This past year marked the Bicentennial of the Constitution and the culmination of Project ’87. Since its inception a decade ago, this joint project of the American Historical Association and the American Political Science Association has produced an array of materials and activities to enhance education and public understanding of the United States Constitution.
As we expected, production of all materials will be completed by mid-year 1988. The distribution of the materials, begun as early as 1982, continues and is most likely to extend into the era that marks the Bicentennial of the Bill of Rights, 1989-91.
Publications
this Constitution: A Bicentennial Chronicle, Project ’87’s quarterly magazine, continues to be well received and regarded as a major source on constitutional history and a resource for educational and public programs devoted to the Constitution. The collection of essays from issues no. 1 through no. 12, published by Congressional Quarterly Press under the title this Constitution: Our Enduring Legacy, sold out its first edition of 4,000 copies. A second edition was published last spring.
Essays from issues no. 13 through no. 18 will be collected in a second hardcover volume to be published by Congressional Quarterly Press this coming fall. The volume will focus on the Constitutional Convention, ratification, the establishment of the Federal government, and the Bill of Rights. CQ Press will publish an accompanying teacher’s guide featuring selections on civil rights and liber ties from Project ’87’s book Lessons on the Constitution and will distribute the “Bill of Rights” poster from the Blessings of Liberty exhibit in order to encourage the adoption of the book in high school history and government courses.
Subscriptions for this Constitution continued to be ordered and renewed by individuals throughout 1987. There were 1,102 paid subscriptions at the end of 1987. The United States Information Agency also continued to distribute the magazine to some sixty-five countries; the Agency purchased 1,186 subscriptions to issues 14-18.
Project ’87 provided the special issue dedicated to the Constitutional Convention, Summer 1987, to 700 local Bicentennial Commissions. (this Constitution is received by all State Bicentennial Commissions and by the 350 local commissions that continue to have active projects.)
Issues of the magazine were widely distributed to schools, colleges, and civic groups for their 1987 programs. Additionally, several organizations reprinted the “Chronology of Bicentennial Dates” and individual articles.
The distribution of the collection of Lessons on the Constitution expanded in 1987. The Copernicus Society ordered an additional 10,000 copies (30,000 in all) in order to provide at least one copy to every secondary school in the United States. The United States Information Agency printed an additional 2,500 copies of Lessons to meet the continuing demand for the book from teachers and lawyers in other countries.
A collection of lessons based on the documentary essays featured in this Constitution will be developed in 1988-89. The editor, John J. Patrick, and the James Madison Fellow who will write the lessons, found themselves too much involved in Bicentennial programs to prepare these lessons in 1987 as originally planned.
Television Assisted Courses
Two instructional television series are being completed and will be available in 1988. “The Constitution Project,” hosted by Bill Moyers and intended for secondary school students, is a six-part series produced by the Agency for Instructional Technology. Thirty-four states have contributed funds to this project.
The second course is designed for college students, particularly those who are “distant learners.” The course includes five half-hour television programs, a course guide and an anthology of readings.
A Poster Exhibit
The exhibit, THE BLESSINGS OF LIBERTY, has been distributed widely. Over 4,500 exhibits have been purchased by organizations and individuals throughout the United States as well as overseas (US Army bases and consulates).
The James Madison Fellowship Program
In 1986 twenty school teachers were selected as James Madison Fellows under a special program funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Fifty more fellows were selected in the 1987 competition. The fellows participated in summer seminars at the University of California, Berkeley and Indiana University and have been actively engaged with school and community programs.
Blanche Y. Able, Saluda, SC; Karen Allen, Thermopolis, WY; Cynthia Alperin, Weslaco, TX; Sue Babcock, Missoula, MT; Lois J. Barnes, Versailles, KY; Norman Bigham, Smyrna, GA; Eva J. Brown, Chicago, IL; Russell Carrier, Northhampton, MA; Walter Christofferson, Kenosha, WI; Tim Cullen, Hawthorne, NJ; George Dillow, Troy, OH; Ross Duran, Lake Oswego, OR; Greenwood Edney, Asheville, NC; Carole Eiserloh, San Francisco, CA; Carol Enseki-Miller, Sante Fe Springs, CA; Barry Fein, Staten Island, NY; Stephen Feinberg, Concord, MA; Pat Flinn, Dayton, OH; Grace Gamradt-McGarvie, Plymouth, MN; Howard Gluff, Muncie, IN; Mary Anne Harper, Sarasota, FL; Brent E. Heath, Upland, CA; Bernard Hollister, Glenn Ellyn, IL; Dorothy Hood, Plainfield, NJ; Barbara Hubert, Wichita, KS; Rita Ja cobs, West Nyack, NY; Reuven Ralph Jaffe, San Francisco, CA; Elnora Johnson, Lake side, AZ; Andrew L. Kahn, Wyomissing, PA; Bela Kissh, Lutherville, MD; Elliott H. Kraut, Easton, CT; Jan Leander, Moscow, ID; Donald Leonard, Providence, RI; Ronald Levitsky, Northbrook, IL; Andrea S. Libresco, Westbury, NY; Karen Coston Lucas, Christianburg, VA; Judy McGovern, Tiburon, CA; Jim Perry, Lincoln, NE; Julia Brady Ratliff, Tulsa, OK; Angela Rinaldo, Littleton, CO; Mildred F. Robinson, Niagara Falls, NY; Donald V. Salvucci, Brockton, MA; Richard Schubart, Exeter, NH; Judy Smitherman, Montevallo, AL; Deborah Nelson Snow, Grand Rapids, MI; Steven Teel, Hercules, CA; Frank Toler, Bailey, CO; Marion Thompson, Pittsburgh, PA; Joy Viselli, Apple Valley, CA; Corinne F. Wright, Nashville, TN.
Constitutional Forums and Conferences
The Constitutional Forums were designed to be yet another grass roots public program. They are a joint effort of Project ’87 and the League of Women Voters Education Fund. During the Bicentennial era, 1987-1991, there will be considerable interest in fostering discussions of constitutional principles and their application to current controversies. Project ’87 and the LWVEF proposed to address this need by producing video cassettes featuring prominent scholars and public officials discussing constitutional issues in a public forum.
Two forums took place in 1987, one in Philadelphia in May and the other in a Virginia community in October. The first forum was anticipated back in 1977. In that year, Richard B. Morris, co-chair of Project ’87, secured a commitment from Hobart Cawood, Superintendent of Independence National Historic Park, for facilities for a Project ’87 program on May 24-25-the Bi centennial of the opening of the Constitutional Convention. A Constitutional Forum, devoted to the theme of “The Courts and the Constitution: Text, Original Intent, and the Changing Social Order,” was scheduled for Sunday evening, May 24, 1987. The executive director and staff of WE THE PEOPLE: 200 recommended that the forum be held in the auditorium of the Federal Reserve Bank, and made it possible for us to use this space. For this forum it was appropriate to select panelists from the judiciary, particularly judges who hear cases on appeal, when issues of constitutionality are raised. Nonetheless, we wanted to be sure to include a participant who could frame the issues in a larger political context. The resulting panel included: Robert H. Bork and Patricia M. Wald, from the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and Shirley S. Abrahamson, Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of Wisconsin. Jack Peltason, Chancellor of the University of California, Irvine and a noted scholar of constitutional law and judicial politics, also joined the pan el. Sander Vanocur, ABC News, accepted an invitation to serve as the moderator. The Federal Reserve Bank Auditorium was filled to its capacity of 250 seats for the forum. A video cassette and discussion guide for this forum are now available.
The subject of the second forum lent itself to a broader range of perspectives. This forum, dedicated to an investigation of the design of government, was meant to honor James Madison and was titled, “Mr. Madison’s Constitution and the Twenty-first Century.” The site selected for the forum was Phi Beta Kappa Hall at the College of William and Mary and the date was Sunday, October 11.
At the October forum, we sought to provide not only a scholarly view, but also the views of a journalist and a former public official. The panel we composed include: Shirley M. Hufstedler, former Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare; Austin Ranney, Chair of the Department of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley; Hedrick Smith, New York Times; and Eddie Williams, President of the Joint Center for Political Studies. Cokie Roberts, National Public Radio, agreed to moderate the forum. Five hundred people came to Phi Beta Kappa Hall for the forum. A video cassette and discussion guide for the “Madison Forum” are in the final stages of production. The Constitutional Forums were supported by a grant from the Ford Foundation.
The cassettes of the forums, accompanied by discussion guides, offer a resource to civic groups, libraries conducting reading discussion groups and schools, and those who wish to conduct small group discussions of the issues confronted by the forums’ participants. Hence, our objective in videotaping the forums was to provide for a “narrow cast” distribution for intensive audience use (in contrast with reaching a general audience through conventional television broadcasting).
For the Constitutional Forum project, Project ’87 had the primary responsibility for identifying the content and participants, and overseeing production of each forum. Project ’87 and the LWVEF shared the responsibility for selecting the sites of the forums and for inviting an audience from the local com munity. In this regard, the LWVEF worked with the chief officers of the League chapter where a forum was held.
In 1988 and after, Project ’87 will assure the continuing distribution of the video cassettes. Each participating organization is now committed to promoting the distribution and adoption of the project’s materials.
Each Forum was accompanied by a scholarly conference. In Philadelphia the conference followed the forum on May 25 and explored the same themes. The major papers presented that day were:
“What is Constitutional Interpretation The Founders’ Views” by H. Jefferson Powell, Yale University Law School
“Accountability to What? Accountability to Whom?” by Sanford C. Levinson, University of Texas Law School
The October conference followed a very different format, while once again addressing the theme of the forum it accompanied. A panel of distinguished scholars addressed the issue of “Mr. Madison’s Constitution and the Twenty-first Century” in a series of sessions that began on October 10 and concluded on October 12. The panelists’ presentations and discussions were recorded and transcribed and will be edited.
Services
Project ’87 has been a major resource on the US Constitution for the various divisions of the national Commission on the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution and also for the state and local Bicentennial Commissions. Project ’87 staff attended the national meeting of State Bicentennial Commission representatives and national organization leaders hosted by the Bicentennial Commission on February 5-6, 1988.
Announcements about Project ’87 were featured in several education and library journals. In addition, a special issue of Humanities (the magazine of the National Endowment for the Humanities), devoted to constitutional scholarship and programs, featured an essay on Project ’87.
This past summer, the magazine and book of Lessons were used, as before, in an array of summer seminars for secondary school teachers and college faculty supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Robert A. Taft Foundation, and the Bicentennial Commissions.
Project ’87 staff were consulted by directors and staff of civic education and media projects. In particular, reporters from the Christian Science Monitor and newspapers in St, Louis, Orlando, and Philadelphia drew upon essays in this Constitution for special series on the Constitution.
Completing and Evaluating Project ’87 in 1988
In the coming year, all of the projects, publications and television programs will be completed and distributed. We will be able to assess the utility of the specific materials and of the particular design of the overall program.
We will conduct a special survey of readers of this Constitution and a more qualitative survey, via interviews of users of Lessons on the Constitution and THE BLESSING OF LIBERTY. We will also monitor other national programs, notably those of the American Bar Association and the Center for Civic Education as well as a selection of state, university, and local programs to determine how these have drawn upon Project ’87 and how their impact compares with that of Project ’87.
Needless to say, the sponsors of Project ’87—the American Historical Association and the American Political Science Association—will continue to distribute the publications and video cassettes after 1988. Each association will also intensify education programs and services, particularly for pre-college teachers. Their considerable enthusiasm for Project ’87 and for working with scholars has encouraged these efforts.
