How did the United States Constitution become the supreme law of the land? Who wrote it? What issues did they face? Why is the Constitution important to us today? The Constitution is under attack at the same time few Americans can answer simple questions about what it says and what it means. Becoming America: The Constitutional Convention of 1787 addresses these important issues in a unique blend of interviews with nationally acclaimed scholars and experts and lively, upbeat songs from the n ...
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Constitutional Conventions is the official podcast of the Yale Federalist Society. Hosts Jonathan Feld and Zack Austin are joined by leading lawyers, jurists, and intellectuals to discuss pressing issues in law, jurisprudence, and public policy. Constitutional Conventions gives you a taste of the exciting programming hosted by Yale Law School's Federalist Society. New episodes are released every Thursday morning.
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Preservation of our founding documents and records of debates and other commentaries on the purposes and intentions of the Founders are essential to both our past and present application of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. They are more than memories of the past, they continue to be the foundation upon which our government and liberties res…
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“America is perfect idea; the United States is a work in progress.” This has been a constant theme during our “Becoming America” series. In today's society, more diverse than ever, how do the ideas that motivated our Founders stand up? Does the Constitution still resonate with the people? This episode features everyday Americans sharing their thoug…
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The Preamble of the Constitution contains its most revolutionary statement, beginning with the remarkable statement that the new government would be based on the authority of “We the People.” In this episode of “Becoming America,” Dr. Jo Ellen Chatham, Judge Jim Gray, and Bijan Kian interview Judge Andrew Guilford. Retired after serving for nearly …
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Fortunately, there are thousands of documents recording the drafting and ratification of our Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Letters, journals, newspaper articles, political pamphlets and much more provide a comprehensive account – including from both sides - those who favored and those who disapproved of the Constitution. Our guest in this ep…
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It can be lonesome at the top, especially when you lead not only a country but a country at the cusp of transformation. At the creation of the United States, there was one indispensable man. He commanded the Continental Army through the Revolutionary War, presided over the Constitutional Convention, and was elected to be our first President. We all…
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Why did our Founding Fathers ignore the issue of slavery when crafting the Constitution? To understand this better, we need to put everything in context with the times. The incipient federation was at risk of many Southern states not joining if slavery was outlawed, and many of the delegates themselves were slave owners. But to their credit, they d…
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Josh Halpern serves as a Lecturer on Law and part-time Research Fellow at Harvard Law School, where he focuses on the corporate and constitutional law issues in boycotts and sanctions regimes. He concurrently practices appellate and complex litigation at a DC-based firm. He previously served as a Bristow Fellow in the Office of the Solicitor Genera…
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Policy Wonks - Tom Campbell
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The Constitutional Convention was by no means a smooth proceeding. The delegates represented a wide array of interests and opinions and argued about almost every provision before coming to a near-unanimous conclusion before the Convention adjourned. Among the most hotly contested issues were the relationship between the states and the new national …
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My Country Needs Me - Trevor Burrus
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Many critical issues divided the delegates to the Constitutional Convention. One of the most contentious was how much power the central government should wield. Nearly everyone at the table agreed that The Articles of Confederation were weak and that giving the central government more authority was essential. But how much power should that central …
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We all learned from school that the Constitutional Convention was held in May of 1787 within of what is now known as Independence Hall. But how much do we know about the process the Founding Fathers followed in those crucial four months? Dr. Bryan M. Santin is here to discuss how the Constitutional Convention operated. He explains the major rules s…
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Marc DeGirolami on Religious Establishment and the American Founding
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Prof. Marc DeGirolami is the Cary Fields Professor of Law at St. John’s University School of Law, where he is also the co-director of the Center for Law and Religion. His research interests include law and religion, freedom of speech, constitutional law, jurisprudence, tort law, and criminal law. His book, The Tragedy of Religious Freedom, was publ…
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The Power Of Hope – Joshua Charles
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The First Amendment of the US Constitution guarantees the right of every citizen to religious freedom. While the Founders held varying religious opinions, they agreed that every individual must the right to hold their own religious beliefs and practices without government interference. Fast forward to the present time, Americans have become more di…
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More than 200 years ago, leaders representing twelve of the thirteen States calling themselves the United States of America gathered gathered together in Philadelphia. Concerned about the lack of cooperation among the states, a looming economic crisis, potential insurrections in the states and unstable relations with foreign nations, their critical…
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Prof. John Yoo is the Emanuel Heller Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. He is also a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and a Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution. He also served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) at the Department of Justice during t…
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Remember The Ladies – Tom Campbell
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Article III of the Constitution establishes the federal judiciary, including the Supreme Court. Among issues facing the courts over many decades are rights and roles of women. Although the Constitution makes no distinction between men and women, state law often made such distinction and many were challenged in federal courts. Diving deep into this …
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Prof. Vincent Phillip Muñoz is the Tocqueville Associate Professor of Political Science and Concurrent Associate Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame. He is the Founding Director of ND’s Center for Citizenship & Constitutional Government. His most recent book, Religious Liberty and the American Founding: Natural Rights and the Original …
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What About Me? – Dr. William B. Allen
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America is built on our collective hopes and dreams to govern ourselves and to secure the promises to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Yet, there are times in our history when these were not applied equally to all people and must not be ignored. Acknowledging them and addressing their legacies is a path to assuring that the promises of A…
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David Blight on the Historian's Craft and the Legal Profession
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Prof. David Blight is Sterling Professor of American History at Yale University. Prof. Blight is one of the world's leading experts on the American Civil War and Frederick Douglass. He won the Pulitzer Prize for History and the Bancroft Prize in 2019 for his most recent book, Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom. His 2001 book Race and Reunion: T…
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In each episode, we break down the events at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 that drafted our Constitution. If there is a figure more suited than any other to join the podcast, it would no doubt be the Father of the Constitution himself, President James Madison. What would you ask if you could interview James Madison? What do you believe woul…
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Building what is now the United States of America was far from a tidy process of state-building. Much of what defines America was unprecedented when the Founders met in Philadelphia and drafted a new form of government, and ours were often in serious disagreement. In this episode of Becoming America, we are taken back to that time when opponents of…
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If you went back to the time more than two hundred thirty years ago when the Constitution was being written, you probably wouldn’t recognize the place at all. America in 1787 was very different than today. The song “Off to Philadelphia,” talks about rutted trails of mud instead of roads and traveling by horse and coach instead of cars and trains. W…
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Trailer
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This trailer episode introduces the entire project with numerous excerpts from each episode.
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The United States of America is a perfect idea, but the United States of America is a work in progress. Our Founding Fathers, the people who were responsible for the birth of America, weren’t perfect. They were human beings who had personal flaws and vested interests. But what they was unprecedented. It was an experiment in democracy that enjoy tod…
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Roger Pilon holds the B. Kenneth Simon Chair in Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute. Before joining Cato in 1988, Pilon held senior posts in the Reagan administration and was a national fellow at the Hoover Institution. Between 1989 and 2019, Dr. Pilon served as director of Cato’s Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies, which he …
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Andrew Kloster is General Counsel at Personnel Policy Operations. He was previously the Associate Director of the White House Office of Presidential Personnel and Deputy General Counsel of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Andrew joins the show to talk about civil service reform, public servants and the administrative state.…
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Sherif Girgis is an Associate Professor of Law at Notre Dame Law School, where his research sits at the intersection of law and philosophy. His first book, What Is Marriage? Man and Woman: A Defense, was co-authored with Robert P. George and Ryan T. Anderson and was cited by Justice Alito in his dissent in US v. Windsor. He also served as a law cle…
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Kirby West is an attorney at the Institute for Justice. Earlier this year, she worked on the IJ team that successfully litigated Carson v. Makin at the Supreme Court of the United States. In the Season 2 opener, Kirby joins Jon and new host Robert Capodilupo to talk about Carson v. Makin, educational choice, and free exercise litigation.…
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Elbridge Colby is the co-founder and a principal of The Marathon Initiative, a policy initiative designed to prepare the United States for an era of great power competition. His new book, The Strategy of Denial: American Defense in an Age of Great Power Conflict, lays out a plan for preventing China from establishing hegemony over East Asia. It was…
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Prof. Joshua Kleinfeld is a Professor of Law at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. His research focuses on the distinctive social function and sense of justice at work in the criminal system. He also studies the theory and practice of democratic self-governance as both a matter of political theory and of public law. Prof. Kleinfeld joins Zack and…
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Dr. Joseph Simmons is the Vice President of Academic Affairs for the Yale Federalist Society and a 3L at Yale Law School. Joseph joins Jon and Zack to talk about his recent note in the Yale Law Journal, “Reconstructing the Bankruptcy Power: An Originalist Approach." Joseph, Jon, and Zack talk about the Bankruptcy Clause, originalist methodology, an…
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Judge Justin Walker serves on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. Before his elevation in 2020, he served as a judge on the US District Court for the District of Western Kentucky. Prior to being appointed to the bench Judge Walker, among other things, served as a speechwriter for Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and taught law at the Un…
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Amb. John Bolton on International Law, the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, and Free Speech on Campus
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In response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, many are pursuing legal challenges in international courts against Putin’s regime. Former National Security Advisor John Bolton joins Jon and Zack to discuss why these efforts are misguided and what recent developments in the war mean for American grand strategy. Along the way, they talk about everything…
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On this pilot episode, co-hosts Jonathan Feld and Zack Austin discuss what it means to be a conservative law student at Yale Law School, their involvement with the Federalist Society, and what they hope to achieve with this new show. Every week, Constitutional Conventions looks forward to bringing you the best commentary from foremost thinkers, jud…
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