Jill Lepore

And I mean, I don't love them.

A lot of those 12,000 members are horrible ideas, but like, but like they are a record of what people have wanted and not been able to get.

And I,

I just was like, well, maybe that would be an interesting way.

Maybe that'd be an interesting way to tell the story of the Constitution, because so much of how I think Americans think about the Constitution is there's this like, you know, the Ark of the Covenant.

It's the scripture and the sacreds in the National Archives.

Or it's like what nine robed justices say it is.

And so like in law school, I mean, Elizabeth, you might contest this.

My experience is observing how constitutional history to the degree it's taught in law schools really is just like a bunch of Supreme Court decisions.

Yes, absolutely.

Like, you know, it's like on Tuesday, it's Dred Scott.

And, you know, then it's Lochner.

And then we're at Brown v. Board.

Like, that's what the constitution is.

And I, as a historian, I'm like, what about the people?

Like, I...

What?

This is so weird to me.

So I really like the idea of trying to unsettle our notion of what constitutional history is by paying attention to all the things that people have wanted the Constitution to be and often have succeeded in some, to some degree, even without a successful formal Article 5 amendment.

So, yeah, I just kind of wanted to blow that up as a way to also to remind people