This year marks the Semiquincentennial or 250th Anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia in July of 1776, and with that critical event, the world witnessed the birth of "the Free and Independent States" of North America! To celebrate this event, which in The Federalist Papers would be spoken of as the most fateful and interesting in the world, we will read closely and discuss the significance of this document itself — with its self-evident truths, and its cherished principles for our political order. We will also look at some of the crucial documents (printed pamphlets and private letters) that reveal how the founding generation gradually arrived "in the course of human events" at that moment which led them to "declare the causes" which had demanded their independence. The writings of Tom Paine (Common Sense), John Adams, and of course Thomas Jefferson will be our guides, as we work our way from the Shots Heard Round the World at Lexington and Concord, to the extraordinary events of the summer of 1776 — a rare and exceptional revolutionary moment in human history.

Tuesdays, 6 weeks, March 24 - April 28 | 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM | $220
In person and simulcast