The program is presented in conjunction with the exhibition which will be on view in the gallery through march 11 some of you have already enjoyed that exhibition and previous to this evening if you have not we invite you to join us as our guest following a the program upstairs on the second floor where the viewing will continue. Tonights program is a story of American Freedom is part of the distinguished Speaker Series which is part of the Public Program id like to thank mr. Schwartz for his support which enables us to fight these prominent authors to york historical. I would like to recognize a the trustees that are with us this evening and pam for her Great Partnership and leadership that this splendid institution. [applause] also recognize the chair of the executive committee. [applause] you will hear from our colleagues policy for Public Programs at the close of this event this program will last about an hour including question and answer session q a will be conducted you should of received a note card and pencil if not colleagues are going up and down the aisles and will be happy to provide you with one they will collect to the note cards later in the program. There will not to be a book signing following but please find the signed copies in the new book will be for sale in the history store to my left were thrilled to welcome Russell Shorto back to the Historical Society the bestselling author as well as contributing writer at the New York Times magazine. Mr. Shorto books of narrative history have been published in 14 languages and won numerous awards his latest book is revolution song you may have read a spectacular review of the book yesterday it was called the achievement of revolution song remarkable and it is. So now i congratulate n and invite him to the state only ask you please make sure anything that makes and always is switched off and please join me to congratulate and welcome Russell Shorto to our stage. [applause] if you very much for being here. Back to the new york Historical Society. Thanks for hosting this event also again for supporting my work through the years and being a wonderful custodian of new york history. This building did not always look like this the transformation began about 12 years ago this started here and it she has made this a place for this city to be proud of. [applause] also this is the launch event of the book which technically comes out tomorrow so i want to quickly rolled through some opening credits also to the people at my publishers in particular my agent and friend who has been with me many years. And my family and in particular my daughter who was here somewhere two years ago i floated it by her before i put it down on paper it is a dangerous thing to do to bear an idea too soon because the slightest breeze could kill it but she was very enthusiastic telling the story of americas founding by virtue of the alliance from people of a different walks of life and through the . To get a larger story and her enthusiasm was enough to movie to the next stage. Also to my wife pamela for putting up with all of its reading over and over again offering suggestions and putting up with me. [applause] [laughter] those of you that know me are applauding. [laughter] so i want to begin with a confession of the American Revolution it never moved me. People are interested in the past is interested in one or another era because it comes to life to them for whatever reason the great dutch historian has a sentence at the beginning of a collection of essays that he wrote of the dutch golden age that all they stayed with me we might as well begin with what is the wellspring of historical inquiry that astonishment that the past was once a living reality and a thing that is what has to engage you from the era of history and with that American Revolutionary era the century before the 17th century did starting 1718 years ago i became focused on europe and the 16 hundreds and the intellectual world that led me eventually to write the book about the dutch founding of manhattan and the colony that stretched over this part but what appealed to me and struck me was the way ordinary europeans were focused on themselves the concept of the individual changed may be looking into telescopes or microscopes coming up with the new knowledge of what is based on it did not comport with that perceived wisdom so called the founder of modern philosophy because he put this together into that notion that knowledge derived not from perceived wisdom but the mind and its good sense so that every individual had reason inside that was connected in a mysterious way to nature and to the universe that men to this connection allows people of any background to experience this access to knowledge so they began to formulate notions so that must mean they are equally valuable. Then people said that means they have just as much right to education that people began that early plotting the utopian communities to have one vote the only legitimate form of government and to have equal say in the government and precisely because of bad because of that it spreads like wildfire. And through the coming century. It into the 1700s from the perspective the leaders of the american rebellion we were building for more than 100 years. With that political freedom. But they were part of a larger wave that engulfed pretty much everyone. It was the 18th century equivalent of social media to change the of a conversation the way people saw themselves in relation to other people. So while men with powdered wigs were wielding their pens squaring off at yorktown and saratoga and other interactiinteracti ons were happening. The whole idea to classify some human beings of the property of others it affected the they are related to each other. So subconsciously i came to the idea for this book why does it matter to you . It will begin does the my presumption was that the story of the American Revolution. So despite all those thousands of books new ways of understanding that could give us some insights into what we are today that is the job of history. This could not to lay with the American Revolution and. So instead an existential, a story there is a debate decades now over the question of the inspiration for the revolution came from one said it came from deal leaked who guided the is from europe that inspire them the Heather Campbell says know it came from the grass roots ground level movements and nonacademic historian i dont have a dog in the fight i wanted it to encompass both going back to the 17th century that every betty was involved involved by this larger wave so as approach to the nations founding who they were then and who we are now. So i had this idea people from different walks of life we were auditioning people so by definition calls from a variety of backgrounds i was writing nonfiction so for those zero memoirs or autobiographies they had to fascinate me and fit together some know which is harder than you might think people from very different walks of life did not interact with one another very much but something to do with one another because i wanted it to read as one narrative. Eventually they began writing maybe onethird of the way through and i became uncomfortable and started reading it and reread it and eventually it occurred to me this was a six book you think it would have learned this by now but it has to be about something it cannot just we about people going about their lives. And as i looked at it with a flash of insight it was about freedom the most commonplace thing of the American Revolution would likely we about but a broader stream coming out of the 17th century to affect people on this continent so what i will do is talking through these lies that i chose and give you a story and at some point in the process it occurred to me i was mediating these lives and i thought it would be interesting for myself if nothing else to get a sense visually through one consciousness. One artist to is not here tonight and she obliged me and created six portraits i thought it could be fun and to for them based on portraits the other to we dont have a portrait so those were composites and with some sense of the elite who later George Germain is based on a portrait 1764 was n ancient aristocratic family to give you an idea of his life and of bringing, of brought up in the house in southeast england that still exist in minister by the National Trust still technically owned by the family. But he was part of this fad among the wealthy at the time. With 12 separate entrances one for each month of the year, 52 interior stair cases reach week of the year, seven interior courtyards and 365 firms. This is where he ran around and played antheil as the child. His father was the duke of dorsett was a diplomat he went off to ireland then young george went with him. And there he learned firsthand what it was like to be an englishman and administering an empire. The reason why i like talking about his house is that he embodied it the feudal era since the sense of what england was and the empire he took on to become part of his personality. His father the lord lieutenant of ireland with this unruly area was a mild man young george was domineering or combative for aggressive and served as his father secretary while he was there and he saw the irish running circles around him. They allowed a measure of selfrule and a star as george was concerned neighbor getting away with murder. Eventually they took over some of the tasks from his father and in doing so that the administration in a lot of hot water. And his father resigned in disgrace but in england they thought what he did is exactly what should have been done if youre running an empire you should not let them run around you. So he was lionized. At the same time he became a military man distinguishing himself in battle then people talk about him as a future Prime Minister and it all comes crashing down 1759 in europe in the seven years war. There is the great european battle going on he was reading that cavalry with tens of thousands of soldiers and to await orders to attack at a crucial moment to the several seven years war a decisive victory would force france to declare defeat. So with the calgary up on the hill the order says the charge and he doesnt the second writer says charge and he does and finally the third writer says you have to charge then he does they did win the battle but not what they hoped for and the blame fell on him he became the most hated man in england and insisted on Court Martial to clear himself and it was the neck opposite effect he was almost tried for treason his name was dragged to the of mud he lost all privileges that being this figure he began to work his way back up power by 1772 he was given the job of undersecretary of state to the american n colonies right at the time they were becoming a big deal when the war breaks out he has to fight the colonys and as he does so his supporters and enemies acknowledge he does it out of the sense of redemption and meeting redemptions his enemies and Parliament Though wigs called him a coward just to get his goat as he is prosecuting the war this is the background so one thing that attracted me to him he is perfect almost a caricature of the americans created of the english futile background back word monarchy and aristocracy where we advance the cause of liberty and freedom but also what is not done in america is that was one side and only one side we are pretty much on the side of the americans. They said they use our environment against as painting us as the bad guy but historically speaking were on the wrong side of this. So that battle is waged in parliament and government during the course of the war. So now i switch gears. Here is the composite portrait. A slave who freed himself himself, by the way the artist worked from the african history and surmises in africa was a member of the tribe so the basis of his portrait was in 18th century mask and clothing of a new england farmer. When you are researching getting into the details and the life of an african slave of the of period you want texture and material. As you go through then becomes tricky because it turns out that many were channeled by the abolitionist leaders with a noble cause to compile a list of stories to win people over with the abolition of slavery but in doing so, they put this heavy moralizing christian tone on it to get the underlying story. This is the black story in know why each envelope so makes it problematic. One narrative that is classified is of mr. Smiths immediate is apparent that it came from one person life and mouth. It turns out he dictated as an old man. Born and raised in west africa he devotes 1 3 to his life in africa at two say what i am trying to do with this book is debt that aristocratic british and put the puzzle pieces together and ultimately you have a sense kaleidoscopic sense of what america was at the time and what the revolution was all about. He is born in the of a cattle camp with the grazed animals the child of a local transit 10 years old when the army invaded the village and was taken captive but not before witnessing the torture and killing of his father refused to tell the army where he kept his cool period made huge impression on him. So there another army attacks that has taken him and one of the towns with the of fortresses and was held there with the ship that was then harbor call the charming susanna from Newport Rhode island he boarded it with 86 others and locked out in one respect the ship was destined for barbados and all the slaves would work in the sugar fields there but he was 10 years old he was strong and smart and thus do bird of the ship had his eye on him and ask the captain if he could buy him for his own property and at the time the 18th century the word venture would choose for your own personal property that was four pieces of calico cloth and a gallon of from. He renamed him of venture and that is what he was known as. He avoided barbados taken by ship spends time learning thing is like the of functioning of a new england household and learning the english language going to the succession know different orders he is on Long Island Sound then move to a connecticut on the coast and as he grows he is very strong and smart so i will take a step back because i was doing this book i was looking for people whose stories connected but then as i got further into it there were other kinds of connections they were remarkably similar across the world that honor code in africa was similar to George Washington in virginia so part of that undercoat told him that whosever side you are on there was a proper way to behave so once you become a slave he accepts there is the right way to do it to be loyal and obedient and expect certain things from the person on the other side of this equation. So what he writes about it his narrative is how many times odors did not uphold that side of the bargain and he becomes better about that. So we have the stamp act and the us systematic sequence of events so they talk more and more about freedom and what that is happening venture decides he will start saving money and buy himself out of slavery which is fairly rare to do so eventually that last change of voters he has enough stature that he actually interviews several prospective voters to figure out where he was to go with a and oliver smith agreed with him in advance if he bought him he could buy himself out of slavery he has a wife and children died this time and then could by himself and his family out of slavery you get a real sense of this as a transactional figure. He talks of his daughter getting sick and he goes to the doctor. They can get that wife and daughter up. What struck me is that while this is going on, the American Revolution is coming to a head. There are lots of people in the colonies, including people at George Washington and John Lawrence that they were fighting for freedom for everyone. When the one that they would for the slaves and it would really mean something. Venture seem not to believe that because he went about taking matters into his own hand. He buys everyone out of slavery takes on his last owners name which might seem strange but it was very practical. Being a freed slave was a dicey proposition. Slavery was an institution and everybody knew it was. Being a freed slave you are in a no mans land. Cities around the country pass laws forbidding them for settling. They said if they become destitute the town has to take them on. So he wants to where the war and he gets away from the coast and travels inland to connecticut and he begins buying land. That in itself is on usual. He buys more than 100 acres of land which is more than more than what most right new england or zone. Its a tricky thing but necessary. Hes trying to make his way to make people take notice of him. Its difficult because this is before mortgages were common. You had to rely on your neighbors. So the land records i would find a document in which a free negroes find this many acres of land and there are two or three other names on the document. These are neighbors who agreed to put up money. It was like a backcountry mortgage. That meant you were really insinuating yourself into the community. He does this throughout the revolution and into the republic. He dies as a successor landowner. He has this estate. As he becomes more comfortable he begins to bring other freed africans onto his estate. And i make this comparison at one point between his estate and George Washingtons estate which had you visited in the 1890s you wouldve seen a functioning state work by blacks. The ones of Venture Smith was freed blacks. This is the first time im given this talk. Need to make sure im not going over my time. This portrait is based on Charles Wilson of 1772. George washington at the age of 40. Washington was the last of the people i settled on my book. The very obviousness of him and it went to choose him. But outside how long ago i was working on the book i knew i wanted to have one founding father represented. For a while i thought maybe i would to hamilton because he doesnt get enough attention. But i settled on washington and he connects them all. Hes everywhere before and after the war and he interacts with most all of the other figures. In the book i love these together. Im laying out each story beginning to end but what im talking about Venture Smith or laura George Jermaine, ran another place which you dont associate with the revolution. Im hoping as a reader moves through you have this touchstone. Is talking about honor quotes and parallels that come up as you are doing research. Striking parallels between washington and George Jermaine. Washington is born in virginia and his father was a moderately successful planter with ambition and upward mobility, he sent his first two sons to be educated. Washingtons mother which has been written, she comes through as a backwards figure, lower on the level, she was marrying down. She had no teeth, she smoked a pipe, at about the same age venture watched his father die, George Washingtons father died. His raise with the pretensions that this will be the life i will live when his father dies there is not enough money and they hold very close. So he stuck. With washington his famously dramatic. This is not a situation that would mightily influence the person he became. He locked out when his brother married into the fairfax family. The largest landowners in virginia. He became the protege of george fairfax. The head of the family. He seemed to see a lot of himself in the boy. He took him under his wing and tried to give him the first step in life that he had, a commission to the british navy. But washingtons mother cannot let him go. So, but under fairfaxs tutelage, washington read caesars gallic wars fairfax taught him to have a roman visage and dont show the world what youre thinking. But its fine to have bounding ambition. A very much applied at washingtons case. You see him trying hard to adopt the manners that go along with the honor and the status. Theres a document you may be familiar with. He got his hands on a 100yearold french adequate manual. He copies out 101 rules of civility. Is trying to become a member of society. Theres things like when dining in public and eating up the fruit to not split it into the plate, discreetly spirited into your hand. When walking with the personal Quality Standard half step behind and hold your shoulder and cockier head and interesting. Hes running these out. Teaching himself how to become a gentleman. Washington, like for jermaine so the military is a way to gain honor. Is in the virginia militia. The french and indian war which is the American Theater of the seven years where he gets a commission at the age of 22 to go to the forks of the ohio where the french had settled in the Mississippi River valley. The english were along the coast. The french began to move threateningly eastward in the english had to do something. Washington was sent to warn the french to stay away from the forks of ohio. Instead, he encountered a party of 35 French Canadians and attacked them. I massacred them. France was looking for an excuse to declare war in england. This is the event that set off the war. He disguised himself and acted beyond his assignment. Washingtons act set off the war that jermaines disgraceful act failed to end. In both cases, the rebound and build careers and eventually have the position whether fighting this war against each other. Im going to move on. If this looks familiar, its because the original is behind where youre sitting in the main hall. It hangs in the new york Historical Society. This is a seneca india. Called client planter by the english. Its completely untrue to say the American Revolution two sides, it had many sides. The native americans were sabbath there were many. The six tribes that made up the confederacy and then all these other tribes. I wanted to represent that perspective. Client planter is a fascinating figure. Everyone has a stereotypical notion of what the proud vicious native American Warrior was. He was that but the opposite as well. Heres philosophical, a realist and politician. Striking and dealing with native americans because the records are processed through people who are not native americans. There are enough records to give this rich picture of this man. A few examples, i think part of his ability to be nuanced comes from the fact that his mother was a lineage matron. A woman of power in the seneca tribe. His father was a dutch american. A white man from albany, new york who is an indian trader. He traveled through and he was a result. When he was an adult he commented that growing up the kids in the village made fun of him for the color of his skin. He was different. He was aware of this being other. This carries throughout his life. His father, washington and smith lose their father early but he never had his father on the scene and it bothered him throughout his life. Least two times he makes a truck hundreds of miles to reckon with this man. I know father basically wants nothing to do with them. The second time hes in the middle of fighting a battle in upstate new york and through the smoke of the fires because theyre burning down the village, he recognizes this old man and its his father. They get 10 miles down the trail he stops in his yelling at him saying, do you recognize me, im your son, im a warrior. He so patently wants this father to acknowledge and recognize him. When the war breaks out, initially both sides want to keep the confederacy out of it. For one thing, they are scared of them. After the british lose an army at saratoga, George Jermaine who has this need to win tells his agents to bring in the indians on their side. The result of that is a council and they go where they meet in court planter gives this impassioned speech arguing that they stay out of it. His overruled. He understands the majority rule then he become suspicious warrior attacking american villages and forts. After the war the british lose therefore the indians was on a plane him to be the representative. Now he has to do with the american leaders and say how do we work this out. They dont want to hear of it. They say you lost in history is rolling over you. He meets with George Washington twice. There being forced at this time to sell land. Hes trying to get something out of it. He says to washington, if we sell the slaves, and the password so land and buy things and be gone. Ive heard you have these things called banks. Kenny holly put this in the bank. So you see him working. So it appealed to me he is a complex figure. You see the complexity of the natives along with the natives and the british. Abraham yates, i need to be quick. I like Abraham Yates because he gives a perspective on the times in the war and what was on steak. Going back to the 16th century and what the American Revolution represents, its was a streetlevel fighter. He was the ninth child over lecture man. He was half dutch and his mother was dutch from albany. Early on in life hes against elites. Initially these powerful dutch families that control politics and the economy. He teaches himself the law and becomes a sure of Albany County event deals with british soldiers and abusing the people of albany. He begins writing legal briefs and he is one of the first people to call out the americans to turn on the british. So during the war he holds several different titles and offices in new york politics. The battle for new york hes corresponding with George Washington trying to round up soldiers and finding arms and dealing with wireless. After the war, he stops and pivots because what he sees as the american elite are becoming a homegrown version of what they had fought against. So he becomes a prominent anti federalist voice estimation starts to move toward a constitution, he doesnt trust the idea of a constitution is appalled by the office of the presidency which he says all the president has to do is get the senate on his side and he can stack the Supreme Court and become a tyrant. I think history echoes Abraham Yates represents an echo that secular loudly. Margaret is a secular the portraits not based on life because we dont have a portrait the reason for the mask is probably the apparently because later in life she was a fixture, she was the daughter of a british officer, she became a loyalist herself. As it teenager chairs altercations with general washington when shes 14 and hes a general. What appealed to me about her and be totally wrong to talk about womens Rights Movement at the time. There was a cutting edge of it. There is the idea forced marriage. While the war was happening people writing newspaper articles and apply going on in new york when she lived there. It depicted force marriage is wrong. Thats what happened to her. Her father forced her to marry an abusive husband. She tried to rebel and cannot to it. She finally leaves this man and she wants independence. Theres only two paths open to her being an actress or a mistress to a wealthy man. She became a serial mistress to a number of wealthy men mother was playing out in the aftermath shes taking everything that happened affected her and set her off the trajectory of her life. Before and, the few historians who read about margaret in the past seem she died in 1787. I was convinced she did not. I had to find proof. Front three letters. The first one i found here, consider more but as i go i get better at managing my time. I have started this project thinking is writing history. These are issue settled long ago. In the past have came to feel its very relevant. This is at stake are with us again. Freedom of speech, religion, the press, i think were seen evidence of the fact that the promise of freedom at the nations founding was only partly fulfilled after the revolution. All of American History is an effort to address that. Once were passed this i hope when result would be in the renaissance and education in critical thinking, and a making history part of our present. The people who follow are conscious of living in a tradition of unfolding freedom that stretch back more than a century. They were engaged with that tradition. We have to be conscious of it as well. Thank you. [applause] ive left a few minutes for questions. He had to add a seventh earth subject to book, would you choose and why . It would be a woman because i wanted at least two women. Then i ended up not doing that. Phyllis wheatley. There were a number of women who wrote diaries and are not wellknown at all. The reason i didnt choose one of them is there a very small worlds and i couldnt find a way to flush out that world enough to fit at the same level. If i had one more what if someone of those. What you think was the civilian revolution. What happened to residents who cannot evacuate . I focus on this hightech about margaret. Her story in new york, they lived in new york, she and her family. Then the americans control the initial strategy was to get control of new york city and hudson valley. Because of events, she stuck behind enemy lines. With the american officers her father is with the british army in Staten Island as they are amassing forces. Through her, we get a sense of what new york was like as a civilian. It was two places. There have been a lot of suffering building up to this point. There is a city of disease and despair. Right beside it was a city of 20000 or so troops and officers. The officers created their own universe where they could buy french furniture and go to the theater and play billiards. For some time that was margarets world. Why did the colonies remain loyal to Great Britain . The americans very much wanted to the canadians over. This is one thing that George Jermaine was most afraid of. That one disloyal colonial arena would affect the other one. There is a whole canadian theater which was too much for me to go into. I think i finish on time. Thank you. [applause] thank you so much. Thank you for coming. I remind you we do have an exhibition that is open. It is open our view until 815 tonight. Moses books are signed in our museum store. Please go there as well and pick up his new book. Thank you all for coming. [applause] [inaudible] [inaudible] youre watching the tv on cspan2. With top authors every weekend. Book tv, television for serious readers. Next on afterwards, goldstar father repulses immigration to the United States and offers thoughts on what it means to be an american. He was interviewed by jimmy panetta. Host damages start off by telling you what an honor this is that i get this chance to sit