We the People Request for Proposals

Large or Small Program Grant applicants may submit a proposal under the We the People RFP, an initiative that explores significant themes in our nation's history and advances the knowledge of the principles that define America.

Program Format:

Lecture and/or film series, panel discussions, exhibits, symposia or other program formats. CEH seeks programs which will engage the broad Colorado public in dialogue, enhance ongoing research, employ original source material, and utilize new technologies.

Criteria:

• Programs should enhance the exploration and improve the understanding of significant themes and events in our national heritage.
• Humanities scholars must be significantly involved in all aspects of program planning, and content development, implementation, and delivery. Humanities scholars are identified as persons with a terminal degree in a humanities discipline appropriate to the project.
• Programs must have broad appeal and effectively engage their targeted audience.
• Program planners need to clearly define their audience. The audience may be broad or focused on a specific group.
• Preference will be given to programs which result in a lasting and replicable resource or model.
• CEH encourages programs by and about diverse ethnic, cultural and other groups.

Suggested topics may include:

• The central ideas of American constitutional democracy as they are illuminated in writings of the American Founders and those who influenced them. What are the meaning, implications, and political logic of such ideas as equality, liberty, natural law, rule of law, government by consent, representation, separation of powers, limited government, natural rights, republicanism, and constitutionalism?
• How can the documents created by the American revolutionaries and founders help us to rediscover the political "conversation" and deliberation that gave rise to a new America between 1776 and 1791? Has the relevancy of those documents changed for Americans today?
• How are the foundations, forms, and purposes of American political institutions affected by our understanding of what it means to be a human being?
• How does the success of American Democracy depend on the character (or the humanity) of the American people?
• American diplomacy has its origins in liberty and idealism. Is that still the case today?
• What is America's role in the world? How has American foreign policy over the past forty years been affected by the conflicts of ideas, traditions and material interests?
• The history of black Americans has been a struggle to secure their dignity as human beings, and rights as American citizens, in the face of racial prejudice. What viewpoints have leading black and white intellectuals and activists on human equality, slavery, self-government, the rule of law, emancipation, colonization, and citizenship contributed to the recording of the history of race in America?
• American politics in the 20th century and beyond is substantially different from what was envisioned at the inception of our country. What thinkers were central to this new direction in American politics? What impact have their ideas had on contemporary American politics and institutions, as well as the origins and development of the modern study of politics and government?
• What expectations did America's founding fathers have for the office of the presidency? How have individual presidents affected the development of the office? What broad issues have recent presidents put forth and what is that legacy today?
• Throughout American history, communities of ethnic and racial groups, women, immigrants and other groups have sought equal rights. What were the paths followed by these groups in their efforts to achieve equality? What groups have achieved success and how did they do it? What were the commonalities in approaches among these diverse groups?

Suggested topics should include an investigation of one or more of the following:

• What democratic concepts can we draw on from our own U.S. history to guide us in .orging new civic covenants among our citizens?
• What must we know and understand about the multiplicity of groups and people in our nation, knowing that some have been unequally acknowledged?
• Have Americans experienced an incompatibility between their democratic aspirations and institutional injustice?
• What kinds of knowledge and capabilities are required for full participation in a pluralist democracy? What kinds of values?

To learn more about We the People, a national initiative supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, visit www.neh.gov.

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