James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions

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James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions

Princeton University's official program in American political thought and institutions

09/02/2026

Madison's Notes is back with "The Political Philosophy of Mark Twain."

Many recall the Missouri author created some of America's most iconic characters—Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, Pudd'nhead Wilson, and Jim—yet few know that Twain was one of our most incisive political thinkers.

So in Season 6, Episode 4, host Ryan Shinkel interviews Ivan Kenneally, a Twain scholar who wrote for The Hedgehog Review on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

They discuss Huck & Jim's many disguises, Tom's fealty to European escape novels, the con men Duke & Dauphin, technical versus tacit knowledge, Ron Chernow & Percival Everett, the nature of nobility and irony, plus what Twain can teach philosophers & comedians today.

Please enjoy: https://apple.co/3SOdfrU

08/27/2026

Madison's Notes is out with a new episode: "Divining the Past."

Host Ryan Shinkel interviews Anthony Grafton, the Princeton history professor and author of Magus (2023), about conjectural history.

They discuss how Italian humanists stole manuscripts and deciphered old languages, Jesuits argued for a land bridge to the Americas, Renaissance magicians helped create modern science, and much more.

Please enjoy: https://apple.co/4qBjSdE

08/19/2026

Madison's Notes has a new episode: "A Cure for Loneliness."

Host Ryan Shinkel interviews the philosopher Ian Marcus Corbin, program director at Harvard University's Public Culture Project and author of To Arrive Where We Started (2026), about our longing for homecoming and the modern loneliness crisis.

They discuss neurobiology & culture, texts like T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets, Stefan Zweig’s The World of Yesterday, Plato’s Symposium, Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, & Karl Polanyi’s The Great Transformation, and figures from Black Elk to Roger Scruton.

Please enjoy: https://apple.co/4qcXlna

08/17/2026

Some of our Undergraduate Fellows are in England this week. Staying at Jesus College, they are studying the Bible, Plutarch, Shakespeare, and Jane Austen for our annual Convivium at Oxford.

Today, they went on a tour of Oxford University's Bodleian Library, as well as the deer park by Magdalen College.

08/12/2026

Madison Notes has a new episode: "Why the Roman Empire Fell."

To begin Season 6, host Ryan Shinkel interviews Hugh Liebert, a West Point professor and political theorist, to discuss Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

Drawing on Liebert's book, Gibbon's Christianity (2022), they discuss how the historian applied ancient ideas of rise and collapse to religion, and depicted Christianity as a disciplined republic that overcame Rome's decadent polytheism.

Along the way, they examine Gibbon's conversions, essays and memoirs, friendships with Voltaire, Hume, and Burke, sardonic humor, and the love of literary glory that pervades his fascinating life and immortal work.

Please enjoy: https://apple.co/4qcXlna

08/10/2026

This week, some of our Undergraduate Fellows are exploring Greece during our brand new Symposium in Athens.

Today, they were taught about the history and function of the Acropolis from our Executive Director, Adam Thomas, after which they went and visited the ancient temple.

And this is only the beginning of their trip. Much more is in store!

07/22/2026

This week, the James Madison Program is proud to host our summer seminar for high school teachers: Statesmanship in American History.

As supported by the Jack Miller Center (), the group studies American principles and history with Adam Seagrave, Matt Franck (), Diana Schaub, John Dilulio, and Howard Muncy.

Today, the attendees visited the Firestone Library to see early printings of Frederick Douglass' work, including a handwritten letter from John Brown to Douglass.

07/20/2026

Our Seminar on the Principles of American Constitutionalism wrapped up this past weekend.

For a whole week, upper-level high school and rising college students read The Federalist Papers and Democracy in America as they studied liberty and equality in American political life.

We wish our participants all the best as they prepare for the fall semester!

07/08/2026

Congratulations to our Madison Society members who received the Heritage Foundation's 2026 Freedom and Opportunity Academic Prize.

Among those awarded for service in higher education that has advanced key conservative policy goals, the Madison Society members are:

• Carson Holloway, a 2005-06 Visiting Fellow at the James Madison Program.
• Mark W. Bauerlein, a 2010-11 Visiting Fellow at JMP.
• Wilfred M. McClay, a Madison Society Member.
• John D. Wilsey, a 2017-18 Visiting Fellow at JMP.
• Matthew D. Wright, a 2019-20 Visiting Research Scholar at JMP.

https://jmp.princeton.edu/news/2026/madisonians-win-2026-heritage-foundation-freedom-and-opportunity-academic-prize

07/01/2026

Madison's Notes has a new episode: "The Once and Future Republic."

Host Ryan Shinkel interviews Michael Hawley, a political theorist and professor at UNC, Chapel Hill, to discuss Cicero's political philosophy and its impact upon America.

They dig into Cicero's life in a declining Roman Republic, his influence on medieval and renaissance thinkers, and how his works on political liberty inspired a rival intellectual tradition to Machiavelli's realpolitik, from John Locke to John Adams and beyond.

Please enjoy: https://apple.co/4eYIY0P

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Telephone

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Website

http://jmp.princeton.edu/

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