The National Archives Did Not Flag the Constitution for Harmful Language
The Claim
The U.S. Constitution and other important American documents have been branded with a harmful language alert by the National Archives Catalog.
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Emerging story
In recent days, a number of prominent social media users have highlighted that the U.S. National Archives Catalog website has placed a harmful language alert above the Constitution. Politician Lauren Boebert even claimed that this was an attempt by left-wing politicians to eliminate the Constitution.
These posts have managed to gain significant attention, with some receiving thousands of interactions within 48 hours.
Misbar’s Analysis
The Constitution and other historical U.S. documents have not been singled out for harmful language, as the alert appears on almost every page of the National Archives Catalog website. It is even present on pages that do not relate to a specific document, including the homepage. It is also on every page of the catalog that we researched. The disclaimer is intended to cover the catalog's entirety, with no individual document being labeled as containing harmful language.
The harmful content alert does not appear on the non-catalog National Archives website, which allows individuals to explore the archives with ease. Here is this website’s entry into the Constitution, which explains why the document is important but does not mention anything about harmful language.
The harmful content alert is an effort to ensure that the history of the U.S. is preserved even if it contains dated language that some may interpret as offensive. The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) explains on the site that they “seek to balance the preservation of this history with sensitivity to how these materials are presented to and perceived by users.”
