We the People

In this episode, historian Emily Sneff discusses her new book, When the Declaration of Independence Was News, which focuses on the nation’s founding document at the moment of its creation in 1776, before anyone knew what the legacy of the Declaration would be or if the United States would win the war against Great Britain. The book explores how the Declaration was communicated to people in the new nation and across the Atlantic world and reveals the stories of the many people involved in declaring independence, from printers to soldiers to diplomats to translators. Julie Silverbrook, chief content and learning officer at the National Constitution Center, moderates.

Resources 

Emily Sneff, When the Declaration of Independence Was News (2026) 

“‘When the Declaration of Independence Was News’ Review: Breaking Story,” Wall Street Journal (April 3, 2026) 


Dunlap Broadside (First printing of the Declaration of Independence) 


Goddard Broadside (First printing of the Declaration of Independence with signers’ names) 

National Constitution Center, Annotated Declaration of Independence

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In this episode we’re sharing a live conversation that explores James Madison’s vision for the constitution with Mary Sarah Bilder of Boston College Law School, Robert P. George, of Princeton University, and Jonathan Rauch of The Brookings Institution. Julie Silverbrook, chief content and learning officer at the National Constitution Center, moderates. 

This conversation was recorded on February 20, 2026, as part of the NCC’s President’s Council Retreat in Miami, FL. 

 

Resources 

Mary Sarah Bilder, Madison's Hand: Revising the Constitutional Convention (2017)  

Mary Sarah Bilder, Female Genius: Eliza Harriot and George Washington at the Dawn of the Constitution (2022) 

Robert P. George, Making Men Moral: Civil Liberties and Public Morality (1995) 

Robert P. George, Natural Rights, the Common Good, and the American Revolution (America at 250) (2026) 

Jonathan Rauch, Cross Purposes: Christianity's broken bargain with democracy (2025) 

Jonathan Rauch, The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth (2021) 


Federalist 10 (1787) 

Robert Tracy McKenzie, We the Fallen People: The Founders and the Future of American Democracy (2021) 

National Constitution Center, What the Founders Meant by Happiness: A Journey Through Virtue and Character 

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In celebration of Women’s History Month, award-winning historian Ellen DuBois, author of Elizabeth Cady Stanton: A Revolutionary Life, joins to discuss the life, ideas, and legacy of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the decades-long struggle for women’s suffrage. Thomas Donnelly, lead scholar of the National Constitution Center, moderates. 

This conversation was originally streamed live as part of the NCC’s America’s Town Hall series on March 23, 2026. 

Resources 

Ellen Carol DuBois, Elizabeth Cady Stanton: A Revolutionary Life (2026)

Ellen Carol DuBois, Suffrage: Women’s Long Battle for the Vote (2020) 

Ellen Carol DuBois, Eighty Years and More: Reminiscences 1815-1897 (2020) 


Minor v. Happersett (1875) 

National Constitution Center, The 19th Amendment

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As the Center marks the 250th anniversary of the nation, we’re taking a closer look at the people, events, and ideas that set the American Revolution in motion and ultimately led to the creation and adoption of the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution. This moment invites us to broaden the story of the founding by exploring not only the familiar figures we often study, but also the wider community of thinkers who helped shape the principles of our constitutional democracy. 

In this episode Mary Sarah Bilder of Boston College Law School and Sara Georgini of the Massachusetts Historical Society join the program to discuss two remarkable women central to 18th-century intellectual life whose ideas influenced many of the era’s most notable figures: Catharine Macaulay and Mercy Otis Warren. Julie Silverbrook, Chief Content and Learning Officer at the National Constitution Center, moderates.

Resources 

Mary Sarah Bilder, Madison's Hand: Revising the Constitutional Convention (2017) 

Mary Sarah Bilder, The Transatlantic Constitution: Colonial Legal Culture and the Empire (2008) 

Mary Sarah Bilder, Female Genius: Eliza Harriot and George Washington at the Dawn of the Constitution (2022) 

Mary Sarah Bilder, Hater of Kings: Catharine Macaulay’s Constitutional Regicide and the Declaration of Independence,” Boston College Law School Legal Studies Research Paper No. 654, (July 23, 2025) 

Sara Georgini, Household Gods: The Religious Lives of the Adams Family (2022) 

Sara Georgini (series editor), Adams Papers Digital Edition, Massachusetts Historical Society 

Karen Green (editor), The Correspondence of Catharine Macaulay (2019) 


Mercy Otis Warren Letter to Catharine Macaulay, August 24, 1775, Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

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On February 28, President Trump announced “major combat operations in Iran.” The operation, known as Epic Fury, has renewed a long-standing debate about the scope of presidential war powers and who decides when the nation goes to war. Last week, Congress rejected legislation that sought to require President Trump to obtain congressional approval for military actions against Iran. The Constitution divides war powers between Congress, which has the authority to declare war, and the president, who serves as Commander in Chief. 

In this episode, Harold Hongju Koh of Yale Law School and Michael D. Ramsey of San Diego Law School explore the constitutional foundations of war powers, as well as the War Powers Resolution of 1973, and how they inform the constitutional authority debates about the use of military force today. Julie Silverbrook, Chief Content and Learning Officer at the National Constitution Center, moderates. 

 

Resources  


Article I, Section 8, Declare War Clause, NCC’s Interactive Constitution  


Article II, Section 2, Commander in Chief Clause, NCC’s Interactive Constitution  


War Powers Resolution, congress.gov 

Michael D. Ramsey, “The Constitution’s Check on Warmaking,” Law & Liberty, (January 27, 2026) 

Michael D. Ramsey, “Textualism and War Powers,” University of Chicago Law Review 69, no. 4 (2002)  

Harold Hongju Koh, The National Security Constitution: Sharing Power After the Iran-Contra Affair (Second Edition, 2024)  

Harold Hongju Koh, “Humanitarian Intervention: Time for Better Law,” American Journal of International Law Unbound 111 (2017)  

National Constitution Center, “Does the War Powers Resolution debate take on a new context in the Iran conflict?,”Constitution Daily Blog, (March 3, 2026)  

National Constitution Center, “When Congress last used its powers to declare war,” Constitution Daily Blog, (December 8, 2018) 


Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump (2026) 


Dellums v. Bush (1990) 


Prize Cases (1863) 


Ange v. Bush, (D.D.C. 1990)

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