§4507 Selection of Fellowship Recipients

Summary

Choose Madison Fellows for strong school work and for their promise as future high school teachers of social studies and American history. The Foundation will run a national competition. Applicants must show interest in studying the Constitution (its principles and history) and a record of civic responsibility. Each application must include an essay about why studying the Constitution matters for the applicant’s career, public service, and citizenship, plus a graduate study plan listing courses and, if needed, a proposed Master’s thesis. The Foundation’s Board of Trustees will set general rules for constitutional studies programs. The Foundation must use selection rules that pick at least one Madison Fellow each year from every State, from the District of Columbia, and from the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It must also pick at least one Fellow each year for the group made up of Guam, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, the Trust Territories of the Pacific Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, but only if at least two local applicants meet the Foundation’s minimum requirements. If enough money is available, the Foundation may invite scholars from other countries to apply to study in the United States.