Constitutional Chats Presented By Constituting America

As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, this presents a great time to not only recognize the philosophical foundation of our country but also to admire the sheer beauty of the United States bound by the principles espoused in our founding documents of constitutional self-government. Our guest today has done just that. We are honored to welcome Matt Mehan, author of "The American Book of Fables." In this beautiful book, Matt and his illustrator traveled extensively across the country to reimagine Aesop's Fables for the modern era and to capture the beauty of not only our lands and people but our foundational principles of liberty.

Did you know the phrase "separation of church and state" does not appear in our Constitution? The phrase was used by Thomas Jefferson in a letter to the Danbury Baptist Association in 1802. The First Amendment does guarantee "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." What was the intent of the founders in codifying this in the Constitution? Did they intend to keep religion out of government or rather government out of religion? To help us answer these questions and so many more, we are pleased to welcome Vincent Phillip Muñoz, Tocqueville Professor of Political Science and Concurrent Associate Professor of Law at The University of Notre Dame, as our special guest this week.