Whose Constitution Do We Actually Live In? | America's Unwritten Constitution

When the written Constitution is ambiguous, Akhil Reed Amar argues, the symbolic texts fill the gaps. He walks through six of them and what each still decides today. This lecture shows the Declaration's "no taxation without representation" at work in McCulloch and the dormant commerce clause, the Federalist Papers confirming national security as a founding purpose, and the Northwest Ordinance's anti-colonial principle bearing on questions like Puerto Rican statehood. Amar then reads the Fourteenth Amendment's "born equal" through the Gettysburg Address, contrasts desegregation with the fuller integration of Brown and King's dream, and argues we live in Lincoln's Constitution, not Jefferson's. Chapters: 00:00 The Declaration and taxation without representation 02:53 The Dormant Commerce Clause 05:16 The Federalist Papers and national security 06:42 The Northwest Ordinance and statehood 11:01 The Gettysburg Address and the 14th Amendment 14:05 Brown, King, and the pull toward integration 19:06 We live in Lincoln's house 📚 Learning objectives: After watching, you'll be able to: - Explain how the Declaration's no-taxation-without-representation informs McCulloch and the dormant commerce clause - Describe the Northwest Ordinance's anti-colonial principle and its bearing on statehood - Analyze how the Gettysburg Address shaped the Fourteenth Amendment's idea of birth equality - Compare desegregation and affirmative integration in Brown and King's "I Have a Dream" 📺 Watch the full playlist on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLABHWcbOLwlY 🎓 Enroll on Coursera for assessments and a certificate: https://www.coursera.org/learn/unwritten-constitution 🌐 Explore more learning opportunities on Yale Online: https://online.yale.edu/courses/americas-unwritten-constitution