The Constitution famously begins with the ringing phrase, "We the people," declaring that this new government would be created by and for the benefit of the citizens it ruled. But at the time, only white men who owned property could actually vote for and serve in that government. All others — women, Africans, indigenous people — were merely its subjects, or in the case of the enslaved, merely property. The entire 250-year history of America can be seen as a constant struggle to expand the definition of "the people," of "We," to include those and other groups. 

Join us as Peter Sagal moderates an insightful conversation with Jamelle Bouie of The New York Times and Adam Serwer of The Atlantic, two of the most powerful and learned voices educating the public at large as to this history, much of it unknown and some of it intentionally erased from our shared narrative of the past. They have argued in columns, videos, and public forums that time and time again, those who ruled under the Constitution did everything they could to exclude others from its protections, while the excluded fought equally hard to become part of "We the people." Their gift as thinkers and writers is to connect this past directly to the questions and crises of the present, and show how our present disputes are a continuation of fights going back to our founding.

In partnership with the Roberta Buffett Institute for Global Affairs at Northwestern University

This event is presented with special support from WBEZ Chicago.

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