Join us online for our annual Independence Week program, Finding the Founders, where we commemorate Independence Day and explore America’s ongoing struggle to achieve the ideals expressed in our founding documents. We will convene programs on the themes all week through a selection of videos, podcasts, essays, and more. 

The National Constitution Center is offering a series of America’s Town Hall programs about constitutional issues in the news. Join these programs for free from your home computer, laptop, or any mobile device by registering below.

Join Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost for an online, bipartisan discussion about the role of state attorneys general in addressing policing reform, protests, and other constitutional challenges facing states today. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.

What did the original Constitution say about the right to vote? How did that change over time, and why? In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment and 150th anniversary of the 15th Amendment, join election law experts Alexander Keyssar of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Derek Muller of the Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, and Franita Tolson of the University of Southern California Gould School of Law for a conversation exploring the evolution of suffrage from the American Revolution to today. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates. 

This program is presented as part of the Center’s yearlong initiative, Women and the Constitution, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment.

Tay Sconiers of the Center’s theatre programs team introduces a speech by Frederick Douglass—perhaps the most influential abolitionist, orator, and writer of America’s Reconstruction era—exploring the paradox of a holiday that celebrates freedom in America, while a large portion of the population remained enslaved. Read the speech here or listen to a reading of it here.

Douglass’s famous words are featured on our Quotable Timeline. Created for display in the National Constitution Center lobby, we are now making this resource available for download. Journey from the Revolutionary period to the Civil War era though the words of figures like Abigail Adams, Abraham Lincoln, and Harriet Tubman.

Watch clips from FOURTEEN: A Theatrical Performance.

In this clip from the Center’s newest theatrical production on the Reconstruction era and the ratification of the 14th Amendment, the performance opens with the words of the Declaration of Independence, after which a performer embodying Frederick Douglass reads an open letter from Douglass to his former slaveholder. View more videos and related resources from FOURTEEN here. 

Your gift supports our balanced and trusted constitutional educational programs and exhibits for all including, The 19th Amendment: How Women Won the Vote, opening this year. Join, renew, or give the gift of membership by July 31, and receive two additional months of membership for free!

Thank you for being a part of the National Constitution Center's community of lifelong learners and for your support of our mission to increase awareness and understanding of the U.S. Constitution among the American people. Your contribution makes our crucially important work possible. Please consider becoming a Member or making a gift to support our new and expanded online learning opportunities and to help us provide constitutional education for all.