Created Equal: The man who lived according to the constitution — literally

In A.J. Jacobs’ new book, “The Year of Living Constitutionally,” the author and journalist reflects on his lifestyle experiment of living a year according to the U.S. Constitution.

During Jacob’s experiment, he wore the clothes of the time, carried a musket around and even wrote the book with a Turkey feather quill. Other than quirky lifestyle changes, the experiment revealed how little we understand about our nation’s founding document.

He says that over time, our understanding impacted the way Americans’ rights are guaranteed and fulfilled by the government.

Jacobs joined Stephen Henderson on Created Equal on Tuesday to discuss the joys and hardships of his experiment, as well as how Americans can use his findings to inform their political attitudes.

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Guest:

A.J. Jacobs has written four New York Times bestsellers that engage in experiential self-improvement. He says that he wanted to live Constitutionally for a year because most Americans haven’t read the Constitution, and he was one of them.

“Everyone talks about the Constitution and no one reads it. And I think there’s some truth to that — the majority of Americans have not read the entire U.S. Constitution,” he said. “My hope was to get a crash course, and that’s what I hope the book does also, in what is in the Constitution. So, when a politician says ‘Well it’s not constitutional to go fly a kite,’ or whatever they try to claim, that you have a little more knowledge — that you can say ‘Well let’s take a step back and [see] what did it really say.’”

Listen to Created Equal with host Stephen Henderson weekdays from 9-10 a.m. ET on 101.9 WDET and streaming on-demand.