Introducing Pursuit: The Founders’ Guide to Happiness

Run time: 30 minutes

In our new podcast, Pursuit: The Founders’ Guide to Happiness, Jeffrey Rosen explores the founders’ lives with the historians who know them best. Plus, filmmaker Ken Burns shares his daily practice of self-reflection.

To start our series, Jeffrey Rosen and Robert P. George trace how the meaning of the pursuit of happiness has changed over time. Listen now

We the People and Live at the National Constitution Center are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more 

September 12, 1958: Supreme Court orders Little Rock desegregation

by Scott Bomboy | Read time: 5 minutes

“On September 12, 1958, a unanimous Supreme Court declined a Little Rock School District request to delay by more than two years the desegregation mandated by the Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board ruling. …” Read more

September 13, 1788: The transition begins to our Constitutional government

by NCC Staff | Read time: 3 minutes

“The date of September 13, 1788, isn’t celebrated as a major anniversary in American history, but it was a big day in the creation of our current form of constitutional government.. …” Read more

New Interactive Declaration and 250th Anniversary-Inspired Videos and Essays

As we prepare to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026, we invite all Americans to explore the principles and ideas that shape our nation through a new Interactive Declaration of Independence, curated essays, animated videos, and resources for classrooms and communities. Explore the America at 250 Civic Toolkit

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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