The subtitle for “Amend,” the new Netflix documentary series, is “The Fight for America.” It’s an apt description in many ways, both in the evolution of the U.S. Constitution that the six-part season describes — and in how those advances are understood in the present day.

Hosted by Will Smith, “Amend” presents a concise history of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment. Ratified in 1868, its first section spans just 80 words, but contains provisions for due process and equal protection that have become an engine for change across any number of areas of American life. To help make an overview of those shifts both powerful and accessible to the wide variety of potential Netflix viewers, figuring out how exactly to approach this expansive timeline was one of the project’s core challenges.