later to say that is when independence was born. it doesn't make any of the newspapers as the declaration of independence you think of the writ of assistance is the big deal? so i don't think it was influential at the time. why did adams say that? because he had to me it in their room all the better that jefferson was said there massachusetts' first and you can see why they may

think that the evidence doesn't support that. so the first supreme court case talks about being important was for me to 86-point into another harvard man who was on the massachusetts supreme court and wrote a book know who is a lot cleric it is brandeis the senate is a big deal liz his protege from frankfurter and john barbour its who went to harvard so it is all about massachusetts for gore love massachusetts purported my collection of but it the

center of all things of the american revolution and it is said to not quite so. could a fellow named john wilkes added wilkes-barre pennsylvania there is no bonus. you can learn things from geography. john wilkes booth and ashley wilkes is an allusion. so everyone does pay attention a little bit after said judges name camden such

as camden new jersey jersey, maine, of baltimore baltimore, a day ariels plea in camden yard. so it is of very big deal you can see it on a map. in the last chapter, you have heard the a great city of philadelphia than there is a little bloodied dangerfield the state's call the new jersey this little place called camden but they have of the story to tell as a very great man but hugo black of his era believe the american independence and liberty and a try to tell the story if you pay attention it has interesting

implications with fourth amendment rights. >> you can see how just there is a lot monica -- phenomenal evidence in oslo to motivate jefferson. >> with non-partisan the most important decision ever marbury vs. madison that beer and ale makes my top-10 constitutional decisions. [laughter]

budget before they we're doing this in the next time the u.s. supreme court strikes down an act of congress for dread scott six years later that is all made up. what is that issue? it is original verses appellate jurisdiction. i read a whole article about a. word is the most important ever? i told you. constitutional decision not the case but there was is lincoln to resist unilateral secession to free the slaves. now you understand that with a constitutional decision of

80 '03 but the most important decision is called the the louisiana purchase. presidents are huge constitutional decision makers. president's pick judges and judges take the president's. [laughter] i have a chapter right bush verses gore was a disgrace for i have a chapter on florida blige 18 '03 is the louisiana purchase. that is big our friends joe biden will say that this is bfd. [laughter] to double the land mass to ensure rigo survival as a nation that even if washington d.c. is burned to

the ground may care in retreat back into the hinterland because we have all this way and. it is insurers the french will lot establish a toehold gore the spanish we kicked up the british the louisiana purchase is a very big deal all about geography to open the pathways to texas and california this is very much in the woody guthrie tradition. area and jefferson and principals are strict construction and thank god he is a hypocrite because he would have been a fool not to grab the territory so yes great presidents make important decisions that determine if we exist as a nation. the louisiana

purchase, "emancipation proclamation", lincoln position in, marbury vs. madison much smaller. >> we have a second amendment question. that concludes in a timely fashion to say that founding reconstruction period might provide a special focus on african americans of local police departments can you tell us that's with the search of their original intent to go back to the founding of the nra construction when i go back further to the actual originations and of a well regulated militia? >> excellent. several things. pay attention to the state constitution because federalism is important.

what was invoked as the virginia counterparts in maya massachusetts chapter i tell you about building which of the state search and earned a seizure provisions there is an amazing interactive display over here to push buttons on a screen to see it counterparts to the federal language. this is about states and add the laboratories almost everything in the federal constitution from start to finish and death the branches of government with a judicial review that stupidly forgot the of celebrates adds an obvious omission because states have bills of rights they got rid of slavery or gave blacks

the vote or women the vote so almost everything the states have done first proposal look at the state constitution if we didn't have a second amendment at almost date has a provision about arms and it is just about militias. dennis scary but there is a right to have a gun in the home for self protection even if we didn't have the second amendment we believe it and enumerated rights bet is to count what is said in the state constitution i had a great student 27 years ago who wrote about the unenumerated rights. [applause] the ability can state

constitutions. [laughter] so liberals believe in privacy. day cafe and public debt -- of an enumerated rights the liberals want sex and the home the others once guns give them both what they want the tolerant in the northern california tradition. [laughter] even if there was no second amendment because every state has set as part of the american ito's. forget the founding you live in lincoln house retired jefferson he died as slave holder does not free his slaves enough with jefferson you live in lincoln house.

i am wearing my lincoln tie it is thus it "gettysburg address". >> a very good value that holds up very well. he said all men are created equal he said that right over there in independence hall they did not live in or breathe it and did not do it. lincoln and lives every position and does it and gives us a second founding that is what the project is all about to celebrate the new birth of freedom and in that the bill of rights applies against the state's. the original only limited federal think of the bill of rights case almost everyone is not the 14th amendment

is only about the federal government congress shall make no law. that all the cases we think about, florida. ohio. texas. we live in in lincoln house said hugo black is in the 14th amendment world they use the bill of rights to describe that because abraham lincoln's allies called them of bill of rights that is why we call them that. once you understand i it and the lincoln generation and believe in 1860's six a companion to the civil-rights both of which are companions to the 14th amendment proposed by

congress has a direct quotation every citizen is entitled to personal liberty and security including the constitutional right to bear arms. and the militias took up arms against lincoln. they like armies but they understand that black people in their homes are entitled view to have guns for self protection because they cannot count on the cops. that is the fairest of the 14th amendment vision the nra is founded by a group of army officers per car the second amendment fishing is still important to it is more about the military.

it should look like us not deviate occupying force but the industrial complex to represent us end to what we tell them to do so they have to be representative like juries and the house, the militia and the people are well of ricky they did the great of the of people love to vote who bear arms at the local level employees apartment that is ferguson and it could are really should look like america tom

hanks is saving private ryan that is a schoolteacher from pennsylvania alongside a sharpshooter bettis and the founders rule they had vocal militia but colin powell women as well as men gay or straight or black-and-white to a collective vision to the second amendment but we need to understand the accounting and reconstruction and william suffrage one dash women's suffrage fed is the story i try telling but it is also the quality state the state that first as a woman

elected governor come read the first time even in not yet a state to promising equal pay for equal work. [applause] >> we have time just for one more question. year compared justice black and thomas have to compare their decisions? >> if you come down to washington d.c. in three weeks i will be appearing with justice thomas at the national archives maybe c-span will cover that event justice thomas and i

disagree on certain things but there are things that we share very much of fidelity to the constitutional project. rechecked the text very seriously i find it justice thomas under estimated the sale might hugo black was because yankees can be very smug about those who have some other neck since in their not smart and that is how is true today of clarence some invective is very significant he is not flashy but there is a steadiness and humility. if i were to said clarence thomas something i think he

would read it he is very open to the possibility he may have made a mistake early on and does not want to keep making mistakes. i am hoping he will get involved with the national constitution center we're both trying but. >> it would be so wonderful. >> when you go to his chambers there is a portrait of lincoln he is his hero also and should be all of ours. the story of the constitution and is what unites us all of north and south or east and west that is what the national constitution center is all about so i am hoping we can involve him more in the years to come.

>> beautiful. >> you can see from this great teacher what it was that kindled my passion and for studying the constitution to make it the focus of my life to inspire me and millions of americans to study the constitution and. thank you ladies in gentleman akhil reed amar. [applause] >>, five the book can he will sign them downstairs. >> you make me look good. thank you. [inaudible conversations]

>> all over the colorado plateau we are surrounded by a morrison rock refine a lot of dinosaur bones and fossils that has intrigued scientists for a long time but also we found a middle or a rock that contains three different elements radium which use radioactive used by a very curious to solve and fight cancer, also one that is used to strengthen steel so with the boat build up to world war ii in was of extreme value

and also contains your radium as one of the best sources for atomic power and weapons. >> he fought the battle to preserve water for western colorado to make sure we got our fair share. how? beginning in his state career they're going on to the federal career, he climbed up the ladder of seniority to exercise, i think more power than any man normally have. search of the in the united states congress where he was able to make sure colorado and western colorado would be treated fairly with any division of waters to read the first major success was

the passage of the colorado river storage project in 1956. >> host: carol it is nice to have this conversation with you. i very much enjoy reading your book. the bill of rights. my first question is easy. why did you write the book?

>> i wrote there probably for this a reason i wrote a brilliant solution come i think americans have a lot of myths about the birth of the country. but i think it is part of ours and i think the real story is so much more interesting and admirable usually that of was tempted runner realized a lot of people that i spoke to was the bill of rights is part of the original constitution and they believed an end to end that is the most interesting part of the

constitution for i thought really? >> did you have been intended audience? >> guest: in my younger days my intended audience was the 700 people in my field but in the last 15 years i thought historians need to talk to the public those to form political social opinions but the audience i intended for is people like my family or friends who are not historians but who have a curiosity about the very contrast. >> the book does read role and i think people should

enjoy it. but starting with the prologue the men who produced of bill of rights rather than and without precedent sarah the insurgent the oppressing anxiety that the government might fail to read knowledge in america it was dwarfed by their great imperial powers across the on and check. >> i got exactly the same feeling. >> i figured captured perfectly the context the first federal congress had to work. so how did these anxieties

effect the proceeding? >> eight think this is one of the most non remembered things even by historians. almost but if you read the debates is and then of what they're trying to do it might fall apart because foreign countries might invade them or because internal dissension and or they are inadequate to a the task so to underlying anxiety we need to understand that i have students who always think america began 16 '09 then

the most important country in the world. and i encounter adults do think the same way. we were always the most powerful country in the world and in 1789 is a country that in fact, most of the powers realizes this is a sovereign country and britain will not get out and to the french will send over someone who recruits an army of americans to take a branch right under washington's knows. i think their anxiety made sense. they were not to radek but they were aware with there were trying to build as a republic did not exist in

their world and when it had had, and always ended in tyranny. it'll raise failed so they can to the first congress with a memory of paul long the revolution took. eight years. that was a long war there were not sure they would win. then they create a new constitution and a new congress that in fact, nobody is really certain there will be a second one. i want to play on the fact it was not a done deal. now get on with becoming the most important country in the world but you see that in medicine and he realizes

the people who oppose the constitutional -- constitution believed that liberty is best protected by state sovereignty but they don't disappear and say okay. the madison really understands the fight still goes on even the ratification is taking place. . .