Montpelier takes the Constitution to the Capitol

Thursday, James Madison, Father of the Constitution, presented copies of the Constitution of the United States to the Virginia Congressional delegation to kick off Montpelier's initiative to give a U.S. Constitution to every member of the 112th Congress.
The Constitutions are official copies from James Madison's Montpelier, Madison's lifelong home in Orange, and the place where Madison researched the principles that laid the foundation for the U.S. Constitution. "Mr. Madison" began his deliveries with newly elected House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who holds the Congressional seat that James Madison held from 1789 to 1797.
"We are pleased that the entire U.S. Constitution was read from the floor of the House of Representatives today," said Michael C. Quinn, president of James Madison's Montpelier. "The United States was founded on the idea that a nation's people can govern themselves. This sounds simple, yet all previous attempts at self-government - and many subsequent ones - have ended in failure. Today, America stands as the longest enduring democracy in the world, thanks to our remarkable Constitution, and the genius of James Madison, the Father of the Constitution, and the other founders. To ensure a healthy democracy in the future, all Americans should know and understand the history and content of this foundational document."
Sean T. O'Brien, executive director of the Center for the Constitution at James Madison's Montpelier, accompanied "James Madison" in presenting the Constitution to the Virginia delegation. The Center for the Constitution at James Madison's Montpelier provides nonpartisan seminars on the Constitution to teachers, legislators, judges, reporters, law enforcement personnel and the public on the grounds of the Montpelier, home of the Father of the Constitution.
On Constitution Day last year, the Center released the results of a national survey, The State of the Constitution: What Americans Know. "Our survey showed that while the vast majority of Americans (86 percent) believe that the Constitution is important to their daily lives, fewer than one-third have taken the time to read all (28 percent), or even most (14 percent), of the 4,400 words of the U.S. Constitution-the equivalent of a 17-page novel, and the shortest constitution of any major government," said O'Brien. The public may take the survey and view the results at http://center.montpelier.org/.
"The Constitution of the United States is more the product of the mind and actions of James Madison than of any other single individual," said Quinn.  "At his lifelong home, Montpelier, Madison meticulously researched and analyzed past democracies. His research produced the foundation of the Constitution of the United States of America, leading his contemporaries to call him the Father of the Constitution during his lifetime. More than 220 years after the Constitutional Convention, the U.S. Constitution's radical principles continue to inform and influence the realities of American life and serve as a model for other democracies."
Montpelier researchers are currently pursuing leads in the "Presidential Detective Story," the sequel to Montpelier's 2008, $25-million authentic architectural mansion restoration in order to search out and return Madison furnishings to James and Dolley Madison's home. Montpelier's original furnishings were dispersed more than 150 years ago when Dolley Madison sold Montpelier after her husband's death. Most recently, Montpelier has authentically installed Dining Room and Drawing Room wallpaper and opened the "new library" where Madison paced for hours as he contemplated how to best document his notes from the Constitutional Convention to pass on to future generations.