We hope you will join us for our next series which will explore the origins of the American Revolution in honor of the forthcoming 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Lecture topics will look at the intellectual traditions of the 18th century that drove the Revolution, cultural practices in the colonies, Native American history, women in the lead-up to Revolution, and more, concluding with the battles of Lexington and Concord.

The series will take place in McElreath Hall. Doors open at 1:30pm and lectures begin promptly at 2pm with a brief intermission. Parking is free.

Big Ideas of the Eighteenth Century

British and American readers were influenced by David Hume, Adam Smith, John Locke, and Isaac Newton, whose ideas guided their thoughts about the rights and wrongs of the colonial situation in the 1760s and 1770s.  The lecture will talk about the era’s changing understanding of politics, religion, social structure, and the economy in the leadup to the Revolution. 

Patrick Allitt, Cahoon Family Professor of American History

Patrick Allitt is Cahoon Family Professor of American History. He was an undergraduate at Oxford in England (1974-1977), a graduate student at the University of California Berkeley (Ph.D., 1986), and held postdoctoral fellowships at Harvard Divinity School and Princeton University.  At Emory since 1988, he teaches courses on American intellectual, environmental, and religious history, on Victorian Britain, and on the Great Books.