Poster for Constitution USA with Peter Sagal

PBS 2013 1 season 4 eps Ended

Constitution USA with Peter Sagal

2013 1 season 4 eps

7.0

Season 1

No results found

Specials

Season 1

60 min

S1 · E1 · May 7, 2013

A More Perfect Union Episode 1

Peter explores the Constitution’s most striking and innovative feature: its resilient brand of federalism. The framers created a strong national government while at the same time preserving much of the power and independence of the states. This delicate balance of power, seemingly hard-wired for disagreement and conflict, has served America well for more than two centuries. But it has also led to tensions throughout American history and still sparks controversy today over medical marijuana, gun control, and Obamacare.

7.5 · You

60 min

S1 · E2 · May 14, 2013

It's A Free Country Episode 2

Ask Americans what the Constitution’s most important feature is, and most will say it’s the guarantees of liberty enshrined in the Bill of Rights. In this episode, Peter explores the history of the Bill of Rights, and also takes on several stories ripped from the headlines, involving freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and right to privacy.

7.2 · You

60 min

S1 · E3 · May 21, 2013

Created Equal Episode 3

The high ideals of the Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal,” endowed with “unalienable rights,” didn’t make it into the Constitution in 1787. It took three-quarters of a century, and a bloody civil war, before the Fourteenth Amendment of 1868 made equality a constitutional right, and gave the federal government the power to enforce it. The far-reaching changes created by that amendment established new notions of citizenship, equal protection, due process, and personal liberty and today those notions are being used to fight for same sex marriage, voting rights, affirmative action, and immigration reform.

7.2 · You

60 min

S1 · E4 · May 28, 2013

Built To Last? Episode 4

In this last episode, Peter travels to Iceland where a few years after the country’s economic collapse, leaders decided to create a new constitution, turning to the U.S. Constitution for inspiration. This prompts Peter to consider why our own founding document has been able to last for more than 225 years. He looks at the systems that have kept the Constitution healthy--amendments, judicial interpretation, checks and balances —and also at the political forces that threaten to undermine the framers’ vision: excessive partisanship leading to gridlock, money in politics, and gerrymandering.

7.1 · You

4 episodes in Season 1

Some details come from TheTVDB.

CONSTITUTION USA, From New York to San Francisco, from Missoula, Montana to Tyler, Texas, Host Peter Sagal visits people across America introducing viewers to some of today’s major constitutional debates : free speech in the digital age, same-sex marriage, voting rights, separation of church and state, presidential power in the post-9/11 world, to name just a few, and the fascinating stories of the people they affect every day. And for each contemporary story, Sagal dives into the history behind it and talks to prominent legal scholars, historians and public figures, finding out what the Constitution says, the dramatic historical events and crises that defined the Constitution, and why all this matters.

Mini-Series Documentary

Where to watch

PBS Documentaries

Stream

Thirteen

Stream

WETA+

Free

Apple TV Store

Buy

Google Play Movies

Buy

Your rating

Your review

Cast

1 person

Peter Sagal

Self - Host

Also in

Inside Out

BoJack Horseman

Peter Sagal Creator · Stephen Ives Director · Jaime Bernanke Writer

Creator

Peter Sagal

Director

Stephen Ives

Writer

Jaime Bernanke

Total runtime 4h 0m · Episode length 60 min · Type Miniseries

Show info

Premiered

May 7, 2013

Final episode

May 28, 2013

Status

Ended

Network

PBS

Country

United States

Type

Miniseries

Episode length

60 min

Total runtime

4h 0m

Original language

English

Production

United States

Produced in

Languages

Spoken on screen

English

If you liked Constitution USA with Peter Sagal

Picks that share its genres, themes, cast and crew.

HI$TORY

TV · 2019

Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!

TV · 2011

American Experience

TV · 1988

A More or Less Perfect Union

TV · 2020

The True Believers

TV · 1988

Union with David Olusoga

TV · 2023

Some details come from TheTVDB.

You're offline

Recently viewed pages still work. Your changes save locally and sync when you're back.

Back online · syncing