After more than 12 years of distinguished service as President and Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Rosen has transitioned to the role of CEO Emeritus, enabling him to devote his full time and energy to his scholarship and public dialogue. The Center’s Board of Trustees appointed Vince Stango to serve as Interim President and CEO.
From all of us at the National Constitution Center, we express our gratitude to Jeff for his leadership and vision, including his role as the long-time host of the Center’s We the People podcast, where he brought constitutional debate to life for millions of listeners. As we work to bring you the next chapter of We the People, we will continue to share recent programs and episodes from the archive.
In this episode, we're sharing an America's Town Hall program with historians, Akhil Reed Amar, David Blight, and Annette Gordon-Reed, who joined for a sweeping conversation about the Constitution and the debates that have shaped America—from the founding era to today. They examine transformative moments in American history and landmark Supreme Court decisions.
This program is presented in partnership with the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute and the Organization of American Historians.
Follow We the People, Live at the National Constitution Center, and Pursuit: The Founders’ Guide to Happiness on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.
This episode was produced by Bill Pollock. It was recorded by David Stotz and Greg Scheckler and mixed by Bill Pollock. Research was provided by Samson Mostashari, Griffin Richie, Cooper Smith, Gyuha Lee, and Tristan Worsham.
Participants
Akhil Reed Amar is the Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University, where he teaches constitutional law at both Yale College and Yale Law School. He is the host of the Amarica’s Constitution podcast and has been cited by U.S. Supreme Court justices across the ideological spectrum in over 40 cases. A leading scholar of constitutional law and history, he is the author of numerous landmark works, including his most recent book, Born Equal: Remaking America’s Constitution, 1840-1920.
David Blight is Sterling Professor of American History at Yale University. He is Director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition, and a frequent public historian and lecturer. His work has won numerous honors, including the Bancroft Prize and the Pulitzer Prize for his acclaimed biography Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom.
Annette Gordon-Reed is the Carl M. Loeb University Professor at Harvard University. She is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Hemingses of Monticello and has received numerous honors including the National Book Award, MacArthur Fellowship, and National Humanities Medal. Gordon-Reed is the author of the recent book On Juneteenth and currently serves as president of the Organization of American Historians.
Jeffrey Rosen is CEO Emeritus 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
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