Constitution

Podcasts

• "Interpreting the Constitution in the Digital Era" from Fresh Air (30 November 2011)

• Any episode of Make No Law: The First Amendment Podcast, from the Legal Talk Network(Note: Ken White, the host, is a fun Twitter follow.)

• "Presidents Day and the Lessons of George Washington," from WNYC's The Brian Lehrer Show, 15 February 2021

• "The Shadows of the Constitution," from Throughline, 12 November 2020

• ONLY SEASON 4 of Scene on Radio, a documentary podcast from Duke University -- 12 episodes, each = 1 learning activity) recommended by Bethany W.

• Any episode of Civics 101, a podcast from  New Hampshire Public Radio (each episode = 1 learning activity)

• Any episode of the Constitution Center's podcast, We the People (each episode = 1 learning activity) -- added 3.14.2023

Films / TV episodes

• 13th, available on YouTube (free)

• "The First Amendment: Where America Stands" survey interviews, a video created by the Freedom Forum, a nonprofit created to defend the First Amendment in the US

• Amend, a series on Netflix about the 14th Amendment (from Will Smith) (each episode = 1 learning activity) - Netflix subscription required

• Preserving Democracy: Pursuing a More Perfect Union, from PBS - streaming free from their web site here

• What the Constitution Means to Me, a mostly-one-woman show available free for Amazon Prime subscribers

• The National Constitution Center's YouTube channel includes archives of their "America's Town Hall" and "Constitutional Classes Online" series. Any of those specific videos may be watched as a learning activity (each video = 1 learning activity). I especially recommend:

  • Laboratories of Democracy: The Importance of State Constitutions (28 June 2021)

  • Justice Breyer on the Constitution, Civil Discourse, and the Courts (28 May 2021)

  • The Fourth Amendment and Policing in America, Featuring Charles Ramsey (10 May 2021)

  • The Bill of Rights, Featuring Akhil Reed Amar (16 April 2021)

  • Compromise and the Constitution in a Polarized America (17 March 2021)

  • Five proposed amendments to the Constitution (agreed upon by a team of Republicans, Libertarians, and Democrats) (19 September 2022)

Things to read

• "What if We Wrote the Constitution Today?" from The Atlantic (8 December 2020)

  • Five nonpartisan proposed amendments that emerged from this project (agreed upon by a team of Republicans, Libertarians, and Democrats) (19 Septembner 2022)

• "'America is a Republic, Not a Democracy' is a Dangerous -- and Wrong -- Argument," from The Atlantic (2 November 2020)

• How to Read the Constitution and Why, a book by Kim Wehle

• You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington, by Alexis Coe (each chapter = 1 learning activity), Amazon link

Research

• "10 Ideas to Fix Democracy," a compilation of short ideas from Foreign Policy magazine, 7 January 2022.

• "Democratic Backsliding Shouldn't Have Come as a Surprise," by Pippa Norris, Foreign Affairs magazine, 7 January 2022.

• Who got the 27th Amendment ratified? (You'll have to trust me when I tell you that it's a story that is worth finding out on your own. Then make sure you watch the Daily Show interview with the guy you find. HINT: It's not James Madison, Ralph Nadar, or William Cohen.)