The Bill of Rights at 225

We the People

National Constitution Center

History, News Commentary, News

4.6 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 15 December 2016

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Historians Carol Berkin and David O. Stewart reflect on the history and legacy of the Bill of Rights as it turns 225 years old. Get the latest constitutional news, and continue the conversation, on Facebook and Twitter. We want to know what you think of the podcast! Email us at [email protected]. Please subscribe to We the People and our companion podcast, Live at America’s Town Hall, on iTunes, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app. We the People is a member of Slate’s Panoply network. Check out the full roster at Panoply.fm. Despite our congressional charter, the National Constitution Center is a private nonprofit; we receive little government support, and we rely on the generosity of people around the country who are inspired by our nonpartisan mission of constitutional debate and education. Please consider becoming a member to support our work, including this podcast. Visit constitutioncenter.org to learn more. This show was engineered by Jason Gregory and produced by Nicandro Iannacci. Research was provided by Lana Ulrich and Tom Donnelly. The host of We the People is Jeffrey Rosen.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, and welcome to We
0:08.4	the People, a weekly show of constitutional debate.
0:12.0	The National Constitution Center is the only
0:14.0	institution in America chartered by Congress to disseminate information about
0:18.1	the US Constitution on a nonpartisan basis and this week we celebrate the 225th anniversary of the Bill of Rights.
0:27.0	Happy 225th anniversary Bill of Rights. You were ratified on December 15th, 1791, and we're so thrilled to wish you a very happy birthday.
0:37.3	The Constitution that came out of the Convention of 1787 did not include a Bill of rights despite the objection of anti-federalist delegates
0:46.2	including George Mason and Elbridge Gary.
0:49.5	I've learned to pronounce that Gary rather than Jerry and you too can pronounce it
0:53.1	Gary Mandarin rather than Jerry Mandarin if you want to annoy your friends by being
0:56.6	pedantic but their point was that these great anti-federalists who you can see at
1:02.3	the National Constitution Center in our beautiful
1:04.4	signers hall standing at the back of the room because they refused to sign the
1:08.6	Constitution, wanted to protect the fundamental rights of the people from a
1:11.8	newly empowered President and Congress.
1:15.0	But during the ratification debates, opponent to the Constitution fought hard for amendments
1:19.0	specifying those rights.
1:20.7	They cut and pasted them from the existing state constitutions.
1:25.0	And despite his initial resistance to the idea, James Madison changed his mind and eventually introduced a bill of rights in Congress.
1:32.0	Ten of those amendments were ratified on December 15th, 1791,
1:37.0	225 years ago.
1:39.0	Joining me to discuss the history and legacy of the Bill of Rights on its 225th anniversary
	...

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