in the presence of god whose signatories pledged to themselves not to thomas hobbs, but to laws about that they themselves had written, the mayflower compact reaffirmed one of the fundamental ideas of the magna carta, namely that no political society could flourish without respect for the rule of law. but it went further. it insisted upon the establishment of just and equal laws, laws that would apply without discrimination to all the members of the political community. for the drafters of the mayflower compact, their freedom and their security would not depend upon an all-powerful monarch. instead, it would depend on their ability to rule themselves, to submit themselves to the law for the sake of the common good and also to the laws that they themselves had written. here at the beginning of the american story is the idea of government by the consent and by the governed. that is the idea of self-government. in this, the pilgrims anticipated another generation of americans,
to america s founding documents. the heritage foundation provided the video for this event. in today s event we and our distinguishing guest will talk about the mayflower compact and the foundations of the rule of law. in 1661 the philosopher thomas hobbs offered the theory of the social contract. he saw it as a political community in which all of its members submitted itselves to an absolute sovereign in exchange for their security. a generation before hobbs, however, the pilgrims at cape cod had drafted their own social contract. they called it a covenant. in the presence of god, whose signatories pledged to themselves not to thomas hobbs, but to laws that they themselves had written. the mayflower compact reaffirmed one of the fundamental ideas of the magna carta, mainly that no political society could flourish without respect for the rule of law. further, it insisted upon the establishmentfurther, it insisted upon the establishment of just and equal laws. laws that woul
filming. also, if you re wondering what all the equipment is in the back of the room, it s 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 we ll let you know when it s time for that, and we ll ask you to line up this to ask your questions. in a politically restive time, it s 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
from the house oversight committee, this is about two hours. the chair will come to order. welcome to the oversight subcommittee on civil rights entitled white supremacists in blue, the infiltration of local police departments. good morning to the chair of the committee, miss maloney, good morning to our ranking member, mr. roy, who is with us, and good morning to the vice chair of the committee, ms ms. ocasio-cortez and our wonderful members. i want to express a special welcome to rashida tlaib of michigan. this is our first hearing with our subcommittee and we re delighted to have her join us. welcome. before we begin today, i want to play a video that will set the stage for the discussion that we re about to have. clerkings, please go ahead and play the video. white supremacy permeates every corner of the institution. tracks hate and extremist groups, whomever is engaged in those groups, wherever that might lead. we have outed a number of law enforcement officers who h
that we should not traces our values back to the founders. instead, he argues that through failures and reinventions, we ve used the constitution as a tool to create our modern core values. smithsonian associates hosted this event. good evening, everyone. can you all hear me in the back? great. my name is ruth robins and it s a pleasure to welcome you all here tonight for our program. before we get started, just a couple quick things. if you have electronic devices, now s a good time to turn them off. as usual in our programs, there s no photography and no filming. also, if you re wondering what all the equipment is in the back of the room, it s 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 we ll let you know what it s time for that and you ll just line up there to ask your questions. in a politically restive time, it s always worthwhile r