Constitution Day at the Byrd CenterThe Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education is pleased to announce that the speaker for the 17th annual Tom E. Moses Memorial Lecture on the U.S. Constitution will by Dr. Ray Smock, former Historian of the U.S. House of Representatives and currently the interim director of the Byrd Center. His topic will be “Re-Energizing the American Experiment.”
The lecture will be held on Constitution Day, Thursday, September 16, 2021, at 7:30 PM in the auditorium of the Byrd Center on the campus of Shepherd University, in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. It will also be available to stream for viewers who register in advance (click on the button below to RSVP). |
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George Washington wrote: “The establishment of our new Government seemed to be the last great experiment in providing human happiness.” If the goal of government is human happiness, can any of us say we are currently happy about government or the state of the Republic?
With political partisanship at dangerous levels and threats to the American Republic at higher levels than at any time since the Civil War, Smock will explore ideas to re-energize government, re-think our historical narratives about political parties, Constitutional history, and the concept of American greatness. He will also offer his perspective—based on truths long known, but never fully realized, that no American can truly be free until all are free.
With political partisanship at dangerous levels and threats to the American Republic at higher levels than at any time since the Civil War, Smock will explore ideas to re-energize government, re-think our historical narratives about political parties, Constitutional history, and the concept of American greatness. He will also offer his perspective—based on truths long known, but never fully realized, that no American can truly be free until all are free.
About the Moses Memorial LectureThe Moses Memorial Lecture is named for the late Tom E. Moses, a longtime civil libertarian, activist, and founder of the Eastern Panhandle branch of the ACLU-WV. The inaugural Moses Lecture was given by Senator Robert C. Byrd in 2005. You can view videos of some of our past Moses Memorial Lecture on the Byrd Center YouTube Channel >>
Past Constitution Day Speakers: 2005: Senator Robert C. Byrd
2006: Joseph Onek 2007: Anthony Williams 2008: Dr. Donald A. Ritchie 2009: David Cole 2010: Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia and Bob Edgar 2011: Richard Dreyfuss 2012: Dr. Michael Austin 2013: Dr. Raymond Smock 2014: Clay Risen 2015: Dr. Ralph Young 2016: Dr. Elizabeth Hinton 2017: Ganesh Sitaraman 2018: Senator Tom Harkin 2019: Dr. Sophia Rosenfeld 2020: Dr. Sabina Dent |
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The Byrd Center advances representative democracy by promoting a better understanding of the United States Congress and the Constitution through programs and research that engage citizens.
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Congressional History and Education |