Our Constitution

This is the eighth episode in a podcast series celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence by exploring the colonies’ grievances against King George III. This episode further explores the Declaration’s tenth grievance by examining how the King’s officials allegedly deprived the colonists of their rights as Englishmen in their efforts to enforce the Navigation Acts. These experiences, which included the crown’s prosecution of John Hancock, resulted in the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition against warrantless searches, the Fifth Amendment’s right to indictment by a grand jury, and other protections for criminal defendants under the Constitution.

This is the seventh episode in a podcast series celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence by exploring the colonies’ grievances against King George III. This episode addresses the Declaration’s tenth grievance that British customs officers and other royal officials often acted arbitrarily or used their powers to harass and abuse colonists. Among other things, the episode examines colonist James Otis’s argument that British law allowing warrantless searches in the colonies should be void because such searches violate natural rights and rights protected by the British constitution. While Otis lost his case, his argument is reflected in the Constitution’s recognition of two tiers of law—the Constitution and laws Congress adopts pursuant to the Constitution. As a consequence, laws that would override the Constitution, including the fundamental rights enshrined in it, can only be adopted by amending the Constitution.

This is the sixth episode in a podcast series celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence by exploring the colonies’ grievances against King George III. Grievance 9 in the Declaration blames the King for making colonial judges “dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.” This episode discusses the relationship between the King and colonial judges and how the founding Americans sought to protect judicial independence in the new United States.

This is the fifth episode in a podcast series celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence by exploring the colonies’ grievances against King George III. This episode addresses the Declaration’s eighth grievance that King George III refused his assent to laws that provided for colonial courts. The episode discusses how colonial courts evolved, including how disagreement between King George III and North Carolina over foreign attachment led to North Carolina being without courts for several years. The episode further discusses how these experiences later influenced the Constitution.

This is the second episode in a podcast series celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence by exploring the colonies’ grievances against King George III. Grievances 3 and 4 address the King’s interference with colonial legislatures’ ability to create legislative districts to accommodate new settlers and the King’s convening of colonial assemblies in unusual places as a means of coercing them to comply with his orders
In addition to providing background on the grievances, the episode examines how they may have influenced the Framers when they drafted the Constitution at the Federal Convention in 1787. In particular, the episode considers how the Framers sought to prevent the federal government from interfering with state legislatures’ work and discusses how the Framers attempted to prevent the President from interfering with Congress’s work.