NEH Program Description
James Madison and Constitutional Citizenship
James Madison's political biography encompasses the stages of development, establishment, and maintenance of the American constitutional enterprise. The NEH Workshop, James Madison and Constitutional Citizenship, will review Madison's life through six phases, described below, that serve as a window into America's founding, linking political history and constitutional theory.
Examining these phases of Madison's life will provide participants in the NEH Landmarks Workshop with a profound understanding of the new vision of constitutional citizenship that is the foundation of the American nation. The six phases of Madison's life will be treated separately, one per day. Each morning will include a lecture, followed by discussion, conducted by a variety of faculty members.
The Workshops will include a strong focus on primary documents. Selections from Madison's written record will be used as evidence of his political ideas taking shape and being shared with others. They
demonstrate Madison's awareness of the Constitution-making process-a process that includes much more than simply drafting a foundational text. This genesis of the American Constitution also remade the role and concept of citizenship. The new conceptualization of citizenship will be examined through the use of present-day documents outlining standards for civic and democratic education. All reading materials associated with the Workshops will be provided.
The Six Phases of Madison's Life
Phase I: Madison’s Formative Years
Intellectual and Political Preparation [1751-1785]
Madison employed an organized plan of study, reflection, and writing in the constitution-making process. He acquired knowledge beyond his own reflections, developing a mastery of fundamental ideas. At the same time, Madison gained an understanding of practical politics and human nature through his governmental service in Virginia and in the Continental Congress. Both his scholarship and understanding of politics are crucial to his preparation, and both will be examined for insights into a contemporary model of constitutional citizenship.
Phase II: The Young Political Actor
Designing and Drafting [1768-1787]
At the time of the Constitutional Convention, Madison was persistently engaged in creative planning as well as pragmatic compromise. More than any other framer of the Constitution, he mixed talents for advocacy and cooperation to produce creative solutions.
Phase III: The Federalist Papers
Interpretation and Advocacy [1787-1788]
The Federalist is a work of political advocacy that represents an extraordinary act of interpreting an as-yet non-existing political world, establishing the America theory of constitutionalism in advance of its implementation.
Phase IV: The Bill of Rights
Revisions and Accommodations [1789]
Madison deployed the concept of constitutional amendment, as a member of the House in the first Congress, conceiving an innovative Bill of Rights, adapted to the “Constitution,” that acknowledges and protects liberties beyond those implicated by the form of government itself.
Phase V: Madison’s Executive Years
Institutionalization and Incumbency [1801-1817]
The fleshing-out of the Constitution’s “bare bones” was well underway by the conclusion of Madison’s 16-year tenure in the executive branch. His career reflected both the Constitution’s constraints and possibilities regarding the duties of Secretary of State and President.
Phase VI: The Statesman Retires
Memory and Consolidation [1817-1836]
Madison’s work preparing the detailed record of the deliberation in the Convention of 1787 provided an unprecedented record of the creation of a new form of government. It also consolidated the Constitution as a document rounded in debate and discussion, and open to future changes, rather than as a final decree by founders to citizens.
Scholars
Hunter R. Rawlings III, President Emeritus and Professor of Classics at Cornell University
Susan Leeson, Retired Associate Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court
Will Harris, Principal Scholar, Center for the Constitution, and Political Science Professor at the University of Pennsylvania
Ralph Ketcham, Professor of History and Political Science Emeritus, Maxwell School at Syracuse University
John Kaminski, Director of the Center for the Study of the American Constitution, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Noah Pickus, Director, Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University, where he teaches at the Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy and the Fuqua School of Business
Afternoon Sessions at Montpelier
Guided by Montpelier’s professional staff, you will explore one of the principal sites of the American founding and witness history re-emerging through the landmark restoration of James and Dolley Madison’s Montpelier. Afternoon activities will include:
“Connecting the Historic Landmark with an Institution to Advance Civic Education: Montpelier and the Center for the Constitution,” by Michael C. Quinn, President of The Montpelier Foundation.
“Interpreting the Montpelier Mansion.” This session will feature a detailed tour of the mansion, including Madison’s library on the second floor, where he drafted his series of “Notes” that critically reviewed previous political systems and the first-floor study where he prepared his Notes on the Federal Convention at the end of his life. An interpretive presentation of the material culture of the mansion will be made by Lynne Hastings, Vice President for Museum Programs for Montpelier.
“The Architectural Investigation of the Montpelier Mansion.” An examination of how the investigation’s results have been used in the restoration of the Madison-era mansion, to be led by John Jeanes, Montpelier’s Director of Restoration. (This 18-month investigation received both the 2003 James E. Buchanan Award by the Vernacular Architecture Forum and the 2003 Annual Preservation Award by the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities.)
“Uncovering the Past.” A session focusing on current archeological projects at Montpelier, during which the members of the Workshop will participate in one of the on-going digs, by Matthew Reeves, Ph.D., Director of Archaeology, and his staff. (Reeves is currently editing and preparing contributions to a volume, accepted for publication by the University Press of Florida, Montpelier: The Archeology of the Madison Family Plantation.)
“Montpelier’s Enslaved Community.” An examination of the life and communities of the enslaved persons at Montpelier, by Beth Taylor, Ph.D., Montpelier’s Director of Education.
“The 18th-Century Landscape of Montpelier.” Presented by Sandy Mudrinich, Horticulturist at Montpelier. Workshop participants will tour Montpelier’s fields, forests, and formal gardens.
“The Gilmore Cabin and Freedman’s Farm.” This session will emphasize the transition from slavery to citizenship with an emphasis on the need to establish the economic and social place of emancipated persons in the broader community of American citizens. Presented by Dr. Matthew Reeves.
