PART ONE OF THE FOUR-PART HISTORY LECTURE SERIES

250 YEARS: LOOKING BACK & LOOKING AHEAD

HELD AT THE NORMAN WILLIAMS PUBLIC LIBRARY

CO-HOSTED BY THE WOODSTOCK HISTORY CENTER

General George Washington Resigning his Commission by John Trumbull, Public Domain

“A NEW NATION, CONCEIVED IN LIBERTY…”

Enlightenment Idealism and the Reality of the Modern World

with Historian Ron Miller

The United States is a paradoxical nation, established in a burst of idealism that has inspired generations of Americans, yet weighed down by oppressive cultural legacies that stubbornly persist. In 1776, giving voice to Enlightenment faith in reason, progress and the “rights of man,” Thomas Paine asserted “We have it in our power to begin the world over again,” and the Declaration of Independence seemed to represent a fresh start for humanity. But old prejudices, old power structures, and old flaws of human nature remained unvanquished, and up to our own time they have effectively limited the revolutionary potential of the Declaration.

The struggles of the past twelve score and ten years suggest that the power of Enlightenment idealism is considerably more modest than Paine, Jefferson and their fellow revolutionaries wanted to believe.

About the Speaker:

Ron Miller of South Burlington has been an educational scholar and activist, teacher, publisher and bookseller, community leader and philanthropist. He received a Ph.D. from Boston University in American Studies. He has authored several books, and has founded, published, or edited several magazines. He has taught at Goddard College and Champlain College, and helped establish the Bellwether School in Williston. From 2014 to 2021 he ran the Learning Lab  in Woodstock, where he taught American history and other topics. He is past president of the Norman Williams Public Library and has served on several other nonprofit boards.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the hosting organizations..