All of the programming of the center which involves programs for teachers, police officers, programs for International Groups visiting the area. She is an undergraduate degree from Gettysburg College and a masters in Museum Studies from the Prestigious Program in cooperstown, new york. Today going to talk to us about madison and the lead up to the constitution. I need to seconds to get my powerpoint up. As elizabeth alluded to you cannot have the director of education without talking about the constitution. I amwill follow today is going to do an overview. You could spend two hours on each of these topics easily but we are going to cover things in a broad sense. I do want to point out one of the things we have started to do at the centers offer classes called the constitution 101 series and we get to dig deeper into these topics for about 90 minutes each. If any of these are of interest to you after im done speaking i hope they will be i would encourage you to come back to any of those
Madisons role in shaping the constitution and bill of rights and the influence of his study of history and previous experiences. Director attion montpelier eight this was part ofthe month this was part the montpelier president s day symposium. Ms. Voss we have a tradition at James Madisons monthly a of hosting speakers for a special president s day program. This year, we thought it would be a nice change and important and fun to feature our own amazing staff. Research and just the way we are thinking about things currently at montpelier. So it is my pleasure to introduce our first speaker, emily voss. Emily is the director of education at the robert h. Smith center for the constitution, where we are gathered today, in h. Smithof the Robert Center for the constitution. Fory has been at montpelier six years. All ofresponsible for the programming of the center, which involves programs for teachers, programs for police officers, programs for International Groups visiting the area. She has
President s day. First, sir, explain the significance of that moment thats portrayed over your shoulder there, the swearing in of George Washington. You see the first president being sworn in at federal hall in new york city. This would have been in 1789 in april. How well were the duties and the powers of the office that he was about to step into . How well were they defined at that moment when he was sworn in . They werent defined at all. There was nothing like it in america and really in the world. It was a new experiment of an elected magistrate who would at one point be the head of state like a king but at the same time also sort of the chief executioner of the laws, the chief executive in this case, the chief policymaker. And it wasnt exactly clear where the powers of the legislature and where the powers of the president would be defined. Washington created that office and many of the precedents, many of the things we come to think of as president ial really come down from his ex
Madison. This was part of the annual president s day symposium. Hello, again. Is the sound good . Ok. Im not going to introduce myself. [laughter] i will just kind of start talking. What i am planning to do today is to talk about james and Dolley Madisons lives before they were james and Dolley Madison. Then consider their partnership and how it worked to both of their great advantage, because of it being such a wonderful partnership. So these are the Gilbert Stuart portraits of james and dolley james was secretary of state. Its actually my favorite portraits of the two of them, i think they capture the sort of sense of personality that i see in them. And they have, i think, in large measure sort of created images that we have of them historically. Dolley in her low cut, empire style cut dress with ringlet. Serious, cerebral and brainy with always a strip of hair coming down in the front and the receding spots on each side. He has that from when he was really young, actually. And of co
There had not been anything like it certainly in america, were in the world. Of an a new experiment elected magistrate that at one point would be the head of state like a king, but at the same time also be the chief executioner of the law. The chief executive in this case. The chief policymaker. It was not exactly clear where the policies of powers of legislature in the president would be defined. Created thatally office and many of the president s, many of the things we come to think of as president ial really come down from his example in the office. Age 57 whenof 1789, he took the oath. What were his views at the time about expanding or restricting the power of the office he was stepping into . Washington had already established the idea that civilians should be in control, that we needed to exercise restraint. He knew he wanted the ability to have one Foreign Policy that would number his office. He knew that he wanted to have one military voice in the country that would be in his o