David Library of the American Revolution Winter/Spring 2013 Lecture Series

A New Year with a new lecture series...

The David Library's Winter/Spring 2013 lecture series will take a look at America's transition from British colonies at war with their motherland, to a new nation making its own laws and creating its national identity in the world.    

We hope to see you at the lectures!

  

Winter/Spring Lecture Series

Ruma Chopra, Ph. D.

Tuesday, January 15, 7:30 PM - "Through Loyalist Eyes: The American Revolution as an 'Unnatural Rebellion'" - Ruma Chopra, Ph. D. is an Associate Professor at San Jose State University. Her recent book, Unnatural Rebellion: Loyalists in New York City During the Revolution explores the relationship between the British and the loyalists in the British headquarters of New York City between 1776 and 1783. In her lecture, she will explore the hopes, perseverance, and disappointments of the largest loyalist community in the mainland colonies. New York City served as British headquarters and the center of loyalist activity for seven years. Irreconcilable tension between the loyalists and the British tempered loyalists' enthusiasm, splintered the loyalist leadership, compromised the loyalists' appeal to the colonial populace, and closed the loyalist alternative for an American future within the British Empire.

Kariann Akemi Yokota

Sunday, March 3, 3:00 PM - Kariann Akemi Yokota, Ph. D., is the author of Unbecoming British: How Revolutionary America Became a Postcolonial Nation. She is Assistant Professor of History at University Colorado Denver. Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Gordon Wood called Unbecoming British, "An important and sensitive study of the efforts of postcolonial Americans in the decades immediately following independence to become a cultivated and respectable nation... It's an extraordinary work of cultural history." The title of Professor Yokota's lecture will be announced shortly.

Ray Raphael

Sunday, April 14, 3:00 PM - "What Did the Framers Think About Taxes? " - Author Ray Raphael, who lectured at DLAR in the fall about the Electoral College, will talk about taxes, a matter that is covered in his newest book, Constitutional Myths: What We Get Wrong and How to Get It Right. "Taxation without Representation" was key to America's independence from Britain, but once independent, what would taxes with representation look like? If the nation of the United States of America were to remain independent, it would have to figure that one out. Raphael is the author of Founding Myths: Stories That Hide Our Patriotic Past and Founders: The People Who Brought You a Nation.

Benjamin H. Irvin, Ph. D.

Wednesday, June 5, 7:30 PM - "Clothed in Robes of Sovereignty: Diplomacy and National Identity during the War of Independence" - Benjamin H. Irvin, Ph. D. is Associate Professor of History at the University of Arizona. His book, Clothed in Robes of Sovereignty: The Continental Congress and the People Out of Doors, was a finalist for the prestigious George Washington Prize. Professor Irvin notes, "In the first sentence of the Declaration of Independence, the Continental Congress proclaimed the United States' intention to assume a 'separate and equal station' among the 'powers of the earth.' Precisely what station did Congress imagine the United States would assume? Alongside which powers did Congress expect the infant republic to take rank? Answers to these questions may be found in the protocols by which the United States conducted diplomacy during the Revolutionary War. Eighteenth-century diplomatic etiquette relied heavily upon ceremonies such as bowing and shaking hands, standing and remaining seated, and donning and doffing hats. By these minutely choreographed gestures, nations contended for honor, expressed indignation, claimed primacy, and paid deference. In my talk at the David Library, I will explore the diplomatic rituals by which the United States treated with its French and Native American allies during the War of Independence. A careful examination of these practices reveals that though the United States did not yet occupy an equal station among the powers of the earth, members of Congress took pains to claim for it a separate one."

  

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In addition to the lecture series, DLAR will co-sponsor the following event with the Washington Crossing Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution: 

John F. Lehman, Ph. D.

Monday, March 11, 7:30 PM - "An Evening With John F. Lehman, Former Secretary of the Navy" - John F. Lehman, Ph. D. was Secretary of the Navy from 1981 to 1987. He is the author of Command of the Seas, a memoir of his tenure as Navy Secretary, and On Seas of Glory: Heroic Men, Great Ships, and Epic Battles of the American Navy; Command of the Seas. He served on the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States and contributed to the 9/11 Commission Report. He currently serves as Chairman of the Princess Grace Foundation-USA, the public charity named for his cousin, the late Princess Grace of Monaco. Dr. Lehman will share stories and insights from his distinguished and varied career as a public servant, military historian and investment banker.

  

David Library lectures are admission free, but reservations are required. Call (215)493-2233 ext. 100 or email rsvp@dlar.org. Lectures are held in Stone Hall in the Feinstone Conference Center on the David Library campus. Each lecture will be followed by a reception, and, when applicable, a book sale and signing.