Shaping the Constitution: A View from Mount Vernon, 1783-1789

FAIN: BH-50112-06

Bill of Rights Institute (Arlington, VA 22203)
Claire McCaffery Griffin (Project Director: August 2005 to May 2008)

Three one-week summer workshops, held at Mount Vernon, for 150 school teachers, on George Washington and the genesis of the Constitution.

The Bill of Rights Institute proposes to conduct three professional development programs for a total of 150 teachers at the home of George Washington. These programs would be led by master teachers and scholars, and would center on Mount Vernon’s role as a setting for the conversations that helped shape the U.S. Constitution. Teachers will read both primary and secondary sources, with an emphasis on correspondence between Washington and visitors to Mount Vernon. They would also develop classroom activities using the knowledge and tools gained at Mount Vernon. With their deeper knowledge of our Founding principles, teachers will leave better able to encourage their students to understand what it means to be an American.