James Madison's Montpelier We The People Fall 2015 | Page 7

FALL 2015

The People and Their Government
“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance,” James
Madison wrote in 1822. “And a people who mean
to be their own Governors, must arm themselves
with the power which knowledge gives.”

nor think tanks can match. He envisions the
Center building bridges between academics and
members of the private sector, public sector, and
civil society.

In early 2016, the Center will unveil a new suite
of residential and online courses addressing
issues like Native American self-governance,
voter redistricting, the legal legacies of slavery,
and constitutional culture in the U.S. Congress.
Seven new online courses and more than 150 new
videos will feature the country’s leading scholars,
educators, and political thought leaders. While
the goals of the Center are forward-thinking, they
remain rooted in the deep, fertile Madisonian ideals
that underpin Montpelier’s mission.

“The place-based, residential experience here is
always going to be the pinnacle. What we hope to
stimulate are kitchen table conversations, where
the public rolls up their sleeves and discusses the
Constitution and how the republic was intended to
function,” he said. “That is the value of blending the
educational and convening power of the Center for
the Constitution moving forward.”

“As Madison once wrote,
liberty and learning lean on
each other,” said Colleen
Sheehan, Ph.D., Professor
of Political Science at
Villanova University, a
constitutional scholar
who lectures at the Center.

Meanwhile, the construction of Claude Moore
Hall’s virtual classrooms and media center will
allow the Center to extend its reach, nationally
and internationally, and
take advantage of the larger
“What we hope to stimulate are kitchen community of adult learners,
program alumni, and
table conversations, where the public
constitutional leaders who make
rolls up their sleeves and discusses the
up its audience. Were he still
Constitution and how the republic was
alive, Madison may be dismayed
intended to function. That is the value of at the passive stance of the
people in today’s government,
blending the educational and convening
power of the Center for the Constitution but he would have been gleeful
about the knowledge and
moving forward.” —Doug Smith
speed of communication made
possible by the digital revolution.

Interpreting Madison isn’t
always straightforward. He
was a political thinker given
to turning issues over in
his mind, considering them
from every angle, and it was precisely this approach
to problem-solving that drove his focus to create a
system based on the balance between realism and
idealism. Perhaps his most defining characteristic
was his radical faith in the ability of people to
govern themselves.

“The kinds of interaction the Center provides
between the ideas behind the Constitution, the
law, and the questions of how