Summer Programs

The James Madison Program's Convivium at Oxford

Dates: August 20th-26th, 2023
Application Deadline: February 9th, 2023

The Madison Program's Convivium at Oxford is a weeklong seminar series held in one of England's oldest universities for members of the program's Undergraduate Fellows Forum. Participants will read and discuss a variety of philosophical, literary, theological, and scientific texts related to the theme of ambition.

The Convivium will be held at Jesus College, where participants will be housed for the duration of the program.

The deadline to submit an application is February 9th, 2023. Selected students will be notified by February 20th.

Faculty

Shilo Brooks, Assistant Director of the James Madison Program and Lecturer in Politics, Princeton University
Flynn J. Cratty, Associate Director of the Human Flourishing Program, Harvard University

Apply

Applications are now closed. Please email [email protected] if you have questions.

The James Madison Seminar on the Principles of American Politics

Dates: June 26-30, 2023
Application Deadline: February 26, 2023

This seminar for upper-level high-school students and rising college freshmen will be taught as a one-week seminar. Participants will study the fundamental questions of equality and liberty in American political life. What have Americans meant by these principles from the founding to the present? What is their relationship with one another, with political power, with law, and with the private sphere of civil society? Are they in tension or in harmony? Readings will be in primary sources including The Federalist and Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, as well as other basic texts from American history.

The seminar will be held off-campus at the Chauncey Conference Center where participants will be housed for the duration of the program. Opportunities will be available to visit historic Princeton and the campus.

The deadline to submit an application is February 26, 2023. Selected students will be notified by late March.

Faculty

S. Adam Seagrave, Associate Professor, School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership, Arizona State University
Jeffrey J. Poelvoorde, Associate Professor of Politics (retired), Converse University

Program Fee

$250 (includes course materials)

Apply

Applications are now closed. Please email us at [email protected] if you have questions.

The James Madison Seminar on the Moral Foundations of Law

Dates: July 24-28, 2023
Application Deadline: March 5, 2023

This is a one-week seminar for current law students, graduate students who are studying jurisprudence in related fields (e.g., political science, philosophy), and recent graduates still early in their careers. Under the direction of Professor Gerard V. Bradley of Notre Dame Law School, the seminar covers some of the most contested areas of inquiry in legal philosophy today, including legal positivism, practical reason, human good and positive law, morals legislation, pluralism, crime and punishment, property, and rights and duties. The seminar is designed as an intensive weeklong program investigating the relationship between sound norms of critical morality and civil law. Seminar discussions will examine key contemporary legal debates, such as religious freedom and conscience, beginning and end of life issues, and marriage legislation. Sponsored for the last dozen years by the Witherspoon Institute, this seminar is now sponsored by the James Madison Program.

Current law students, graduate students who are studying jurisprudence in related fields (e.g., political science, philosophy), and recent graduates still early in their careers are encouraged to apply.

Faculty

Gerard V. Bradley, Professor of Law, University of Notre Dame Law School
John M. Finnis, Professor Emeritus of Law & Legal Philosophy, University of Oxford; Biolchini Family Professor of Law Emeritus, University of Notre Dame Law School
Robert P. George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program, Princeton University
Adam MacLeod, Professor of Law, Jones School of Law, Faulkner University
Grégoire Webber, Canada Research Chair in Public Law and Philosophy of Law, Queen's University

Program Fee

$250 (includes course materials)

Apply

Applications are now closed. Please email us at [email protected] if you have questions.

Statesmanship in American History

Dates: July 16–21, 2023
Location: Princeton University, Princeton, NJ
Participants: 8th–12th grade teachers
Application Deadline: April 1, 2023

Supported by the Jack Miller Center

In cooperation with the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, and hosted and funded by the James Madison Program, the Statesmanship in American History summer seminar will allow up to 20 high school teachers to participate in a weeklong professional development event on the study of statecraft. The seminar will be taught by Dr. Allen Guelzo, Dr. Shilo Brooks, Dr. Matthew J. Franck, and Nathan McAlister.

Statesmanship, or statecraft, is the pursuit of politics at the highest level, beyond the levels of organization, mobilization, planning, and leadership. In these turbulent and polarized times, Americans need statecraft more than ever, and, more than ever, we need to know what it is, how it can be recognized, and whether it can be cultivated. From George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Frederick Douglass to the present day, we will consider who our statesmen have been, and what our students need to know to understand the difficult art of political statecraft.

Interested 8th–12th grade teachers should complete an application to be considered. Applications will be reviewed by Gilder Lehrman Institute and James Madison Program staff.

Applications are now closed. Please email us at [email protected] if you have questions. Selected teachers will be notified by April 30, 2023.

For more information, please see the Gilder Lehrman website.