How to Amend the Constitution

American History Hit

History Hit

America, History

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 8 September 2025

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Why has it been so long since the US Constitution was amended? The incredible Jill Lepore joins Don to explore how the Constitution was designed for amendment, and how this has been utilised through its history.

Jill is a staff writer for the New Yorker, David Woods Kemper '41 Professor of American History at Harvard University and author of multiple books. The most recent is 'We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution'.

Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, I'm Greg Jenner, host of Your Dead to Me, the comedy podcast from the BBC that takes history seriously.
0:07.4	Each week, I'm joined by a comedian and an expert historian to learn and laugh about the past.
0:12.4	In our all-new season, we cover unique areas of history that your school lessons may have missed,
0:16.9	from getting ready in the Renaissance era to the Kellogg Brothers.
0:20.4	Listen to You're Dead to Me now, wherever you get your podcasts.
0:28.0	June 8th, 1789, Federal Hall, Wall Street, New York City.
0:33.8	Men in powdered wigs and dark-colored formal coats sit at wooden desks.
0:39.5	Sunlight filters through tall windows, casting long shafts of light across the floor.
0:45.5	Outside are the streets of a growing capital, alive with commerce.
0:49.4	But inside this room, the air is heavy and still in the summer heat.
0:56.1	James Madison, the slight,
1:04.0	soft-spoken congressman from Virginia, rises adjusting his notes. All eyes turn towards him. Madison commands respect. He has already played a central role in drafting the Constitution, but today
1:10.4	he stands for a different reason.
1:12.3	He stands to amend it. The Constitution is barely a year old, but critics, especially from the
1:18.7	states, have pressed for more explicit individual protections. They want a bill of rights.
1:26.3	Madison has heard their concerns.
1:28.4	He understands the need for the change,
1:30.7	because he knows that the strength of this document,
1:33.5	indeed the strength of the union, depends on it. Greetings, welcome back to American History Hit.
1:50.8	Don Wildman here. Glad you're listening. This is a special episode today.
1:55.1	A Constitution, by definition, is a set of written rules designed to guide and limit the powers of a government, providing
2:01.8	a stable framework for the exercise of public power. Straightforward idea, hardly simple. Most of us in
	...

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