,. We are in a building that is built in the 17 thirties, about 40 years before theres any such thing as the United States of america. At that time pennsylvania was a british colony. This was its Capital Building. They would make laws for pennsylvania and each of the 13 colonies has its own government. These are the issues in a lot of ways that will lead to the creation of the United States, most of which will happen in this room, because the colonies, as time goes forward will start to grow dissatisfied with the way the British Government is treating them, is affecting their lives locally. One of the other side issues is americans living in the colonies do not get to vote in british elections. When the parliament in london makes laws for americans, the most famous being various taxes you learned about in school, we will say this is taxation without representation. It is that idea you are not getting the voice. Thomas jefferson would write that government existing with the consent of t
Filming. Also, if youre wondering what all the equipment is in the back of the room, its cspan, so make show your nicest smile, brush your hair, get ready, just in case you get a cameo. And when we get to the q a part, there is a microphone in the back of the room, and well let you know when its time for that, and well ask you to line up this to ask your questions. In a politically restive time, its always worthwhile revisiting the documents that set us apart from british rule and created the framework for our government. Tonight, our guest speaker, kermit roosevelt, explores these documents and shares his interpretation of their meaning and relevance. Professor roosevelt teaches constitutional law at the university of pennsylvania law school. He was born and raised in d. C. And attended Harvard University and yale law. Before joining the penn faculty, he served as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice David souter. His book, the myth of judicial activism, making sense of Supreme Court
He argues thaw failures and reinventions we use the constitution as a tool to create our modern core values. The Smithsonian Associates hosted the event. Good evening, everyone. Can you all hear me in the back . My name is ruth robbins and it is a pleasure to welcome you to our program, before we start a couple of quick things. If you have electronic devices, now is a good time to turn them off. As usual in our programs, there is no photography and no filming. Also, if youre wondering what our equipment is in the back of the room, its cspan. So make show your nicest smile, brush your hair, in case you get a cameo and when we get to the q and a part, there is a meeker phone in the back of the room that will let you know when its time for that and youll get time to ask your questions. In the rest of times it is always worthwhile to visit the documents that set us apart from british rule and created the framework of the government. Today our guest speaker Kermit Roosevelt explains these d
Captioning performed by vitac captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2008 each one is different. Each one has its own sets of governments and own sets of law, and ill use pennsylvania. This room was pennsylvanias legislature. Pennsylvania decides to write a constitution that is so radical for its day that they basically get rid of the position of governor. They are not going to have really a chief executive for pennsylvania anymore. They are going to have a fairly democratically run onehouse legislature as opposed to the standard two houses that most of the states are going to use, that the United States has known throughout its history so pennsylvania has a very different setup. It proves a little too radical to work and our 177 of pennsylvania constitution will last only 14 years. They will have to redo it, go to the traditional two houses of government and legislature setup. This is 1776 that each of these states is going to start itself over. Now, the problem is being al
Territorial politics of wyoming. I encountered gracious and wellinformed experts in the sources that i was seeking and their goals seemed to be to make my work and research as productive and rewarding as possible. The working atmosphere of the archives was congenial, stimulating, and fun. A friend of mine, the distinguished historian of the election of 1896, Hall Williams and i, would work at library in the library of congress until 5 00 in the afternoon when they closed, have a bite to eat and we could come over to National Archives, which was open until 8 00. So we made the most of every single day. Whenever i returned, as i did during the next decade, i had the same sense of enjoyment, productivity, and professionalism as experts, professionals engage their citizen users to the best of their abilities. The cliches about lazy government employees, repeated ad nasuem by unknowning politicians, had no validity within these walls. Instead i became convinced, as im sure most historians w