THE 2026 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION
THE ROLE OF THE MILITARY IN A DEMOCRACY

 
 
 

Morning Seminar: Friday, January 16, 2026

 

9am    Welcome to the APS (David Gary/ Patrick Spero CEO of APS)

MODERATOR:   

Dr. R. Scott Stephenson, CEO, Museum of the American Revolution, Philadelphia

SPEAKERS:

Maj Gen Wesley E. Craig, PA National Guard,

‘Franklin’s Associators, PANG and the 28th Infantry Division: Three Centuries of Service’

Claire Finkelstein, Algernon Biddle Professor of Law, Professor of Philosophy and Faculty Director of the Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law (CERL), University of Pennsylvania Law School

‘Domestic Deployments and Constitutional Constraints on the U.S. Military’

Ronald J. Granieri, Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute (FPRI), Professor of History, Dept. of National Security and Strategy, US Army War College

‘The Future of Military Alliances’

Following is a lunch honoring Gen H. R. McMaster


 
 

Registration will be available Fall 2025


 
 
 

The annual Franklin Birthday Celebration serves as a public “junto” about important issues that trace a through-line from Franklin’s day to our own.

Recent themes and honorees include:

Full list of Celebration Chronology


Here is a 3-minute video
about the history of
The Franklin Birthday Celebrations