Continued to meet with political figures in the new capitol in the district of columbia and often called upon to craft policy. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Hosted this hour and 15 minute event. Our speaker tonight. Dr. Peter henriques is professor of history emeritus from george mason university, peter lectures widely on subjects relating to George Washington and has recorded at least five other lectures for cspan. And we greatly appreciate their being here this evening for this lecture. He is the author of realistic visionary, a portrait of George Washington, which of course is available in our museum store. But please join me in welcoming professor peter henriques. [ applause ] i dont think i can top that. Thank you very much. Have a good evening. You know, theres a touch of sadness actually for me coming to this particular presentation since weve been going through the different stages of washingtons life. Ive so enjoyed the opportunity and the privilege really to speak to y
Documents should include a bill of rights. Mr. Brookhiser explores the conflicting opinions of Founding Fathers george mason, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton while also addressing how the bill of rights were eventually ratified by the new states. The New York Historical society hosted this hourlong event. So tonights program is James Madison, father of the constitution, and its part of our carl menges lecture series in american history. Id like to thank carl menges for all his support and for helping us to create this series and for all he does as a valued member of New York Historical Society Board of trustees, carl, thank you. [ applause ] id also like to recognize and thank trustees lon jacobs, cy sternberg and all our Chairmans Council members with us for all their great work and support as well, lets give them all a hand, too. [ applause ] so the program tonight will last an hour and include a questionandanswer session and there will be a formal book signing
People to come home to. So he has that, and poly is very close to him and comes over when he is dying and comes over when he dies. On social media and other things, Benjamin Franklin believed very strongly that the free flow of ideas and free opinion of spread of ideas would empower people and eventually, in a very raggedy way, lead to more democracy, more liberties, more individual empowerment. He believed if there were 11 papers, there was room for a 12th. He believed nobody should control the free flow of information. He helped instill in americas dna by bringing thomas paine over, for example, and helping paine, you know, print pamphlets and hand them out on the Street Corner. He was able and by the way, thomas paine Benjamin Franklin, they are like the first bloggers in a way. I mean, these are pamphleteers and they are spreading ideas. Nowadays if you look at china, which is once again cracking down on the free flow of ideas, and if you look at what the free flow of ideas is doin
His brother, who i mentioned was an older brother, and being an older brother, would not let franklin write for the newspaper. So franklin ends up writing under a pseudonym, Silence Dogood. He puts a pen name on it and slips the essays he does under the door of his brothers print shop. And the brother and his friends. Running the print shop, have no idea where theyre coming from. And franklin has put on the persona of a widowed, elderly woman living in the countryside of massachusetts and writing these essays. The triumph of the imagination, a kid who was then 15 years old and never left boston, but writing in this voice. And its a distinctly american voice. She begins and introduces herself in the first of the Silence Dogood columns in the new england current by saying let me introduce myself. Im a woman of Strong National sentiments. I really reject the notion of privilege, and i have a protective feel about all my rights. Thats how you know im an american. And it really is that sort
Makes him stop. And to cut the story a little bit, Benjamin Franklin actually runs away. He breaks his apprenticeship he had signed to be an apprentice with his brother for seven years and runs away to philadelphia. Now, this is an important thing, because boston was very theocratic, one with very little separation from the puritan churches and the government. But philadelphia was a place where there was a great diversity of people. There were moravians and anglicans and episcopals and screws and slaves an freed slaves, and they all worked together in a place called Market Street. They all came to shop. And it was the first place of brotherly love, where you saw a diversity of people trying, people who are all immigrants, including the anglicans and episcopalia episcopalians, but all of them had come for a particular type of freedom, and they had to Work Together in what was the first ethnically diverse society. An ethnic and religious and background diversity truly leads to creativity