The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley

Run time: 1 hour

David Waldstreicher and Nancy Isenberg join Jeffrey Rosen to discuss Waldstreicher’s new book, The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley: A Poet’s Journeys Through American Slavery and Independence, and explore Wheatley’s life and towering poetic legacy. Listen now

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Did Congress Invade the Judicial Power to Protect a Pipeline?

by Marcia Coyle | Read time: 4 minutes

“A political deal to secure the vote of a Democratic senator in the recent debt ceiling battle has teed up a U.S. Supreme Court fight over the authority of Congress to strip federal court review of a class of cases. ...” Read more

Silas Deane: Founding Father, Spy, and Loyalist?

by NCC Staff | Read time: 2 minutes

“July 27 marks the anniversary of the tragic story of Silas Deane, a Founding Father who was later banned from America and died under mysterious circumstances. ...” Read more

July 26, 1990: The Americans With Disabilities Act Is Signed Into Law

Disability activist Justin Dart used this wheelchair to attend the July 26, 1990, signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which he helped craft. Paralyzed by polio as a teenager, Dart left a successful business career to focus on civil rights for the disabled. Dart traveled around the country, holding 63 public forums for persons with disabilities, advocates, and caregivers in all 50 states. See Dart’s wheelchair and other National Constitution Center artifact highlights in this online exhibit.

The Preamble

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

Read interpretations in the Interactive Constitution

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