Date & Time
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.
These summits are a collaboration between Founding Forward and the Jack Miller Center’s Founding Civics Initiative.
This weekend summit is Act 48-eligible for Pennsylvania teachers.
Speaker:
Jack Rakove, Coe Professor of History and American Studies, Stanford University
Lynn Uzzell, Associate Professor of political Science, Bethel University
Independence Hall, Liberty Bell, American Philosophical Society
The 3-day weekend summit (Friday – Sunday), held in collaboration between Founding Forward and the Jack Miller Center’s Founding Civics Initiative, 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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