Global Constitutionalism Challenge: Lessons from the MOOC Finale

This concluding lecture of the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) series serves multiple purposes: to thank participants, remind them of the course content, offer advice for further learning, and present a significant challenge.

A Heartfelt Thank You

The instructor expresses profound gratitude to all participants who have completed the extensive MOOC series. While the course is free of tuition and required texts, it demands a valuable investment of time from each individual. This commitment is seen as crucial for the constitutional project, which relies on active participation from citizens in every generation. This includes voting, serving on juries, engaging in public service, paying taxes, and, importantly, listening, deliberating, and understanding the constitutional system. The effort put into this course by participants is a testament to this vital engagement.

Course Recap: The Written and Unwritten Constitution

The course was structured around two books: "America's Constitution: A Biography" and "America's Unwritten Constitution: The Precedents and Principles We Live By."

The Written Constitution

The first half of the course provided a comprehensive tour of the written Constitution, highlighting its organized structure and intergenerational quality.

1. Organization: The text begins with the concept of popular sovereignty ("We the People") and then systematically outlines the branches of government (Article One: Legislature, Article Two: Executive, Article Three: Judiciary), the states (Article Four), and principles of constitutional supremacy, amendment, and ordainment (Articles Five, Six, and Seven).
2. Intergenerational Quality: The amendments, added chronologically as "postscripts," demonstrate the Constitution's evolution over time. This includes the Bill of Rights, the Reconstruction Amendments (post-Civil War), Progressive Era amendments, and 1960s amendments (addressing issues like poll taxes and voting age).

Beyond the Written Text: America's Constitutional Culture

The second half of the course explored how America's constitutional culture extends beyond the explicit text, encompassing four key elements:

1. The Written Text: The foundational document itself.
2. Unwritten Principles of Higher Law: These principles, not always textually specified, are part of the constitutional system. Some are judicially enforceable, while others bind non-judicial actors through legal conscience. This concept of higher, binding principles was recognizable to both Americans and Englishmen at the time of the founding.
3. Governmental Structure and Procedures: This refers to how the society and government are constituted, including protocols and processes. This idea was also well-understood by the British, whose constitution largely defines how their government is organized. The course emphasized entrenched institutional features, some formally legal and judicially enforceable (like separation of powers and federalism), and others more informal but fundamental (like the two-party system).
4. Tools and Techniques of Constitutional Argumentation: The Constitution does not come with explicit rules for its interpretation. The methods and approaches used to read and argue about the Constitution are themselves an integral part of America's constitutional system.

The course aimed to demonstrate how these four elements—the text, unwritten principles, governmental organization, and interpretive methods—are interconnected, with the written text serving as a constant reference point even when exploring broader constitutional concepts.

Advice for Further Learning

For those interested in delving deeper, the instructor offers several recommendations:

• Read the Course Books: "America's Constitution: A Biography" and "America's Unwritten Constitution: The Precedents and Principles We Live By" are affordable and available in libraries and bookstores.
• Explore Endnotes: Both books contain extensive endnotes with references to hundreds of other books and articles, allowing readers to pursue specific interests.
• Read The Federalist Papers: This foundational text is freely available online, in libraries, and for purchase.
• Contact the Instructor: For those who have exhausted these resources and still seek more, the instructor invites them to email him for personalized reading suggestions.

A Challenge: Rethinking Global Constitutionalism

The lecture concludes with a significant challenge to the participants, urging them to consider the future of not just American constitutionalism, but global constitutionalism.

The course began by highlighting the "epically democratic deed" of the U.S. Constitution's preamble, "We the People," which established a democratic world government for the new continent, separated by vast oceans from the old world's monarchies. This vision was premised on isolation and the idea that the "Martians" (external threats like the British, Spanish, and French) necessitated a continental defense system.

However, the world has fundamentally changed:

1. Increased Global Democracy: At the time of the U.S. founding, few self-governing societies existed outside the New World. Today, half the planet is democratic, often modeled on the American Constitution (written constitutions, free elections, free speech, religious tolerance, peaceful transfers of power). This makes the rest of the world "more American" than before.
2. A Smaller Planet: The "vast oceanic moats" that once protected the U.S. are no longer sufficient. Nuclear submarines, intercontinental missiles, and the internet have eliminated geographical isolation.

The instructor poses the question: Should constitutional thinking adapt to these changes? He suggests that just as the original Constitution was a form of "world government for the new world" to address common threats, contemporary global challenges might require a similar approach on a global scale.

He uses the analogy of "Martians" to represent these modern threats:

• Climate Change: Carbon dioxide molecules are "Martians" requiring global governance systems.
• Pandemic Viruses: These necessitate international cooperation.
• International Terrorism: A global threat.
• Nuclear Proliferation: Requires worldwide coordination.

The instructor challenges the audience to consider the possibility of genuinely democratic global constitutional systems, or "world government on a democratic scale," to address these issues. He acknowledges the difficulty of this task, stating that he is likely "too old to figure it out."

He then quotes from the postscript of his second book, emphasizing that "the best ideas may well come from the young." He reminds participants that Madison and Hamilton, key figures in the Federalist Papers advocating for "world government for the new world," were in their mid-30s. He calls upon the current generation to be "Publius 2" or "Publius Jr.," leveraging today's technology for global collaboration to secure the "blessings of liberty" for all humanity.

Final Thoughts and Acknowledgments

The lecture concludes by revisiting the course's opening image, a montage blending the preamble's text with images of historical figures and actions, particularly George Washington. This montage, partly from the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, serves as a reminder of the Constitution's blend of text and embodied deeds. The instructor advises visiting the National Constitution Center for further constitutional experience.

Finally, the instructor shares an image of Bill and Hillary Clinton in the same studio, discussing MOOCs and specifically his book, "America's Constitution: A Biography." This serves to thank the production crew at Yale who made the MOOC possible. The Clintons' interest, he explains, stems from the Constitution's original design for accessibility to ordinary people, a principle echoed by the MOOC itself. The Constitution's project, and public education generally, relies on popular engagement and accessibility. This MOOC is part of an experiment to make education, particularly from institutions like Yale, more accessible and affordable to a broader audience.

The instructor reiterates that the MOOC's success is due to both the crew and, crucially, the participants ("We the People") who invested their precious time. He ends with a final, heartfelt thank you and farewell.