Skip to Main Content
Roanoke College Logo Fintel Lbrary
Log in to your account  

Recognizing Constitution Day and Citizenship Day: Fintel Library Resources

Streaming Media

The Constitution of the United StatesThe Constitution is one of the most important and versatile documents ever written. Orderly systems of government, a president who is held accountable by Congress, and brilliantly conceived checks and balances all flow from the Constitution and have served as the backbone for creating and maintaining the greatest nation in history. It has stood the test of time and remains viable and fresh in an age, today, when life is much different than when it was written.

Bill of Rights

Video thumbnail for 154876

Learn what makes the Bill of Rights so important to America! "Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America..." That preface begins the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the Constitution of the United States. When the Constitution was written, certain framers, powerful political leaders of their day such as Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Adams, and Patrick Henry, insisted on adding basic legal protections to ensure individual rights. As a consequence, the first ten amendments were added to clarify the rights of the citizens of the United States of America. These are essential human rights, granted to all of us, that we should know and understand. In this video, they are laid out in very-easy-to-understand language, with comments from noted American political science experts from major universities who help interpret the language of this essential document. In addition, this video includes all the subsequent amendments made to The Constitution of the United States to the present day. These include such important national issues as slavery, prohibition, and the extension of voting rights to all citizens.

Citizen U.S.A.: A 50 State Road Trip

Video thumbnail for 114983

 

Intrepid journalist/filmmaker Alexandra Pelosi – who has built an award-winning reputation with her playful, politically charged HBO documentaries focusing on both the famous (George Bush, Ted Haggard, John McCain, Barack Obama) and not-so-famous (right-wing Republicans, Evangelicals, motel kids in California) – unabashedly waves the flag in this uplifting and illuminating look at the naturalization process in America. Beginning with the swearing-in ceremony of her own Dutch-born husband, Michiel Vos (who produced this and several other HBO films with his wife), Pelosi travels across the U.S. to attend naturalization ceremonies in all 50 states, where she meets brand-new citizens and probes why they inevitably chose America as their home. The documentary intersperses stories of newly naturalized citizens with interviews from notable first-generation Americans, including Madeleine Albright, Arianna Huffington, Henry Kissinger and Gene Simmons. An HBO Production. 

Books