James Madison's Montpelier We The People Spring 2017 Montpelier_WTP_Spring2017_FINAL-1-web | Page 21

SPRING 2017
“We can scarcely be warranted in supposing that all the productive
powers of earth’s surface can be made subservient to the use of
man. A restoration to the earth of all that annually grows on it
prevents its impoverishment.”
—James Madison, “Address to the Agricultural Society of Albemarle”
In the fall of 2016, experts in the fields of conservation, landscape architecture, cultural preservation, and planning met for the first Montpelier Design Congress,
a two-day workshop that explored current and future uses of Montpelier’s 2,650-acre property. Funded through a generous gift from Michael Bills and Sonjia
Smith, the Montpelier Design Congress generated a new interest in James Madison’s role as an environmental thinker and proponent of sustainable agriculture.
Participant and best-selling author of Founding Gardeners Andrea Wulf called Madison “the forgotten father of American Environmentalism,” citing the views he
expressed in his 1818 “Address to the Agricultural Society of Albemarle.” Montpelier will celebrate the 200th anniversary of the “Address” in 2018 with
programs and events focused on Madison’s legacy as an environmental and agricultural thinker.
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