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Seven lessons on the original plan for American law: who holds power, how it is divided, and how it is kept in check. Read them in order, in about 51 minutes, and you will understand the plan better than most people who live under it.
Lesson 1 · Start Here
Three words open the Constitution, and they were chosen on purpose. Before the founders built a single branch of government, they settled who owns it.
Begin the series →Lesson 2 · 7 min
Why the founders split power three ways, and the warning they took from history.
Read the lesson →Lesson 3 · 8 min
Separating the branches was not enough. The founders gave each one a way to stop the others.
Read the lesson →Lesson 4 · 7 min
Why the founders chose representatives over direct rule, and how they planned for factions.
Read the lesson →Lesson 5 · 7 min
Two governments over one people: what the founders gave to the nation, and what they left to the states.
Read the lesson →Lesson 6 · 8 min
The Constitution was signed without one. How a public fight added the Bill of Rights.
Read the lesson →Lesson 7 · 7 min
The rule of law, the oath, and the door the founders left open for change.
Read the lesson →Every quotation comes from a primary source, listed at the end of each lesson. History and civics, not legal advice. Want the words themselves? Open the Rights Reader.