In the Beginning, Part 1 | America's Written Constitution with Akhil Reed Amar

In 1786, almost nobody on Earth governed themselves. Akhil Reed Amar argues that the Preamble, one sentence long, is the hinge that changed that, and he shows the evidence. This lecture treats "We the People of the United States" as a deed rather than a slogan. Amar walks through the ratification year that began on September 19, 1787, when the Pennsylvania Packet published the full text with the Preamble set in oversized type, and traces what followed: thirteen state conventions, a year of open argument in which opponents of the Constitution were neither jailed nor exiled, and property qualifications lowered or dropped in eight of the thirteen states so that more people could vote on it than had ever voted on anything. He also shows how the Bill of Rights was effectively crowdsourced by those conventions, which is why the phrase "the people" recurs through the first ten amendments, and closes with James Wilson, the immigrant lawyer who drafted the words, addressing ten thousand Philadelphians on July 4, 1788. Chapters: 00:00 The sentence itself 01:13 How little democracy existed in 1786 03:50 Self-government across the modern world 05:22 What "We the People" actually did 07:56 The image: the Pennsylvania Packet 12:16 Thirteen ratifying conventions 15:31 Who was allowed to vote 18:44 The Bill of Rights, crowdsourced 20:46 James Wilson, July 4, 1788 Learning objectives: After watching, you'll be able to: - Describe the state of self-government worldwide before 1787 - Explain why ratification, not the Philadelphia Convention, anchors Amar's story - Compare the ratification franchise with ordinary state election rules of the same years - Trace the Bill of Rights back to the ratifying conventions - Assess the claim that the Preamble was the most democratic act of its era 📺 Watch the full playlist on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCq6-l8oFuvk 🎓 Enroll on Coursera for assessments and a certificate: https://www.coursera.org/learn/written-constitution 🌐 Explore more learning opportunities on Yale Online: https://online.yale.edu/courses/americas-written-constitution