Sunday is James Madison’s birthday. He is justly known as the “Father of the Constitution” for his work in Philadelphia at the constitutional convention, as a co-author of The Federalist Papers, and for securing adoption of the Bill of Rights in the first Congress. But Madison is also known as the first great voice in American politics on behalf of open government, as seen in his familiar admonition that “knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”
Thus, Sunday is also celebrated as the first day of Sunshine Week (March 16-22), marking both Madison’s birth and the passage in 1966 of the federal Freedom of Information Act. Throughout the week, public officials, civic groups, journalists, nonprofits, historians and citizens across the country will mark Sunshine Week with commemorations, forums, speeches and opinion articles in the news media.
