Eric Foner on Our Fragile Freedoms

Run time: 44 minutes

Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Eric Foner joins to discuss his book, Our Fragile Freedoms, a new collection of essays exploring a range of topics, including debates over slavery and antislavery, the Civil War and Reconstruction, Jim Crow and the battle to dismantle it, and modern debates over the Constitution and how to teach American history. Listen now on We the People

Justice with Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln

Run time: 36 minutes

Jeffrey Rosen, Professor David Blight, and filmmaker Ken Burns explore how a lifelong love of learning and a desire to promote justice shaped the life of abolitionist Frederick Douglass, who met Abraham Lincoln three times and helped shape Lincoln’s evolving views on emancipation. Listen now on Pursuit: The Founders’ Guide to Happiness

We the People and Pursuit: The Founders’ Guide to Happiness are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more

A primer on treason, seditious conspiracy, and the Constitution

by Scott Bomboy | Read time: 5 minutes

“President Donald Trump’s recent statements accusing six Democratic lawmakers of making ‘seditious’ comments to military and intelligence community members has ignited a debate about free speech and the constitutional obligations of those in service of our country. ... ” Read more

How JFK’s assassination led to a constitutional amendment

by Scott Bomboy | Read time: 3 minutes

“President John F. Kennedy’s death on November 22, 1963, traumatized a nation and led a united Congress to make a constitutional change, in the form of the 25th amendment. ... ” Read more

A More Perfect Union: Inspiring Civic and Civil Conversations Across America

Monday, November 24 | 9–10 p.m. ET

A More Perfect Union: Inspiring Civic & Civil Conversations Across America, a special for PBS taped at the National Constitution Center and produced by WETA Washington, D.C., is a conversation about America’s founding and how the ideas and values articulated 250 years ago remain relevant to our democracy today.

The program features Ken Burns and Sarah Botstein, co-directors of the new major six-part, 12-hour documentary series The American Revolution, and Yuval Levin, director of social, cultural, and constitutional studies at the American Enterprise Institute, in conversation with Jeffrey Rosen and Melody Barnes, executive director of the University of Virginia’s Karsh Institute of Democracy.

A More Perfect Union: Inspiring Civic & Civil Conversations Across America premieres Monday, November 24, 2025, at 9–10 p.m. ET (check local listings) on PBS.

A More Perfect Union: Inspiring Civic & Civil Conversations Across America is a production of WETA Washington, D.C. Major funding is provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts. Funding is also provided by The Travelers Companies, Inc. and the Charles F. Kettering Foundation.

25th Amendment, Section 1

“In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.”

Read interpretations in the Interactive Constitution

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