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Language: en

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happy constitution day i'm so glad
you're here to celebrate our shared

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inheritance
the constitution is a tool it's an

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instrument for organizing the powers of
government

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we wield that instrument to shape its
powers into a house for liberty and

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equality now you're making time in your
busy day to celebrate the constitution

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that tells me you understand just how
important it is i'm grateful to you for

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that
the value of our inheritance depends on

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spreading understanding of the
constitution far and wide

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thank you for being here and for all you
do to help

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i'm danielle allen i'm a professor of
political philosophy at harvard and

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director of the edmond and lilly safra
center for ethics i'm a mom i'm the

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author of a book on the declaration of
independence i'm also a lover of our

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constitution
my love hasn't come without a struggle

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like many i've had to wrestle through
the question of how to make peace with

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the constitution's early compromises
around enslavement

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over the last 10 years i've traveled
around the country speaking about my

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love for the declaration of independence
wherever i go i'm always met with the

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same question
how can you love these documents that

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enslavers had a hand in writing
from massachusetts to wisconsin to

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kansas to texas to california i faced
the blinding light of lecture halls and

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pressure from that question they've more
or less merged in my experience

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but thanks to all those great audience
members asking me that question time and

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again i've spent a lot of time studying
up on it

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i've come to understand that in the
debates in philadelphia in 1787 there

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were two sides there was a side ready to
see the end of enslavement was a side

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that wanted to keep it
each side hypothesized that the new

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constitution would hasten its victory
one side was right

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the victory was long incoming it was
achieved only thanks to the hard work

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and personal sacrifice of people from
david walker to harriet tubman to

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frederick douglass to abraham lincoln
to a person these true advocates for

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liberty and equality insisted that the
constitution rested on a basis of human

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dignity therefore it could make sense
only if all humanity could enter its

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house of freedom
they insisted that the statement of

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principle in the declaration of
independence that all people are created

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equal that statement was the only firm
footing for durable constitutional

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government
and so the hypothesis that the

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constitution would support the
perpetuation of enslavement was defeated

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those who hypothesized that the
constitution truly supported abolition

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were validated
thus we inherit an old but durable

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instrument for building and securing the
house of freedom

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it's ours to improve until that house
has light filled rooms for everyone

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it's ours to renovate so that we keep
alive the project of self-government for

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free and equal citizens for generations
to come

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but most importantly it's ours and ours
means all of us we share this

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inheritance
i hope you will carry and spread this

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idea that the constitution is foremost
something that we share everywhere you

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go
enjoy this conversation today you're in

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good hands