ISI Faculty Resource Center

At the Lehrman American Studies Center Regional Seminar at Harvard, we explored and discussed the nature of citizenship in the United States from its origins to today. Heather Cox Richardson presented a lecture on the changing role of citizenship during Reconstruction and Joe Fornieri talked about Liincoln's defense of black citizenship as a prelude to civil rights. There also was a discussion about how to teach citizenship in the classroom today. Some of the problems of teaching citizenship in the classroom were the rise of service learning and assessment as well as the presenting citizenship as civics in the educational system. The seminar itself was a terrific experience: I learned a great deal and I'm looking forward to more in the future!

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At the Lehrman American Studies Center Regional Seminar at Amherst, we talked about the role of statesmanship and the Constitution. Hadley Arkes talked about the importance of first principles in the Constitution, while George Nash discussed the education of the Founders. We concluded with a discussion of how to teach statesmanship and the Constiution in the classroom. One of the questions that was raised by one of the participants and that was unresolved was the relationship between first principles and the text of the Constitution. Does the importance of first principles make the text of the Constitution itself irrelevant? If not, then what role does the text have in the Constitution?

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I participated at the one-day Lehrman American Studies Center Regional Seminar at Yale University about “The Founding and Re-Founding” of America

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At the most recent meeting of the American Political Science Association (APSA), the Lehrman American Studies Center sponsored two faculty initiatives: a short course and a working group on the topic of statesmanship and democracy.  Both of these efforts are part of a substantive set of initiatives on the part of the Center to reach audiences beyond its traditional constituency.  It is great to report that both efforts were quite successful.

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In his new book, The Line Through the Heart, Budziszewski attempts to show us how the natural law continues to illuminate the ethical and political dimensions of human existence today despite our best efforts to ignore it.

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Today's summary includes also a brief account of last evening's lecture. 

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Today’s morning and afternoon sessions have been proof of what should not be surprising: the lively and gracious plurality that exists within the conservative movement.

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Our sessions today began with a wonderfully provocative yet compelling lecture from Jay Budziszewski...

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Reflections from the first day of the 2010 Summer Institute.

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It is fitting that the bulk of the Lehrman Center’s 2010 Princeton Summer Institute take place at Princeton’s Nassau Inn.

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