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We the People

Early Presidents on Happiness, Government, and Public Opinion

We the People

National Constitution Center

News, News Commentary, History

4.6 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 25 February 2022

⏱️ 53 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In honor of President’s Day, this episode of We the People covers memorable writings and speeches from former presidents that help make up some of the foundational texts and ideas of our nation. In particular, we’ll take a close look at the words of George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison as they reveal the former presidents’ thoughts the challenges of creating a nation; on the role public opinion plays in governance; on happiness and its pursuit and how that factors into the role government should play in our everyday lives; and more. Nancy Isenberg, Professor of history at Louisiana State University and co-author of Madison and Jefferson and The Problem of Democracy: The Presidents Adams Confront the Cult of Personality; and Colleen Sheehan, professor of politics at Arizona State and author of The Mind of James Madison: The Legacy of Classical Republicanism and James Madison and the Spirit of Republican Self-Government, join host Jeffrey Rosen for an illuminating discussion. The National Constitution Center relies on support from listeners like you to provide nonpartisan constitutional education to Americans of all ages. In honor of the 234th anniversary of the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, every dollar you give to support the We the People podcast campaign will be doubled with a generous 1:1 match up to a total of $234,000, made possible by the John Templeton Foundation! Visit www.constitutioncenter.org/we-the-people to donate, and thank you for your crucial support. Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org. Continue today’s conversation on Facebook and Twitter using @ConstitutionCtr. Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate, at bit.ly/constitutionweekly.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hello friends in honor of the

0:03.0

234th anniversary of the ratification of the Constitution

0:06.0

We the People continues are exciting crowd-funding campaign.

0:11.0

Please join us.

0:13.6

We have so far 543 donations from all 50 states, international donations from Switzerland,

0:20.2

Israel, Canada, China, Germany and and Hungary, it's so meaningful to spread this learning

0:26.4

and light abroad during these anxious times and it would be so meaningful for you to join and signal your support and how much it means to you

0:34.9

to be part of this great community of lifelong learners.

0:37.6

So go to Constitution Center.org forward slash We the People, all one word, all lower lower case and please donate what you can now on to today's show

0:56.8

Hello friends. I'm Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center and welcome to We The People, a weekly show of constitutional debate. The National

1:02.0

Constitution Center is a nonpartisan nonprofit chartered by Congress to increase awareness and understanding of the Constitution among the American people.

1:11.0

In honor of President's Day, we are going to look at key writings and speeches from America's

1:17.8

for first presidents.

1:19.5

In particular, we'll focus on text by Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Madison,

1:24.6

and explore their thoughts about public opinion.

1:28.4

And joining us on this journey are two superb presidential scholars.

1:32.7

I'm so excited for the conversation

1:34.8

and so excited also friends to encourage you to read the text yourself.

1:38.3

It's so meaningful to commune with the text,

1:41.4

and I know you'll benefit as much from it as I have in preparing for this show,

1:46.7

which I'm so looking forward to.

1:48.3

Colleen Sheehan is professor of politics at Arizona State School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership.

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