Past Events
February 9, 2021
James Madison Program Black History Month Event
Lucas Morel, John K. Boardman, Jr. Professor of Politics; Head of the Politics Department, Washington and Lee University, and Antonin Scalia, Communications Coordinator, James Madison Program, Princeton University
Ralph Ellison is one of the great names in American literature, and perhaps the greatest of African American novelists. His most famous work, Invisible Man, occupies a central place in the...
December 15, 2020
An Alpheus T. Mason Lecture on Constitutional Law and Political Thought: The Quest for Freedom
Lynne V. Cheney, Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute, and Allen C. Guelzo, Senior Research Scholar in the Council of the Humanities; Director of the James Madison Program Initiative on Politics and Statesmanship, Princeton University
November 30, 2020
The Annual Herbert W. Vaughan Lecture on America’s Founding Principles
Michael J. Sandel, Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government, Harvard University, and Robert P. George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions, Princeton University
A conversation on The Tyranny of Merit: What's Become of the Common...
November 18, 2020
Nicholas A. Christakis, Sterling Professor of Social and Natural Science, Yale University, and Robert P. George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions, Princeton University
Professor Christakis is a leading authority on contagions, both biological and ideological. He has been a very important voice in ensuring that consideration of COVID-19 is fact-based and rooted in...
Cosponsor: The Elm Institute
November 13, 2020
An Alpheus T. Mason Lecture on Constitutional Law and Political Thought: The Quest for Freedom
William Allen, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Michigan State University, and Paul O. Carrese, Director, School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership, Arizona State University
Moderated by Diana Schaub, Visiting Professor, Harvard University; Professor of Political Science, Loyola University Maryland
When George Washington died in December 1799, his comrade in arms in the Revolution, Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee, eulogized the great general and president in the House of Representatives,...
October 29, 2020
Akhil Reed Amar, Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science, Yale University; Brandice Canes-Wrone, Donald E. Stokes Professor of Public and International Affairs and Professor of Politics, Princeton University; and Bradley A. Smith, Josiah H. Blackmore II/Shirley M. Nault Professor of Law, Capital University Law School
Moderated by Allen C. Guelzo, Senior Research Scholar in the Council of the Humanities; Director of the James Madison Program Initiative on Politics and Statesmanship, Princeton University
In addressing the question of whether or not the Constitution is up to the task, the panelists will explore the following:
What are the constitutional results of neither presidential candidate...
October 6, 2020
An America’s Founding and Future Lecture
Saikrishna Bangalore Prakash, James Monroe Distinguished Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law, and Keith E. Whittington, William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Politics, Princeton University
Moderated by Matthew J. Franck, Associate Director, James Madison Program, Princeton University
September 17, 2020
James Madison Program Constitution Day Event
John O. McGinnis, George C. Dix Professor of Constitutional Law, Pritzker School of Law, Northwestern University, and Robert P. George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions, Princeton University
Stated most generally, the purpose of a constitution is to serve the common good of a political society. How does the Constitution of the United States serve the common good of the America polity and...
Princeton University Constitution Day Lecture
Keith E. Whittington, William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Politics, Princeton University
Freedom of speech was a work in progress in the United States in the 19th century. A right to freedom of speech was enshrined in American constitutions, but the scope of that freedom still not well...
Cosponsors: Program in American Studies, Program in Law and Public Affairs, James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions
July 9, 2020
An America’s Founding and Future Lecture
Rev. Eugene F. Rivers, III, Founding Director, Seymour Institute for Black Church and Policy Studies in conversation with Robert P. George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions, Princeton University
Following the recent killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and others by law enforcement officers, the reform of policing practices and police departments themselves has moved to the front burner...