S4E1 James Madison and the Spirit of Self-Government: A Conversation with Colleen Sheehan

Who was James Madison? Why were his Notes on Government so valuable to the American founding? Did James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and George Washington all achieve what Colleen Sheehan calls “Civic Friendship”? Colleen Sheehan joins Madison’s Notes to discuss her seminal works on James Madison: The Mind of James Madison: The Legacy of Classical Republicanism (Cambridge University Press, 2025) and James Madison and the Spirit of Republican Self-Government (Cambridge University Press, 2019).

Colleen Sheehan is a former Republican member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. A former longtime member of the Villanova University faculty, she is currently a professor of politics and ethics in Arizona State University's School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership.

Madison’s Notes is the podcast of Princeton University’s James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions.