Historian Joseph Ellis to Discuss “The Founding Fathers and Us” on Oct. 17
Press Release · Thursday, September 27, 2018

Washington, DC

On Wednesday, October 17, at noon, the National Archives welcomes back Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Joseph J. Ellis to discuss his new book, American Dialogue: The Founding Fathers and Us, that addresses the question: “What would the Founding Fathers think?”  This event will be held in the William G. McGowan Theater of the National Archives Museum in Washington and live streamed on YouTube. Attendees should use the Special Events entrance on Constitution Avenue at 7th Street, NW.  This public program is free to the public, but reservations are recommended and can be made online.

The story of history is often a conversation between past and present.  In American Dialogue, Ellis gives us a deeply insightful examination of the relevance of the views of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and John Adams, to some of the most divisive issues in America today. A book signing follows the program.

Joseph J. Ellis is one of the nation's leading scholars of American history. Ellis was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Founding Brothers: the Revolutionary Generation and won the National Book Award for American Sphinx, a biography of Thomas Jefferson. His in-depth chronicle of the life of our first President, His Excellency: George Washington, was a New York Times bestseller. Ellis' essays and book reviews appear regularly in national publications, such as The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Chicago Tribune, The New Republic, and The New Yorker. Ellis’s commentaries have been featured on CBS, CSPAN, CNN, and PBS.

Related resource:  Founders Online!
Founders Online collects in one place the papers, written by or addressed to, six key figures of the era: George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and Benjamin Franklin. Users can freely  access the written record of the original thoughts, ideas, debates, and principles of our democracy including annotated first drafts of the Declaration of Independence, the spirited debate over the Constitution and Bill of Rights, and the records of the very beginnings of American law, government, and our national story. Founders Online was created through a cooperative agreement between the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), the grant-making arm of the National Archives, and The University of Virginia (UVA) Press.

The National Archives Museum in Washington, DC, is Metro accessible on the Yellow and Green lines, Archives/Navy Memorial station. For upcoming programs, visit the Calendar of Events online: www.archives.gov/calendar.