Date & Time
This seminar is full. We hope you can join us for an alternate seminar, workshop, or summit opportunity. In 2026, America will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, a document embodying key principles such as unalienable rights, equality, and the consent of the governed. This newly developed three-day program features a historical interpretation session with Thomas Jefferson, lectures by a Declaration scholar, and discussions of Enlightenment influences like Locke’s Second Treatise of Civil Government, alongside later perspectives such as Frederick Douglass’ What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?. Participants will also visit Independence Hall, the American Philosophical Society, and the National Constitution Center.
Thanks to a generous donor, Founding Forward will provide a $150 stipend to every accepted teacher to help offset expenses related to attending a summer professional development seminar, workshop, or summer in 2025. Upon completion of the program, teachers will receive a $150 check to help cover travel, childcare, or any other expenses they might incur.
Accepted teachers receive a scholarship to attend the program, which covers the cost of the program, hotel room, program materials, site visits, most meals, and more.
Pennsylvania teachers will receive Act 48 credit for this seminar.
Speaker:
Rogers M. Smith
Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Political Science
University of Pennsylvania
Professor Smith centers his research on constitutional law, American political thought, and modern legal and political theory, with special interests in questions of citizenship, race, ethnicity and gender. He is the author or co-author of 9 books and numerous articles. His 1997 book, Civic Ideals: Conflicting Citizenship in U.S. History, was a Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History. He received 5 teaching prizes from Yale University, where he taught from 1980 to 2001, and Penn, where he taught from 2001 to 2022. He is a recipient of the Frank J.Goodnow Award of the American Political Science Association, among other recognitions. He was elected as an American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellow in 2004, a Fellow of the American Academy of Political and Social Science in 2011, and a Member of the American Philosophical Society in 2016. Professor Smith served as President of the American Political Science Association in 2018-2019. He was the founding director of the Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy and the co-founder of the Teachers Institute of Philadelphia.
The 3-day weekend summit (Friday – Sunday) will include historical interpreters, a content lecture from a scholarly expert, a faculty-led discussion of relevant primary sources, and an appropriate field study of historic sites, archives, and museums.
Program Schedule (begins Friday at 6:00pm; ends Sunday at 11:00am):
Friday:
– Arrival/Check-in at Liberty Hill
– Orientation
– Dinner
– Evening with Thomas Jefferson
Saturday:
– Breakfast
– Content presentation
– Primary source colloquium I
– Lunch
– Field Study in Philadelphia: Independence Hall, Liberty Bell, APS
– Dinner
– Evening activity at Liberty Hill
Sunday:
– Breakfast
– Primary source colloquium II
– Evaluation
– Departure
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