Citizenship 101

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At under 8,000 words, the United States Constitution is both the shortest and most important document we’ve discussed on Zero to Well-Read. Always relevant, as it shapes countless aspects of daily life in the U.S., it’s especially timely this week as the Supreme Court delivers major rulings.

It was a real delight to welcome our dear friend and former colleague Amanda Nelson ( Amanda's Mild Takes) back to Book Riot for this conversation about how to approach the Constitution. If you haven’t read it since middle school social studies, there’s a lot that might surprise you.

The best antidotes for political anxiety are information and action.

When you know what the Constitution actually says, you can answer many of the “Wait, is he really allowed to do that?” questions for yourself or at least understand why he thinks he might be able to get away with it.

When you see the numerous accommodations for slavery—the “peculiar institution” the framers acknowledge but never name directly—that were necessary to get southern states to agree to the terms, you see the origin of a dynamic that persists in today’s political debates.

When you understand the powers the Constitution gives to the federal government and the states and the rights it gives to individuals, you can identify paths to resistance, action, and change.

Knowledge is power. It’s an antidote to despair and an inoculation against conspiracy thinking and propaganda. You’ll get a lot of bang for the hour (if that) you spend reading the Constitution, and if you want a companion, Melissa Murray’s comprehensive annotated guide is A++.

This week, we’re doing the homework. Next week, it’s the wine-dark seas with Odysseus and the crew.