In this episode we’re sharing a live conversation that explores James Madison’s vision for the constitution with Mary Sarah Bilder of Boston College Law School, Robert P. George, of Princeton University, and Jonathan Rauch of The Brookings Institution. Julie Silverbrook, chief content and learning officer at the National Constitution Center, moderates.
This conversation was recorded on February 20, 2026, as part of the NCC’s President’s Council Retreat in Miami, FL.
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This episode was produced and mixed by Bill Pollock. It was recorded by Advanced Staging Productions. With production support from Charles Sahm. Research was provided by Anna Salvatore, Trey Sullivan, and Tristan Worsham.
Participants
Mary Sarah Bilder is Founders Professor of Law and Michael and Helen Lee Distinguished Scholar at Boston College Law School. She has published numerous articles and is the author of three books: Madison's Hand: Revising the Constitutional Convention, which was awarded the 2016 Bancroft Prize in American History and Diplomacy; The Transatlantic Constitution: Colonial Legal Culture and the Empire; and, most recently, Female Genius: Eliza Harriot and George Washington at the Dawn of the Constitution.
Robert P. George is the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. He has served as chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), and before that on the President’s Council on Bioethics and as a presidential appointee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights.
Jonathan Rauch is a senior fellow in the governance studies program at The Brookings Institution and a contributing writer for The Atlantic. He is the author of numerous books, including The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth, The Happiness Curve, and Gay Marriage. His newest book is Cross Purposes: Christianity’s Broken Bargain with Democracy.
Julie Silverbrook is chief content and learning officer at the National Constitution Center where she leads the Center’s content and learning strategy and drives the development and national distribution of its educational resources and programs.
Additional Resources
- Mary Sarah Bilder, Madison's Hand: Revising the Constitutional Convention (2017)
- Mary Sarah Bilder, Female Genius: Eliza Harriot and George Washington at the Dawn of the Constitution (2022)
- Robert P. George, Making Men Moral: Civil Liberties and Public Morality (1995)
- Robert P. George, Natural Rights, the Common Good, and the American Revolution (America at 250) (2026)
- Jonathan Rauch, Cross Purposes: Christianity's broken bargain with democracy (2025)
- Jonathan Rauch, The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth (2021)
- Federalist 10 (1787)
- Robert Tracy McKenzie, We the Fallen People: The Founders and the Future of American Democracy (2021)
- National Constitution Center, What the Founders Meant by Happiness: A Journey Through Virtue and Character
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