The Story of America: What the Constitution Actually Said About Slavery [Ep. 11]
Mar 12, 2026
20:18
forum Ask episode
view_agenda Chapters
auto_awesome Transcript
info_circle Episode notes
On this episode of Our American Stories, The United States Constitution is the oldest written constitution still in force, yet one question about the document continues to shape debates about American history: Did the Constitution support slavery, or did it leave room for the institution to be challenged and eventually abolished?
For our ongoing Story of Us—Story of America series, Bill McClay, author of Land of Hope, examines how the framers dealt with slavery during the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and what the text of the Constitution actually says about our original sin.
Our American Stories