The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, opened a new exhibit this summer called We the People: The Radical Notion of Democracy. It features an original print of the U.S. Constitution—one of only 11 in the world—as well as original prints of the Declaration of Independence, the proposed Bill of Rights, and the Articles of Confederation.
To celebrate the opening, the museum invited Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, to host a conversation centered around the text and impact of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. His guest was Eric Slauter, deputy dean of the humanities at the University of Chicago and the author of The State as a Work of Art: The Cultural Origins of the Constitution.
Please subscribe to We the People and Live at the National Constitution Center on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app.
Today’s show was produced by Melody Rowell. Research was provided by Sam Desai, Vishan Chaudhary, Colin Thibault, and Samuel Turner. Many thanks to the whole team at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art for hosting this conversation and allowing us to share it with We the People listeners.
Participants
Eric Slauter is deputy dean of humanities, associate professor of English, and director of the Karla Scherer Center for the Study of American Culture at the University of Chicago. He is the author of The State as a Work of Art: The Cultural Origins of the Constitution and has published essays on early American culture and politics, book history, and on Atlantic history in leading journals.
Jeffrey Rosen is the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization devoted to educating the public about the U.S. Constitution. Rosen is also professor of law at The George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic.
Additional Resources
- Read The State as a Work of Art: The Cultural Origins of the Constitution, by Eric Slauter
- Get more information on We the People: The Radical Notion of Democracy at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
- “A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom,” by Thomas Jefferson (1779)
- Read Cicero’s “Tusculan Disputations” (45 B.C.)
- Read a letter from Thomas Jefferson to his neighbor Robert Skipwith, including a list of books for a private library
TRANSCRIPT
This transcript may not be in its final form, accuracy may vary, and it may be updated or revised in the future.
Stay Connected and Learn More
Questions or comments about the show? Email us at [email protected].
Continue today’s conversation on Facebook and Twitter using @ConstitutionCtr.
Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate, at bit.ly/constitutionweekly.
