PART ONE OF A FOUR-PART LECTURE SERIES

HELD IN THE NORMAN WILLIAMS LIBRARY MEZZANINE,

LOCATED AT 10 S. PARK STREET, WOODSTOCK

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.

On April 8, at 2 pm, historian Ron Miller will present a lecture entitled “A New Nation, Conceived in Liberty.” This program, which is jointly sponsored by the Woodstock History Center and the Norman Williams Library, will be held in the Norman Williams Library’s mezzanine, located at 10 S. Park Street, Woodstock.