In 2010 the Leadership Program of the Rockies (LPR) added a new dimension to its curriculum, the Defenders of the Constitution lecture series. Defenders of the Constitution is an educational project combining original source reading materials and classroom instruction aimed at teaching LPR students the principles of the United States Constitution and elements of constitutional government. These seminars focus not only on the original meaning, design, and purpose of the Constitution, but also on the great challenges of recovering the Constitution's authority in American government and law.

Special emphasis will be placed on a close reading of The Federalist Papers, the most authoritative presentation of the meaning and purpose of the Constitution, written primarily by the two main architects of the Constitution: Alexander Hamilton and James Madison.

The Constitution, while not without flaws, stands as a testament to the political genius of the human mind. Among all of creation, man alone is both emphatically social and, at the same time, often moved to injure those with whom he lives, and needs. This is precisely why Madison asked: "What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary."

So long as human beings remain part social and part selfish—so long as human nature remains what it always has been, part reason, part passion—the problem of human governance will never be solved perfectly. But the United States Constitution has done more than any invention of man to frustrate and disperse the unjust passions of a people, while fostering the rule of their reason, forming a more perfect Union, providing for their common defense, and securing the blessings of liberty. In the annals of freedom, the Constitution has no equal, and no superior.

Recovering its authority is therefore our most important political task today. And that recovery will not and cannot happen unless Americans are persuaded that the Constitution is good for them, and its loss means the opposite. Thus Americans are in need of Constitutional teachers. At the Leadership Program of the Rockies, we are training bright, ambitious citizens to be just that.

Throughout the program, LPR students will be evaluated regarding their knowledge of Constitutional theory and practice. One of the key exercises students complete is a writing competition, producing an op-ed length, persuasive essay defending the Constitution. An advisory board will then select one essay which they believe most effectively defends and explains the Constitution and the essay's author will receive a Defenders of the Constitution award. The winning essay will be published and archived online by LPR and will be circulated for newspaper or magazine publication.