it is my pleasure to be the moderator tonight for professor kermit roosevelt. you probably know, he is the great-great-grandson of theodore roosevelt. roy: we discussed beforehand whether there is a shorter word than great-great-grandson in english, but apparently there is not. so, that is so we are stuck with. the honor of having him here though, is much more founded in his skill in both his legal backgrounds and in his writing ability, he has produced several books on constitutional law, u.s.g served as a clerk to supreme court under justice david souter. he has written both novels and books on law. will be at least some discussion about his latest "allegiance." it is about the incarceration of the japanese during the second world war. that is enough for me. -- me introduce reverser investor kermit roosevelt to you. [applause] prof. roosevelt iii: thank you for that introduction. thank you all for coming, it is a will pleasure to be here. i'm going to talk about the significance of theodore roosevelt's vision of the constitution and it will connect to some la

let me introduce professor kermit roosevelt to you. [applause] prof. roosevelt iii: thank you for that introduction. thank you all for coming, it is a will pleasure to be here. i'm going to talk about the significance of theodore roosevelt's vision of the constitution and it will connect to some larger ideas about who we are, and we want to be. the constitution is our central organizing document. we had no official religion, the constitution, in fact, says that we can't. but we give the constitution the same kind of veneration that some societies get their sacred texts. it is our loyalty to the constitution, are legions, that makes us american. we are not a nation held together by race, or religion. we really are constituted as a people by those 4400 words. and so, when we talk about the constitution, we are really talking about america. and americans. and what those words mean. and that is what i want to do tonight. so, let me start with rita roosevelt. -- let me start with theodore roosevelt. what was his vision of the constitution? to put in one word

it is my pleasure to be the moderator tonight for professor kermit roosevelt. as you probably know, he is the great-great-grandson of theodore roosevelt. we discussed beforehand whether there is a shorter word than great-great-grandson in english, but apparently there is not. so, that is so we are stuck with. the honor of having him here though, is much more founded in his skill in both his legal backgrounds and in his writing ability, he has produced several books on constitutional law, having served as a clerk to u.s. supreme court under justice david souter.