On today's episode, we discuss the role service and business organizations play in civic life in the United States. This episode originally aired in October 2011.
On the podcast today, we discuss how the civil rights movement changed after the death of Martin Luther King Jr. This episode originally aired in November 2011.
On today's podcast, we discuss Rosa Parks, the NAACP, Martin Luther King Jr., and the Montgomery bus boycott. This episode originally aired in November 2013.
On today's podcast we learn about the NAACP and other civil rights organizations and examine nonviolent direct action. This podcast originally aired in November 2011.
Today we learn why the Brown v. Board of Education decisions were not universally popular. This is a rebroadcast of an episode that originally aired in November 2013.
The Civil Rights of 1875 was held to be unconstitutional and President Rutherford B. Hayes appointed a former Confederate to his cabinet. Clearly, the Reconstruction era was over.
The due process and equal protection clauses are considered by many scholars to be the most important clauses in the Constitution. Find out why on today's podcast.
In southern states after the Civil War, African Americans were systematically denied basic civil rights. Vigilante groups engaged in campaigns of terror against African Americans.
In 1833, the Supreme Court decided that the Bill of Rights did not protect people from violation of their rights by state governments. It took a long time for this ...
On December 15, 1791, the Bill of Rights was finally ratified by the states. It wasn't until the Fourteenth Amendment that citizens would be protected by the Constitution against violation ...
The amendments James Madison considered for the Bill of Rights either (1) placed limitations on the power of the federal government or (2) protected individual rights.
George Mason, Elbridge Gerry, Richard Henry Lee, Patrick Henry, and Mercy Otis Warren were all notable Anti-Federalists. Their strongest objection to the Constitution was that it lacked a Bill of ...
James Madison's plan for ratification of the Constitution would not give Anti-Federalists much time to organize their opposition. The Federalists wanted to stack the odds in their favor.
James Madison proposed conventions made up of delegates elected by the people to approve the Constitution. This popular approval made the document a social conract.
It wasn't easy convincing the states to ratify the Constitution. First, proponents of the new Constitution would have to overcome some serious objections.
Framers like James Madison believed that the competing interests in a country as large and diverse as the United States would make it harder for any one group to gain ...
The Philadelphia Convention assembled in 1787 to amend the Articles of Confederation. The Framers quickly decided that merely amending the Articles was not nearly enough.
America was threatened with economic problems in the early years of the republic. These problems and an attack on property rights led to calls for replacement of the Articles of ...
Americans in the Revolutionary era did not lead lives of leisure: they were afflicted with war, high taxes, and the violation of their own rights by the states.
The Articles of Confederation were organized around the principle of legislative supremacy. Americans were wary of a strong central goverment. This would later cause problems.
Although the Articles of Confederation are often criticized for not giving the national government enough power, the national government under the Articles had many accomplishments.
The writers of state declarations of rights and the American Founders were principled people who were compelled to justify the American revolution to the world.
Certain rights we value highly today were not protected by the Virginia Declaration of Rights. This gave ammunition to opponents of the Bill of Rights.
Despite the fact that the Magna Carta represented only the elites, some very important principles of American constitutionalism were represented in this key British document.
The Magna Carta protected the feudal system and the rights of the nobility. Nevertheless, it was an important first step in the protection of the English rights.
The idea that government is the servant, not the master of the people, came from natural rights philosophy and found its way into the Declaration of Independence.
Natural rights emphasized individual rights and freedoms, whereas classical republicans emphasized the individual's responsibility to promote the common welfare.
The Bible was one of the most frequently printed books, and with the Reformation, Christians were encouraged to read it themselves in their own language.
Democracy means governance in accordance with the will of the people, but constitutionalism limits the power of the government. Is this a contradiction?
The absence of intrusive authority is one of the benefits of living in a democracy. But this is only possible with a responsible, law-abiding citizenry.
It is impractical for people in modern democracies to vote on every issue that comes under consideration. That's why we have representative assemblies.
Sure, everyone in a democracy is equal before the law; but what about the spirit of equality? Do democratic societies have a different way of thinking about people?
Thomas Fitzsimons was born in Ireland, fought in the Revolutionary War, and later became leading statesman, representing Pennsylvania as a delegate to the Philadelphia Convention.
Inventor, scientist, diplomat, publisher--and that was just the beginning. Benjamin Franklin was justifiably one of the most famous Americans to attend the Philadelphia Convention.
Richard Dobbs Spaight was only 29 when he attended the Philadelphia Convention and looked forward to a successful political career. His life was cut short, however, when he was killed ...
William Blount, a Framer of the Constitution from North Carolina, went on to become a senator from Tennessee and was expelled for planning an invasion of Spanish territory.
Robert Yates, a delegate to the Philadelphia Convention from New York, believed that the convention had exceeded its authority. He left the convention early.
John Lansing Jr. opposed the proposed Constitution because he believed the Articles Confederation should simply have been amended. He worked against ratification in New York.
William Paterson was born in Ireland. His parents emigrated to America and he became an influential Framer of the Constitution and Supreme Court justice.
Jonathan Dayton joined the army after college and was plunged directly into the Revolutionary War. He was later the youngest signer of the Constitution.
One of the two delegates to the Constitutional Convention from New Hampshire, John Langdon had little education, but made his mark in Revolution-era America.
Luther Martin did not sign the Constitution because he could not gain enough support for ideas he thought were important. Nevertheless favored a bill of rights, which was eventually adopted.
Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer was a delegate to the Philadelphia Convention from Maryland. He supported the positions of James Madison and favored a strong national government.
John Dickinson had a large role in Revolution-era America. He had strongly opposed British taxation and helped write the Articles of Confederation and Constitution.
Roger Sherman had a successful career by any standard. He served in the House and Senate and helped draft the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, and Constitution.
He insisted on a Bill of Rights and refused to sign the Constitution, but he's one of the most important figures in American constitutionalism. Who was this Framer?
James Madison was truly the father of the Bill of Rights. He worked almost single-handedly to draft and gain support for the document in the summer of 1789.
James Madison was the youngest delegate to the Continental Congress. His service in the Virginia state assembly had formed his beliefs about the role of government.
Government officials serve the people, not the other way around--George Mason thought this important enough to commit to the Virginia Declaration of Rights.
George Mason played an important role in ensuring that a bill of rights was added to the Constitution, yet he remains one of the country's least-known Founders.
As our series on Black History Month continues, we learn how the police crackdown in Birmingham slowly led to a movement toward resolution of the conflict.
Freedom to Assemble, Petition, and Associate, Part 10: Introduction to the right of associationToday we discuss two criteria for deciding time, place, and manner restrictions in freedom of assembly cases.
Center for Civic Education 
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