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School of Public Policy Hosts "George Washington and the Second American Revolution"

 

The Pepperdine School of Public Policy will host its annual Licata Lecture featuring Professor Edward J. Larson, University Professor and Hugh & Hazel Darling Chair in Law, who will present "George Washington and the Second American Revolution," on Tuesday, February 24, at 11 a.m. in the Wilburn Auditorium. A live stream of the event will be broadcast.

Countless narratives tell of Washington's role during the American Revolution or as the country's first President, but few focus on the pivotal six years in between. Most present him as a Virginia farmer, happily "retired" on his plantation. Even when biographers reach the Constitutional Convention, which took place during this period, they typically present Washington as its stiff, silent presiding officer who mainly contributed his prestige to the proceedings. The standard narrative then has him returning to Mount Vernon during the ratification debates and first federal election. In this lecture, Professor Edward J. Larson will show that Washington was much more than a Virginia farmer during this time. He remained the indispensable American, looking west for national expansion and playing a key role in the drive toward a strong central government that culminated in drafting and ratifying a new Constitution. Often working behind the scenes but still very much in the public imagination, he helped to bind the states into the single federal republic that he then so ably led. Washington was as central to this "second" American revolution as he was to the first. For more information on the event, live stream link, and to RSVP, please click here.

The Charles and Rosemary Licata Lecture Series was established through an endowment for the School of Public Policy by benefactors Charles and Rosemary Licata, the Licata Lecture Series unites students, alumni, and community leaders with leading academics and practitioners shaping policy matters in the new century.

Following the lecture, Larson will be available to sign his book The Return of George Washington: 1783-1789. Copies of the book will be available for purchase at the Drescher Graduate Campus Bookstore. A reception will also follow the lecture in the Villa Graziadio Executive Center on the Drescher Graduate Campus.