Constitution USA with Peter Sagal — Season 1, Episode 3: Created Equal
Documentary • 60 min • 1 season, 4 episodes
Episode synopsis
The high ideals of the Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal,” endowed with “unalienable rights,” didn’t make it into the Constitution in 1787. It took three-quarters of a century, and a bloody civil war, before the Fourteenth Amendment of 1868 made equality a constitutional right, and gave the federal government the power to enforce it. The far-reaching changes created by that amendment established new notions of citizenship, equal protection, due process, and personal liberty and today those notions are being used to fight for same sex marriage, voting rights, affirmative action, and immigration reform.
About Constitution USA with Peter Sagal
CONSTITUTION USA, From New York to San Francisco, from Missoula, Montana to Tyler, Texas, Host Peter Sagal visits people across America introducing viewers to some of today’s major constitutional debates : free speech in the digital age, same-sex marriage, voting rights, separation of church and state, presidential power in the post-9/11 world, to name just a few, and the fascinating stories of the people they affect every day. And for each contemporary story, Sagal dives into the history behind it and talks to prominent legal scholars, historians and public figures, finding out what the Constitution says, the dramatic historical events and crises that defined the Constitution, and why all this matters.