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Celebrate America’s 250th anniversary year with America’s Founding, the National Constitution Center’s dynamic new permanent gallery opening Friday, February 13, 2026—just in time for a special Presidents Day weekend. This immersive experience takes visitors on a journey from the colonies’ rising tensions with Great Britain through the drafting, ratification, and adoption of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Featuring rare artifacts and hands-on digital interactives, the gallery brings to life the debates over liberty, equality, and government by consent that shaped the nation’s earliest chapters.
As visitors explore five thematic sections—Declaring Independence, The American Revolution, Creating the U.S. Constitution, Ratifying the Constitution, and Drafting the Bill of Rights—they’ll encounter artifacts that illuminate the founding era. From Thomas Paine’s Common Sense and Elizabeth Drinker's wartime diary to a rare first official printing of the Constitution, America’s Founding reveals how a bold experiment in self-government was launched. Learn more
Image credit: Greg Harlin, Wood Ronsaville Harlin, Inc.
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Debate at America’s Town Hall
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The Constitutional Legacy of Justice Robert Jackson
Monday, December 8 | Noon ET
John Q. Barrett, discoverer and editor of Robert H. Jackson's acclaimed book That Man: An Insider's Portrait of Franklin D. Roosevelt and writer of the popular blog The Jackson List, joins author and constitutional scholar Gerard Magliocca, author of The Actual Art of Governing: Justice Robert H. Jackson's Concurring Opinion in the Steel Seizure Case, and G. Edward White, author of Robert H. Jackson: A Life in Judgment, to discuss the Justice’s influential concurrence in Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, his approach to constitutional interpretation, and the lasting legacy he left on debates over presidential power. Learn more
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William F. Buckley and the History of American Conservatism
Thursday, December 11 | Noon ET
Matthew Continetti, author of The Right: The Hundred-Year War for American Conservatism, joins prize-winning biographer Sam Tanenhaus to discuss Tanenhaus’s new book, Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America, and to trace American conservatism’s evolution from the Progressive Era, through the rise of William F. Buckley Jr., to today. Learn more
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Family-Friendly Winter Break Programs
Friday, December 26–Sunday, December 28
Don’t take a break from learning this winter—head to the National Constitution Center for engaging family-friendly programs and activities! During Winter Break, visitors to the National Constitution Center can explore how “We the People” have truly shaped our nation’s history, making our Constitution more inclusive. Learn more
Button Building
10 a.m.–3 p.m., Kenneth C. Griffin Great Hall
How do you show your support for a cause? Perhaps with buttons, signs, or sashes? Explore examples of symbolic speech at our make-and-take craft tables and create your own button to show support for a cause.
Kids Bill of Rights
10 a.m.–3 p.m., Kenneth C. Griffin Great Hall
What important rights do you think the founders left out? Stop by our craft tables to propose your own Bill of Rights to roll up and take home!
And much more!
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Bill of Rights Trivia Night
Saturday, December 27 | 4:15–6:30 p.m.
Celebrate the season and the Bill of Rights! Join us for an evening of historically themed Quizzo with prizes for the top three teams. Admission and entry to the trivia contest are free, and complimentary food will be available from 4:15–6:30 p.m. You can also enjoy the museum's galleries, including Signers’ Hall, The 19th Amendment, and Civil War and Reconstruction. Beginning at 5 p.m., a cash bar will be available for guests over 21. Learn more
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The Center will be closed on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
Construction is underway for two new galleries coming in 2026. Some museum experiences may be impacted. The Center is currently offering discounted admission to visitors. Learn more about museum impacts and the new galleries
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A Twenty-First Century Framework for Digital Privacy
Dive into one of today’s most urgent constitutional debates: How should we balance privacy and security in the digital age? The latest edition of Constitution in the Headlines pulls from the National Constitution Center’s special project on digital privacy to help students explore how cloud storage, encryption, and global data movement are reshaping Fourth Amendment doctrine. Use this resource to ground classroom conversations in expert analysis, essential questions, and real-world tensions at the heart of modern civil liberties. Learn more
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The Hill: This Thanksgiving, skip the discord and spark civic curiosity
by Julie Silverbrook, Vice President of Civic Education | Read time: 3 minutes
“Thanksgiving has always been more than a meal. From George Washington’s 1789 proclamation calling for a national day of ‘public thanksgiving and prayer’ to Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 appeal for a war-torn nation to ‘set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise,’ the holiday has carried a civic purpose. …” Read more
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Declaring Independence: Why 1776 Still Matters
Run time: 1 hour
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Edward Larson discusses his newest book, Declaring Independence: Why 1776 Still Matters. This book traces the idea of American independence in one pivotal year—1776—and explores why this year continues to hold significance today. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates. Watch now
This program is generously sponsored by Citizen Travelers, the nonpartisan civic engagement initiative of Travelers.
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A More Perfect Union: Inspiring Civic and Civil Conversations Across America
Run time: 55 minutes
Taped at the NCC and produced by WETA Washington D.C., this PBS special features Ken Burns and Sarah Botstein, co-directors of the new major six-part, 12-hour documentary series The American Revolution, and Yuval Levin, director of social, cultural, and constitutional studies at the American Enterprise Institute, in conversation with Jeffrey Rosen and Melody Barnes, executive director of the University of Virginia’s Karsh Institute of Democracy. Watch now
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Eric Foner on Our Fragile Freedoms
Run time: 44 minutes
Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Eric Foner joins to discuss his book, Our Fragile Freedoms, a new collection of essays exploring a range of topics, including debates over slavery and antislavery, the Civil War and Reconstruction, Jim Crow and the battle to dismantle it, and modern debates over the Constitution and how to teach American history. Listen now
Walter Isaacson on the Greatest Sentence Ever Written
Run time: 1 hour, 2 minutes
Best-selling biographer Walter Isaacson joins to discuss his new book, The Greatest Sentence Ever Written, with Jeffrey Rosen. As we approach the 250th anniversary of the country’s founding, Isaacson explores the intellectual inspirations and drafting history of the Declaration’s famous second sentence, which lays the foundation for the American dream and defines the common ground we share as a nation. Listen now
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Silence in Order to Listen
Run time: 26 minutes
Jeffrey Rosen, filmmaker Ken Burns, and scholar Robert P. George explore Benjamin Franklin’s virtue of silence, which he defines as “speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.” Listen now
Justice with Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln
Run time: 36 minutes
Jeffrey Rosen, Professor David Blight, and filmmaker Ken Burns explore how a lifelong love of learning and a desire to promote justice shaped the life of abolitionist Frederick Douglass. He met Abraham Lincoln three times, and those three meetings helped shape Lincoln’s evolving views on emancipation. Listen now
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A primer on treason, seditious conspiracy, and the Constitution
by Scott Bomboy | Read time: 5 minutes
“President Donald Trump’s recent statements accusing six Democratic lawmakers of making ‘seditious’ comments to military and intelligence community members has ignited a debate about free speech and the constitutional obligations of those in service of our country. …” Read more
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