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 Constitution Center is the only institution in America chartered by Congress to disseminate

information about the U.S. Constitution on a nonpartisan basis.

And today we are thrilled to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the 13th Amendment.

On December 6th, 1865, the 13th Amendment was ratified after Georgia became the last state to approve it.

The brief amendment officially ended the practice of

slavery in the United States. Joining us in studio to discuss the history, meaning,

and legacy of the 13th Amendment is Tom Donnelly, our great partner at the Constitutional

Accountability Center in Washington where he is Message Director and Council.

Tom will describe how the National Constitution Center and the Constitutional Accountability

Center have launched a five-year second founding initiative to commemorate debate and celebrate

the 150th anniversary of the Reconstruction Amendments.

And joining us by phone are two of the nation's leading constitutional scholars and contributors

to the National Constitution

Center's Interactive Constitution.

Jamal Green is Vice Dean and Professor of Law

at Columbia Law School, where he teaches

constitutional law in theory.

He worked with Jennifer McMason Award of Notre Dame Law School to write about the 13th Amendment for the National Constitution Center's Interactive Constitution.

And Randy Barnett is the Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Legal Theory at Georgetown Law Center,

where he directs the Georgetown Center for the Constitution.

He is also a member of the Coalition of Freedom Advisory Board which is supervising the Interactive

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