NCC Book Launch - Jeffrey Rosen, "The Pursuit of Liberty"

Event Title: "The Pursuit of Liberty": A Book Launch Event With Jeffrey Rosen and Jeffrey Goldberg

Date & Time: Tues., Oct 21, 2025 - 6:30-7:30 PM EDT

• PLEASE NOTE: This is a FREE event, but will be hosted online. Be sure to register in advance to receive the Zoom link: https://constitutioncenter.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_3txoDZtYS22x5SWOV2PIJw#/registration
• Or you can watch it live on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2kCwPqFM54

Cost: FREE

About the Event:
Join National Constitution Center President and CEO Jeffrey Rosen and Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg for the launch of Rosen’s new book, The Pursuit of Liberty: How Hamilton vs. Jefferson Ignited the Lasting Battle Over Power in America (2025). The book explores the clashing visions of Hamilton and Jefferson about how to balance liberty and power in a debate that continues to define—and divide—our country: Jefferson championed states’ rights and individual liberties, while Hamilton pushed for a strong Federal government and a powerful executive. This ongoing tug-of-war has shaped all the pivotal moments in American history, including Abraham Lincoln’s fight against slavery and southern secession, the expansion of federal power under Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, and Ronald Reagan’s and Donald Trump’s conservative push to shrink the size of the federal government.

Rosen also shows how Hamilton and Jefferson’s disagreement over how to read the Constitution has shaped landmark debates in Congress and the Supreme Court about executive power, from John Marshall’s early battles with Andrew Jackson to the current divisions among the justices on issues from presidential immunity to control over the administrative state.

More than ever, the clash between Hamiltonian and Jeffersonian ideals resonates today in our most urgent national debates over the question of whether modern presidents are consolidating power and subverting the Constitution—the very threat to American democracy that both Hamilton and Jefferson were determined to avoid. The Pursuit of Liberty is a compelling history of the opposing forces that have shaped our country since its founding, and the ongoing struggle to define the balance between liberty and power.

About the Speakers:

• Jeffrey Rosen is a professor of law at George Washington University, the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, and a contributing editor at The Atlantic. His previous books include The Unwanted Gaze: The Destruction of Privacy in America (2001), The Most Democratic Branch: How the Courts Serve America (2006), Constitution 3.0: Freedom and Technological Change (2013), and The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America (2024).
• Jeffrey Goldberg is Editor-in-Chief at The Atlantic. During his nine years at The Atlantic before becoming editor, he became known for his coverage of foreign affairs. Prior to this, he wrote for The Washington Post, The Jerusalem Post, The Forward, New York magazine, The New York Times, Bloomberg View, and The New Yorker. He's the author of two books, Prisoners: A Muslim and a Jew Across the Middle East Divide (2006) and On Heroism: McCain, Milley, Mattis, and the Cowardice of Donald Trump (2024).

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