Armin Mattes

I am a historian and an editor of the Papers of the fourth president and "father of the Constitution" of the United States, James Madison. Being originally from Germany, I have long been fascinated by the U.S. political and social system, and so I have made American democracy my research specialty. The questions I try to answer in my research are the same I am eager to discuss with first year students in my Engagement course: how did we get from the Founders' understanding of a "republic" and "democracy" to our current system? What voices contributed to this transformation? And what was the role of those initially excluded from participation in this process?