When: Feb 15, 2026, 2 to 3 PM
Where: Ethan Allen Homestead Museum and Historic Site, Ethan Allen Homestead, Burlington, VT
URL: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/qXdZRZidRNWsDu-Z89Q5DA
Pre-registration is required. Click here to pre-register: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/qXdZRZidRNWsDu-Z89Q5DA
This event will be recorded and posted to the museum’s YouTube channel (@EthanAllenHomestead) for later viewing.
“Can Vermonters Be Free Without Virtue?: A Look at the Vermont Bill of Rights”, a free public lecture by political analyst & constitutional law expert Dr. Meg Mott, will be hosted on Zoom by the Ethan Allen Homestead Museum.
About the lecture:
A Bill of Rights sets forth restrictions on what a government can do. In the U.S. Constitution, Congress may not abridge or restrict specific rights, such as free speech, freedom of religion, and other protected rights. Vermont’s Constitution enumerates our fundamental freedoms with one important addition. Besides telling the government what it can’t do, the Bill of Rights tells the people what we must do for ourselves. Article 18 implores us to make “frequent recurrence” to five civic virtues: “justice, moderation, temperance, industry, and frugality.” Without those virtues, say the Framers, we will lose “the blessings of liberty.”
About the guest speaker:
After twenty years of teaching Marlboro College undergraduates how to think for themselves, Meg has brought her love of argument and law to the general audiences across Vermont and New Hampshire. Her award-winning program “Debating Our Rights” brings contentious issues with constitutional implications to public libraries. She is currently working with Vermont towns to mitigate flood damage using arguments across the political spectrum. For the last ten years she has been Putney’s Town Moderator.
