Jill Lepore Explores the Governing Change Process: ‘It is So Difficult to Amend the Constitution’

Within her latest publication, titled We the People, the writer presents a comprehensive argument supporting the US constitution being a living text, created to be amended with each succeeding era.

An Deep Historical Analysis of Originalism

Lepore explains how her book is also “a deep historical critique of the originalist approach,” that conservative judicial theory which currently shapes the highest court. She argues that intense partisan division has made constitutional changes all but politically unachievable.

Within originalists, exclusively the intentions of the individuals that drafted the document in Philadelphia back in 1787 ought to serve to divine the document's meaning, including centuries afterward within a country of cars, aircraft, automatic weapons, artificial intelligence, rights granted to females and marginalized groups—issues the framers could not know.

For the historian, as to many scholars, this approach seems plainly absurd.

“The originalist movement represents a weird bucket that holds multitudes,” she remarked. “However among the most reductive versions of this theory is the insistence stating that this the way the constitution was written and intended to be read from the very beginning.”

Historical Background and Secrecy

Lepore highlights how James Madison’s records from the historic gathering weren't released until 1840, long after Madison’s death. She explains how delegates took an unofficial 50-year pledge of secrecy, indicating they weren't supposed to reveal the details transpired at the proceedings because such information was not supposed to influence document understanding.

Similarly, those state convention debates were not especially definitive, while famous Federalist Papers—authored by Madison, Alexander Hamilton, along with John Jay—were printed mainly within New York publications meaning were not broadly read outside that state. They were rarely referenced within the supreme court for a significant period.

Irony and the Conservative Group

Lepore highlights a small but powerful contradiction: In 1982, conservative students established the legal organization, which evolved into an engine behind originalist thought. As a logo, they selected James Madison’s silhouette. But, deeming his actual nose displeasing, they amended the image to give Madison a nicer appearance.

“I truly aimed to put that detail in the book,” she stated, laughing. “This is a funny anecdote that speaks to the flexibility within a movement that professes to value historical authenticity.”

The Amendments Project

Lepore also details the work on a constitutional database, which provides an accessible archive of every effort to change the founding document. As only 27 amendments have actually been ratified, Lepore reframes this not as an archive of unsuccessful attempts but as a study of possibility.

Lepore emphasizes that young people often an awareness of civic possibility, so examining even unsuccessful efforts is inspiring as well as educational.

Historical Figures and Key Battles

Throughout the book, Lepore highlights lesser-known historical figures who campaigned for societal reform. Among these are a Black abolitionist and his wife, Mary Jones, both of whom are prominent in pre-Civil War African American civic gathering movement across the city.

She argues that concentrating upon these individuals—instead of only well-known leaders such as Frederick Douglass—allows readers better imagine ordinary people participating in constitutional change.

A Living Document Made Using the Past

The historian concludes with reinforcing the perspective of the constitution as living document—one created from “historical records as well as natural materials… parchment together with goose feathers” yet nonetheless fully alive and able to evolve.

She expresses optimism that this foundation might still “come again” via coming eras who persist to participate with the amendment process.