How the Constitution Helps Us to Disagree

America's 250th

Presented in special collaboration with Monadnock Center for History and Culture.

Meg Mott will present How the Constitution Helps Us to Disagree at the Peterborough Town Library on July 18 at 10:30 a.m.

Deliberation is the practice that holds our democracy together, but does it always lead to better decisions? When citizens only talk to like-minded citizens, the thinking gets stuck and the decisions tend to be more extreme.

This presentation gives participants a chance to find new ways to think about a contentious issue using the basic principles of the Constitution: freedom of speech and due process. Instead of carving out one’s (predictable) position in the culture wars, we’ll look at the best arguments on a contentious issue from the view point of progressives, conservatives, and libertarians. By the end of the discussion, participants will have a greater understanding of how the Constitution can help us to foster political friendships.

About the Presenter:

After twenty years of teaching political theory and constitutional law to Marlboro College undergraduates, Meg Mott has taken her love of argument to the general public. She attended the University of New Hampshire in the 1970s and is currently teaching at Keene State College. Meg’s award-winning series, Debating Our Rights, on the first ten amendments, brings civil discussions on contentious issues to public libraries and colleges. 

How the Constitution Helps Us to Disagree is presented in partnership with the Monadnock Center for History and Culture, one of six collaborative programs planned for 2026.  This program has been funded through a generous grant from NH Humanities.

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