The Second Amendment

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- [Kim] Hi, this is
Kim, from Khan Academy,

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and today I'm learning
about the Second Amendment

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to the U.S. Constitution,
which states that,

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"A well regulated militia being necessary

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to the security of a free state,

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the right of the people
to keep and bear arms

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shall not be infringed."

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To learn more about the Second Amendment,

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I talked to two experts.

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Alan Gura is a lawyer
who successfully argued

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two landmark Second Amendment cases

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before the Supreme Court.

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Adam Winkler is a professor at UCLA Law,

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and the author of
"Gunfight: the Battle Over

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the Right to Bear Arms in America."

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Professor Winkler, why did the
framers include an amendment

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on the right to keep and bear arms?

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- [Adam] Well, really,
there's been some debate

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over what the meaning of the
right to keep and bear arms is,

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but the most common view,
and the view supported by

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the United States Supreme Court,

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is that the Second Amendment
protects individual liberty,

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in particular, the right
to keep and bear arms

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for self-defense.

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Back in the founding era,
the framers were concerned

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about self-defense in terms
of armed state militias,

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made up of common citizens

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who would prevent federal overreach.

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So the federal government wouldn't be able

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to run roughshod over the
liberties of the people

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because of these armed state militias.

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So the Second Amendment was
in part about protecting

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those armed state militias.

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Indeed the fear behind
all of the Bill of Rights,

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was that the Constitution gave
the new federal government

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too much power and the federal government

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would use that power to inhibit liberty.

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So that was the self-defense
of the founding era.

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- [Alan] When we look at the text,

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the first thing that
people should focus on

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is the phrase "the right of the people,"

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and, in particular, the
word "the" before "right,"

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I think that might be actually
the most important word

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in the amendment,
because what it tells us,

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is that the right of the people,

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which is the subject of this amendment,

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is a pre-existing right.

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And the fact that this
was a pre-existing right

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tells us that the framers thought

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that there was something
that was out there,

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in their legal system,
that they were preserving

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against violation, and in
fact, that is the case.

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In English law, since well
before the Revolution,

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it had been settled and determined

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that people had an individual right

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to have arms for self protection,

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and this right was
understood to enable people

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to protect themselves both
against criminal private violence

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as well as the right of
people to protect themselves

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against some encroachment
upon their liberties

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by a tyrant or by a misguided king.

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This was a right that the framers

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were well acquainted with in English law,

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and they were very
perturbed that the British,

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during the time of the Revolution,

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were violating this right.

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There were various
instances of the British

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disarming Americans,
obviously in an attempt

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to keep the colonists from revolting,

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and in an attempt to prevent
them from resisting the king.

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The Battle of Lexington
and Concord, of course,

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which started the Revolution,

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was nothing but a British
march upon the armories

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in those towns, and
the attempt to suppress

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the right to arms.

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And so, what you saw
was when the time came

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for a Bill of Rights,
you saw five out of seven

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states propose a Bill of Rights,

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and the only provisions
common in all the demands

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for a Bill of Rights, were the right

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to religious freedom
and the right to arms.

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Now, the framers were
not necessarily concerned

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about the sort of modern gun control,

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which is in controversy today.

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- [Adam] Today we have a
different kind of self-defense,

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we generally think about
with the Second Amendment,

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and that's about individuals defending

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themselves against criminals.

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It's a very personal kind of liberty,

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defending yourself
against someone trying to

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take away your life, your health,

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your property, the life
of your loved ones.

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And one thing that I think to remember is

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that this kind of change in the meaning

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of a constitutional amendment over time

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is very common among our
constitutional rights.

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As we take the underlying principles

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that are embodied in the text,

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and we apply them to modern circumstances.

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- [Kim] What about in this early period

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with the Articles of Confederation.

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Did state constitutions also
protect the right to bear arms?

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- [Alan] Yes, there
were state constitutions

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that protected the right to bear arms,

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most notably the
Pennsylvania Constitution,

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Article 13 of the
Pennsylvania Constitution

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provided "That the people
have a right to bear arms

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for the defense of
themselves and the state."

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And Vermont's Constitution,
the following year,

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chapter one, article 15
copied that language,

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and you would see other late 18th century,

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early 19th century constitutions
keep this language,

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or some version of it,
and what you would notice

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is that this language,
of course, talks about

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the two dimensions of
the right to bear arms.

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The people have a right to bear arms

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for the defense of themselves,

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that can only be
interpreted as self-defense,

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and also for the defense of the state,

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that is, they can use those
arms that they individually have

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and gather together and
work to defend the society

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from some force that's attacking them.

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- [Kim] This is really fascinating.

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My background is in U.S. history,

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and I know that one of the reasons

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that the framers decided that
they needed a Constitution

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that would change the form
of the U.S. government

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from what it had been under
the Articles of Confederation,

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was Shays' Rebellion,
when a group of armed

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farmers from western Massachusetts
marched on Springfield.

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So they had kinda taken
their military past

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as a militia, in the Revolutionary War,

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and then turned that against
the new U.S. government

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instead of the British government.

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Did the framers have any reservations

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about trying to protect militias

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in light of Shays' Rebellion?

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- [Adam] The founders did have concerns

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about armed militias, as
exemplified by Shays' Rebellion.

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They were worried about
self-proclaimed militias,

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groups of, basically armed
uprisings in disguise,

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that claimed the mantle of a militia,

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but were really just troublemakers
who were taking up arms.

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And that was kind of how Shays' Rebellion

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was thought of at the time.

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And that's why when we think
about the Second Amendment,

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we should focus on that
language that the framers

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were sure to include,
which is that the militias

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must be well regulated, right?

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So the Second Amendment itself says

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"A well regulated militia being necessary

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for the security of a
free state, the right

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of the people to keep and bear arms

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shall not be infringed."

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And so, they understood
that there was a militia,

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common citizens who took up arms

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to help defend the state and nation.

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But they recognized that the militia

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must be well regulated,
disciplined, orderly,

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subject to appropriate command.

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It wasn't a right for
any self-proclaimed group

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of radicals to get together
and grab their guns,

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it was, instead, a right to
have an orderly state militia,

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which was an important
source of national defense

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at the time of the founding era.

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- [Kim] So, I see that
the Second Amendment

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and the Third Amendment,
which bans the government

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from quartering soldiers
in people's houses,

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both reflect fears about standing armies,

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and also the dangers of having

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very strong government military power.

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Today we have a very strong
government military power,

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and a standing army, so to what extent

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are those concerns still relevant today?

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- [Alan] Well those concerns
are still relevant today,

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we're very blessed in America that we have

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a long tradition of civilian control

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over the military, and in our culture

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the military has not been
used to suppress the people,

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that's not been our experience,

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but it has been the experience, sadly,

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in many other places,
including through today.

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Now, what the Second Amendment reflects

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is the notion that the
government should not

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have a monopoly on force.

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There has to be some
means that people might

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still retain the ability to act,

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to defend themselves,
whether that's against

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a private individual, felon, miscreant,

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or whether it's against
something more nefarious.

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- [Adam] Our understanding
of what's necessary

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for national defense is very different

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than it was in the founding era,

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because our society is so much different.

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We don't have militias
of ordinary citizens

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the way we once did,
back in the founding era,

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and we don't have troops
occupying peoples' homes

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the way the founders did.

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But nonetheless, I think the
Second and Third Amendment

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both have principles embodied in that text

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that remain relevant for today,

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and should not be thought
of as dead letters

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just because the particular concerns

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that gave rise to them no
longer remain our concerns.

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Because the principles they embody

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are more important and more enduring.

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- [Alan] We have been blessed with

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peaceful transitions of power,
with a vibrant democracy,

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perhaps, at least some aspect
of our happy experience,

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relative to those of our
friends and ancestors in Europe,

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is that we do have a culture

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that includes the widespread private arms.

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And that may have a beneficial effect

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in making sure that
everybody plays by the rules

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and observes normal political
conventions and norms.

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- [Kim] So what are some
of the major Supreme Court

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cases that have shaped our understanding

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of the Second Amendment?

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- [Adam] The first one was a case called

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"United States versus Miller,"
that arose in the 1930s.

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In Miller, you had a
situation where an individual

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was a gangster and he was
caught with a sawed off shotgun,

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which at the time, and still now,

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does require a special tax stamp

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that Mr. Miller did
not have, and he argued

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that the Second Amendment
secured his right to this weapon.

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The government took the
case to the Supreme Court,

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and at the conclusion
of the somewhat confused

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opinion, the Supreme
Court remanded the case

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back to the district
court for a determination

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as to whether or not the sawed off shotgun

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was an arm of the type whose possession

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is protected by the Second Amendment.

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Subsequently, Mr. Miller was murdered,

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so perhaps he needed a gun
of some kind, after all,

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but we never got the
answer to that question.

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So I would read that
case, as other people do,

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and say "Look, obviously the Supreme Court

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thought there was some
individual right to arms."

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If the court had held that there

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was no individual right to arms,

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it would have been a much simpler opinion,

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they would have just said so and that

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would've been the end of the matter.

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But instead, because
more evidence was needed

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relating to whether or not this was an arm

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of the type that Mr. Miller could possess,

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that shows that there was
some right there, at issue.

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Much more helpful, of course, is the case

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that I argued in the Supreme Court,

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D.C. versus Heller, which
was a coherent, detailed

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fully briefed and
exhaustively opined matter

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which struck down various
Washington, D.C. gun control laws.

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The main laws at issue in Heller were

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a District of Columbia law that banned

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the possession of all handguns
by people, effectively.

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And also, a law that prohibited people

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from having operative
firearms in their home.

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You can have a long gun,
a rifle or a shotgun,

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in your home in D.C., but
you could never render that

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operational, for use as self
defense inside your home.

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Oddly enough, you could
use it in self defense

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in a place of business,
just not at your home.

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- [Adam] The most important
case on the Second Amendment

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is District of Columbia against Heller,

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where the court held,
for the very first time,

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that the Second Amendment protects

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an individual right to bear arms

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and struck down a gun control law.

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That was a very important case,

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a landmark ruling, that has led

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to many, many, many
court cases challenging

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the constitutionality of a wide
number of gun control laws.

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The Supreme Court has
not again stepped into

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the Second Amendment, with one exception,

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the court in a case called
"McDonald versus City of Chicago"

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held that the Second
Amendment applied equally

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to the federal government and to the state

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and local governments.

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One thing to remember about
our constitutional rights

00:13:02.730 --> 00:13:05.980
is that they don't automatically apply

00:13:05.980 --> 00:13:08.550
to the state and local governments.

00:13:08.550 --> 00:13:11.490
But the McDonald case held
that the Second Amendment,

00:13:11.490 --> 00:13:13.390
and the principles of the Second Amendment

00:13:13.390 --> 00:13:16.350
nonetheless apply to the states, as well.

00:13:16.350 --> 00:13:17.900
And that's pretty common as well,

00:13:17.900 --> 00:13:19.440
over the course of the 20th century

00:13:19.440 --> 00:13:21.890
the Supreme Court has held that nearly all

00:13:21.890 --> 00:13:23.800
of the provisions of the Bill of Rights

00:13:23.800 --> 00:13:27.490
apply equally to the state
and local governments.

00:13:27.490 --> 00:13:29.763
- [Kim] How about limits
on the Second Amendment?

00:13:29.763 --> 00:13:32.830
I mean, I couldn't own a tank, right?

00:13:32.830 --> 00:13:35.780
What sort of limits may
the government place

00:13:35.780 --> 00:13:37.540
on the right to keep and bear arms?

00:13:37.540 --> 00:13:38.960
- [Alan] Well, the Second Amendment,

00:13:38.960 --> 00:13:41.850
like other rights, has some limitations.

00:13:41.850 --> 00:13:45.940
The first limitations are, of
course, as with all rights,

00:13:45.940 --> 00:13:48.450
given to us by the scope
of the actual rights.

00:13:48.450 --> 00:13:49.660
There are many things that simply

00:13:49.660 --> 00:13:52.110
aren't included in a particular right.

00:13:52.110 --> 00:13:54.004
The right of free speech, for example,

00:13:54.004 --> 00:13:57.560
guarantees you the right
to speak in some ways,

00:13:57.560 --> 00:14:00.611
but perjury of speech,
terroristic threats or speech,

00:14:00.611 --> 00:14:02.610
extortion is a form of speech,

00:14:02.610 --> 00:14:04.750
none of those are traditionally protected.

00:14:04.750 --> 00:14:07.023
And likewise, there are
going to be some arms

00:14:07.023 --> 00:14:08.913
that are going to fall outside

00:14:08.913 --> 00:14:11.406
of Second Amendment protection.

00:14:11.406 --> 00:14:13.431
The Heller case tells us how to

00:14:13.431 --> 00:14:16.102
go about discovering those limits.

00:14:16.102 --> 00:14:20.000
The Amendment, we are told,
presupposes that people

00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:24.310
will have arms that people
would expect to find

00:14:24.310 --> 00:14:27.970
in common use for
traditional, lawful purposes.

00:14:27.970 --> 00:14:31.690
And so, while a handgun or a rifle

00:14:31.690 --> 00:14:33.980
is a type of arm that people would keep

00:14:33.980 --> 00:14:37.840
for self defense, for hunting, for sport;

00:14:37.840 --> 00:14:40.790
a tank or a bazooka is
usually not something

00:14:40.790 --> 00:14:44.733
that you would wish to
access for some traditional,

00:14:44.733 --> 00:14:47.230
recognized, lawful activity, right?

00:14:47.230 --> 00:14:50.130
I mean, very few people would use a tank

00:14:50.130 --> 00:14:51.810
to defend themselves against a mugger

00:14:51.810 --> 00:14:53.400
on the street, right?

00:14:53.400 --> 00:14:55.800
- [Adam] I mean, as a
matter of practicality,

00:14:55.800 --> 00:14:58.200
even if we didn't have a Second Amendment,

00:14:58.200 --> 00:14:59.760
there's no possible way we're going to

00:14:59.760 --> 00:15:02.750
disarm the entire civilian population.

00:15:02.750 --> 00:15:04.320
So, the guns are here to stay.

00:15:04.320 --> 00:15:07.350
The question is how can
we exist with civilian

00:15:07.350 --> 00:15:10.660
armament and good and
effective gun control?

00:15:10.660 --> 00:15:12.260
And I think that history and tradition

00:15:12.260 --> 00:15:13.970
can provide some of those answers.

00:15:13.970 --> 00:15:15.950
In the same way that we try to understand

00:15:15.950 --> 00:15:17.900
what does the text of
the Constitution mean,

00:15:17.900 --> 00:15:20.450
and what are the principles
that that text embodies,

00:15:20.450 --> 00:15:22.300
we look to history and tradition,

00:15:22.300 --> 00:15:25.210
how have Americans lived
under that Constitution,

00:15:25.210 --> 00:15:27.690
over these 200-odd years.

00:15:27.690 --> 00:15:30.030
We should also look to
that history and tradition

00:15:30.030 --> 00:15:33.510
in seeing the limits of
those constitutional rights.

00:15:33.510 --> 00:15:35.240
And one thing I think is very clear

00:15:35.240 --> 00:15:37.410
from the history and
tradition of gun rights

00:15:37.410 --> 00:15:41.130
and gun regulation is
that there's ample room

00:15:41.130 --> 00:15:43.310
to regulate firearms.

00:15:43.310 --> 00:15:45.820
The founding fathers had gun control laws,

00:15:45.820 --> 00:15:48.290
we had gun control laws in the wild west,

00:15:48.290 --> 00:15:51.160
even though that was the heart
of America's gun culture,

00:15:51.160 --> 00:15:53.230
we've had gun control laws all through

00:15:53.230 --> 00:15:55.907
American history, and
they're part of the story

00:15:55.907 --> 00:15:59.000
of the Second Amendment, as much as

00:15:59.000 --> 00:16:01.770
the six-shooter and
the right to bear arms.

00:16:01.770 --> 00:16:04.230
- [Kim] So we've learned that
the framers' concern over

00:16:04.230 --> 00:16:06.480
protecting the right
to bear arms originated

00:16:06.480 --> 00:16:08.860
in the experiences of
the American Revolution,

00:16:08.860 --> 00:16:11.170
in which militias played a central role

00:16:11.170 --> 00:16:13.500
in winning independence
for the United States.

00:16:13.500 --> 00:16:16.100
But a lot has changed
since the Revolution.

00:16:16.100 --> 00:16:18.270
The U.S. military has grown, and arms

00:16:18.270 --> 00:16:20.050
have gotten a lot more powerful.

00:16:20.050 --> 00:16:21.990
Alan Gura suggests that the lack

00:16:21.990 --> 00:16:23.771
of a government monopoly on force

00:16:23.771 --> 00:16:27.590
is a key component of the
peaceful transitions of power

00:16:27.590 --> 00:16:29.710
that characterize American democracy.

00:16:29.710 --> 00:16:32.130
Adam Winkler, however,
argues that there's always

00:16:32.130 --> 00:16:34.880
been some form of gun
control in the United States,

00:16:34.880 --> 00:16:36.270
even in the wild west.

00:16:36.270 --> 00:16:38.130
To learn more about the Second Amendment,

00:16:38.130 --> 00:16:40.240
visit the National Constitution Center's

00:16:40.240 --> 00:16:43.300
interactive Constitution
and Khan Academy's resources

00:16:43.300 --> 00:16:45.193
on U.S. government and politics.


The First Amendment

WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

00:00:00.200 --> 00:00:02.030
- [Kim] Hi, this is Kim from Khan Academy,

00:00:02.030 --> 00:00:03.320
and today I'm learning more

00:00:03.320 --> 00:00:06.930
about the First Amendment
to the US Constitution.

00:00:06.930 --> 00:00:09.810
The First Amendment is one of
the most important amendments

00:00:09.810 --> 00:00:12.515
to the Constitution, if
not the most important.

00:00:12.515 --> 00:00:15.829
It reads, "Congress shall
make no law respecting

00:00:15.829 --> 00:00:19.557
"an establishment of religion,
or prohibiting the free

00:00:19.557 --> 00:00:22.641
"exercise thereof; or abridging
the freedom of speech,

00:00:22.641 --> 00:00:26.087
"or of the press; or the
right of the people peaceably

00:00:26.087 --> 00:00:28.267
"to assemble, and to
petition the Government

00:00:28.267 --> 00:00:30.490
"for a redress of grievances."

00:00:30.490 --> 00:00:32.310
To learn more about the First Amendment,

00:00:32.310 --> 00:00:33.850
I talked to two experts.

00:00:33.850 --> 00:00:36.555
Erwin Chemerinsky is the Jesse H. Choper

00:00:36.555 --> 00:00:40.037
distinguished professor of
law and dean of Berkeley Law.

00:00:40.037 --> 00:00:42.570
Michael McConnell is the Director

00:00:42.570 --> 00:00:45.541
of the Constitutional Law
Center at Stanford Law School,

00:00:45.541 --> 00:00:48.680
and a senior fellow at
the Hoover Institution.

00:00:48.680 --> 00:00:51.350
Professor Chemerinsky,
there is a lot going on

00:00:51.350 --> 00:00:52.308
in the First Amendment.

00:00:52.308 --> 00:00:54.099
Can you tell us a little bit more about

00:00:54.099 --> 00:00:58.081
why the framers chose to protect
these rights in particular?

00:00:58.081 --> 00:01:00.125
- [Erwin] The historical background

00:01:00.125 --> 00:01:03.731
of the First Amendment of
the Constitution shows why

00:01:03.731 --> 00:01:07.390
the framers wanted to be sure
that all of the liberties

00:01:07.390 --> 00:01:09.760
in the First Amendment were safeguarded.

00:01:09.760 --> 00:01:12.886
Let's focus on freedom of
speech and freedom of the press.

00:01:12.886 --> 00:01:16.555
In England, there was, after
the printing press developed,

00:01:16.555 --> 00:01:20.709
licensing so that anyone who
wanted to be able to publish

00:01:20.709 --> 00:01:23.780
anything needed to have a
license from the government.

00:01:23.780 --> 00:01:27.139
As such, licensing was
seen to be inconsistent

00:01:27.139 --> 00:01:29.993
with freedom of speech,
freedom of the press;

00:01:29.993 --> 00:01:33.390
for that matter, freedom of
thought, freedom of inquiry.

00:01:33.390 --> 00:01:36.740
- [Kim] Interesting, okay, so
there are a lot of essential

00:01:36.740 --> 00:01:40.228
freedoms that are packed
into this First Amendment,

00:01:40.228 --> 00:01:43.484
so much that it's almost
amazing that we're gonna attempt

00:01:43.484 --> 00:01:45.911
to talk about them all in one video.

00:01:45.911 --> 00:01:48.686
But if we dial in to freedom of speech,

00:01:48.686 --> 00:01:51.995
Professor McConell, what
is freedom of speech?

00:01:51.995 --> 00:01:55.518
Does that encompass some
things and not others?

00:01:55.518 --> 00:01:58.040
- [Michael] Well freedom
of speech was actually

00:01:58.040 --> 00:02:02.288
less important to the framers
than the freedom with which

00:02:02.288 --> 00:02:05.860
it was coupled, which was
the freedom of the press.

00:02:05.860 --> 00:02:09.410
The reason for this is
that speech that can reach

00:02:09.410 --> 00:02:13.900
large audiences is much more
important to the individual

00:02:13.900 --> 00:02:17.610
but also dangerous to the
state, than mere speech.

00:02:17.610 --> 00:02:21.420
When you speak, only those
people within hearing range

00:02:21.420 --> 00:02:24.690
can hear you, but when you are able to use

00:02:24.690 --> 00:02:29.040
Gutenberg's fantastic new technology

00:02:29.040 --> 00:02:32.310
to publish your sentiments
and distribute them widely,

00:02:32.310 --> 00:02:36.856
maybe even over the entire
country or across the Atlantic,

00:02:36.856 --> 00:02:39.840
reaching hundreds of thousands of people.

00:02:39.840 --> 00:02:41.543
Now that is powerful.

00:02:43.075 --> 00:02:46.542
You think about how the
American Revolution was won.

00:02:46.542 --> 00:02:48.988
This required spreading the word,

00:02:48.988 --> 00:02:51.150
it required gaining converts

00:02:51.150 --> 00:02:54.240
and telling people what
their grievances were.

00:02:54.240 --> 00:02:56.138
To a very great extent this was done

00:02:56.138 --> 00:02:59.650
through the mechanism
of the printing press.

00:02:59.650 --> 00:03:00.657
- [Erwin] When you ask the question,

00:03:00.657 --> 00:03:01.877
"What's freedom of speech?"

00:03:01.877 --> 00:03:04.550
there's implicit within it the issue of,

00:03:04.550 --> 00:03:07.160
'What do we mean by speech?'

00:03:07.160 --> 00:03:09.530
Ultimately, the answer
to your question is that

00:03:09.530 --> 00:03:11.412
the First Amendment, in protecting speech,

00:03:11.412 --> 00:03:15.746
broadly safeguards a right
to express one's ideas.

00:03:15.746 --> 00:03:18.110
But it's not absolute.

00:03:18.110 --> 00:03:20.500
The government can restrict expression

00:03:20.500 --> 00:03:22.870
if there's a compelling interest.

00:03:22.870 --> 00:03:25.490
- [Kim] Interesting, can
you say more about that?

00:03:25.490 --> 00:03:27.710
- [Erwin] The Supreme Court always

00:03:27.710 --> 00:03:31.504
has been clear that freedom
of speech is not absolute.

00:03:31.504 --> 00:03:34.440
The Court has said that
there are certain categories

00:03:34.440 --> 00:03:37.880
of speech that are unprotected
by the First Amendment.

00:03:37.880 --> 00:03:40.169
Incitement and illegal activity

00:03:40.169 --> 00:03:42.960
is a category of unprotected speech.

00:03:42.960 --> 00:03:45.550
The Court has said this
requires showing that the speech

00:03:45.550 --> 00:03:48.920
was directed at causing
imminent illegal activity,

00:03:48.920 --> 00:03:50.640
and there is a substantial likelihood

00:03:50.640 --> 00:03:52.770
of imminent illegal activity.

00:03:52.770 --> 00:03:55.530
Another example: obscenity is unprotected

00:03:55.530 --> 00:03:56.930
by the First Amendment.

00:03:56.930 --> 00:03:59.510
The Court struggled for
years with trying to define,

00:03:59.510 --> 00:04:01.020
'What is obscenity?'

00:04:01.020 --> 00:04:03.950
Maybe the low point in that
is when Justice Potter Stewart

00:04:03.950 --> 00:04:07.260
said, "I can't define it,
but I know it when I see it."

00:04:07.260 --> 00:04:09.520
There are also these categories of speech

00:04:09.520 --> 00:04:11.536
where the government can prohibit,

00:04:11.536 --> 00:04:13.630
even punish the expression.

00:04:13.630 --> 00:04:17.134
- [Michael] That's where
most of the limitations

00:04:17.134 --> 00:04:20.072
on the freedom speech and
of the press come from,

00:04:20.072 --> 00:04:23.140
is in order to make
sure that we don't hurt

00:04:23.140 --> 00:04:27.330
other people's rights
through the use our own.

00:04:27.330 --> 00:04:31.667
An example of that, the
government can prohibit speech

00:04:31.667 --> 00:04:35.360
which incites violence against someone.

00:04:35.360 --> 00:04:39.256
So if you're making a speech
and calling upon the crowd

00:04:39.256 --> 00:04:42.460
to attack somebody's
house or their person,

00:04:42.460 --> 00:04:45.621
that can be punished and prevented

00:04:45.621 --> 00:04:47.777
as an incitement to violence.

00:04:47.777 --> 00:04:50.780
You can see how that follows
from the logical idea

00:04:50.780 --> 00:04:53.913
of freedom of speech
being a natural right,

00:04:53.913 --> 00:04:58.270
and therefore limited by
the rights of other people.

00:04:58.270 --> 00:05:01.339
- [Kim] So let's turn
our attention toward the

00:05:01.339 --> 00:05:05.198
freedom of religion part
of the First Amendment.

00:05:05.198 --> 00:05:09.364
So the first thing that the Amendment says

00:05:09.364 --> 00:05:12.620
is about establishment.

00:05:12.620 --> 00:05:16.793
What does the Establishment
Clause prevent?

00:05:17.670 --> 00:05:19.340
- [Erwin] The language
of the First Amendment

00:05:19.340 --> 00:05:21.760
is important, it says that Congress

00:05:21.760 --> 00:05:26.310
may make no law respecting
the establishment of religion.

00:05:26.310 --> 00:05:28.057
Since 1947 the Supreme Court has said that

00:05:28.057 --> 00:05:31.390
that also applies to state
and local governments.

00:05:31.390 --> 00:05:33.274
The Supreme Court has said this means

00:05:33.274 --> 00:05:35.610
that the government cannot act

00:05:35.610 --> 00:05:39.100
with the purpose of advancing religion.

00:05:39.100 --> 00:05:42.406
- [Michael] To the founders,
this was a very clear

00:05:42.406 --> 00:05:45.737
legal concept, namely
it was the established

00:05:45.737 --> 00:05:49.701
Church of England that in the
statute books, in the law,

00:05:49.701 --> 00:05:53.161
the Church of England was
referred to as, and I quote,

00:05:53.161 --> 00:05:56.680
"The Church by law established."

00:05:56.680 --> 00:05:58.551
What did it mean to be established?

00:05:58.551 --> 00:06:02.501
First of all, it meant that
the doctrines of the Church,

00:06:02.501 --> 00:06:05.931
the 39 Articles of Faith
of the Church of England,

00:06:05.931 --> 00:06:10.050
were voted upon by parliament.

00:06:10.050 --> 00:06:14.140
So the doctrines, the liturgy, the text,

00:06:14.140 --> 00:06:16.930
were all adopted by law.

00:06:16.930 --> 00:06:20.383
The established Church was
the government's church,

00:06:20.383 --> 00:06:23.071
and it could be used,
and from time to time

00:06:23.071 --> 00:06:25.747
was used, as a instrument of government

00:06:25.747 --> 00:06:29.040
or as an instrument of politics.

00:06:29.040 --> 00:06:31.130
This is a way in which the government

00:06:31.130 --> 00:06:34.450
is able to have a powerful influence

00:06:34.450 --> 00:06:39.450
on the way in which values
and opinions are inculcated.

00:06:39.960 --> 00:06:43.490
It's one of the most important ideas

00:06:43.490 --> 00:06:48.383
of the established church,
especially in the 18th century,

00:06:48.383 --> 00:06:53.340
was to teach that there's
actually a religious obligation

00:06:53.340 --> 00:06:57.288
to obey the law and to recognize the king

00:06:57.288 --> 00:07:02.288
as the supreme leader in matters
of both church and state.

00:07:06.120 --> 00:07:10.949
The framer's experience with
this was extremely powerful.

00:07:10.949 --> 00:07:13.154
- [Erwin] That's because
the framers were aware

00:07:13.154 --> 00:07:15.820
of the religious persecution that

00:07:15.820 --> 00:07:17.438
had gone on in other countries.

00:07:17.438 --> 00:07:20.376
They were aware of the evils that occur

00:07:20.376 --> 00:07:22.750
when the government becomes aligned

00:07:22.750 --> 00:07:24.200
with a particular religion.

00:07:24.200 --> 00:07:27.290
- [Michael] The principal reason why many

00:07:27.290 --> 00:07:30.730
of the colonists had come to
these shores to begin with

00:07:30.730 --> 00:07:33.061
was to escape the oppressions
of the established

00:07:33.061 --> 00:07:36.800
Church of England back
home, and to come to a place

00:07:36.800 --> 00:07:38.837
where they would be able to exercise

00:07:38.837 --> 00:07:41.848
the freedom of religion for themselves.

00:07:41.848 --> 00:07:44.440
The main opponents of
the established church

00:07:44.440 --> 00:07:48.210
were not anti-Christian
or anti-religious people.

00:07:48.210 --> 00:07:50.400
They were the most religious people,

00:07:50.400 --> 00:07:52.220
and their view was the government

00:07:52.220 --> 00:07:55.216
should stay our of our
church, that we will decide

00:07:55.216 --> 00:07:58.176
what we believe for
ourselves, we will control

00:07:58.176 --> 00:08:00.850
our own church, we will
write our own liturgy,

00:08:00.850 --> 00:08:02.899
we will decide what version of the Bible

00:08:02.899 --> 00:08:07.040
we're going to use, we'll
choose our own ministers.

00:08:07.040 --> 00:08:10.170
Thank you very much
government, stay out of it.

00:08:10.170 --> 00:08:12.420
Leave us free to practice our religion

00:08:12.420 --> 00:08:15.470
without having this kind
of an establishment.

00:08:15.470 --> 00:08:17.775
- [Erwin] For instance,
a county in Kentucky

00:08:17.775 --> 00:08:20.626
required that the Ten
Commandments be posted

00:08:20.626 --> 00:08:23.360
in all county buildings.

00:08:23.360 --> 00:08:26.127
The Supreme Court said,
"The Ten Commandments

00:08:26.127 --> 00:08:27.897
"are religious scripture.

00:08:27.897 --> 00:08:31.252
"There's no secular purpose
for having the Ten Commandments

00:08:31.252 --> 00:08:33.910
"posted in county buildings."

00:08:33.910 --> 00:08:35.605
The Court declared it unconstitutional.

00:08:35.605 --> 00:08:38.837
The Supreme Court has said,
"The government can't act

00:08:38.837 --> 00:08:41.037
"where there primary effect

00:08:41.037 --> 00:08:44.757
"is to advance or to inhibit religion."

00:08:44.757 --> 00:08:48.114
For example, there can't be
prayer in public schools.

00:08:48.114 --> 00:08:52.040
Even voluntary prayer in public
schools in impermissible,

00:08:52.040 --> 00:08:55.060
because the Court has said
that the primary effect

00:08:55.060 --> 00:08:58.760
of having prayer in public
schools is to advance religion.

00:08:58.760 --> 00:09:01.430
The Court has explained that children

00:09:01.430 --> 00:09:03.928
will inevitably feel
pressure to participate,

00:09:03.928 --> 00:09:07.090
and this coercion
violates the Constitution.

00:09:07.090 --> 00:09:10.798
- [Kim] So, the First
Amendment then prevents

00:09:10.798 --> 00:09:15.798
that kind of intermingling of
the government and the church.

00:09:17.320 --> 00:09:19.980
This is I guess the key idea of separation

00:09:19.980 --> 00:09:23.508
between church and state,
but it also says that

00:09:23.508 --> 00:09:27.334
the Congress shall make no law prohibiting

00:09:27.334 --> 00:09:29.560
the free exercise of religion.

00:09:29.560 --> 00:09:31.210
So what does that mean?

00:09:31.210 --> 00:09:33.340
- [Michael] Free exercise of religion

00:09:33.340 --> 00:09:36.580
was the right to practice
your own religion.

00:09:36.580 --> 00:09:39.660
It didn't keep the government
from setting up a church,

00:09:39.660 --> 00:09:42.410
but it did keep the
government from requiring you

00:09:42.410 --> 00:09:45.492
to attend that church,
maybe even to contribute

00:09:45.492 --> 00:09:48.234
to the church, but also
kept the government

00:09:48.234 --> 00:09:51.272
from preventing you from
worshiping elsewhere.

00:09:51.272 --> 00:09:54.961
So the Establishment Clause
by and large prevents

00:09:54.961 --> 00:09:58.610
the government from forcing
people to participate

00:09:58.610 --> 00:10:02.025
in religion, and the Free
Exercise Clause by and large

00:10:02.025 --> 00:10:05.480
prohibits the government
from preventing people

00:10:05.480 --> 00:10:07.520
from practicing their religion.

00:10:07.520 --> 00:10:12.520
Those two things work
together to enable everyone

00:10:13.640 --> 00:10:17.097
to worship God in accordance
with their own conscience.

00:10:17.097 --> 00:10:17.930
- [Kim] Interesting.

00:10:17.930 --> 00:10:21.070
So you mentioned a little bit
about freedom of the press,

00:10:21.070 --> 00:10:24.760
but there are two other
aspects of the First Amendment:

00:10:24.760 --> 00:10:27.630
the right of the people
peaceably to assemble,

00:10:27.630 --> 00:10:31.490
and to petition the government
of a redress of grievances.

00:10:31.490 --> 00:10:35.450
So what is included with the
right to peaceably assemble?

00:10:35.450 --> 00:10:39.280
Are there any situations where
that might be restricted?

00:10:39.280 --> 00:10:40.670
- [Erwin] The Supreme Court has said

00:10:40.670 --> 00:10:44.180
that under freedom of speech,
there's a right to use

00:10:44.180 --> 00:10:46.930
government property for speech purposes.

00:10:46.930 --> 00:10:50.376
This is also something that
tells the freedom of assembly.

00:10:50.376 --> 00:10:52.850
The Supreme Court has said
there's certain government

00:10:52.850 --> 00:10:54.990
properties that the government is required

00:10:54.990 --> 00:10:58.022
to make available for
speech: sidewalks and parks.

00:10:58.022 --> 00:11:00.850
There's other places where the
government has more latitude

00:11:00.850 --> 00:11:03.240
to regulating speech: school facilities,

00:11:03.240 --> 00:11:04.580
evenings and weekends.

00:11:04.580 --> 00:11:07.560
There's places where the
government can close entirely

00:11:07.560 --> 00:11:11.380
to speech: military bases,
areas outside prisons and jails.

00:11:11.380 --> 00:11:14.130
All of these cases could
have been litigated

00:11:14.130 --> 00:11:15.700
under freedom of assembly.

00:11:15.700 --> 00:11:18.919
Some of the earlier cases
explicitly mentioned

00:11:18.919 --> 00:11:21.914
freedom of assembly, but
subsequent cases combined

00:11:21.914 --> 00:11:24.330
freedom of assembly into the protection

00:11:24.330 --> 00:11:25.689
of freedom of speech.

00:11:25.689 --> 00:11:27.260
- [Kim] I guess that makes sense,

00:11:27.260 --> 00:11:31.100
But what about something
like a march, for example,

00:11:31.100 --> 00:11:33.710
that might, say, block traffic.

00:11:33.710 --> 00:11:37.114
That's perhaps a clear case
when there is this tension

00:11:37.114 --> 00:11:40.224
between freedom of speech
and assembly and say,

00:11:40.224 --> 00:11:45.224
public safety, if they're
blocking, say, an ambulance.

00:11:45.590 --> 00:11:47.550
How do you resolve that tension?

00:11:47.550 --> 00:11:51.170
- [Michael] Sometime in roughly the 1970s,

00:11:51.170 --> 00:11:54.970
the Court began using
a quite different way

00:11:54.970 --> 00:11:58.080
of looking at the free speech question,

00:11:58.080 --> 00:12:03.080
in which they said that laws
which regulate or prohibit

00:12:04.830 --> 00:12:08.461
speech on the basis of the
content of the speech are,

00:12:08.461 --> 00:12:11.880
generally speaking, unconstitutional,

00:12:11.880 --> 00:12:15.130
absent a very important
governmental purpose.

00:12:15.130 --> 00:12:18.960
But the laws that are content neutral,

00:12:18.960 --> 00:12:21.544
and regulate speech from
a basis of it's time,

00:12:21.544 --> 00:12:25.440
place, or manner are permitted.

00:12:25.440 --> 00:12:28.992
So the basic idea here is
the government has regulatory

00:12:28.992 --> 00:12:32.588
authority over speech,
but not over what you say.

00:12:32.588 --> 00:12:37.298
Just over when you say it, where
you say it, how you say it.

00:12:37.298 --> 00:12:40.250
- [Kim] So, the last thing
in the First Amendment

00:12:40.250 --> 00:12:42.417
is the phrase "petitioning the government

00:12:42.417 --> 00:12:45.126
"for a redress of grievances."

00:12:45.126 --> 00:12:49.160
Congress shall make no law
abridging that freedom.

00:12:49.160 --> 00:12:50.360
What does this mean?

00:12:50.360 --> 00:12:52.320
How would one petition the government

00:12:52.320 --> 00:12:55.060
for a redress of grievances?

00:12:55.060 --> 00:12:57.110
- [Erwin] There are of
course many ways that people

00:12:57.110 --> 00:12:59.340
can petition government
for redress of grievances.

00:12:59.340 --> 00:13:00.893
It's the ability to go and testify

00:13:00.893 --> 00:13:02.790
before our legislative body.

00:13:02.790 --> 00:13:06.200
It's the ability to communicate
with one's leglislators

00:13:06.200 --> 00:13:08.460
or representatives about change.

00:13:08.460 --> 00:13:11.474
It's basically the ability
to go to the government

00:13:11.474 --> 00:13:13.970
and ask it to change its policy.

00:13:13.970 --> 00:13:17.590
There are relatively few
cases just about the right

00:13:17.590 --> 00:13:19.460
to petition government
for redress of grievances.

00:13:19.460 --> 00:13:22.323
Again, I think the reason for
that is, it's been so subsumed

00:13:22.323 --> 00:13:25.150
into the protection of freedom of speech.

00:13:25.150 --> 00:13:28.610
Everything one would do by
way of petitioning government

00:13:28.610 --> 00:13:31.822
for redress of grievances is
through speech and expression,

00:13:31.822 --> 00:13:34.710
and so the larger protection
of speech and expression

00:13:34.710 --> 00:13:36.510
has meant that the Court
hasn't needed to focus

00:13:36.510 --> 00:13:38.360
so much on this particular right.

00:13:38.360 --> 00:13:40.250
- [Kim] Is there anything
that you feel people

00:13:40.250 --> 00:13:43.380
commonly misunderstand
about the First Amendment,

00:13:43.380 --> 00:13:45.913
what it encompasses and what it does not?

00:13:46.860 --> 00:13:49.053
- [Erwin] One of the most
important misunderstandings

00:13:49.053 --> 00:13:51.832
about this First Amendment,
is that people fail to realize

00:13:51.832 --> 00:13:55.100
that it, like all rights
in the Constitution,

00:13:55.100 --> 00:13:56.820
apply only to the government.

00:13:56.820 --> 00:13:58.420
Before I took my current job,

00:13:58.420 --> 00:14:00.770
I was a professor at Duke University

00:14:00.770 --> 00:14:02.030
in Durham, North Carolina.

00:14:02.030 --> 00:14:03.930
Duke is a private university.

00:14:03.930 --> 00:14:06.777
If while I was there, I had
criticized the president

00:14:06.777 --> 00:14:09.510
of the university, and he
would have ordered me fired,

00:14:09.510 --> 00:14:12.320
I could not have sued
him or Duke University

00:14:12.320 --> 00:14:14.000
for violating my free speech rights.

00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:16.080
The First Amendment doesn't apply

00:14:16.080 --> 00:14:17.380
because it's a private university.

00:14:17.380 --> 00:14:20.330
Now I'm at the University of
California, a state university.

00:14:20.330 --> 00:14:22.200
If I were to give a speech criticizing

00:14:22.200 --> 00:14:23.520
the president of the university,

00:14:23.520 --> 00:14:25.478
or the chancellor of my
campus, and I was to be fired

00:14:25.478 --> 00:14:27.650
for doing that, I could sue.

00:14:27.650 --> 00:14:30.700
I would sue, because this
is a public university.

00:14:30.700 --> 00:14:32.130
The First Amendment applies.

00:14:32.130 --> 00:14:34.330
- [Michael] So I think
the really dangerous thing

00:14:34.330 --> 00:14:39.330
in our times is that many people believe

00:14:39.980 --> 00:14:42.730
that they have some kind of a right

00:14:42.730 --> 00:14:47.470
not to hear opinions
that they find offensive.

00:14:47.470 --> 00:14:50.490
Certainly college campuses are filled

00:14:50.490 --> 00:14:52.730
with controversies of this sort.

00:14:52.730 --> 00:14:56.220
This is something that our Constitution

00:14:56.220 --> 00:14:58.470
was designed to prevent.

00:14:58.470 --> 00:15:01.870
Free speech can inflict offense.

00:15:01.870 --> 00:15:05.110
Sometimes it can be hurtful and insulting,

00:15:05.110 --> 00:15:10.110
but we as a nation have
decided that it is better

00:15:10.340 --> 00:15:12.637
to put up with that so
that we can all be free

00:15:12.637 --> 00:15:16.190
to express ourselves, to
criticize the government,

00:15:16.190 --> 00:15:19.026
to urge the religious and scientific

00:15:19.026 --> 00:15:22.623
and artistic ideas that we have.

00:15:23.666 --> 00:15:27.170
It's more important for
all of us to do that

00:15:27.170 --> 00:15:31.311
than it is to be able to
retreat to safe spaces

00:15:31.311 --> 00:15:35.640
and require other people to shut up.

00:15:35.640 --> 00:15:37.120
- [Kim] So we've learned that the rights

00:15:37.120 --> 00:15:39.700
protected in the First
Amendment derive from

00:15:39.700 --> 00:15:42.178
the historical context
of restricted speech,

00:15:42.178 --> 00:15:45.540
press, and religion in
Europe that the framers

00:15:45.540 --> 00:15:47.550
wished to avoid in the United States.

00:15:47.550 --> 00:15:49.460
Freedom of religion includes both

00:15:49.460 --> 00:15:51.612
the freedom not to
participate in religion,

00:15:51.612 --> 00:15:55.330
and the freedom to practice
whatever religion you choose.

00:15:55.330 --> 00:15:58.110
Freedom of speech extends to all forms

00:15:58.110 --> 00:16:01.000
of freedom of expression, not just words,

00:16:01.000 --> 00:16:03.810
but there are limits to
what counts as free speech.

00:16:03.810 --> 00:16:05.730
To learn more about the First Amendment,

00:16:05.730 --> 00:16:07.750
visit the National Constitution Center's

00:16:07.750 --> 00:16:10.413
interactive Constitution,
and Khan Academy's resources

00:16:10.413 --> 00:16:12.773
on US government and politics.


Article VII of the Constitution

WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

00:00:00.290 --> 00:00:02.190
- [Kim] Hi, this is Kim from Khan Academy,

00:00:02.190 --> 00:00:03.800
and today, I'm learning more about

00:00:03.800 --> 00:00:06.380
Article VII of the US Constitution,

00:00:06.380 --> 00:00:08.530
which is the provision that specified

00:00:08.530 --> 00:00:11.530
the conditions for the
Constitution to become law.

00:00:11.530 --> 00:00:14.500
It reads, "The ratification
of the conventions

00:00:14.500 --> 00:00:17.030
of nine states, shall be sufficient for

00:00:17.030 --> 00:00:19.010
the establishment of this Constitution

00:00:19.010 --> 00:00:21.750
between the states so ratifying the same."

00:00:21.750 --> 00:00:23.713
Although this sounds simple, it reminds us

00:00:23.713 --> 00:00:26.880
that when the framers finished
drafting the Constitution

00:00:26.880 --> 00:00:31.540
in Philadelphia is 1787, it
was by no means a done deal.

00:00:31.540 --> 00:00:35.100
At least nine states had
to ratify the Constitution

00:00:35.100 --> 00:00:37.640
in order to replace
the existing government

00:00:37.640 --> 00:00:39.620
under the Articles of Confederation.

00:00:39.620 --> 00:00:41.920
To learn more about the
ratification process,

00:00:41.920 --> 00:00:43.810
I sought out the help of two experts.

00:00:43.810 --> 00:00:46.180
Mark Graber is the Jacob A. France

00:00:46.180 --> 00:00:48.210
Professor of Constitutionalism at

00:00:48.210 --> 00:00:52.200
the University of Maryland
Francis King Kerry School of Law.

00:00:52.200 --> 00:00:55.210
Michael Rappaport is the
Darling Foundation professor

00:00:55.210 --> 00:00:57.980
at the University of
San Diego School of Law.

00:00:57.980 --> 00:01:00.200
Professor Graber, can
you tell us a little bit

00:01:00.200 --> 00:01:03.040
about the political
context of ratification?

00:01:03.040 --> 00:01:05.940
What was going on at this time as

00:01:05.940 --> 00:01:10.060
the framers tried to
put a new Constitution

00:01:10.060 --> 00:01:12.690
into the fabric of the United States?

00:01:12.690 --> 00:01:14.940
- [Mark] Well, one central problem of

00:01:14.940 --> 00:01:18.270
the Articles of Confederation
was the Articles

00:01:18.270 --> 00:01:23.270
required that all 13 states
consent for any amendment.

00:01:23.640 --> 00:01:25.250
And it turned out, at this time,

00:01:25.250 --> 00:01:27.210
Rhode Island was a great outlier

00:01:27.210 --> 00:01:30.580
so Rhode Island wasn't gonna
consent to much of anything,

00:01:30.580 --> 00:01:33.690
and, in fact, Rhode Island
did not even send delegates

00:01:33.690 --> 00:01:36.440
to the convention that
drafted the Constitution,

00:01:36.440 --> 00:01:38.900
so the framers knew that if you had

00:01:38.900 --> 00:01:43.560
the unanimous rule for
ratification, it would not work.

00:01:43.560 --> 00:01:46.810
Instead they chose nine,
it's about two thirds,

00:01:46.810 --> 00:01:49.590
three fourths, in part to make sure

00:01:49.590 --> 00:01:54.570
Rhode Island and one outlier
could not prevent adoption.

00:01:54.570 --> 00:01:57.410
- [Michael] So, let's remember,
there's two stages here

00:01:57.410 --> 00:01:59.774
in how the Constitution
gets written and ratified.

00:01:59.774 --> 00:02:02.620
First, it's written in what's called

00:02:02.620 --> 00:02:05.750
The Drafting Convention, or
the Philadelphia Convention,

00:02:05.750 --> 00:02:09.890
which was held during the summer of 1787,

00:02:09.890 --> 00:02:14.010
and in that convention, it's
pretty much in agreement

00:02:14.010 --> 00:02:18.010
that the federal government
needed to be made stronger,

00:02:18.010 --> 00:02:20.260
but that was just a proposal.

00:02:20.260 --> 00:02:23.410
In order for the
Constitution to be ratified,

00:02:23.410 --> 00:02:27.610
it needed nine of the thirteen states and

00:02:27.610 --> 00:02:29.900
so it went to the second stage,

00:02:29.900 --> 00:02:32.750
and there things were, in some ways,

00:02:32.750 --> 00:02:34.060
gonna be more difficult,

00:02:34.060 --> 00:02:36.350
because there was a variety of viewpoints

00:02:36.350 --> 00:02:38.200
in the different states.

00:02:38.200 --> 00:02:39.630
The main question that came up

00:02:39.630 --> 00:02:42.000
in state after state after state was,

00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:44.520
was the federal government being given

00:02:44.520 --> 00:02:47.030
too much additional power?

00:02:47.030 --> 00:02:50.120
Under the previous regime of
the Articles of Confederation,

00:02:50.120 --> 00:02:53.570
the federal government
had very limited powers,

00:02:53.570 --> 00:02:55.280
and the Constitution was gonna

00:02:55.280 --> 00:02:57.190
give the federal government more power.

00:02:57.190 --> 00:02:59.590
- [Mark] They wanted a strategy that,

00:02:59.590 --> 00:03:02.053
once the balls started rolling,

00:03:03.040 --> 00:03:07.030
states that were slower were
gonna be faced with a choice.

00:03:07.030 --> 00:03:10.070
You could get in on the inside,

00:03:10.070 --> 00:03:12.940
and maybe affect some changes early,

00:03:12.940 --> 00:03:14.970
but if you were left out,

00:03:14.970 --> 00:03:16.647
whatever happened would
happen without you,

00:03:16.647 --> 00:03:18.330
and a lot of states, at the end,

00:03:18.330 --> 00:03:20.830
were fearful of being left out.

00:03:20.830 --> 00:03:22.030
- [Michael] This strategy worked,

00:03:22.030 --> 00:03:26.100
and as they went through in
tough states, as time went on,

00:03:26.100 --> 00:03:27.850
so New Hampshire,

00:03:27.850 --> 00:03:29.490
Virginia,

00:03:29.490 --> 00:03:30.730
New York,

00:03:30.730 --> 00:03:34.900
North Caroline, Rhode Island,
in order to get ratification,

00:03:34.900 --> 00:03:38.800
each time they promised,
we'll have a Bill of Rights

00:03:38.800 --> 00:03:43.010
and those states added
a list of amendments

00:03:43.010 --> 00:03:45.877
that they wanted added
to the Constitution.

00:03:45.877 --> 00:03:47.920
- [Kim] So was it controversial that

00:03:47.920 --> 00:03:50.640
the framers decided that only nine states

00:03:50.640 --> 00:03:53.750
would be necessary to
ratify the Constitution?

00:03:53.750 --> 00:03:55.220
- [Mark] Very controversial.

00:03:55.220 --> 00:03:58.480
One of these central
points of anti-federalists

00:03:58.480 --> 00:04:00.740
was that this was illegal,

00:04:00.740 --> 00:04:04.590
that the existing Constitution
said all states so therefore,

00:04:04.590 --> 00:04:07.390
only all states could
change the Constitution.

00:04:07.390 --> 00:04:09.380
- [Michael] So in that respect,

00:04:09.380 --> 00:04:10.890
it was somewhat controversial.

00:04:10.890 --> 00:04:12.854
Another way in which it
departed from the Articles

00:04:12.854 --> 00:04:14.800
is the Articles said you needed

00:04:14.800 --> 00:04:18.448
the state legislatures to
approve the amendments,

00:04:18.448 --> 00:04:20.500
and the U.S. Constitution said,

00:04:20.500 --> 00:04:23.160
no, we want state conventions,

00:04:23.160 --> 00:04:26.150
special bodies elected by the people

00:04:26.150 --> 00:04:27.590
to approve these things.

00:04:27.590 --> 00:04:28.770
Why did they say that?

00:04:28.770 --> 00:04:31.210
Because they feared that
the state legislatures,

00:04:31.210 --> 00:04:33.550
who would be losing a lot of
power under the Constitution,

00:04:33.550 --> 00:04:34.800
would vote against it,

00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:38.410
so they wanted sort of to
go directly to the people

00:04:38.410 --> 00:04:41.570
in these conventions and
bypass the state legislatures.

00:04:41.570 --> 00:04:43.930
- [Kim] So we know that
there were some opponents

00:04:43.930 --> 00:04:45.950
of this new Constitution.

00:04:45.950 --> 00:04:47.600
How close did they actually come

00:04:47.600 --> 00:04:49.730
to preventing its ratification?

00:04:49.730 --> 00:04:53.600
- [Michael] Well, it
was a very close fight.

00:04:53.600 --> 00:04:57.010
We look back on it and
eventually all 13 states

00:04:57.010 --> 00:04:59.140
are gonna ratify and it looks like,

00:04:59.140 --> 00:05:01.560
oh well, that wasn't
too much of a trouble,

00:05:01.560 --> 00:05:04.140
but it was very close
and things could have

00:05:04.140 --> 00:05:07.080
easily gone in the opposite direction.

00:05:07.080 --> 00:05:09.020
One of the ways in which it was close

00:05:09.020 --> 00:05:12.120
was that there were just very close votes.

00:05:12.120 --> 00:05:13.700
Massachusetts

00:05:13.700 --> 00:05:17.290
was 187 to 168.

00:05:17.290 --> 00:05:20.820
New Hampshire was 57 47.

00:05:20.820 --> 00:05:24.080
New York was 30 27.

00:05:24.080 --> 00:05:25.629
Very close votes.

00:05:25.629 --> 00:05:29.210
A couple of people changing their mind and

00:05:29.210 --> 00:05:32.290
that would have meant
various states didn't ratify.

00:05:32.290 --> 00:05:34.340
In addition to that,

00:05:34.340 --> 00:05:38.010
some of the states
actually did not ratify.

00:05:38.010 --> 00:05:40.170
The first thing that
happened was Rhode Island,

00:05:40.170 --> 00:05:42.160
early on in the process, says,

00:05:42.160 --> 00:05:45.000
we don't like your horrible Constitution,

00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:46.210
they all expected that.

00:05:46.210 --> 00:05:47.950
We're not gonna hold even a convention.

00:05:47.950 --> 00:05:48.930
You want us to hold a convention,

00:05:48.930 --> 00:05:50.190
we're not gonna hold a convention.

00:05:50.190 --> 00:05:53.240
We're just gonna have a vote in state.

00:05:53.240 --> 00:05:54.480
And that vote in the state,

00:05:54.480 --> 00:05:57.543
90% of the people voted
against the Constitution.

00:05:58.570 --> 00:06:03.060
In a way, Rhode Island actually
voted against ratification,

00:06:03.060 --> 00:06:05.820
although it didn't use the proper method.

00:06:05.820 --> 00:06:09.340
North Caroline, also,
they held a convention,

00:06:09.340 --> 00:06:10.870
and they were very upset about

00:06:10.870 --> 00:06:13.940
there not being a Bill of
Rights in the Constitution,

00:06:13.940 --> 00:06:15.750
and they just didn't approve it.

00:06:15.750 --> 00:06:18.490
They didn't disapprove
it, they just did nothing,

00:06:18.490 --> 00:06:19.600
and they waited.

00:06:19.600 --> 00:06:22.800
And so, in a way, two of the states

00:06:22.800 --> 00:06:24.470
voted against ratification.

00:06:24.470 --> 00:06:27.800
- [Mark] North Carolina
had not yet ratified

00:06:27.800 --> 00:06:29.560
when George Washington took office,

00:06:29.560 --> 00:06:32.410
so, in fact, when George
Washington took office,

00:06:32.410 --> 00:06:35.080
there were only 11 states in the Union.

00:06:35.080 --> 00:06:37.920
At the end of the day, crucial people,

00:06:37.920 --> 00:06:42.560
I think, decided it was better
to sign the Constitution

00:06:42.560 --> 00:06:45.470
and be in on the ground floor

00:06:45.470 --> 00:06:48.030
then stay out and see what happened.

00:06:48.030 --> 00:06:48.863
- [Kim] Interesting, so, who are

00:06:48.863 --> 00:06:51.440
some of the major players involved here,

00:06:51.440 --> 00:06:53.490
and what were they arguing about?

00:06:53.490 --> 00:06:55.145
- [Michael] There were the federalists,

00:06:55.145 --> 00:06:59.834
who were arguing in favor of
ratifying the Constitution,

00:06:59.834 --> 00:07:01.235
and the anti-federalists,

00:07:01.235 --> 00:07:04.790
who were arguing against
ratifying the Constitution.

00:07:04.790 --> 00:07:08.075
The federalists, two of
the very famous ones,

00:07:08.075 --> 00:07:13.070
are familiar names, Alexander
Hamilton and James Madison.

00:07:13.070 --> 00:07:16.130
Those two people, that were
also particularly important

00:07:16.130 --> 00:07:18.300
because they decided, Hamilton said,

00:07:18.300 --> 00:07:19.490
we're gonna have a tough time

00:07:19.490 --> 00:07:21.560
getting ratification in New York,

00:07:21.560 --> 00:07:25.300
we need to write some essays
defending the Constitution.

00:07:25.300 --> 00:07:28.760
And so Hamilton and
Madison cooperated together

00:07:28.760 --> 00:07:31.300
and wrote what we now call
The Federalist Papers,

00:07:31.300 --> 00:07:35.980
which were simply essays
written in the newspapers

00:07:35.980 --> 00:07:39.490
trying to urge the New York Convention

00:07:39.490 --> 00:07:41.370
to ratify the Constitution.

00:07:41.370 --> 00:07:44.670
Eventually those essays
were sent to other states

00:07:44.670 --> 00:07:47.510
and became known, and now we've come to

00:07:47.510 --> 00:07:50.930
revere those essays as
The Federalist Papers.

00:07:50.930 --> 00:07:53.340
But they were originally just kind of

00:07:53.340 --> 00:07:56.850
advocacy pieces for
ratifying the convention.

00:07:56.850 --> 00:07:59.310
Now, there were also anti-federalists.

00:07:59.310 --> 00:08:01.240
- [Mark] The anti-federalists, in part,

00:08:01.240 --> 00:08:04.400
were simply people who
opposed the Constitution,

00:08:04.400 --> 00:08:07.670
and just as is the case as
say people opposed Obamacare

00:08:07.670 --> 00:08:10.030
from both the left and the right,

00:08:10.030 --> 00:08:12.330
people who opposed the Constitution

00:08:12.330 --> 00:08:14.270
opposed it for many different reasons,

00:08:14.270 --> 00:08:18.330
and one of their problems was
they were not a united bunch.

00:08:18.330 --> 00:08:20.370
But, in general, these were people

00:08:20.370 --> 00:08:24.020
fearful of a very strong
national government.

00:08:24.020 --> 00:08:26.270
They believed states were sovereign,

00:08:26.270 --> 00:08:28.690
they wanted to keep power local,

00:08:28.690 --> 00:08:30.610
and they were very fearful of what they

00:08:30.610 --> 00:08:32.900
perceived to be an elite who would

00:08:32.900 --> 00:08:36.620
run the Constitution after ratification.

00:08:36.620 --> 00:08:40.230
The names that people may
know who were anti-federalist

00:08:40.230 --> 00:08:44.540
were people like Patrick
Henry and Samuel Adams.

00:08:44.540 --> 00:08:46.880
- [Kim] So what were some
of the major arguments

00:08:46.880 --> 00:08:50.320
made in favor of adopting
this new Constitution?

00:08:50.320 --> 00:08:53.950
- [Michael] There were, I
think, two types of arguments.

00:08:53.950 --> 00:08:57.980
People felt that the articles
were not working properly.

00:08:57.980 --> 00:09:00.390
They had all kinds of problems,

00:09:00.390 --> 00:09:02.590
and one of the strongest arguments

00:09:02.590 --> 00:09:05.140
that the Federalist papers made was that

00:09:05.140 --> 00:09:10.140
if we don't fix this and make
for a stronger union together,

00:09:10.440 --> 00:09:12.680
what'll happen is, we'll break apart.

00:09:12.680 --> 00:09:14.170
Look at what happens when you have

00:09:14.170 --> 00:09:19.170
a bunch of states all next to
one another in a land area.

00:09:19.350 --> 00:09:21.870
We know what that looks
like, it's called Europe,

00:09:21.870 --> 00:09:23.170
and what happens in Europe?

00:09:23.170 --> 00:09:25.950
They fight wars with one
another all the time,

00:09:25.950 --> 00:09:28.850
and those wars are very problematic.

00:09:28.850 --> 00:09:32.660
You have to have big
armies, standing armies.

00:09:32.660 --> 00:09:34.960
Now, there were also the
particular arguments about

00:09:34.960 --> 00:09:38.860
what powers were missing that
the federal government had.

00:09:38.860 --> 00:09:40.310
The main arguments were made was

00:09:40.310 --> 00:09:42.530
the federal government
did not have enough power,

00:09:42.530 --> 00:09:45.670
so they didn't have, for
example, the taxing power,

00:09:45.670 --> 00:09:49.500
and they didn't have a
way of enforcing treaties

00:09:49.500 --> 00:09:51.760
against the states very well,

00:09:51.760 --> 00:09:54.130
and some of the states
were putting tariffs up,

00:09:54.130 --> 00:09:56.610
so interfering with
trade within the country.

00:09:56.610 --> 00:10:00.360
- [Mark] So, states would set
tariffs on out-of-state goods,

00:10:00.360 --> 00:10:03.860
states wouldn't contribute
to the national government.

00:10:03.860 --> 00:10:07.030
Second, we needed to
present an united front

00:10:07.030 --> 00:10:09.420
to foreign governments.

00:10:09.420 --> 00:10:11.480
We were very worried, what would happen

00:10:11.480 --> 00:10:15.260
if South Carolina formed
an alliance with England

00:10:15.260 --> 00:10:18.130
and North Carolina formed
an alliance with France.

00:10:18.130 --> 00:10:19.090
That wouldn't be good,

00:10:19.090 --> 00:10:22.162
the country needed to
speak with one voice.

00:10:22.162 --> 00:10:23.520
- [Kim] Those are some of the arguments

00:10:23.520 --> 00:10:25.750
made for adopting the Constitution,

00:10:25.750 --> 00:10:26.860
what were some of the arguments

00:10:26.860 --> 00:10:30.230
against adopting this new Constitution?

00:10:30.230 --> 00:10:32.280
- [Mark] Well, first argument was,

00:10:32.280 --> 00:10:34.700
even though most anti-federalists admitted

00:10:34.700 --> 00:10:37.130
the Articles needed some repair,

00:10:37.130 --> 00:10:38.990
they said it's not really urgent.

00:10:38.990 --> 00:10:41.790
It's not like the house is
gonna fall down tomorrow,

00:10:41.790 --> 00:10:44.160
it's just, you know, the
wind is coming through

00:10:44.160 --> 00:10:45.890
and we can figure it out.

00:10:45.890 --> 00:10:48.840
We really want a better Constitution.

00:10:48.840 --> 00:10:51.390
The other arguments were the Constitution

00:10:51.390 --> 00:10:54.880
put too much power in
the national government.

00:10:54.880 --> 00:10:56.870
It put too much power in elites.

00:10:56.870 --> 00:10:59.990
The fear was if you
had national elections,

00:10:59.990 --> 00:11:01.940
only elites would win.

00:11:01.940 --> 00:11:03.520
If you had local elections,

00:11:03.520 --> 00:11:07.180
people the people actually knew would win.

00:11:07.180 --> 00:11:10.540
- [Kim] They thought, a
big national government

00:11:10.540 --> 00:11:13.390
would be too far away from the people

00:11:13.390 --> 00:11:15.410
to know what they really needed,

00:11:15.410 --> 00:11:17.170
as opposed to state governments,

00:11:17.170 --> 00:11:20.270
which they perceived
as being more personal,

00:11:20.270 --> 00:11:24.240
closer to the needs of individuals?

00:11:24.240 --> 00:11:26.430
- [Mark] Compare two kinds of elections.

00:11:26.430 --> 00:11:30.650
First, how many people really know anyone

00:11:30.650 --> 00:11:34.450
who runs for Senator,
who runs for President,

00:11:34.450 --> 00:11:37.550
that you're on a first name basis with?

00:11:37.550 --> 00:11:40.390
Now, compare, you're in a school club,

00:11:40.390 --> 00:11:42.550
chances are when someone runs for

00:11:42.550 --> 00:11:45.290
an office in the school
club, you know who they are.

00:11:45.290 --> 00:11:47.120
- [Michael] Another type of argument was,

00:11:47.120 --> 00:11:50.320
if you give the federal
government this power,

00:11:50.320 --> 00:11:51.860
and even if, and the federalists would

00:11:51.860 --> 00:11:53.750
always argue that the power was limited

00:11:53.750 --> 00:11:56.390
that they were being given
to the federal government,

00:11:56.390 --> 00:11:58.160
and the anti-federalists
came back and they said,

00:11:58.160 --> 00:12:00.410
well, you say it's limited

00:12:00.410 --> 00:12:03.430
but what we know from
historical experience is

00:12:03.430 --> 00:12:05.970
is that once a government's in power,

00:12:05.970 --> 00:12:08.640
it tends to seize more power.

00:12:08.640 --> 00:12:12.540
There's a lot of vague
phrases in the Constitution

00:12:12.540 --> 00:12:14.770
and the federal government will use

00:12:14.770 --> 00:12:18.850
those vague phrases to assert
greater and greater power.

00:12:18.850 --> 00:12:20.470
- [Kim] What were some
of the strategies that

00:12:20.470 --> 00:12:24.000
the framers used to entice
some of the opponents

00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:27.690
of a strong central government
to ratify the Constitution?

00:12:27.690 --> 00:12:29.190
- [Michael] The first thing that they did

00:12:29.190 --> 00:12:32.150
was to try to build up momentum.

00:12:32.150 --> 00:12:34.350
They knew there were certain states

00:12:34.350 --> 00:12:37.160
which were strongly in
favor of ratification.

00:12:37.160 --> 00:12:41.940
Small states, sometimes,
wanted ratification.

00:12:41.940 --> 00:12:43.970
The first state that comes in is Delaware,

00:12:43.970 --> 00:12:46.820
and they vote 30 to zero
for the Constitution,

00:12:46.820 --> 00:12:49.010
and a bunch of early states,

00:12:49.010 --> 00:12:53.110
so let's say the first five states

00:12:53.110 --> 00:12:57.200
all vote for ratification
by pretty lopsided margins.

00:12:57.200 --> 00:12:59.260
That builds up a kind of momentum.

00:12:59.260 --> 00:13:02.200
Alright, we have five states,
we only need four more.

00:13:02.200 --> 00:13:04.253
Of course, the next ones
that were gonna come

00:13:04.253 --> 00:13:06.443
were gonna be much more difficult.

00:13:08.470 --> 00:13:11.760
They then needed to change

00:13:11.760 --> 00:13:13.810
their strategy at that point.

00:13:13.810 --> 00:13:15.250
- [Mark] They argued like crazy.

00:13:15.250 --> 00:13:18.870
The Federalist Papers are
a very famous example.

00:13:18.870 --> 00:13:21.630
They indicated they'd be open to amendment

00:13:21.630 --> 00:13:24.773
once the Constitution was ratified.

00:13:25.620 --> 00:13:27.780
Then again, in Pennsylvania,

00:13:27.780 --> 00:13:30.640
when anti-federalists
boycotted the convention,

00:13:30.640 --> 00:13:33.480
and the result is the
convention didn't have a quorum,

00:13:33.480 --> 00:13:36.690
they ordered the
sergeant-at-arms to a tavern.

00:13:36.690 --> 00:13:39.740
The sergeant-at-arms found some
boycotting anti-federalists

00:13:39.740 --> 00:13:41.390
and physically put them in the building

00:13:41.390 --> 00:13:43.712
so they could count for a quorum.

00:13:43.712 --> 00:13:44.880
- [Kim] That is terrific.

00:13:44.880 --> 00:13:45.970
- [Mark] That one doesn't get told

00:13:45.970 --> 00:13:47.570
in a whole lot of history books.

00:13:48.880 --> 00:13:49.730
- [Kim] Wow.

00:13:49.730 --> 00:13:50.580
- [Mark] The framers could play

00:13:50.580 --> 00:13:53.040
rough and tumble politics
with the best of them.

00:13:53.040 --> 00:13:54.260
- [Kim] A lot of the things that

00:13:54.260 --> 00:13:56.670
pop up at the time of the framing,

00:13:56.670 --> 00:13:59.530
I think, we look back
on today and imagine,

00:13:59.530 --> 00:14:02.620
how would this work in today's era,

00:14:02.620 --> 00:14:06.550
with 330 million Americans?

00:14:06.550 --> 00:14:09.030
Do you think the system under

00:14:09.030 --> 00:14:10.860
the Articles of Confederation with a

00:14:10.860 --> 00:14:14.593
smaller, more local, government
could possibly work today?

00:14:15.440 --> 00:14:16.650
- [Michael] Well, among other things,

00:14:16.650 --> 00:14:18.540
the Articles had no great means of

00:14:18.540 --> 00:14:21.090
collecting taxes or gaining revenue.

00:14:21.090 --> 00:14:24.660
Given that modern government
needs trillions of dollars,

00:14:24.660 --> 00:14:26.750
the Articles, if you've
got a thousand dollars,

00:14:26.750 --> 00:14:30.240
it was a miracle, so the
Articles clearly don't work.

00:14:30.240 --> 00:14:33.210
But the Articles were inadequate

00:14:33.210 --> 00:14:35.990
for 18th century government.

00:14:35.990 --> 00:14:38.140
They were clearly inadequate,

00:14:38.140 --> 00:14:41.230
or would be clearly inadequate,
for 21st century government.

00:14:41.230 --> 00:14:43.650
Now, the Constitution appears to have been

00:14:43.650 --> 00:14:45.930
adequate for 18th century government,

00:14:45.930 --> 00:14:48.420
whether it is adequate for
21st century government

00:14:48.420 --> 00:14:49.900
is a fair question.

00:14:49.900 --> 00:14:52.200
- [Michael] One of the
interesting questions about

00:14:52.200 --> 00:14:56.780
the Constitution is, how
democratic is the Constitution?

00:14:56.780 --> 00:15:00.270
This debate about how
democratic the Constitution is

00:15:00.270 --> 00:15:04.130
actually enters into the
question about ratification.

00:15:04.130 --> 00:15:05.990
On one level,

00:15:05.990 --> 00:15:09.070
the Constitution was democratic

00:15:09.070 --> 00:15:12.900
because each state in these
ratification conventions

00:15:12.900 --> 00:15:17.680
voted on whether to
ratify by majority vote.

00:15:17.680 --> 00:15:20.020
On the other hand, at the federal level,

00:15:20.020 --> 00:15:24.020
the ratification requirement
required nine out of 13,

00:15:24.020 --> 00:15:28.300
and the idea there would
be, we needed more buy in.

00:15:28.300 --> 00:15:31.420
We needed a limitation
on simple majority rule

00:15:31.420 --> 00:15:34.420
in order to make the system function well,

00:15:34.420 --> 00:15:37.620
in order to produce a Constitution

00:15:37.620 --> 00:15:40.800
that would have support
from the whole country.

00:15:40.800 --> 00:15:43.590
The interesting thing about
that supermajority rule,

00:15:43.590 --> 00:15:45.300
and something that people don't often

00:15:45.300 --> 00:15:46.380
make the connection with,

00:15:46.380 --> 00:15:49.970
is we probably owe our Bill of Rights

00:15:49.970 --> 00:15:52.230
to that supermajority rule,

00:15:52.230 --> 00:15:55.030
because if only seven of the 13 states,

00:15:55.030 --> 00:15:58.365
the minimum majority, had been needed

00:15:58.365 --> 00:16:00.820
to ratify the Constitution,

00:16:00.820 --> 00:16:04.110
then it's quite possible that the

00:16:04.110 --> 00:16:06.340
federalists wouldn't have had to

00:16:06.340 --> 00:16:09.750
promise to put a Bill of
Rights into the Constitution,

00:16:09.750 --> 00:16:11.160
because they wouldn't have needed to.

00:16:11.160 --> 00:16:13.760
And they were initially quite opposed

00:16:13.760 --> 00:16:16.220
to putting a Bill of
Rights in the Constitution.

00:16:16.220 --> 00:16:17.850
It was only the fact that they needed

00:16:17.850 --> 00:16:22.690
nine out of 13 states that
really forced their hand

00:16:22.690 --> 00:16:24.270
and forced them to promise that

00:16:24.270 --> 00:16:26.120
they would put the Bill
of Rights in there.

00:16:26.120 --> 00:16:28.710
We see, in terms of the ratification,

00:16:28.710 --> 00:16:30.750
that there's both sort
of democratic elements

00:16:30.750 --> 00:16:35.750
but also republican, or
supermajority, elements.

00:16:35.860 --> 00:16:37.430
- [Kim] We've learned that it wasn't easy

00:16:37.430 --> 00:16:39.160
to ratify the Constitution.

00:16:39.160 --> 00:16:41.530
The framers bypassed state legislatures

00:16:41.530 --> 00:16:44.770
and went directly to the
people in state conventions,

00:16:44.770 --> 00:16:47.020
hoping that momentum and arguments for

00:16:47.020 --> 00:16:49.560
a stronger federal government would entice

00:16:49.560 --> 00:16:52.470
the opponents of the
Constitution to ratify it.

00:16:52.470 --> 00:16:57.470
It took until 1789 for
nine out of 13 states

00:16:57.920 --> 00:17:01.440
to ratify the Constitution
and finally make it law.

00:17:01.440 --> 00:17:03.850
To learn more about Article VII, check out

00:17:03.850 --> 00:17:07.380
the National Constitution
Center's Interactive Constitution

00:17:07.380 --> 00:17:10.963
and Khan Academy's resources
on US government and politics.


Interest groups and lobbying

WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

00:00:01.290 --> 00:00:03.730
- [Instructor] Let's
discuss interest groups

00:00:03.730 --> 00:00:07.100
and as you can see here, it
is one of the three parts

00:00:07.100 --> 00:00:10.060
of the iron triangle that we first studied

00:00:10.060 --> 00:00:14.010
when we looked at the bureaucracy
in the executive branch.

00:00:14.010 --> 00:00:17.110
And the whole point of the
iron triangle is to show

00:00:17.110 --> 00:00:20.230
how these different parties
can influence each other.

00:00:20.230 --> 00:00:23.300
And so just as a reminder,
an interest group

00:00:23.300 --> 00:00:26.610
is any collection of folks who organize

00:00:26.610 --> 00:00:30.630
in order to advocate for
something in public policy.

00:00:30.630 --> 00:00:32.360
This could be groups of corporations.

00:00:32.360 --> 00:00:34.120
It could represent an industry.

00:00:34.120 --> 00:00:36.300
It could represent a social cause.

00:00:36.300 --> 00:00:38.790
And we're going to look at
some major interest groups

00:00:38.790 --> 00:00:40.710
in the United States in a few minutes,

00:00:40.710 --> 00:00:44.810
but some can be quite large
and some can be quite small.

00:00:44.810 --> 00:00:47.210
But what you see from the iron triangle

00:00:47.210 --> 00:00:49.690
is how these parties can
influence each other.

00:00:49.690 --> 00:00:52.250
An interest group can
give electoral support

00:00:52.250 --> 00:00:54.950
to a member of Congress
by getting its members

00:00:54.950 --> 00:00:57.250
to go out and vote for
that member of Congress,

00:00:57.250 --> 00:01:01.290
or maybe even doing advertising
for that member of Congress

00:01:01.290 --> 00:01:03.740
or giving direct financial support.

00:01:03.740 --> 00:01:06.500
In exchange, they might
get friendly legislation

00:01:06.500 --> 00:01:08.140
and oversight, and that'll happen

00:01:08.140 --> 00:01:10.450
because a congressperson
who got that support

00:01:10.450 --> 00:01:13.000
from the interest group
might have a friendly ear

00:01:13.000 --> 00:01:15.720
to that interest group and might be open

00:01:15.720 --> 00:01:18.580
to hanging out with lobbyists
from that interest group.

00:01:18.580 --> 00:01:23.580
The term lobbyist, or lobbying
is believed to originate

00:01:23.760 --> 00:01:26.240
in 17th century England where people

00:01:26.240 --> 00:01:28.750
who wanted to influence
members of Parliament

00:01:28.750 --> 00:01:32.910
would hang out in the lobby
of the parliamentary building

00:01:32.910 --> 00:01:35.310
waiting to talk to those
members of Parliament.

00:01:35.310 --> 00:01:37.720
And that's what essentially
lobbyists do today.

00:01:37.720 --> 00:01:39.360
They try to meet with congresspeople

00:01:39.360 --> 00:01:41.180
or meet with the staff of congresspeople

00:01:41.180 --> 00:01:42.900
and try to influence the types of bills

00:01:42.900 --> 00:01:45.500
that are introduced to
Congress for consideration

00:01:45.500 --> 00:01:48.560
and how various members
should vote for those bills.

00:01:48.560 --> 00:01:50.310
Now bureaucracy, these are the folks

00:01:50.310 --> 00:01:51.700
who for the most part are doing the work

00:01:51.700 --> 00:01:53.970
of actually running the government

00:01:53.970 --> 00:01:56.880
and they have influence
and they can dictate

00:01:56.880 --> 00:01:58.820
what regulations are going to be,

00:01:58.820 --> 00:02:01.470
who gets various contracts,
and so you can imagine

00:02:01.470 --> 00:02:04.560
that might be of interest
to interest groups.

00:02:04.560 --> 00:02:08.150
Now to make tangible what some
of these interest groups are,

00:02:08.150 --> 00:02:11.340
you have entities like the AFL-CIO,

00:02:11.340 --> 00:02:14.350
which stands for the
American Federation of Labor,

00:02:14.350 --> 00:02:17.320
Congress of Industrial Organizations.

00:02:17.320 --> 00:02:21.420
And this is a meta organization
of a bunch of labor unions

00:02:21.420 --> 00:02:24.190
and as you can imagine
they are going to advocate

00:02:24.190 --> 00:02:26.790
for labor-friendly policies.

00:02:26.790 --> 00:02:30.020
It might be things that favor
the manufacturing industry

00:02:30.020 --> 00:02:33.410
or that favor employees' rights
to collectively negotiate

00:02:33.410 --> 00:02:34.550
with their employer.

00:02:34.550 --> 00:02:37.230
It might be advocating for trade policies,

00:02:37.230 --> 00:02:39.280
which would be perceived as more friendly

00:02:39.280 --> 00:02:40.890
to the American worker.

00:02:40.890 --> 00:02:44.940
Its membership is roughly
12.5 million people

00:02:44.940 --> 00:02:46.790
and so just getting them out to vote

00:02:46.790 --> 00:02:50.070
can have a significant
influence on elections.

00:02:50.070 --> 00:02:53.060
You have groups like the
U.S. Chamber of Commerce

00:02:53.060 --> 00:02:54.820
and what's interesting
here, this membership

00:02:54.820 --> 00:02:57.920
of over 300,000, this
isn't just individuals.

00:02:57.920 --> 00:03:00.350
This includes corporations.

00:03:00.350 --> 00:03:01.710
Even though the Chamber of Commerce

00:03:01.710 --> 00:03:04.330
does not have the biggest
budget of the groups

00:03:04.330 --> 00:03:07.190
we're gonna look at, it
is actually consistently

00:03:07.190 --> 00:03:09.000
the biggest lobbying group,

00:03:09.000 --> 00:03:11.750
spending most of this money on lobbying.

00:03:11.750 --> 00:03:13.520
And they're going to try to advocate

00:03:13.520 --> 00:03:17.650
for business-friendly
policies in our government.

00:03:17.650 --> 00:03:20.730
You have groups that
advocate for social causes

00:03:20.730 --> 00:03:24.750
like the NAACP, they
don't have a huge budget

00:03:24.750 --> 00:03:26.640
but they are considered
very, very influential

00:03:26.640 --> 00:03:30.040
when it comes to issues
surrounding minority rights.

00:03:30.040 --> 00:03:31.960
You also have very influential groups

00:03:31.960 --> 00:03:34.200
like the National Rifle Association.

00:03:34.200 --> 00:03:36.850
And when we compare the NRA
to some of these other groups

00:03:36.850 --> 00:03:39.450
it's interesting to think
about the number of issues

00:03:39.450 --> 00:03:41.370
they concentrate their efforts on.

00:03:41.370 --> 00:03:43.400
For example, the Chamber of Commerce

00:03:43.400 --> 00:03:45.780
might be thinking about a very broad array

00:03:45.780 --> 00:03:49.150
of policy decisions that
might affect commerce,

00:03:49.150 --> 00:03:50.730
that might affect businesses,

00:03:50.730 --> 00:03:53.390
while the National Rifle
Association and its members,

00:03:53.390 --> 00:03:55.450
and this is a significant membership here,

00:03:55.450 --> 00:03:58.470
is likely to be much more
focused on a narrower set

00:03:58.470 --> 00:04:01.800
of issues around gun
rights and gun ownership.

00:04:01.800 --> 00:04:04.160
You have the American Medical Association,

00:04:04.160 --> 00:04:07.430
which despite its relatively
small membership here

00:04:07.430 --> 00:04:11.070
is highly, highly influential
because these 240,000 people

00:04:11.070 --> 00:04:12.820
are for the most part physicians,

00:04:12.820 --> 00:04:15.840
who many of us are very
used to listening to.

00:04:15.840 --> 00:04:19.580
You have the American Association
for Retired Professionals

00:04:19.580 --> 00:04:22.800
which has a membership
of 37 million people

00:04:22.800 --> 00:04:24.540
and a budget of 1.6 billion.

00:04:26.118 --> 00:04:28.510
So these entities can be very large

00:04:28.510 --> 00:04:31.450
and very, very influential.

00:04:31.450 --> 00:04:33.650
Now as I mentioned, not
all of these dollars

00:04:33.650 --> 00:04:35.800
go directly to lobbying.

00:04:35.800 --> 00:04:38.150
They could be spending
money on voter education.

00:04:38.150 --> 00:04:40.470
They could be spending
money on legal funds

00:04:40.470 --> 00:04:43.530
to advocate for cases that
are in their interest.

00:04:43.530 --> 00:04:45.820
They could be giving direct support

00:04:45.820 --> 00:04:48.640
to various candidates
or to various parties.

00:04:48.640 --> 00:04:52.830
They could be advertising in
the media for their cause.

00:04:52.830 --> 00:04:55.120
But if we think about directly lobbying,

00:04:55.120 --> 00:04:57.910
this chart right over
here is quite interesting.

00:04:57.910 --> 00:05:02.110
It comes from OpenSecrets.org
and if you're really intrigued

00:05:02.110 --> 00:05:05.730
by understanding more of
how money and influence

00:05:05.730 --> 00:05:07.760
come together in American politics

00:05:07.760 --> 00:05:09.720
I encourage you to go to their site.

00:05:09.720 --> 00:05:13.540
But this is a list in
2017 of the top spenders

00:05:13.540 --> 00:05:16.690
in lobbying in the United
States, and as I mentioned

00:05:16.690 --> 00:05:19.360
you see here at the top the
U.S. Chamber of Commerce

00:05:19.360 --> 00:05:22.320
at $82 million, and
this isn't even the most

00:05:22.320 --> 00:05:23.540
they've ever spent in a year.

00:05:23.540 --> 00:05:27.410
There's some years where it
is well over $150 million

00:05:27.410 --> 00:05:28.400
that they've spent.

00:05:28.400 --> 00:05:30.130
The National Association of Realtors,

00:05:30.130 --> 00:05:32.970
the Business Roundtable,
Pharmaceutical Research

00:05:32.970 --> 00:05:35.220
and Manufacturers of America.

00:05:35.220 --> 00:05:38.400
And this money is, for the
most part, to pay lobbyists

00:05:38.400 --> 00:05:40.890
who will meet with
members of our government

00:05:40.890 --> 00:05:44.020
to directly advocate for certain policies.

00:05:44.020 --> 00:05:46.470
Now an interesting thing to think about is

00:05:46.470 --> 00:05:49.230
what positive things might
be done by interest groups,

00:05:49.230 --> 00:05:51.700
and what potentially negative
things might be there

00:05:51.700 --> 00:05:54.930
and how equitable is this system?

00:05:54.930 --> 00:05:57.990
The positive things, folks
could argue, are hey,

00:05:57.990 --> 00:06:00.040
they could work on voter education.

00:06:00.040 --> 00:06:03.730
Many issues that policy
makers are trying to decide on

00:06:03.730 --> 00:06:05.730
are quite complex, so it might be good

00:06:05.730 --> 00:06:08.860
to have experts weighing
in, but on the other hand,

00:06:08.860 --> 00:06:12.860
it might seem like money is
disproportionately influential

00:06:12.860 --> 00:06:15.640
and that industries that
generate a lot of money

00:06:15.640 --> 00:06:18.630
could have a disproportionate
amount of influence

00:06:18.630 --> 00:06:20.980
and they could potentially
use that influence

00:06:20.980 --> 00:06:22.710
to further benefit those industries

00:06:22.710 --> 00:06:24.890
to give them even more
power and influence.

00:06:24.890 --> 00:06:27.183
So I will let you decide.


Political socialization

WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

00:00:00.380 --> 00:00:01.930
- [Instructor] What we're
going to do in this video

00:00:01.930 --> 00:00:06.610
is think about how a person's
environment or experiences

00:00:06.610 --> 00:00:08.980
affects their political perspective,

00:00:08.980 --> 00:00:10.880
their political attitude.

00:00:10.880 --> 00:00:13.920
So one way to think about it
is how is your socialization,

00:00:13.920 --> 00:00:15.670
your political socialization?

00:00:15.670 --> 00:00:18.820
How does that drive your
political attitudes?

00:00:18.820 --> 00:00:20.510
And I encourage you pause this video,

00:00:20.510 --> 00:00:22.620
think about your own political leanings

00:00:22.620 --> 00:00:26.510
whether you lean to the left
or you lean to the right,

00:00:26.510 --> 00:00:27.870
where did that come from?

00:00:27.870 --> 00:00:30.910
Was it just you in a vacuum
thinking about things

00:00:30.910 --> 00:00:33.530
or were you influenced by your family,

00:00:33.530 --> 00:00:36.940
your friends, your
school, maybe the media,

00:00:36.940 --> 00:00:39.060
maybe something that you're part of,

00:00:39.060 --> 00:00:42.470
maybe a club or church,
mosque, synagogue or temple

00:00:42.470 --> 00:00:44.530
and this is actually an area of study

00:00:44.530 --> 00:00:47.340
for political scientists
and as you can imagine,

00:00:47.340 --> 00:00:49.440
some of the things that I just mentioned

00:00:49.440 --> 00:00:52.250
are significant factors
that people have studied

00:00:52.250 --> 00:00:55.730
in terms of what develops
people's political attitudes?

00:00:55.730 --> 00:00:58.320
If you come from a family
of staunch Democrats,

00:00:58.320 --> 00:01:00.860
you're more likely to be a Democrat

00:01:00.860 --> 00:01:02.500
or at least lean to the left.

00:01:02.500 --> 00:01:04.130
If the environment of your school

00:01:04.130 --> 00:01:05.660
or what you're exposed to in school

00:01:05.660 --> 00:01:08.150
leans one way or another, you are likely,

00:01:08.150 --> 00:01:10.250
more likely to lean in that direction.

00:01:10.250 --> 00:01:12.040
If your friends go one
direction or another,

00:01:12.040 --> 00:01:13.630
that could be a very powerful influence.

00:01:13.630 --> 00:01:16.050
Obviously, what you're
exposed to in the media

00:01:16.050 --> 00:01:17.360
and out of all of these,

00:01:17.360 --> 00:01:19.580
the one that's maybe the most studied

00:01:19.580 --> 00:01:23.530
is the notion of family and
to appreciate this idea,

00:01:23.530 --> 00:01:26.270
let's look at this
diagram right over here.

00:01:26.270 --> 00:01:27.880
So I encourage you to pause the video

00:01:27.880 --> 00:01:29.280
and see if you can make sense of this

00:01:29.280 --> 00:01:31.203
before we do that together.

00:01:32.150 --> 00:01:36.200
Alright, it says Percentage
Intergenerational Resemblance

00:01:36.200 --> 00:01:41.200
in Partisan Orientation
and this date is from 1992.

00:01:41.410 --> 00:01:44.000
So it shows three different scenarios,

00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:46.240
one scenario where we are looking at folks

00:01:46.240 --> 00:01:48.420
where both parents are Democrats,

00:01:48.420 --> 00:01:50.250
another scenario where
we're looking at folks

00:01:50.250 --> 00:01:52.040
where both parents are Republicans

00:01:52.040 --> 00:01:54.930
and then another scenario
where there's no consistent

00:01:54.930 --> 00:01:58.310
partisanship among parents
so either they are split

00:01:58.310 --> 00:02:00.400
or maybe they are independent

00:02:00.400 --> 00:02:03.420
and actually, if we look at
this third scenario first,

00:02:03.420 --> 00:02:06.930
you see that it's a pretty
symmetrical distribution.

00:02:06.930 --> 00:02:09.510
Green shows, of people whose parents

00:02:09.510 --> 00:02:11.600
showed no partisan preference,

00:02:11.600 --> 00:02:14.610
17% are pure independent,

00:02:14.610 --> 00:02:17.730
about 18% lean towards the Democrats,

00:02:17.730 --> 00:02:19.520
16% lean to the Republican.

00:02:19.520 --> 00:02:21.010
That's about the same.

00:02:21.010 --> 00:02:23.170
14% are weak Democrats.

00:02:23.170 --> 00:02:24.880
14% are weak Republicans.

00:02:24.880 --> 00:02:26.680
10% are strong Democrats.

00:02:26.680 --> 00:02:29.030
10% are strong Republicans.

00:02:29.030 --> 00:02:32.060
So it's a pretty balanced
distribution here

00:02:32.060 --> 00:02:33.420
but then if you look at the scenario

00:02:33.420 --> 00:02:36.250
where both parents are Democrats,

00:02:36.250 --> 00:02:40.110
you see that of those
folks, only, what is this?

00:02:40.110 --> 00:02:43.270
This is eight plus six is 14 plus seven.

00:02:43.270 --> 00:02:47.050
Only 21% are Republicans.

00:02:47.050 --> 00:02:48.510
And if you go the other way

00:02:48.510 --> 00:02:50.640
where both parents are Republicans,

00:02:50.640 --> 00:02:55.640
you have only 18% of those
folks become Democrats.

00:02:56.150 --> 00:02:58.520
So this is just interesting
food for thought.

00:02:58.520 --> 00:03:00.990
A lot of us really like to
believe, including myself,

00:03:00.990 --> 00:03:03.210
that hey, I've come to
all of these conclusions

00:03:03.210 --> 00:03:05.600
based on completely impartial thoughts

00:03:05.600 --> 00:03:07.300
about how the world should be

00:03:07.300 --> 00:03:09.490
but we are influenced by our environment

00:03:09.490 --> 00:03:11.290
and especially from our family

00:03:11.290 --> 00:03:14.390
and frankly, even the folks
who go in a different direction

00:03:14.390 --> 00:03:15.420
than their families,

00:03:15.420 --> 00:03:17.240
that might have been
because of their family.

00:03:17.240 --> 00:03:19.140
Maybe they decide that hey,

00:03:19.140 --> 00:03:21.020
that always frustrated
me one way or the other

00:03:21.020 --> 00:03:22.410
so I'm gonna go the other way

00:03:22.410 --> 00:03:24.160
or I'm gonna rebel a little bit

00:03:24.160 --> 00:03:26.770
and I'm gonna go the other way
because I am a free thinker

00:03:26.770 --> 00:03:28.070
but even in that situation,

00:03:28.070 --> 00:03:30.693
you are being influenced
by your environment.


How To Use The Content Tab

WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

00:00:00.430 --> 00:00:03.840
- Hi, I'm Dave from Khan
Academy, and I want to show you

00:00:03.840 --> 00:00:06.380
how you can preview and make assignments

00:00:06.380 --> 00:00:09.090
from right within the Teacher Dashboard.

00:00:09.090 --> 00:00:12.530
So let's take a look at
how the Content tab works.

00:00:12.530 --> 00:00:15.800
From your Teacher homepage,
click into a class,

00:00:15.800 --> 00:00:17.460
and you'll see the Content tab.

00:00:17.460 --> 00:00:20.980
Scroll down, and you'll see
all the Khan Academy units

00:00:20.980 --> 00:00:24.110
for the subject you've
assigned to that class.

00:00:24.110 --> 00:00:26.910
Skim through the units and select any one

00:00:26.910 --> 00:00:29.310
to view different sections of that unit

00:00:29.310 --> 00:00:31.525
and then individual resources,

00:00:31.525 --> 00:00:34.515
like videos, articles, and exercises,

00:00:34.515 --> 00:00:36.910
quizzes and unit tests.

00:00:36.910 --> 00:00:40.710
For example, this unit begins
with a two-minute video,

00:00:40.710 --> 00:00:43.760
an article, and then a
seven-question problem set.

00:00:43.760 --> 00:00:46.180
By clicking Preview next to a resource,

00:00:46.180 --> 00:00:49.120
you can watch the video, read the article,

00:00:49.120 --> 00:00:51.970
or view the full item bank for an exercise

00:00:51.970 --> 00:00:54.150
before assigning it to your class.

00:00:54.150 --> 00:00:56.050
Looking for something
in a different subject

00:00:56.050 --> 00:00:57.910
or a different grade level?

00:00:57.910 --> 00:01:00.170
You can select additional subjects

00:01:00.170 --> 00:01:02.580
and then quickly switch
from one to another

00:01:02.580 --> 00:01:05.380
to create the perfect
assignments for your students.

00:01:05.380 --> 00:01:06.980
And then it's decision time.

00:01:06.980 --> 00:01:09.570
Select a single assignment or multiple.

00:01:09.570 --> 00:01:13.140
You can now assign several
resources at the same time.

00:01:13.140 --> 00:01:16.130
So select your assignment
and then click Assign.

00:01:16.130 --> 00:01:19.820
Like usual, choose the
classes, students, and due date

00:01:19.820 --> 00:01:20.930
for your assignments.

00:01:20.930 --> 00:01:23.350
Even though this if
for Period 1 right now,

00:01:23.350 --> 00:01:26.760
I could make these assignment
to all of my classes at once,

00:01:26.760 --> 00:01:29.310
or I could assign them
to specific students

00:01:29.310 --> 00:01:30.380
within my class.

00:01:30.380 --> 00:01:33.130
Then I either assign them
to students immediately,

00:01:33.130 --> 00:01:35.450
or I save the assignments to post later.

00:01:35.450 --> 00:01:37.790
Saved assignments will
show up under Assignments

00:01:37.790 --> 00:01:39.830
by clicking the Saved tab.

00:01:39.830 --> 00:01:42.720
We hope the Content
tab will make it easier

00:01:42.720 --> 00:01:45.980
for you to make the assignments
that your students need.

00:01:45.980 --> 00:01:48.080
Check out the content tab today.