the massachusetts constitution of 1780 has a declaration of rights and the new hampshire constitution of 1784 the declaration of rights. the first thing ordinary people say is you forgot the rights. the framers are kind of defensive about this. you want to admit that? they resist and try to make some arguments, it is unnecessary, dangerous, and we already have it, doesn't make sense and eventually they pivot and madison in a huge part of that pivot is a two part pivot. first during the ratification process a bunch of guys say if you really want to deliberate, let's adopt the constitution and then we can add a bill of rights, one of the great things about the constitution is it is a mend to able come easier to amend than the articles of confederation. the articles of confederation can be changeless, 13 state legislatures say yes and you will never get 13 to say yes because rhode island is going to say no, there's always one. you know that from life. there is always one. so if you stick with, vote this thing down you are stuck, we are never going to move forward. if you vote yes on this

president and ceo of the national constitution center. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the national constitution center. the final panel of bill of rights day. happy 225th birthday to the bill of rights which i am jeffrey rosen, president of this wonderful institution. for those joining for the first time, the national constitution center is the only institution in america chartered by congress to disseminate information about the u.s. constitution on a nonpartisan basis and it is so exciting. on december 15, 2016, the 225th anniversary of the bill of rights, to share with you, our great national constitution center audience and c-span, america's greatest teacher of the bill of rights, akhil red amar. [applause] >> you have been here before, akhil red amar with my teacher in law school, he taught me constitutional law, kindled my passion for the constitution. there is no greater teacher in america about the sources of the constitution, the principles that animated it and necessity of translating it into a different form. wha

the lobby also. states constitution is the oldest constitution still in force. one reason is that the framers were peacefully amending it. amendments necessary to expressly declare the rights of mankind secured under the constitution. during this anniversary year, the national archives put together events to celebrate and examine the bill of rights. the discussion tonight relates to constitutional rights and justice around the country. we have created several exhibits. i hope you had the opportunity to see the special exhibit upstairs in the gallery. outside of the area you may have the opportunity to see this. it is currently in dallas, texas, and will soon be in houston, texas. 225 parchment document itself in the rotunda with the charters of freedom. it was on a bill of rights day in 1952 that all three charters for first displayed together in a rotunda. declared,harry truman in my opinion the bill of rights is the most important part of the constitution of the united states, the only document in the world that protects the citizens of the united states from i

[inaudible conversations] >> do you solemnly swear to support the constitution of the united states againstll enemies foreign and domestic and you will bear true faith and allegiance but you'll take this obligation freely without any reservation or purpose and you will serve on which you are about to enter so help you god? [inaudible] [laughter] [inaudible conversations] tilt the picture a little left. how are you doing, great to see you. congratulations. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] raise your right hand. do you swear you will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies foreign and domestic and he will bear true faith and allegiance of the scene and you take this without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion and evil discharge the duties so help you god? congratulations. it's a great honor working with you. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] one, two, three. thank you all for your pa

the united states constitution is the oldest written national constitution still enforce. one of the reasons why it has endured is the allowance that framers made for peacefully amending it. one of the first actions since 1789 was to pass a set of amendments we call the bill of rights. it was necessary stated james madison to expressly declare the great rights of mankind secured under this constitution. during this 225th anniversary year, the national archives put together a nationwide program of events and exhibits to celebrate and examine the bill of rights. we posted several discussions like tonights relating to constitutional rights. we put on a series of national on rights an justice around the country and created several exhibits and educational resources. i hope you had the opportunity to see the special exhibit amending america upstairs and the lawrence f. gallery. outside washington d.c. area you may have the opportunity to see the companion traveling exhibit amending america the bill of rights that's currently in dallas, texas, and will soon be in houston. the cen

hamilton: clearly the new constitution was not the best constitution it -- that could have been writtenit was the best that could be achieved under the conditions in which we were operating. i had long known that the articles of confederation were not working, as early as 1780 i proposed we had a constitutional convention. that we write a constitution that would actually do what people needed it to do. i think most of you realized we got through the american revolution as if by a miracle. when it was over, we were absolutely devastated. our credit was nonexistent and we were unable to service loans and we issued bills to soldiers and they were not being honored. it was a terrible time. the commerce between colonies was also very tenuous. we were calling ourselves states by then. it became abundantly clear. i was serving in the continental namedss with a virginian james madison and it became clear to us that we needed to do something system. mr. madison and i proposed there be a trade conversation between the states. it met in annapolis. only five states showed up. it gave us the opportu

and the throne interactive constitution which you can get in the app store and a constitution b7 world thing this beautiful transformative platform does is inspire Ãinspired by my sitting with akhil reed amar long ago. because i asked him how did madison pick the right that he did? and he said go to the state constitution and study what rights they had because medicine cut and pasted them. and this is a long time ago in 1990 or so. and there was a book. a two-volume set by schwartz. you had to read the book. so i thought in my colleagues at the constitution said let's put them online. you cannot click on any part of the bill of rights and see all of those Ãand the revolutionary area. and you can see the amendments that madison propose that were not adopted. i want to start with those because they are so important. there were at least five. two ended up being part of the original 12. the original first amendment says one were presented in congress for every 30,000 inhabitants.as in past. one does is cameras can rated seller without intervening elections becomes the 27th amendment in 199

bill of rightse made sense in the british constitution. the liberties of the subject were carved out from the crown and later from parliament. in the united states constitution, the government does not grant rights to the people. instead, the sovereign people grant power to the government. madison put it this way. party press he titled "charters." charters of liberty have been granted by power. america has set the example and france has followed this example of charters of power granted by liberty. the potential danger emanating from a bill of rights was that in a constitutional system such states,ive united madison believed, was that some might assume that rights that are not listed are not possessed. a number of federalists agreed with madison and his assessment of the hazards of the bill of rights, especially with a danger of calling a second convention. all of the antifederalists and some of the federalists favored the itemization of rights. there were two who refused to sign and the bill of rights was key. overage gary and george mason

bloc teacher about the new book of the constitution is so great ironclad you are joining us. [applause] >> if you have not yet checked it out download the interactive constitution online or download in the apse door as you watch the beautiful panel, fall along along, click on the amendment in question there you will find this to lead the liberal and conservative scholars nominated by the federalist society describing what they agree about antiques interactive constitution center.org. please help me to join our first panel. have a great day. [applause] >>. >> i and the interim president and ceo of the historical site the of pennsylvania to emigrate interest of their security and i will ask them to tell you about their backgrounds. >> f former museum director write-down the street called the philadelphia history museum. i became very curious why museums have so much stuff the public never gets to cease so i wrote a book about that each chapter was on a different topic. when i got to the end of the book i had one or topic. something stolen

the u.s. constitution on a nonpartisan basis. and we are so thrilled to celebrate with you bill of rights day and the 225th anniversary of the bill of rights. so some history, to review. september 17th, 1787, the constitution is proposed by the constitutional convention. it does not contain a bill of rights. why? because madison says that a bill of rights would be unnecessary or dangerous. unnecessary because the constitution itself is a bill of rights, and by constraining congress' power and the president's power, it gives the federal government no authority to infringe the retained unalienable, natural rights of conscience and speech and other basic liberties. and dangerous because madison said if you write down certain rights in the bill of rights, people might wrongly assume that if a right isn't written down, it's not protected. and because the framers believed that we have certain unalienable rights that come from god or nature, not from government, it was dangerous to try to confine them to a definite list. but because of t

>> first state to adopt the constitution, but a needed state at the time. there were only nine states that voted in favor. delaware was split. rodney was going to break that split. south carolina was -- tended to be opposed at that time. pennsylvania tended to be opposed at the time. new york had not gotten the okay from its legislature to vote in favor. >> why was rhode island -- they didn't come to the constitutional convention, and they didn't sign it, and what's the problem through all this? >> i think their problem is a problem a lot of folks had, that originally, the federal convention was called to amend the articles of confederation. and word got out pretty quickly, madison and some of the virginians wanted to do far, far more than that, that is to create a whole new document. rhode island didn't want any part of that at the time. so that was really part of a controversy when the delegates first meet. >> who was richard henry lee? >> richard henry lee makes probably the most momentous point in history when he puts forth the resolution that the colon

"reposing on amendment to the constitution to repeal the 22nd article of amendment to the constitution." senator keefe over, the plate somewhat of a role in persuading truman not to seek a third term, introduced him and it was a friendly, kind of bipartisan occasion. what truman said in his testimony was "my position on this question is a very simple one. this is a bad amendment. it ought to be repealed. i have no personal acts to guide in this matter. out of 175 million people of this country, i am the only one to whom the amendment does not apply. i'm the only one who could be elected as many times as the votes elect me." but the vote had been enhanced by "republican haters who tried to take his spikes out on him why after he was dead. and the only point was to keep presidents from keeping a second term for all time in the person -- future. you have taken a man and put him in the hardest job in the world and sent him out to fight your battles. you have sent him out to fight with one hand tied behind his back. this seems like a fairly gracious tester, given that it was the end of pres

do you solemnly swear to support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that you will bear truth, faith, allegiance to the same, take this obligation freely without mental reservation or purpose of evasion and faithfully discharge the duties in the office on which you are about to enter so help you god? >> i do. mr. biden: good to see you. nick and matt. they are tall and handsome. one on one side and one on the other side. >> for a couple days. >> thank you. >> am i doing a good job? he came back early to make sure he was not late for the costco run last night. mr. biden: we catholics would say no purgatory for you, go straight to heaven. [laughter] [inaudible] you stand right here. here we go. and we will reenact this, left hand on the bible, raise your right hand. do solemnly swear to support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that you will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that you take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion;

the country badly. it was an important constitutional moment. we are still struggling with the problems that were so difficult for them. the great truth about our that theion is philadelphia framers did a good job in many ways. they did an extraordinarily poor job in designing the executive department, and in particular in the election and succession of the president. electoral vote system is a monstrosity. it was put in place to protect the interest of the slave states. over and over it has contributed to near catastrophe. we can confidently say it was a bad idea, but at least it didn't work. -- 22nd amendment -- we still have presidential succession down. -- don't have presidential succession down. we have the lame-duck. , which make sure we don't have this horrible resolve that happened in 1800 of the defeated , that almost brought the country to the verge of civil war. the 22nd amendment deals with the two-term issue, and 25th deals with presidential succession a disability. that withouttrue the 22nd amendment, we would have popular president

whether to amend the constitution. e last four states and that been pressured so once nine states have been decided and most of the states that were most resistant came late the issue have already been resolved at the time i got to them. one of the other things do we keep the articles and amended what do we do. to support the constitution or not. to help the federalist immensely. that is critically important. they understood most of them thought they needed to be reformed there is the only alternative. most americans would have preferred something in between. the constitution was very far into nationalists. most americans probably would've preferred to put in the middle of the perspective. they try to give them an all or nothing choice because they realize that most americans would've preferred not with the federalist was giving them. and they were ridiculed and try to keep those off the table. you could've have a second convention. the constitution was written in private. now there has been a national debate on them. c

certainly, the death penalty is mentioned in the constitution but the fact that is mentioned in the constitution and is a punishment every one of the original colonies use doesn't rethink any living constitutionalist think there's on the question of what cruel and unusual punishment means today. one embarrassment for justice scalia's theory is the constitution clearly contemplates physically torturous punishment so the same clause, double jeopardy clause justice scalia points to with capital punishment contemplates mutilation, one cannot be held life in jeopardy of life or limb. what that mean the supreme court has already held you can't be lashed much less have your limbs cut off as a punishment for a crime. i doubt there would be many if any courts today that would uphold punishment of mutilation, not violating the constitution. clearly our ideas of what is cruel and unusual change over time and in fact one could say the drafters of the constitution in writing into the constitution what have been called the majestic generalities of the constitution equal protection of the law, due process of l

do you support the constitution or not? yes or no i think would help them. >> it is critically important sanders stood they thought the articles needed to be reformed most americans would have preferred something in between the articles were flawed most probably would have perfervid somewhere in the middle of the spectrum they desperately tried to give them the alternative choice because most americans would have preferred something that they were not getting in with those procedural mechanisms and then to keep those of the table view could affect a second convention it was rented and private. was the surprise now there's a national debate and decent two-way new convention or you could have ratification conditions so to do what they are promising we can give you amendments down the road because we don't believe your promises. they made legal arguments in policy arguments but the real reason they of -- rejected the alternative that you would water down uh documents they drafted in philadelphia and that is what they wanted. ho

the national constitution center. we have three terrific panels today who are going to be available after the program to be able to sign their books and talking about those books. although the next panel will start promptly at 2:15. just to get us started we have on my far left sub122 was judge robert m. parker and dominant of law into his right ms. carol steiker the -- in closest to me is "grace and justice on death row" widely regarded as one of the nations leading capital punishment experts. so what we are going to do at the outset of our discussion is we are going to begin to look at the history of capital punishment and try and doing that try to set the stage for current issues that relate to capital punishment and whether or not it remains constitutional. as a result of that we will start with john who will take us through the founding era first and how the constitution addresses capital punishment and what the issues were at that time. >> we think back to the history of the death penalty and we have to go back t

order and our constitutional documents. those are theds and we don't change those words except five process of constitutional amendment. but by applying those words to the varying factual circumstances and disputes of that confront the country over the course of 200 years is what is challenging. thinking of it as something as frozen and immobile, i think of it as, the phrase, that is associated with robert frost and that is, good fences make good neighbors. i think in a political structure, and a political structure, a division of power like we have is actually apt. and what the bill of rights is as a whole constitution is this hugely important than the nation what remains for the people and those fences are them andt policing finding exactly where that fence fall in new circumstances that are changing as the country changes is the challenging task of that we face. >> as the parent of a five-year-old girl, i would say the word frozen has a very positive context for some of the younger girls and not just girls. the late justice scalia , t

it was finally entered into the constitution in 1951. bulk of thethe -- ratifications took place in 1947 and 1948. i looked into this, and i that in context we might actually view the story slightly differently. i am not a historian. i have written some history. one of the lessons you learn working with professional historians is what they call the five c's. in order to look historically, you don't simply traces story. there is a story. i just told it to you. the 22nd amendment being hastened through congress by vindictive republican leadership. you look at events in the past through the lens of these five c's. context, overall context. complexity. there is no simple straight-line story of almost anything that happens in history. event a causes event b. the track has not been laid down in advance. contingency, things could have happened differently. finally, change over time. institutions are not the same from year to year. you need to interpret everything in terms of this constantly set of events. if we just view the amendment as a vindi

the u.s. constitution. it is our hope that this reading will help demonstrate to the american people that the house of representatives is dedicated to the constitution and the system it establishes for limited government and for the protection of individual liberty. we also hope that it will inspire many more americans to read the constitution themselves. the text we will read today reflects the changes to the document made by the 27 amendments to it. those portions superseded by amendment will not be read. in order to ensure in order to ensure fairness to all those interested in participating, we have asked members to line up to be recognized on a first-come-first-serve basis. i will recognize members based on this guidance. each member will approach the podium and read the passage laid out for him or her. in order to ensure relative parity and fairness, i may recognize members out of order to ensure bipartisanship and balance. additionally, because of his long-term leadership on civil rights issues, i will

jeffrey rosen, president and ceo of the national constitution center. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the national constitution center. the final panel of bill of rights day. happy 225th birthday to the bill of rights which i am jeffrey rosen, president of this wonderful institution. for those joining for the first time, the national constitution center is the only institution in america chartered by congress to disseminate information about the u.s. constitution on a nonpartisan basis and it is so

the u.s. constitution. it is our hope that this reading will help demonstrate to the american people that the house of representatives is dedicated to the constitution and the system it establishes for limited government and the protection of individual liberty. we also hope that it will inspire many more americans to read the constitution themselves. the text we will read today reflects the changes to the document made by the 27 amendments to it. those portions superceded by amendment. we have asked members to line up to be recognized on first come first serve basis. i will recognize members based on this guidance. each member will approach the podium and read the passage laid out for him or her. in order to ensure fairness i may recognize members out of order to ensure bipartisan ship and balance. i will recognize representative john lewis to read the 13th amendment. i want to thank the members of both parties for participation in this historic event and i will begin by reading the preamble to the constitu

. >> do you solemnly swear to support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies foreign and domestic, that you will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that you take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion and you will well and faithly discharge the duties of the office of what you're about to enter, so help you god? >> i do. >> bring the whole family up. come on. >> nice to see you. >> bless me father, for i have sinned. >> good to see you. >> how are you, man? good to see you. good morning, nice to see you. come on. somebody has got to stand on my side. >> i'll stand on your side. >> you stand right in front of me. come on. is this -- >> patrick and i tilt the picture a little left so -- you got it? >> that's a good thing. >> kevin up here, take one more shot. >> all right. >> okay. >> go ahead, kevin. zbl >> all right, guys. >> you know kevin. >> i do know kevin. good to see you. come on, jump in the picture. get in there. >> all right. >> congratulations, guys. take care. grandfathers are hard to raise. >> they are.

the u.s. constitution. it is our hope that this reading will help demonstrate to the american people that the house of representatives is dedicated to the constitution and the system it establishes for limited government and for the protection of individual liberty. we also hope that it will inspire many more americans to read the constitution themselves. the text we will read today reflects the changes to the document made by the 27 amendments to it. those portions superseded by amendment will not be read. in order to ensure in order to ensure fairness to all those interested in participating, we have asked members to line up to be recognized on a first-come-first-serve basis. i will recognize members based on this guidance. each member will approach the podium and read the passage laid out for him or her. in order to ensure relative parity and fairness, i may recognize members out of order to ensure bipartisanship and balance. additionally, because of his long-term leadership on civil rights issues, i will

the war. constitutions that were drafted by the 13 were terribly important. in some sense far more important federal constitution that followed a doecade later constitutionederal was derived from the experiments state out in the constitutions. they were written documents, and from that moment on when people created new constitutions and own timeight up to our and the last half century or so everybody who wants a down.itution writes it that was not true earlier. is not ish constitution written down and i think the ofy other state we are aware is israel that doesn't have a written constitution. a written se has occasion. and if you are going to have a tpnew constitution as they did it down. wrote that was a grand innovation in 1776. more important was the notion of separation of powers which was by the federal constitution. it does not mean just egislature, executive and judiciary separate but the prohibition on members of the from simultaneously holding office in the legislature. minute, ink about it a by prohibiting that, that dual thece holding, you prohibit

he drew upon the great wig constitutional lawyer johnson. johnson tried to persuade the military commission to concede that it didn't have jurisdiction over the lincoln assassin. of course, he failed, but his argument was published all over and it was quite a great argument. as i said, davis was not much concerned with the military trials that had taken place in the actually theories of war. he was concerned with the trial of a citizen of indiana for 20 years past. and never in the military or naval service arrested at his home in a state not under immediate threat from confederate troops. it was the perfect case. now after long, technical consideration of jurisdiction to counteract what he thought was going to be the basis for the minority reservations, he turned to the main question. no graver question has ever been considered by this court, nor one which nearly concerns the rights of the whole people he wrote. the decision does not depend on arguments or judicial precedence. all of those precedence merely illustrated the deeper history, th

the federal constitution was derived from the experiments worked out. they were written documents and from that moment on, when people created new constitutions, everybody who wants a constitution wrote it down. that was not true earlier. if you are going to have a new constitution like in iraq, they wrote it down. that was a grand innovation. more important was the notion of separation of power. it does not mean just legislation, it is the prohibition on members simultaneously holding office in the legislature. by prohibiting that, you prohibit a rise of cabinet government, which has been more adopted by the world then our system so that when hillary clinton became secretary of state, she had to resign her senate seat. if she were in england, she would have to remain in the house of lords to get into the cabinet. that is the difference between our systems. the american revolution created that separation of power. they thought that that was corruption, that the executive would corrupt the legislative. that barrier created our separation of power. in thes

the u.s. constitution. it is our hope that this reading will help demonstrate to the american people that the house of representatives is dedicated to the constitution and the system it establishes for

the u.s. constitution, the president-elect will be sworn in on january 20, 2017. in 1788, james mad while arguing for the adoption of the united states constitution stated, we may define our republic to be a government which delivers all of -- derives all of its powers directly or indirectly from the great body of the people and it is administered by persons holding their offices during pleasure for a limited period or during good behavior. today's elect yorl college proves once again the citizens of the united states are able to establish their government by choice. america's continued history testifies to the enduring viability of our grand experiment in self-governance. as we know, president abraham lincoln and his renowned gettysburg address stated that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from earth. we're still here today heirs to this lofty ideals of elective governance. today the will of pennsylvania as expressed by the majority of the more than six million citizens that voted on the november 8 general election is in the

our coverage includes panel discussions on the death penalty and the constitution. and preserving america's founding documents. plus, conversations with david keen, author of "shall not be infringed" the new assaults on your second. and the author of "the constitution today, timeless lessons for the issues of our era." at 8:30 p.m. eastern, the author of green card warrior, my quest for legal immigration in an illegal system talks about his experiences legally immigrating to the u.s., and efforts by the state department to complicate the process due to his political views. on sunday at 8:00 p.m. eastern, author michael lewis on his book, the undoing project, the friendship that changed our mind, which looks at the work of israeli psychologist focus on decisionmaking process in humans. the findings led to the creation of the field of behavioral economics. did to book tv.org for the complete weekend schedule. this weekend on american history tv on c-span3, saturday evening at 67:00 eastern on the civil war, author william marvel on abraham lincoln's secretary of war, e

the constitution of the united states. the constitution of the united states. so help me god. congratulations, mr president. chief justice roberts, chiefjustice roberts, president carter, president clinton, resident bush, president obama, fellow americans and people of the world, thank you. —— president bush. we, the citizens of america, are now joined ina the citizens of america, are now joined in a great national effort to rebuild our country and restore its promise for all of our people. together we will determine the course of america and the world for many, course of america and the world for any course of america and the world for many, many years to come. we will face hardships and challenges, but we will get thejob face hardships and challenges, but we will get the job done. every four yea rs we will get the job done. every four years we gather on the steps to carry out the orderly and peaceful tra nsfer of carry out the orderly and peaceful transfer of power, and we are grateful to president obama and first lady michelle obama for their gracious aid throughout this tr

the constitution of the united states of america. the flames are being kindled by a number of incendiary tracks, including the philadelphia over aurora. the chief jeffersonian republican newspaper. we see jefferson dropping from his right-hand a letter he has written to a man named philip. a back story about jefferson and philip. philip was an italian who brought a farm. when philip returned back to italy he asked jefferson to look after his farm. would communicate with him periodically about the financial transactions of the farm. jefferson did. 1796, to take a bit of the dryness often no, you think jefferson would learn his lesson by this point. he wrote some political asset to philip. he described the situation around him. in the final days of the washington administration. america had just ratified the jay treaty which repudiated a revolutionary war in france. all around there were signs of increasing monarchism in jefferson's eyes. jefferson wrote to philip, it would give you a fever if you could see men who once were samson's i

that of the constitution. the federalist included not only hamilton, but people like james madison. they included people a thomas jefferson, jefferson supported the ratification of the constitution. he did not think it was part -- perfect, he got the president should not be re-electable. keep up that there should be a bill of rights attached. eventually, his concerns would be addressed. jefferson was happy to see the constitution ratified. it is fair to call him a federalist. i labeling his faction as the federalist, hamilton is implying that those who oppose him, are not strict interpreters of the constitution. he is a plant -- implying that they are up with of the constitution. he is implying that james madison, who is recognized as the leader of this faction, that james madison, the father of the constitution is an anti-federalist. meanwhile, madison and jefferson engaged in their own branding effort. they decided to call their own faction the republicans. in the 18th century, if you are not a republican, th

many of the states including pennsylvania had in their constitutions prior to the writing of the american constitution the adoption of the bill of rights already had an equivalent language and it goes back, the right of self-defense goes back to the old testament, and these rights, the founders believed in rights passed on by natural law of god. these were not rights being granted by the new government. these were rights to keep and bear arms, to free prayer press, the right to speak freely, these were rights they believed were inherent in the human condition, to prevent the government from infringing in the case of the right to bear arms that part of the amendment and the way it is written is important. >> so much scholarship around the state constitutionalism. we consulted his opinion in the mcdonald's case relying on state constitutional provisions to argue individual right to keep and bear arms is deeply editing the american constitution. >> the question of the meaning of the second amendment was not really studied until relatively recently. there were no decisions on it. i went to la

the constitution of the united states. constitution of the united states. on of the united states. constitution of the united states. so help me god. so help me god. congratulations, mr president. chiefjustice roberts, president carter, president clinton, president bush president bush, president obama, fellow americans, and people obama, fellow americans, and people of the world — thank you. we, the citizens of america, are nowjoined in a great national effort to rebuild our country and restore its promise for all of our people. together, we will determine the course of america and the world for many, many years to come. we will face challenges. we will confront hardships. but we will get the job done. every four years we gather on these steps to carry out the orderly and peaceful transfer of power. and we are grateful to president obama and first lady michelle obama for their gracious aid throughout this transition. they have been magnificent. thank you. today's ceremony, however, has a very special meaning — because today we are not merely transferring pow

feature of the constitution. in the 20th century we developed an administrative apparatus, all these agencies, the environment protection agency, federal comedic asian commission, most of the started with the new deal and they combine legislative, executive and judicial powers. madison called the essence of tierney. that is the problem we face. >> congress passes a law the president signs it. >> congress passes a law is a problem. congress to pass a law. they don't legislate, they delegate, they allow administrators, people nobody has voted for or any way accountable and congress tells them you write the rules, you make the laws. give them a very vague aspiration. we want clean air or no discrimination or fair railroad rates and allow those people who are supposed to be the experts to make the laws. congress what they do for the most part is sit back and intervene in individual cases, their constituents get in trouble with constituent service which is more helpful to them in getting elected and easier than the har

of the united states constitution. i would like to hear your response as well, and the senate will kill any bill that will try to stop abortions within this country. if you don't believe chuck schumer, i would take a second, step back, and think about it. think about where this country will be controlled from the next four years. that is where the buck stops. greta: ok. tony: i wouldn't agree with that last statement you can see how things have already changed and will be further changing. to his point, the muslims in a proposed ban, it is a good question. if there is religious freedom, why can't you have muslims coming into this country? this is not about banning a religion. it is about banning those who are putting -- it is not an overall ban. extreme vetting, those who have a propensity to undermine, destroyed, and attack americans. greta: all muslims do? tony: no. how many baptists have committed terrorist attacks in this country? we haven't. not all muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists we have seen so far are

. >> that i will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreignesident-elect johnson: that i'll support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies foreign and domestic. >> that i'll bear. -- true faith and allegiance to the same. vice president-elect johnson: that i will bear true faith and allegiance to the same. >> i take this obligation freely. vice president-elect johnson: i take this obligation freely without any reservation whatever. >> i will faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which i am about to enter, so help me god. vice president-elect johnson: that i will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of which i'm about to enter, so help me god. [cheers] [applause] >> the reverend dr. john barkley will now lead us in prayer. >> let us pray. eternal god, our father, we pause again to acknowledge that in thy presence we are living and moving, and in the alone we have our being. we are thankful for the great and good men raised up by thee to lead us in the past. bless these leaders of recent decade

it was the most important structural feature of the constitution and in the 20th century we developed an administrative apparatus of the agencies and the environmental protection agency, communications commission. most of this started with a new deal and they combined legislative executive and judicial powers and that's when madison called the essence of tyranny so that is the kind of problem that we face. >> host: so congress passes a law and congress finds it, what happens?e face. >> they don't legislate, theyon delegate. these people nobody voted for and are in no way accountable and congress tells them you write the rules and make the law. they give them a very vague aspiration. then it allowed those people that are supposed to be the experts to make the rules and make the wall. congress what they do is sit back and intervene in the individual cases where the constituents get in trouble with these agencies which is much more helpful to them getting elected and it's a lot easier than the job of making policy choices and legislating so they are not doing the fundamental constitution

tom donnelly from the national constitution center. hello and thank you for joining us on this special anniversary. we have a defender of the bill of rights here with us today. i just read a bit of background, david and is the opinion editor of the national times and former editor of the national rifle association and served as chairman of the association part his new book is called shall not be infringed, the new assault on your second amendment. obviously second amendment can shade into contentious political policy debate. this being bill of rights day, i would like to keep this conversation on constitutional grounds. too do that, let's start with the text of the amendment itself. i'm taking out my pocket constitution and the second amendment reads, a well regulated militia being necessary to the security of the free-speech state and the right of people to keep and bear arms should not be infringed. you borrow part of the text of the amendment for the title of your book. can you talk you talk a little bit about that choice. >> the wor

the amendment itself. on my trusty national constitution pocket constitution. the second amendment reads, it will Ãmilitia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms. shall not be infringed. as we already said, you borrow part of the text of the amendment to the title of your book. >> right. >> can't talk about that choice and we will take the conversation from there. >> the wording in the amendment is important. shall not be infringed is important because, the second amendment does not grant the people of the united states the right to keep and bear arms. the amendment says that right shall not be infringed. which is a recognition of the fact that the right itself Ãit preexist the writing of the constitution. of course many of the states including pennsylvania have been there constitution prior to the right in the of the american constitution and the adoption bill of rights already had an equivalent kind of language in Ãand it goes back. the right of self-defense goes back to the old testament and further back

first, we have to amend the constitution. that's what people are trying to achieve. >> reporter: a major newspaper poll shows a large majority support reforms with different priorities on what to change. roughly a third said the presidential term should be shortened to four years. another third said power should be divided with the prime minister. and a smaller proportion wants the prime minister to be responsible for running the country. this is a constitutional expert. >> translator: the president's authority should be made more symbolic and ceremonial, and the prime minister should be given more substantive power. >> reporter: support for amending the constitution, more than half of the newspaper poll respondents said the country should be focusing on the next presidential election, but whether that's push for change or not, he expects the discussion to expand and become entrenched in the public's mind. >> translator: south korean policies have changed. whoever the president is, it's not appropriate for them to make every d

the constitution center. [applause] thank you for the discussion. definitely check out the buck and again merry christmas. [inaudible conversations]