitution was proposed.

It took 15 months to ratify the Articles, which required an up vote from all 13 states. The new constitution came into force on March 1, 1781.  It would remain in force until the new, and current, constitution replaced it on March 4, 1789.

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It is my privilege to present America’s first founding document, The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America from King George III of Great Britain and his parliament, dated July 4, 1776.

The Declaration of Independence has five sections.

It begins with a Preamble. The preamble identifies the purpose of the document.

The preamble is followed by the assertions. The assertions describes Ancient Principles of Freedom and Unalienable Rights.

 Next up are The Charges. The Charges list 27 acts of tyranny and despotism committed by King George III. The charges function like an indictment.

After the charges comes the Defense: The defense Lists the actions the colonists had taken to resolve their differences with the King.

Finally, we have The Declaration of Independence from the King and his parliament.

The original text does not include section titles, but I will add them for ease of following along.

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The story of the United States of America begins on July 4, 1776. 

One year after the Battle of Lexington launched the American Revolution, the American colonists had exhausted their efforts to negotiate a more workable arrangement with the English crown, specifically King George III. With all efforts - shy of separation - having failed, the colonists did the deed. 

On July 4, 1776, the colonists issued the Declaration of Independence which announced a complete and irrevocable break from Great Britain. While the kinetic fighting of the Revolution would continue for another eight years, Britain would ultimately surrender and acknowledge the United States of America as a sovereign nation. The Treaty of Paris, signed September 2, 1783, was the final divorce decree between America and the crown.    

Welcome to the Savvy Citizen podcast, I’m your host, attorney Kelley Keller, and I take the awe out of the law. The Savvy Citizen podcast is for ordinary Americans seeking to get back to the basics of America's founding, the U.S. Constitution, the government it creates, and the rights and responsibilities of American citizenship. We'll take a deep dive into various parts of American life and "why it is the way it is" by talking with the melting pot of everyday Americans from all walks of life and worldviews.

In this inaugural episode, we’re going back to basics and will get our footing by exploring America’s founding documents.

Connect with Kelley Keller

Read more at https://savvycitizen.substack.com/

Connect with Kelley on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelleykeller/

Have you ever had a gut feeling about something, but lacked confidence that you actually “knew enough” to have a meaningful conversation about it, so you just kept your mouth shut?

Have you ever been confronted about the validity of your point-of-view or belief system and struggled to find just the right words to silence your critics?

Have you ever been terrified that a discussion is about to escalate into an emotional free-for-all, but felt totally ill-equipped to bring it down a notch so a less hair-triggering conversation could take place?

If so, this podcast is for you.