My wife and I spent the long Memorial Day weekend visiting museums in Philadelphia. The American history museums are just outstanding. I particularly recommend the National Constitution Center, which has excellent permanent displays and featured special shows on Reconstruction (we saw an actual carpetbag!) and Hamilton.
The permanent display tried to be fair to everyone, but the overall message was clear; following Lincoln, MLK, and Obama, the implicit argument was that the purpose of the Declaration is being fulfilled through the continuing battles to guarantee equality for disfavored groups. The arc of American history, as it were, operates in favor of the inclusion of the powerless.
The show ends, logically enough, with Obama. My reactions were:
- What is this place going to say about Trump? When will that decision be made, and how?
- The difference between originalists and adherents of the living Constitution are essentially the two sides of the arc of history battle. If you don’t believe that American history is a long process favoring inclusion, it makes sense to stop your legal analysis with the Founding Fathers, with just a brief and unfortunate detour to address the Reconstruction amendments. If you do believe in the arc of history, you can’t ignore the 200+ years of experience between 1787 and today. It just wouldn’t make sense.