We the People

Historian David O. Stewart joins to discuss his latest book, The Democracy We Must Keep, which examines the foundational ideas in nine key founding-era documents that shaped America's constitutional democracy. Stewart discusses how the founders sought to create a government strong enough to govern but constrained enough to protect liberty, the compromises and debates that shaped the Constitution, and the warnings about political parties and factionalism in Washington’s Farewell Address and Jefferson’s First Inaugural. Julie Silverbrook, chief content and learning officer at the National Constitution Center, moderates.

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The National Constitution Center previews the Supreme Court’s 2026-2027 term. Masha Hansford, partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell, Amy Howe, co-founder of SCOTUSblog, and Greg Stohr, Supreme Court reporter for Bloomberg News, join to break down the biggest cases on the docket, unpack the constitutional questions at stake, and explore the issues that could have the biggest impact on the Court in the year ahead. Tom Donnelly, lead scholar at the National Constitution Center, moderates. 

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Frederick Douglass is remembered as one of the most powerful orators in American history, a leading voice for abolition, and an extraordinary champion of equal rights. He was also one of the 19th century’s most important thinkers about freedom of speech. For Douglass, free speech was not simply a constitutional protection against government censorship. It was a fundamental human right, an indispensable weapon in the struggle against slavery, and an essential condition of equal citizenship and self-government. In this episode, scholar Jacob Mchangama examines Douglass’s remarkably expansive understanding of free speech, drawing on a new research project that examines hundreds of his speeches, writings, and letters. Julie Silverbrook, chief content and learning officer at the National Constitution Center, moderates. 

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In this episode, Joseph Blocher of Duke University School of Law and Clark Neily of the Cato Institute trace the ongoing debates over the Second Amendment. They analyze recent Supreme Court decisions on this key provision, preview a case on the Court’s docket this term, and look ahead to the issues on the horizon. Thomas Donnelly, lead scholar at the National Constitution Center, moderates.

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In this special Constitution Day episode, author William Magnuson discusses his latest book, The Just and the Good: How Law Made the Western World, which is a sweeping tour of the history of the law. He explores how the pillars of the rule of law were built—from the courts of ancient Athens to the United States Constitution, to Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., and the Civil Rights Movement. Thomas Donnelly, lead scholar at the National Constitution Center, moderates. 

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Geoffrey Stone of the University of Chicago Law School and Eugene Volokh, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and UCLA School of Law, discuss the First Amendment and the rapidly evolving speech landscape—from social media and artificial intelligence to college campuses and the press. Thomas Donnelly, lead scholar at the National Constitution Center, moderates.

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In this episode, Mary Sarah Bilder, Founders Professor at Boston College Law School, explores the history of rights and liberties in America and the origins of the Bill of Rights. She traces how ideas about rights developed before, during, and after the American Revolution, shaped debates over the Constitution, and ultimately led to the adoption of the first 10 amendments. She also explores how those amendments came to be known collectively as the Bill of Rights and gained the significance they have today. Julie Silverbrook, chief content and learning officer at the National Constitution Center, moderates. 

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In a recent decision, the U.S. Supreme Court held that law enforcement’s use of a geofence warrant, which collected identity and location data from mobile phone users, violated the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. Professor Orin S. Kerr of Stanford University unpacks the decision in Chatrie v. United States and explores what it means for the future of the Fourth Amendment, privacy, and government surveillance in the digital age. Julie Silverbrook, chief content and learning officer at the National Constitution Center, moderates. 

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In this episode, prize-winning author and historian Fergus M. Bordewich discusses his latest book, Centennial: The Great Fair of 1876 and the Invention of America’s Future, which explores the story of the nation’s 100th birthday and the first world’s fair. Bordewich traces the lives of President Rutherford B. Hayes, the inventor Alexander Graham Bell, railroad magnate Tom Scott, and the African American sculptor Edmonia Lewis—revealing a country striving to live up to the promise of the founders while bracing for the tidal wave of the 20th century. Thomas Donnelly, lead scholar at the National Constitution Center, moderates. 

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When Americans think about the Declaration of Independence, we tend to remember its most famous words: “We hold these truths to be self-evident,” and its promise of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” But to fully understand the Declaration we also need to read the section most Americans skip: its 27 grievances against King George III. For the founding generation, these grievances were not simply a list of complaints. They were central to the Declaration’s argument, laying out the case for how the King and Parliament had violated their rights and why independence had become necessary. Historian Rosemarie Zagarri explores what the grievances meant in 1776, what they reveal about the colonists’ understanding of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and how reading them more closely can deepen our understanding of the Declaration as a constitutional argument and a justification for revolution. Julie Silverbrook, chief content and learning officer at the National Constitution Center, moderates. 

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