Montpelier Helps Citizens “Consider the Constitution” with New Podcast and Events
James Madison’s Montpelier is celebrating Constitution Month in September with tours, weekend activities and the launch of a new podcast.
The podcast, “Consider the Constitution,” is produced through Montpelier’s Robert H. Smith Center for the Constitution and hosted by director Dr. Katie Crawford-Lackey. Lackey explained that the new content is part of an ongoing effort to expand the mission of the center, which was originally founded in 2002 to provide immersive constitutional training to professionals such as law enforcement and educators, and to serve a broader audience.
“Now as we expand into public programming, we're trying to really fill this void — not just the need for more constitutional knowledge and education out in the community, but also awareness of the relevancy of the Constitution to people today,” she said. “It's a really exciting moment.”
“Consider the Constitution” will include conversations with experts in a broad range of fields, from scholars to legal practitioners, in an effort to empower citizens to actively take part in democracy.
“Some of the podcast episodes look at more of the historical context of the Constitution, while others look at how would you actually go about exercising some of your rights today,” Lackey said. “For example, there's an episode about the right of assembly, which is part of the First Amendment, but there are a lot of caveats and gray areas in that you have to know what space you're going to be assembling in, what messaging, in order to follow the proper channels to responsibly exercise your rights.”
(Interested in listening? Follow “Consider the Constitution” on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or Spotify.)
In addition to the new podcast, Montpelier will celebrate the throughout the month of September with special tours Sept. 8, 22 and 29 at 2 p.m. Visitors will have the opportunity to explore the house and grounds of the historic site while discussing the origins and legacy of the Constitution.
An all-day Constitution Day celebration will take place Saturday, Sept. 16, and will include family-friendly guided hikes, specialty tours and historic demonstrations by photographers, weavers and the Dragoons Cavalry Regiment. A panel discussion titled “The U.S. Constitution: A Discussion of Rights & Citizenship” will begin at 11 a.m., featuring Dr. Pippa Holloway, Dr. Lynn Uzzell and Dr. Jay Cost, who will answer questions about protecting individual freedoms and the expansion of those freedoms over time.
“When the Constitution was written and the founders were conceptualizing these rights, it obviously did not include as many people as it does today, and it's really been the role of citizens to advocate for their rights,” Lackey said. “This panel will help shed light on, for example, amendments that have expanded voting rights. What have the amendments looked like after the Bill of Rights was added? What was that process? Why was it necessary? And what did that look like in terms of the social movements that accompanied it?”
To learn more about Constitution Month at Montpelier or to register for a tour, visit www.montpelier.org/events/constitution-month.