To mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence next July, Michigan State University’s James Madison College has plans to launch summer programs for Michigan high school students and teachers that explore America’s founding principles.
A three-year grant, totaling $1.3 million from the U.S. Department of Education, will fund the James Madison College Academy for Civic Education, or ACE, offering intensive seminars built around primary sources like the U.S. Constitution, Federalist Papers, works that inspired America’s founding principles and pivotal speeches that have shaped American democracy.
The college, often abbreviated as JMC, is among 85 institutions nationwide selected through the American History and Civics-National Activities program and the only higher education institution in Michigan to receive funding.
Five pillars of the American achievement
What sets JMC’s Academy for Civic Education apart is its comprehensive approach. The programming explores five pillars of the American achievement: political institutions grounded in the Constitution, free market principles, statesmanship, citizenship and civic virtue, and the contribution of scientific and technological innovation.
“Programs that narrowly focus only on one or another of these components are missing the big picture,” said Professor Tobin Craig, the initiative lead along with colleagues from JMC’s political theory and constitutional democracy, or PTCD, major. “To really capture the American achievement properly at this important juncture in our history, 250 years into the founding of the nation, we really have to recognize all these constitutive elements.”
This interdisciplinary framework reflects JMC’s longstanding curriculum. Core PTCD courses guide students through the theoretical origins and practical challenges of American constitutional democracy, examining not just what the founders wrote and the texts and ideas that inspired them, but how subsequent generations wrestled with those principles. The curriculum explores competing perspectives to help students see beyond contemporary partisan divisions and to recognize essential tensions in the American political tradition — and in political life more generally.
In 2022, the National Assessment of Educational Progress reported that only 14% of eighth graders scored proficient in history and 22% in civics. The JMC ACE curriculum is designed to address these gaps by helping students and educators better understand the American political tradition.
“The American regime is built around a certain set of claims about what a human being is, what makes for a full human life, and what are the essential responsibilities of government,” Craig said. “If you approach political institutions as if there’s nothing behind them, as if there’s no essential claims being made about who human beings are, what government is ultimately for, what are the limits on political action and why, then the institutions are at best only half understood.”
Five faculty members whose expertise spans the five pillars will develop JMC ACE’s programming and serve as instructors. Craig, who directs MSU’s Science, Technology, Environment and Public Policy minor, serves as project leader. Professors Eric Petrie and Benjamin Lorch will co-lead the high-school student seminars, bringing expertise in classical philosophy and American statesmanship. Professors Brianne Wolf and Jordan Cash — who have already secured external funding and run successful teacher seminars at MSU — will lead the educator programming, drawing on their scholarship in political economy, constitutional history and American institutions.
Programs for students and teachers
Beginning summer 2026, 20–25 rising high school seniors from across Michigan will spend two weeks immersed in college-level seminars at MSU. Each day, students will participate in a discussion-based seminar led by JMC faculty, focused on primary texts in the American political tradition.
In the first week, students will study “The American Regime,” including not only the Declaration of Independence and American political institutions, but also the role of commerce, science and technology in the founding vision. In the second week, they will study “American Statesmanship and Civic Virtue,” reading works by Alexander Hamilton, Alexis de Tocqueville, Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln and others.
The residential program also includes visits to the Michigan State Capitol and Supreme Court, tours of the Gerald Ford Presidential Museum and Detroit’s civil rights institutions, plus co-curricular activities like a Lansing Lugnuts game and classic film screenings at a main-street movie theatre. The program is completely free to participants, with travel stipends provided.
A separate week-long program addresses what teachers consistently report as a challenge: how to effectively incorporate primary sources into classroom teaching. Building on JMC faculty’s existing teacher programs — which have seen 25% year-over-year growth — the seminars combine close reading of foundational texts with practical pedagogy sessions.
Teachers will learn strategies for facilitating seminar discussions, using the “Great Debates” format in their classrooms and helping students engage directly with historical documents rather than relying on textbook summaries. Participants receive stipends and professional development credits.
Rather than bringing teachers to campus, the program will rotate locations across Michigan — tentatively visiting Detroit, Grand Rapids and northern Michigan — to reach educators statewide.
Both programs will expand in years two and three to accommodate 40–50 participants each, with plans for additional weekend colloquia for teachers on focused topics like race and American politics, science and technology in democratic thought or U.S. foreign policy.
Supporting dialogue across divides
The grant comes amid what Craig describes as a worrying and paradoxical trend in American civic life: declining trust in institutions paired with intense political passion and hyperpolarization.
“It’s somewhat odd that we see these things happening at the same time,” Craig said. “One of the visions behind our efforts is that we might contribute to addressing both at once. We want to position young citizens and future decision-makers to engage thoughtfully and effectively in politics. By understanding the logic and the history behind our political institutions, they’ll be better able to work for positive change.”
According to Craig, JMC students seek to get beyond rigid stances that create division, and such a program can allow students to pursue an education that goes toward the vantage point of statesmen and leaders.
Applications for summer programs will open in early 2026. Additional details will be announced as planning progresses. Interested participants are encouraged to complete the initial interest form.
