A More or Less Perfect Union

Why does having the rules for our government written down matter? Learn the history of the U.S. Constitution in the first episode of A More or Less Perfect Union - A Constitution in Writing.

"A Constitution for All," explores Constitutional amendments, including the Bill of Rights and amendments related to equal protection, slavery, and voting rights through significant Supreme Court decisions including Dred Scott v. Sandford and several cases affecting LGBTQ rights, with interviews at locations ranging from the Whitney Plantation in Louisiana to the Newseum in Washington, DC. Constitutional experts address hot-button historical and timely issues, including limits on rights of free speech, free press, bearing arms, and individual protections such as due process during arrest and trial, unenumerated rights, and unalienable rights.

A More or Less Perfect Union concludes with episode three, "Our Constitution at Risk," which shows how the Constitution is under pressure today and how, through action or inaction, all three branches of government are contributing to the problem. Judge Ginsburg asks: Are we ceding our rights so gradually that we don't even know it is happening? Topics explored include affirmative action, racial profiling, the commerce clause, eminent domain, executive orders, treaties and executive agreements, illuminated through interviews with the descendants of Plessy v. Ferguson, with constitutional experts, local business owners, and others. Judge Ginsburg concludes, "The great safeguard of liberty is a government of laws and not of men. Our Constitution creates that government, but it works only if 'we the people' know the Constitution and protect it."