Constitution USA with Peter Sagal

Why have an "indivisible union"?

Yale Professor Akhil Amar gives us a quick background of *why* founders were interested in creating an "indivisible union" in the first place. Why the "United States" instead of the Articles of the Confederation.

Why have an "indivisible union"?

2m

  • Built to Last: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Built to Last

    S1 E4 - 52m 40s

    In this last episode, Sagal travels to Iceland, where after the country’s economic collapse, leaders decided to create a new constitution, looking to the U.S. Constitution for inspiration. This prompts Sagal to consider why our own founding document has lasted more than 225 years.

  • Created Equal: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Created Equal

    S1 E3 - 53m 11s

    The high ideals of the Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal” didn’t make it into the Constitution in 1787. It took three-quarters of a century, and a bloody civil war, before the Fourteenth Amendment of 1868 made equality a constitutional right and gave the federal government the power to enforce it.

  • It's a Free Country: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    It's a Free Country

    S1 E2 - 53m 10s

    Ask Americans what the Constitution’s most important feature is and most will say it’s the guarantees of liberty enshrined in the Bill of Rights. In this episode, Sagal explores the history of the Bill of Rights and addresses several stories — ripped from the headlines — involving freedom of speech, freedom of religion and right to privacy.

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