Ask Americans what the Constitution's most important feature is, and most will say it's the guarantees of liberty enshrined in the Bill of Rights.  In this episode, Peter Sagal

explores the history of the Bill of Rights, and also takes on several stories ripped from the headlines, involving freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and right to privacy. Let's take a closer look and see how freedom is defined for "We the People" as well as you the citizen.  

In the wake of the Civil War, three amendments were added to the U.S. Constitution. The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery, the Fourteenth Amendment made freed slaves citizens of the United States and the state wherein they lived, and the Fifteenth Amendment gave the vote to men of any race. During this time, the nation struggled with what role four million newly freed slaves would assume in American life. With the triumph of the Radical Republicans in Congress, the Constitution was amended to grant full citizenship to former slaves and promise them equal treatment under the law, a promise that took more than a century to fulfill.