Our Constitution

This is the thirteenth episode in a podcast series celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence by exploring the colonies’ grievances against King George III. In late December 1775, Parliament passed the Prohibitory Act, which barred “all manner of trade and commerce” with the colonies during the “continuance of the present Rebellion.” The act provided that all ships of the colonies or ships of other countries attempting to trade with the colonies along with their cargoes would be subject to forfeiture to the King “as if the same were the ships and effects of open enemies.” This episode explores Grievance 16 and how the Framers’ experiences with the Prohibitory Act and other restrictions on colonial trade contributed to provisions of the Constitution that facilitate American trade, including by providing Congress with exclusive or plenary authority over commerce among the states.

This is the twelfth episode in a podcast series celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence by exploring the colonies’ grievances against King George III. Grievance 15 addresses Parliament’s 1774 Administration of Justice Act, which authorized the Massachusetts governor (or lieutenant-governor in his place) to move capital trials of British officials, and those working at their direction, to England. Enacted in response to the Boston Tea Party, the Act reflected Parliament’s increasing concern about colonial hostility to British civil and military personnel stationed in Massachusetts. This episode explores how our Constitution addresses federal and state court jurisdiction over crimes.

This is the eleventh episode in a podcast series celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence by exploring the colonies’ grievances against King George III. Thomas Jefferson attributes seventeen of the grievances in the Declaration of Independence to King George III exclusively, and ten to King George and Parliament. The first of these ten, Grievance 13, charges that Parliament, which Jefferson refers to as the “others,” has no authority over the colonies. Consequently, the King’s implementation of Parliament’s laws in the colonies is an act of tyranny. The Framers of the Constitution debated the extent to which the British Parliament should serve as a model for the new Congress and avoided Parliament’s problems of virtual representation and rotten boroughs by providing under the Constitution for a census and redistricting every ten years.

This is the tenth episode in a podcast series celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence by exploring the colonies’ grievances against King George III. After General Thomas Gage, the commander of British forces in North America, was appointed royal governor of Massachusetts and placed Boston under martial law, many Americans believed that the Crown had upended the proper structure of government by making military authorities superior to civil officials. This episode explores the intellectual and historical roots of Grievance 12 and its role in shaping America’s later constitutional structure.

This is the ninth episode in a podcast series celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence by exploring the colonies’ grievances against King George III. In colonial America, peacetime standing armies were often viewed as tools that monarchs could use to wield power over the populace rather than protect the people’s security. This episode examines the source of that view; Grievances 11 and 14, which alleged that the King kept armies in places in Boston and quartered troops among the civilian population; and the influence of these experiences on the Constitution.