In her new book, We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution , Lepore recounts the long history of attempts to amend the Constitution—sometimes by unlikely figures such as prohibitionists and abolitionists—and builds to her larger point that political paralysis today has made it virtually impossible to force the Constitution to evolve alongside a changing population. I spoke with Lepore on the latest episode of FP Live, which is now available on the video box atop this page or on the FP Live podcast. What follows here is a lightly edited and condensed transcript.

Countries amend their constitutions fairly regularly—just not the United States. The last meaningful amendment to the U.S. Constitution was in 1971, when the voting age was lowered to 18. For legal scholars who are originalists, the fact that the Constitution seems fixed in amber is a source of some pride. Jill Lepore strongly disagrees. “The philosophy of amendment—the idea that we can repair, improve, correct, make amends, mend our ways,” she says, “is central to the founding of the United States.”

Countries amend their constitutions fairly regularly—just not the United States. The last meaningful amendment to the U.S. Constitution was in 1971, when the voting age was lowered to 18. For legal scholars who are originalists, the fact that the Constitution seems fixed in amber is a source of some pride. Jill Lepore strongly disagrees. “The philosophy of amendment—the idea that we can repair, improve, correct, make amends, mend our ways,” she says, “is central to the founding of the United States.”

In her new book, We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution, Lepore recounts the long history of attempts to amend the Constitution—sometimes by unlikely figures such as prohibitionists and abolitionists—and builds to her larger point that political paralysis today has made it virtually impossible to force the Constitution to evolve alongside a changing population. I spoke with Lepore on the latest episode of FP Live, which is now available on the video box atop this page or on the FP Live podcast. What follows here is a lightly edited and condensed transcript.

Ravi Agrawal: You describe how the U.S. Constitution has one of the lowest amendment rates in the world. Why is that?

Jill Lepore: The U.S. Constitution is one of the most influential constitutions in the word. Many national constitutions are modeled on it, inspired by it, derived from it. It has also one of the highest difficulty rates of any constitutional amendment provision in the world.

When the framers drafted the Constitution in 1787, they meant for amendments to