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American Literature: Why, I Do Declare 2070 Views
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Description:
We hope you have a strong constitution, because today, we're checking out The Constitution. We're also retiring from ever telling jokes again, because wow , was that a stinker.
Transcript
- 00:03
constitution relief... we get the joke... [Pill falls into glass of water]
- 00:16
.....okay here we go well a little birdie tells me you've got
- 00:21
a bad case of Constitution... don't worry I'll add some bra to your
- 00:26
intellectual diet here most of us have at least heard of the Constitution if
- 00:31
you haven't run you probably just stepped off the spaceship from Mars [Spaceship crashes into field]
Full Transcript
- 00:35
welcome to Earth by the way... well the Constitution is the founding
- 00:40
document of the United States it lays out all the principles that have guided
- 00:44
the US government for the past quarter millennium and serves as a primary guide
- 00:49
for the supreme laws of the land yet back in the 18th century people didn't [Woman baking cookies]
- 00:53
just use parchment paper for baking cookies they used it to write some
- 00:57
really important stuff so yes the Constitution is a big deal
- 01:00
because it frames our entire system of government and it's helped to make
- 01:04
America the superpower that it is today and isn't that the bomb... anyway the [TV screen of bomb exploding]
- 01:08
Constitution is a hugely significant work of historical nonfiction,
- 01:13
historical nonfiction that's a book that's been gathering cobwebs in an old [Person takes constitution book covered in cobwebs]
- 01:18
library for hundreds of years right... nice try historical in that it was
- 01:23
written in the past and you know was based on precepts widely held by the
- 01:28
framers of the document at that time and nonfiction in that there are no elves or [Girl dressed as elf in a field]
- 01:34
dwarves or space aliens or young boys training to be wizards or Jedi so in
- 01:39
this respect it's definitely worth studying in an American literature class
- 01:43
as any officer of the US Court system will tell you words are important the
- 01:48
justices on our Supreme Court ie the highest court in the country which is in
- 01:52
charge of making all sorts of major decision relied daily on the specific [Judge in court]
- 01:56
wording in our Constitution to make determinations about whether someone or
- 02:00
something is guilty of violating our most sacred national doctrine well [Dog speaking in court]
- 02:05
sometimes it's just the difference of a single word here or there that will make
- 02:09
the difference in a decision there have been some pretty nasty social
- 02:12
media battles waged over just such a single word so the Constitution in
- 02:17
addition to providing the nation's unassailable laws serves as an excellent
- 02:21
illustration of the importance of language so that's why we're here [Magnifying glass inspecting language]
- 02:25
studying it so carefully would be nice if it had some literal illustrations
- 02:29
though people anyway let's get a bit of historical context before we begin to
- 02:33
analyze the text itself how did the Constitution well come to be, who wrote
- 02:38
it is it available on Kindle well for starters the Declaration of Independence [Jefferson sat with declaration of independence]
- 02:42
didn't establish any laws at all...It just you know declared US independence
- 02:46
from Britain who originally owned us it explains why the colonists wanted
- 02:50
freedom so badly the first semblance of a constitution in
- 02:54
the US was the Articles of Confederation which was ratified or
- 02:59
approved in 1781 the same year the Revolutionary War ended..It had some good
- 03:04
ideas many of which found their way into the current US Constitution but it was [Declaration of independence parts cut out with scissors]
- 03:09
rough think of it as the first draft of an essay that the framers had to write
- 03:14
the night before it was due what carried over into the Constitution hmmm this
- 03:18
stuff limitation of the central government's power like before there was
- 03:22
a president or a court system Congress could just come up with whatever bill [Men laughing in congress]
- 03:26
they wanted and boom it was law the establishment of the idea that each
- 03:30
colony was a sovereign state, the state that could create its own laws as long
- 03:35
as it didn't violate any federal laws like you can open carry a loaded weapon
- 03:41
in Pennsylvania but not in New York and of course there's you know Taco Tuesdays
- 03:45
but with the war ended and everyone kind of settling into their new way of life [Woman with a baking tray]
- 03:49
with all their newfound freedoms well some problems came to light and suddenly
- 03:53
the Articles of Confederation seemed awfully shaky and in need of revision so [Paper airplane hits a wall]
- 03:58
in 1787 a bunch of state delegates got together to powwow hoping for a good 2.0
- 04:03
they knew they needed a stronger central government one with a system of checks
- 04:08
and balances in other words they wanted to protect against any one person or
- 04:12
group of people going power crazy and enforcing their will on everyone else so [North Korea leader holding a rocket]
- 04:18
the delegates improved upon the Congress established by the Articles of
- 04:21
Confederation by changing it to a bicameral
- 04:27
Congress - A bicameral Congress is one with two chambers or houses, one checks
- 04:30
in on the other to be sure it's behaving in the current US Congress there's both
- 04:35
a Senate and a House of Representative one house or the other might totally
- 04:39
love a particular bill but if the other house doesn't love it too well the bills [House of Representatives give thumbs down to bill]
- 04:44
going to stall and not pass which is why free lifetime passes to Disney World for
- 04:49
US senators has never become a thing the delegates also decided they needed an
- 04:53
executive branch of their new government ultimately consisting of a president
- 04:58
vice president and cabinet of appointed officers to the president that's the
- 05:02
executive branch well they were over having one of those King thingies but as [Person takes crown off King]
- 05:06
long as the system of checks and balances was in place they knew it would
- 05:10
be helpful to have one fella more or less guiding the nation but with a whole
- 05:14
lot of input from others but we're really just getting warmed up here all
- 05:18
right we're only through article two well, the Constitution goes on to
- 05:22
provide rules and regulations for just about every major facet of our [Shmoop-o-lax bottle talking about constitution]
- 05:25
government a person could think of there's the establishment of the
- 05:28
judicial branch including the Supreme Court an explanation of the respective
- 05:32
powers of the state and the federal government the guarantee of certain
- 05:36
rights and freedoms of the American people provisions for amending or
- 05:40
changing the Constitution down the road and well you know a whole lot more but
- 05:44
will save it for you for Civics 101 What we're interested in here is [Person picks up framed copy of Constitution]
- 05:48
how the framers of the Constitution did their framing who created this
- 05:53
awe-inspiring enduring, beautifully written text and what was their
- 05:58
background who was the intended audience what is the Constitution's purpose and
- 06:03
what was this sense of urgency in writing it did the writers have any
- 06:07
potential biases or prejudices like journalists do today what was happening
- 06:11
in the US at the time the Constitution was written but why is the Constitution
- 06:16
significant and what can we learn about literature by examining it in detail
- 06:21
okay so let's take these questions one at a time and do our best to answer first
- 06:25
if you haven't already go ahead and read this sucker it's a bit too long for us [Constitution on paper]
- 06:29
to slap onto the screen so find a nice quiet nook somewhere come back when
- 06:33
you're ready.... alrighty first up who created this text
- 06:37
and what was their background... while the writing of the
- 06:39
Constitution was truly a joint effort if it was up for an award it would win best [Person holding best ensemble award]
- 06:43
ensemble hands down there were 55 delegates who attended the Philadelphia
- 06:48
Convention representing 12 states, a little-known guy you've probably never
- 06:52
heard of named what was his name oh yes George Washington presided over the
- 06:57
drafting of the document after politely declining an offer to become the new [Person puts crown on Washington's head]
- 07:01
king while a few other political superstars including James Madison,
- 07:05
future 4th US pres and Alexander Hamilton, future duel loser but Tony Award
- 07:12
winner did their part to steer the delegates [Delegates driving with Madison and Hamilton]
- 07:14
toward drafting a brand new government rather than merely making a few tweaks
- 07:18
to be old no kingly oriented one well the framers of the Constitution
- 07:22
came from a variety of backgrounds but most were serious and highly [Resumes appear on desk]
- 07:26
intellectual political minds a lot of state governors members of the
- 07:30
Continental Congress and them likes... right well Thomas Jefferson referred to the
- 07:34
men gathered yeah sorry ladies, it was men only....
- 07:40
Most of the writers had taken part in the
- 07:43
revolution directly so they weren't just a bunch of stuffy guys in suits who were [Man firing rifle]
- 07:46
afraid to get their hands dirty they've gotten down in the muck and fought quite
- 07:50
literally for their freedom so yeah they had plenty of skin in the game okay well
- 07:56
who was the intended audience European soccer fans, socialites in Russia, the
- 08:00
cast of stranger things no it was the American people the Declaration of
- 08:05
Independence may have been written as an official view to England and that's a
- 08:10
fare-thee-well you but by the time the Constitution was written the war was [US flag hoisted]
- 08:15
long over and freedom for Americans was pretty much in the bag what the country
- 08:19
still needed though was a solid system of government that would be built to
- 08:23
stand the test of time and not crumble or fall back into the hands of a monarch [Person plants British flag]
- 08:27
or dictator years later when times got tough
- 08:30
well depending on whom you ask we're doing okay so far....
- 08:34
what's the Constitution's purpose and what was the sense of urgency in writing
- 08:39
it well the Constitution was written to clearly outline the government's role in
- 08:42
civilian affairs like saying that it can collect taxes, regulate commerce and
- 08:48
clean money establish the relationship between the
- 08:50
federal government and the states like if a criminal flees [Car driving between states]
- 08:53
from one state to another that state has a responsibility to apprehend and return
- 08:57
the criminal kind of stuff and Institute all kinds of checks on those in power to
- 09:01
make sure nobody goes absolutely bonkers with power....well what was the
- 09:06
sense of urgency though, well there wasn't exactly a you'd better have this
- 09:10
thing on my desk by Monday sort of vibe to it but the delegates who assembled at [Man demanding constitution on his desk by Monday]
- 09:14
the convention thought it was awfully urgent they felt that the longer they
- 09:18
waited to fix the problems they saw in the Articles of Confederation the more [Articles of Confederation wall leaking with water]
- 09:21
weakened the nation would be and the tougher time it would have finding it
- 09:25
sea legs.... well you want to do all that you
- 09:29
can as soon as you can give it the best chance of survival right give her plenty [Baby crying and person gives baby a bottle of milk]
- 09:33
of milk, keep her warm, check her vitals, wipe that crusty stuff out of her eyes
- 09:36
shield her from the gangster rap you know, all the usual well you don't want to
- 09:40
just say put all that stuff on the back burner so you can paint her nails and [Baby's nails painted]
- 09:45
read her the latest issue of Good Housekeeping which in a roundabout way
- 09:48
is how our founding fathers felt they knew the US was still nursing and could [Uncle Sam drinking bottle of milk]
- 09:52
stand to wait a few decades before getting its nails done they knew that
- 09:56
there were myriad conflicts coming which they couldn't possibly predict they
- 10:00
wanted a system to be in place give smart flexibility to those who govern so [Walls paved over and leak stops]
- 10:04
they could adjust on the fly.... next, did the writers have any potential
- 10:08
biases or prejudices well good question yeah probably I mean everyone has
- 10:13
certain biases or prejudices don't they yeah well bias isn't always a bad thing [Pete's Pizza store]
- 10:18
maybe you have a bias toward helping small business owners because well your
- 10:22
dad owns a pizza parlor or maybe you're prejudiced against someone who demonizes
- 10:26
women and thinks they shouldn't have equal rights or maybe you're biased [Steam comes out of woman's head]
- 10:30
against DC Comics because Marvel kicks their patootie....Point being
- 10:34
everyone has their own stuff they're passionate about or that they value
- 10:38
above other issues and that diversity of thought and opinion is part of what
- 10:41
makes democracy work so yeah we weren't in the room but it's safe bet those [Delegate holding the constitution]
- 10:45
delegates fought and argued and scraped and clawed their way to the Constitution
- 10:49
that achieved the ideal compromise between everyone's interests by doing so
- 10:53
they ensured that the founding document would cover and represent a wide swath
- 10:57
of people and not just the opinions and personality of a single individual
- 11:01
looking at you there King George the third [King George stood in Britain]
- 11:03
...next what was happening in the US at the time the Constitution
- 11:07
was written well a lot but considering the war had ended a half dozen years
- 11:11
earlier it seemed relatively quiet one major thing that happened however was
- 11:15
that Congress under the Articles of Confederation enacted to the Northwest
- 11:19
Ordinance which enabled the government to form new states further out west in
- 11:23
addition to the 13 original states, so maybe that had something to do with the [Men on horses travelling west]
- 11:27
urgency the framers of the Constitution felt with regard to getting their new
- 11:30
federal government up and running what do you think well if the country was
- 11:33
getting bigger it was only going to get more complex to manage and more [US states entering a machine]
- 11:37
confusing now it's the time to create the nation they wanted so any new states
- 11:41
that came along would have to adhere to the already established laws of the
- 11:45
federal government yeah I can see how that might get the digestive juices
- 11:49
pumping you're sure I can't interest you in a spoonful and I'm also available
- 11:53
in tablet form all right suit yourself last question why is the Constitution [Shmoop-o-lax bottle with bowl of bran flakes]
- 11:58
significant and what can we learn about literature by examining it in detail...
- 12:03
Since you're taking a literature class after all we should
- 12:07
probably talk about the Constitution's contribution to American literature and
- 12:11
not just to American government well here are a few things that might jump
- 12:14
out at us check out the organization notice how the entire document isn't one
- 12:19
big block of text if it was it'd be a pain in the derriere to read understand [A censored image appears]
- 12:23
but framers of the Constitution recognize that human
- 12:27
brains don't work that way everything is sectioned off in clear easy to
- 12:31
comprehend bite-sized nuggets each is labeled with its own article or section [Articles and sections highlighted on constitution]
- 12:35
number which makes it much easier on a legislator or member of the court when
- 12:40
they have to reference some aspects of our Constitution you know article 1 [Dog in court with judge]
- 12:43
section 2 boom you're there another thing we notice is the large
- 12:47
number of capitalized words we wouldn't usually capitalize words like power or
- 12:52
office or person but the Constitution uses capitalization like it's going out
- 12:56
of style the fact is to capitalizing non proper nouns was in style back then
- 13:01
but it's really a way to draw attention to concepts the framers viewed is
- 13:05
especially important like normally you might blow right past a phrase like "journal[Phrase highlighted in textbook]
- 13:10
of its proceedings" but when you see the
- 13:13
phrase each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings it causes you to you
- 13:18
know sit up and take notice maybe this journal thing is something [Woman reading journal]
- 13:21
worth my attention it's what it says well not to mention that it makes the
- 13:24
house feel really good about themselves who wants to have a lowercase Journal of
- 13:28
proceedings... but I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the preamble
- 13:32
to the Constitution as well well the preamble is this short
- 13:35
paragraph here that leads into the rest of the document rather than laying out [Preamble of constitution]
- 13:40
any specific laws or rules the preamble is intended to serve as an introduction
- 13:44
to all that follows and as the framers way of expressly stating the purpose of
- 13:49
their Constitution it's super short so let's give it a read...
- 14:09
It starts right out of the gate with we the people not we the
- 14:13
politicians or we the statesmen or we the folks with the fancy pens.. the
- 14:17
writers wanted it to be immediately clear that America was to be a country [Delegates standing together]
- 14:21
for everyone not just for the rich and powerful like it was when England held
- 14:25
the reins from there the preamble touches briefly on all the stuff the
- 14:28
framers of the Constitution thought were most important to establish justice well
- 14:33
sure there needs to be fairness and equality in all matters to ensure
- 14:37
domestic tranquility if you want to keep peace and not have your home be a
- 14:41
continual battlefield to provide for the common defense ie create, maintain a
- 14:47
military that will keep everyone safe from foreign threats....Thank You NRA to
- 14:51
promote the general welfare yeah because you don't want your fellow countrymen to
- 14:56
be sick or dying or starving in the streets and to secure the blessings of [Examples of the framer constitution beliefs]
- 15:01
liberty at liberty freedom all that good stuff you just got done fighting a war
- 15:05
over so it should be clear that we're reading a piece of writing that wasn't
- 15:08
thrown together overnight the framers took four long months to get this puppy
- 15:13
exactly right every word in terms of the phrase had to be perfect the entire
- 15:17
document had to be perfect and as any big fan of the US Constitution will tell
- 15:22
you it is... so now you know more about the [Man celebrating US Constitution wearing a foam finger]
- 15:24
historical context of the Constitution and should have a better idea about how
- 15:28
it is contributed so greatly to American literature the drafting the Constitution
- 15:32
wasn't just a writing project it was a movement on that subject, if you're ever
- 15:37
having trouble starting a movement of your own well you can give me a call I'm
- 15:41
always here if you need to you know clear your mind or anything else [Tablet dropped into glass of water and dissolves]
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