ConstitutionDAO 2

E Pluribus Unum

Out of many, ONE.

We're all gonna buy the Constitution* (📜, 📜)

(* it will be governed by the people.)

👉 Contribute

Sotheby's has postponed their auction!

We started our fundraising targeting the 👉 copy of the Constitution that was going up for auction. Welp, we've gotta change directions for now. We're still gonna buy a copy of the Constitution and build this DAO!

If you donated to our initial campaign you can stay along for the ride, or choose to claim a refund of your donation:

How You Donated Stay Along Refund
Publicly
Privately
Photograph Courtesy of Sotheby's, Inc. © 2022

Mission

Blockchain holds the potential to significantly democratize and decentralize institutions and communities across the planet. Coders write smart contracts on these censorship-resistant systems, digitizing agreements and incentives, evolving past the legal contract. Pioneers of Web3 use tokens and other mechanisms to directly shape organizations and public goods, replacing nation-state governance that is abstracted and patriarchal. By comparison, although Federal institutions own original printings of the United States Constitution, the public has marginal input in how and where these documents are displayed, or what programming accompanies the exhibit. We're disconnected.

Opaque institutions and collectors control some of the world's most important civic artifacts. We aim to bring these items under a Web3 decentralized governance model. Rather than burying the artifacts away in private vaults our goal is to ensure the objects designed "for the people" are returned to the people, increasing public access, and allowing everyone to learn from the history against the backdrop of the Web3 revolution. We envision a future where spirited debate acts like rocket fuel; a society run on smart contracts but informed by democratic innovations of the past.

Strategy

Our first target is a rare copy of the Constitution printed in the Pennsylvania Herald two days after the Constitutional Convention, representing one of the first times the citizens of America read the document that would later shape their lives, liberty, and social fabric. We have an agreement with the seller, we just need the funding. Our initial fundraising target is $500,000, this amount would allow us to purchase this document and seed our treasury to cover display costs and further acquisition of items. The Constitution is more a process than a static thing, and the initial versions fell short of granting rights equally to African American, women, and indigenous people. Therefore our second target is a rare copy of Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream Speech." We envision a "People's Museum" that travels from location-to-location, paralleled by a metaversal representation.

Ethereum is the perfect place to fulfill our mission. The blockchain enables new means for raising funds, uncensorable and independent of national borders. The tooling and science of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations provides a developing framework for shared coordination. Right now our incorporated nonprofit provides the legal skeleton to interact with real-world artifacts but we're dedicated as a community to pursuing the most decentralized legal wrappers.

Our Story

In November 2021, ConstitutionDAO captivated the world by raising upwards of $47 million dollars in only a week, in order to bid on a very rare private copy of the US Constitution, printed in 1787. The event was a Schelling point, a shared realization that DAOs have the potential for greatness on an exponential scale. Ken Griffin, owner of some of the most influential financial institutions in the world, outbid the grassroots movement. ConstitutionDAO was a cultural moment and it sparked a rush of participation in DAOs and their governance.

The movement underpinning ConstitutionDAO has continued to evolve since the improbable events of November 2021. PeopleDAO adopted PEOPLE as its governance token. Nucleo developed private multisigs. LinksDAO, EmpireDAO, Rewindxyz, and MoonDAO are pioneering what friends on the internet can accomplish together.

A year later, when Sotheby's announced the last copy of the "official" Constitution known in private hands was up for auction, a group who believed in second chances organized a new movement. Despite the bear market, the group wanted to give privacy tech an uncontroversial use case and validate the best side of crypto: the one pushing human civilization forward. Sotheby's postponed the auction for the document indefinitely, prompting UnumDAO to pursue the more capital efficient version of its mission.

FAQ

Who is behind UnumDAO?

UnumDAO was originally incubated by PeopleDAO - the DAO that spun out of the original ConstitutionDAO and adopted $PEOPLE as its governance token. The original core team members are a mix of participants from PeopleDAO, Juicebox, and Nucleo in order to get the movement off the ground (with some help from original ConstitutionDAO members).

The core team on the public multisig for Juicebox has since expanded from launch to include others inspired by the mission and now includes the following:

The public multisig for Juicebox is a Safe and is a 4/8 multisig. The address is eth:0x395d10FB53A99303945C50F81e47EcD217D1103F.

The core team on the private multisig for Nucleo has since expanded from launch to include others inspired by the mission and includes the following:

The private multisig is on Aztec and is a ⅝ multisig. The address is 0x0be2...d1a2, because Aztec is a privacy network knowing the address is not useful. If you are interested in verifying, then you will need an audit key which we are happy to provide.

Additionally, the DAO has received support from stewards from various organizations inspired by the movement including:

How is UnumDAO raising funds?

We are conducting our fundraiser through Juicebox, a public fundraising dapp on Ethereum, and Nucleo, a private fundraising dapp on Aztec. Donors to ConstitutionDAO2 on Juicebox may exchange their NFT for an UnumDAO governance NFT. Donors to ConstitutionDAO2 on Nucleo may choose to mint their UnumDAO governance NFT or receive a refund from ConstitutionDAO2. New members may also donate ETH to receive an UnumDAO governance NFT.

What's with all the names?? ConstitutionDAO2, UnumDAO, WAGBTC, what gives?

The movement to bid on the most recent Constitution up for auction at Sotheby's used the moniker ConstitutionDAO2 because that name resonated most with participants from the original ConstitutionDAO. WAGBTC is an acronym that stands for We're All Gonna Buy The Constitution, a slogan from the original ConstitutionDAO. UnumDAO is inspired by the United State motto E Pluribus Unum, which is Latin for "Out of Many, One."

If I donate, will I have fractional ownership of the artifacts?

Donating to the fundraiser does not give you fractional ownership of the Constitution or other artifacts. You receive NFTs in exchange for your donation, these tokens give you governance rights in the DAO. Unum DAO, Inc. a nonprofit organization, will legally own the document and be the legal counterparty to interact with real world entities. Unum DAO, Inc.'s bylaws are structured such that the organization is to oblige by the votes of those participating in governance via NFT tokens.

The US regulatory landscape provides limited options for a DAO to own real world property and provide corresponding fractional shares in ownership of that property without falling under the category of unregistered security.

The nonprofit is dedicated to pursuing the most decentralized legal wrappers as they arise and will continue to try to lead the way in this developing area of web3.

Will the tokens issued have some value?

As mentioned previously, NFTs as a result of donating to the fundraiser does not give you fractional ownership of the Constitution or other artifacts. These are not securities and should not be valued as such.

Any tradable value has no connection with this DAO. We encourage you to think about this NFT as an investment in democracy, not a financial investment.

I donated privately, where is my NFT?

Private donors will have the opportunity to claim the NFT or get a refund. If private donors choose to stick with UnumDAO, they will be eligible to mint their NFT at https://playground.sismo.io/unumdao 24 hours after they select to stay with UnumDAO.

I donated more than .1 Eth but less than 1 Eth on Jucebox, but only got 1 NFT, why?

The Juicebox interface allows individuals to donate any amount of Eth. If you donate more than a tier (ex. donating 2 Eth for the 1 Eth tier), you will only receive one NFT, and the excess will be credited to your wallet address. We do not recommend anyone do this, because exchanging your credits for NFTs is not an intuitive process. We recommend only donating amounts equal to the desired NFT tier.

How will the artifacts be cared for?

Seth Kaller is a leading expert in historical documents and an advisor to our project. He is consulting us on proper casing, insurance, transport, and custody items. The DAO still has to decide the specifics of its governance. We expect operational details will get handled by an operations team, leaving the DAO to vote on broader strategic decisions like categories of artifacts, location proposals, educational programming, etc.