Here is a video series on the U.S.
Constitution for college and high school classrooms and adult learners. It is comprised of
13 one-hour video programs.
Free sign up required for first-time users.
To hear the sound and view video, you should have Windows Media Player, DSL, a cable
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You can download a free copy of the player from here:
Acknowledgements
Video for The Constitution: That Delicate Balance
and the individual lecture descriptions are provided courtesty of Annenberg/CPB.
This site is not affiliated with nor endorsed by
Annenberg/CPB |
Topics
(Select One)
- 1. Executive Privilege and Delegation of Powers
- Can the President's conversations with advisors remain secret when Congress demands to
know what was said? Congresswoman Barbara Mikulski, former President Gerald Ford, and
Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox bring first-hand experience to this topic.
- 2. War Powers and Covert Action
- If the president, as commander in chief, decides to declare war, can Congress restrain
him? Debating the issue are Gerald Ford, former CIA deputy director Bobby Inman, former
secretary of state Edmund Muskie, and others.
- 3. Nomination, Election, and Succession of the
President
- A tangled web of issues is involved in electing a president. Edmund Muskie, former
presidential press secretary Jody Powell, party officials, and others discuss the role of
political parties, the electoral college, and what to do if a president becomes disabled.
- 4. Criminal Justice and a Defendant's Right to a Fair
Trial
- Should a lawyer defend a guilty person? This and other questions are debated by Bronx
district attorney Mario Merola, former New York mayor Edward Koch, CBS News anchor Dan
Rather, and others.
- 5. Crime and Insanity
- Is a psychiatric evaluation precise enough to be allowed as testimony in a court of law?
U.S. Court of Appeals judge Irving Kaufman, Hastings Center president Willard Gaylin, and
others discuss the use of psychiatry in law.
- 6. Crime and Punishments
- Cruel and unusual punishment, from overcrowding in prisons to the death penalty, is
debated by U.S. Court of Appeals judge Arthur Alarcon, Federal Bureau of Prisons director
Norman Carlson, government leaders, civil libertarians, and journalists.
- 7. Campaign Spending
- Do limits on campaign spending infringe on First Amendment rights? Political consultant
David Garth, Washington Post columnist David Broder, Bill Moyers, and others
explore the issues.
- 8. National Security and Freedom of the Press
- What right does the public have to know about national security issues? Former CIA
director and secretary of defense James Schlesinger, former attorney general Griffin Bell,
and others debate the issue.
- 9. School Prayer, Gun Control, and the Right To
Assemble
- A series of events embroils a small town in First and Second Amendment controversies.
Featured are Griffin Bell, former secretary of education Shirley Hufstedler, and civil
liberties counsel Jeanne Baker.
- 10. Right To Live, Right To Die
- Gloria Steinem, Joseph Califano, Rep. Henry Hyde, Phil Donahue, and others discuss the
right to make intensely individual decisions about dying, abortion, personal freedom, and
privacy.
- 11. Immigration Reform
- The rights of legal and illegal aliens to employment and to medical and educational
services are debated by U.S. Court of Appeals judge Arlin Adams, Notre Dame president Rev.
Theodore Hesburgh, and immigration officials and journalists.
- 12. Affirmative Action Versus Reverse Discrimination
- Are quotas based on sex or race unconstitutional? Participants include Ellen Goodman,
former EEOC chair Eleanor Holmes Norton, Washington Post columnist William
Raspberry, and United Federation of Teachers president Albert Shanker.
- 13. Federalism
- How much power the federal government can wield over state and local affairs is debated
in this final episode. Among those featured are Senators Orrin Hatch and Daniel Moynihan
and Columbia University professor Diane Ravitch.
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