Heeding the Deed, Part 1 (LAW-CONST2)
This lecture shifts focus from constitutional text to its enactment, analyzing the 1787-1788 ratification as a continental act of free speech and simple majority rule. It draws a contemporary implication: a simple Senate majority can change filibuster rules, reflecting principles baked into the founding deed.
Some constitutional principles come not from the words but from the deed: how the Constitution was actually ordained. Akhil Reed Amar reads the enactment itself.
This lecture turns from the text to the doing. Amar shows how the ratification of 1787 and 1788 played out as an epic act of free speech up and down the continent, and how simple majority rule carried the day in every state convention, including a 30-27 vote in New York. Both principles were baked into the constitutional cake, and Amar draws out a live implication: on any given day, a simple majority of senators has the power to change the chamber's entrenched filibuster rules.
Reading Between the Lines, Part 2 (LAW-CONST2)
Next · Lecture 4Heeding the Deed, Part 2 (LAW-CONST2)