About the Event

We often hear that we live in the most politically polarized time in American history. It’s often thought that James Madison actually designed the system to thrive on this kind of conflict; to keep power decentralized and people free. In this lecture, however, Colleen Sheehan will argue that Madison had a rather different idea, and that he had a vision for a robust “civic friendship” that we can still learn from…to the benefit of our world today.

About the Speaker

Colleen Sheehan is currently on leave from Villanova University to serve as Visiting Scholar in Conservative Thought at the University of Colorado, Boulder. She is the director of the Ryan Center for Free Institutions and the Public Good, and she has served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. She is also the author, most recently, of The Mind of James Madison: The Legacy of Classical Republicanism.