We The People Podcasts

With the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, an old-fashioned southern Jacksonian Democrat of pronounced states' rights views became the seventeenth president of the United States. In a surprising turn of events, Andrew Johnson was charged with the reconstruction of the defeated South, including the extension of civil rights and suffrage to African American Southerners. It quickly became clear that the president supported the enactment of “black codes” and would block efforts to force Southern states to guarantee full equality for African Americans, igniting a fierce battle with congressional Republicans. Acclaimed author David O. Stewart returns to the Constitution Center to discuss the impeachment trial of President Johnson, which became the central battle of the struggle over how to reunite a nation after four years of war. Program recorded on 05/11/2009. Questions or comments? Write: programs@constitutioncenter.org

With the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, an old-fashioned southern Jacksonian Democrat of pronounced states' rights views became the seventeenth president of the United States. In a surprising turn of events, Andrew Johnson was charged with the reconstruction of the defeated South, including the extension of civil rights and suffrage to African American Southerners. It quickly became clear that the president supported the enactment of “black codes” and would block efforts to force Southern states to guarantee full equality for African Americans, igniting a fierce battle with congressional Republicans. Acclaimed author David O. Stewart returns to the Constitution Center to discuss the impeachment trial of President Johnson, which became the central battle of the struggle over how to reunite a nation after four years of war. Program recorded on 05/11/2009. Questions or comments? Write: programs@constitutioncenter.org

Historian Mia Bay and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Pamela Newkirk discuss the extraordinary life of Ida B. Wells, a fearless anti-lynching crusader, women’s rights advocate, journalist, and public speaker. Her refusal to accept any compromise on racial inequality labeled her a “dangerous radical” in her day, but made her a model for later civil rights activists, as well as a powerful influence for women in journalism. The Philadelphia Inquirer's Sandra D. Long moderates. Program recorded on 03/19/2009. Questions or comments? Write: programs@constitutioncenter.org

Historian Mia Bay and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Pamela Newkirk discuss the extraordinary life of Ida B. Wells, a fearless anti-lynching crusader, women’s rights advocate, journalist, and public speaker. Her refusal to accept any compromise on racial inequality labeled her a “dangerous radical” in her day, but made her a model for later civil rights activists, as well as a powerful influence for women in journalism. The Philadelphia Inquirer's Sandra D. Long moderates. Program recorded on 03/19/2009. Questions or comments? Write: programs@constitutioncenter.org

Lecture on Economic Liberties and the Constitution considers the social, cultural, and moral causes of the current financial crisis in the United States. To address these, and other related issues, the Center presents John C. Bogle, founder of the Vanguard Group and Chairman Emeritus of the National Constitution Center, with a response from Peter J. Wallison, Arthur F. Burns Fellow in Financial Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute. Moderating the program is Douglas Kmiec, the Caruso Family Chair and Professor of Constitutional Law at Pepperdine University's School of Law and a member of the Center’s Distinguished Scholars Advisory Panel. Program recorded on 05/13/2009. Questions or comments? Write: programs@constitutioncenter.org

Lecture on Economic Liberties and the Constitution considers the social, cultural, and moral causes of the current financial crisis in the United States. To address these, and other related issues, the Center presents John C. Bogle, founder of the Vanguard Group and Chairman Emeritus of the National Constitution Center, with a response from Peter J. Wallison, Arthur F. Burns Fellow in Financial Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute. Moderating the program is Douglas Kmiec, the Caruso Family Chair and Professor of Constitutional Law at Pepperdine University's School of Law and a member of the Center’s Distinguished Scholars Advisory Panel. Program recorded on 05/13/2009. Questions or comments? Write: programs@constitutioncenter.org

The framers of our Constitution wrote a document that would live longer than they ever imagined and, more than two hundred years after it was written, debate about its interpretation still rages. From historian Richard Beeman comes a dramatic account of the men who met in Philadelphia during the summer of 1787 to design a radically new form of government. His latest book, Plain, Honest Men, takes readers behind the scenes and beyond the debate to show how the world’s most enduring constitution was forged through conflict, compromise, and, eventually, fragile consensus. Program recorded on 03/23/2009. Questions or comments? Write: programs@constitutioncenter.org

The framers of our Constitution wrote a document that would live longer than they ever imagined and, more than two hundred years after it was written, debate about its interpretation still rages. From historian Richard Beeman comes a dramatic account of the men who met in Philadelphia during the summer of 1787 to design a radically new form of government. His latest book, Plain, Honest Men, takes readers behind the scenes and beyond the debate to show how the world’s most enduring constitution was forged through conflict, compromise, and, eventually, fragile consensus. Program recorded on 03/23/2009. Questions or comments? Write: programs@constitutioncenter.org

At 8:46 on the morning of September 11, 2001, our country became a nation transformed. President George W. Bush was faced with a crisis that created new demands on the Executive Branch not seen in our time and critical decisions were made during the first 24 hours that would test the constitutional limits of the President’s power. Find out what went on that day behind closed doors in the White House Situation Room, at the Pentagon, and on Air Force One from high-ranking members of the Bush Administration and key observers. This special program was presented as part of the National Constitution Center’s Peter Jennings Project for Journalists and the Constitution on 02/28/2009. Questions or comments? Write: programs@constitutioncenter.org

At 8:46 on the morning of September 11, 2001, our country became a nation transformed. President George W. Bush was faced with a crisis that created new demands on the Executive Branch not seen in our time and critical decisions were made during the first 24 hours that would test the constitutional limits of the President’s power. Find out what went on that day behind closed doors in the White House Situation Room, at the Pentagon, and on Air Force One from high-ranking members of the Bush Administration and key observers. This special program was presented as part of the National Constitution Center’s Peter Jennings Project for Journalists and the Constitution on 02/28/2009. Questions or comments? Write: programs@constitutioncenter.org

The National Constitution Center welcomes Politico's Carrie Budoff Brown, Stanley Greenberg, leading political strategist and author of Dispatches from the War Room, and Byron York, The Washington Examiner’s Chief Political Correspondent, to reflect on the policy decisions and political maneuvers during the first 100 days of the Obama administration. John Gizzi, Political Editor for Human Events, moderates. This program, presented as part of the Knight Constitutional Conversations series, was recorded on 04/27/2009. Questions or comments? Write: programs@constitutioncenter.org

August Wilson is one of the most influential and successful African American playwrights of the twentieth century. With the help of American theater scholar Walter Dallas, historian Nathaniel Norment, Jr., and a company of professional actors, the National Constitution Center presents a program that explores and celebrates Wilson’s work in relationship to the American theater and to the social, political and historical experience of African Americans. This program was presented in conjunction with the Center’s world premiere exhibition AMERICA I AM: The African American Imprint, and was recorded on 02/23/2009. Questions or comments? Write: programs@constitutioncenter.org

The National Constitution Center welcomes Politico's Carrie Budoff Brown, Stanley Greenberg, leading political strategist and author of Dispatches from the War Room, and Byron York, The Washington Examiner’s Chief Political Correspondent, to reflect on the policy decisions and political maneuvers during the first 100 days of the Obama administration. John Gizzi, Political Editor for Human Events, moderates. This program, presented as part of the Knight Constitutional Conversations series, was recorded on 04/27/2009. Questions or comments? Write: programs@constitutioncenter.org

August Wilson is one of the most influential and successful African American playwrights of the twentieth century. With the help of American theater scholar Walter Dallas, historian Nathaniel Norment, Jr., and a company of professional actors, the National Constitution Center presents a program that explores and celebrates Wilson’s work in relationship to the American theater and to the social, political and historical experience of African Americans. This program was presented in conjunction with the Center’s world premiere exhibition AMERICA I AM: The African American Imprint, and was recorded on 02/23/2009. Questions or comments? Write: programs@constitutioncenter.org

The National Constitution Center and Philadelphia magazine present "Philadelphia Talks" with the candidates for City Controller--John Braxton, Alan Butkovitz, Brett Mandel, and Al Schmidt--in a roundtable discussion about monitoring our City's spending. The program addresses how each candidate would rid city government of waste and fraud, their thoughts on the status of the city's pension and retirement funds and what can be done to return them to fiscal health, plus their ideas for innovative and concrete cost-saving opportunities in city government. The program, moderated by Philadelphia magazine editor Larry Platt, was recorded on 05/06/2009. Questions or comments? Write: programs@constitutioncenter.org