church records in barnstable document that he remained a member of the church there. he just thought that the quakers deserved liberty of conscience. isaac robinson was one of those rare 17th century englishman concerned not with just his own liberty, but with the liberty of others. and i wanted to begin with him partly because he's a local falmouth story. but also his life connected to the theme of liberty. that is at the heart of my book and what i will talk about this evening. so what do we make of the pilgrims and the colony they founded after 400 years? sing the early 19th century, when americans really first began to lionize the pilgrims, many americans have credited the pilgrims with bringing religious and political liberty to the shores of the new world. they weren't like the nasty, intolerant puritans up around massachusetts bay. you know, those were the folks who hanged quakers and killed suspected witches, and they weren't like the greedy, selfish, gold hungry settlers down here in virginia. maybe they didn't have the best fashion sense, but they were solid

and then to barnstable. he is most known for what he did in 1659. at that point they were beside themselves. they have sympathizers, especially in the town of s sanwich. they tried all sorts of measures to stamp out what they understood as rank haracy. they whipped, imprisoned, fined quakers. they banished missionaries. they found they could not legally pannish them and hope they could go away. they had to escort them to rhode island to get them to leave for awhile. they even authorized constables for the public display and humiliation of quakers. according to the boston minister, the governor of plymouth colony decided that when they removed their hats they would be doubly humiliated. but with the support, the magistrates tried a different idea. they authorized robinson and several other men to attend quaker meetings. and to try to then convince them of the error of their ways. unfortunately the plan backfired. robinson went to quaker meetings, listened to them, i'm sure he already knew something about their teachings, and he wrote a letter to colo

this time at a courthouse on the mainland in barnstable, massachusetts.ily, going through it a second time was deeply disappointing and worrying. >> because all of a sudden, he wasn't convicted of killing my sister anymore. >> right. >> and he was, as far as i was concerned. >> for tom toolan, it was an incredible second chance. this time the defendant looked thinner than he had during the first trial. and this time, a new defense attorney argued the case. >> this is not a whodunit. this is not a where, when, how case. this is a why case. >> robert sheketoff opened with an admission that the first defense team never made explicitly, that toolan did kill beth lochtefeld. what the jury had to decide was why. >> it's a difficult issue to look into somebody's mind and figure out what was going on in that mind. was he a common criminal or was he not? that's the issue. >> it was the insanity defense all over again, dressed up a little differently, presented in court by an attorney who was keenly aware he had an uphill battle on his hands. >> the real question i