Video Tag: U.S. Constitution

Author Lindsay Chervinsky discusses her book, "The Cabinet," about George Washington's Presidential advisors.

The Cabinet: Washington and the Creation of an American Institution

Lindsay Chervinsky
February 24, 2021

Faced with diplomatic crises, domestic insurrections and constitutional challenges—and finding congressional help lacking—George Washington decided he needed a group of advisors. Washington modeled his new cabinet on the councils of war he had led as commander of the Continental Army. In this talk on The Cabinet: Washington and the Creation of an American Institution, Lindsay M. Chervinsky […]

A Well-Regulated Militia: History of the Second Amendment

Saul Cornell
June 16, 2015

Professor Cornell delves into the complicated history and interpretation of the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. He argues that the amendment neither guarantees the right to own guns nor simply protects the rights of states to maintain militias—the two most common modern interpretations of the amendment. The American founders understood the right to bear […]

From Articles of Confederation to US Constitution

Saul Cornell
August 9, 2013

After winning its independence, the new American republic faced internal threats to its survival political, economic and cultural differences resurfaced during the return to peacetime. These pressures prompted the nation’s leaders to abandon the loose confederacy formed during the Revolutionary War and embrace a more unified country under a federal constitution. Professor Cornell highlights specific […]

U.S. Constitution as the Fulfillment of the Revolution

Saul Cornell
August 9, 2013

The creation and adoption of the U.S. Constitution was a fulfillment of the American Revolution, not a conservative counterrevolution. Professor Cornell details how James Madison, known as the architect of the Constitution, arrived at his proposal for the delegates’ consideration in the Constitutional Convention. He reviewed the new nation’s problems, the literature and history of […]