. >>> next joanne freeman talks about the logic behind the american duelling culture. she describes a code of honor that led to duelling and explains the political strategies behind the confrontations. she's the author of "the field of blood, violence in congress and the road to civil war." this talk was part of the william b. crawly great lives lecture series hosted by the university of mary washington. [ applause ] >> good evening. welcome to tonight's great lives presentation. i would like first to thank the program sponsor for their generous support not this year but for several years now. it's this kind of corporate support along with that from so many of you as individuals that enables the great lives series to thrive. i would like to ask our good friends to please stand so we can acknowledge them. where are you? i know you are there. [ applause ] also, special group with us tonight that i would like to acknowledge. that's the simpson circle. that is a group composed of former mary washington members. they are here tonight. we would like to have them stand so we

it is my pleasure to introduce our keynote speaker, historian joanne freeman. doctor freeman is a professor of history at yale university. she specializes in early national american politics and culture. she is the author of several influential and award-winning books and i will mention two of them. "affairs of honor" from 2001 and most recently, "feel the blood: congressional violence in antebellum america, " which i found particularly helpful for my own work. it seems like a reverse echo of the current and contemporary political scene in the united states. i will leave it at that. dr. freeman is known for her understanding of hamilton, which she rediscovered, i would say, before broadway did a couple of years ago. i asked doctor freeman about her relationship with history and she was kind enough to respond to my request for the information. it really reads like a love story. she fell in love with history beginning in 1776. i am sorry. she is much younger than that. the bicentennial 1976. i do remember that time. i was fascinated as well. i developed a hobby of

have a document, joanne freeman. it is really handy and you can read a book. amazingly, a powerful document. for these three duelists in the 1850's, dueling still had power. and although they did not end up fighting duels, their willingness to duel served as proof of their character much in the same way it had served for per pop and hamilton. the simple fact they were willing to duel tamed some of their southern colleagues down. they were slightly less willing to bully northerners after the three men made their declarations. but even that was not really enough to make a difference in the years between 1855 and 1860 were the most violent years in the history of congress, and of course, we all know what came next. i want to close by answering an obvious question, which i am asked all the time, which is, when does this change and how? what happens after the civil war? this certainly does not go on. part of the answer as to when does it change and how, has to do with the fact that after the civil war, the dynamics of congress shifted. now, northerners had power. f

you read about it, hopefully, in joann freeman's book. and of course a lot of people have family relationships and upbringings and all of the things that people have. i'm interested in what made hama dynamic force that he was, that was not like what everyone else did, if you know what i mean. i am looking very specifically at what i guess i would call the great sort of creative phenomenon that he was, that occurred at a certain time. i will dated 1782-1795. you could dated a little -- date it a little differently. i'm going to take that span. something happened there, of course with everything that went into his life before he arrived in the continental congress, he brought all of that baggage and inspiration and everything that made him, but something happened that was different from what everything -- from what everyone was doing. he was not alone, but things he saw that others did not necessarily see. dreams he had, visions he had that others did not necessarily have. sums -- some were very much opposed to. he saw nuts aren't -- and bo

our speaker, historian joanne freeman. dr. freeman is a professor of history at yale university. she specializes in the american revolutionary period and early national american politics and culture. she is the author of several influential award winning books. i will mention just two of them. "affairs of honor, national politics in the republic, 2001." most recently, "field of blood, congressional violence in antebellum america" which i found particularly helpful for my own work. if you look at these two books combined, it seems like a reverse echo of the current and contemporary political scene in the united states. from honor to violence. i will leave it at that. dr. freeman is also known for her leading scholarship on alexander hamilton which she rediscovered, i would say, before broadway did just a couple of years ago. i asked dr. freeman about her relation with history, and she was kind enough to respond to my request for that information. it really reads like a love story. she fell in love with history beginning back in 1776. no, i'm sorry. she's much younger than that. th

i think you've read about it, in joanne freeman's book "affairs of honor," where you can find out a lot about the dueling culture. and of course, a lot of people have family relationships and upbringings, and all of the things that people have i'm. i'm interested in what made hamilton the dynamic force that he was that was not like what everyone else did, if you know what i mean. so, i'm looking very specifically at what i guess i would call -- and i'm not alone in calling it this -- the great sort of creative phenomenon that he was that occurred at a certain time. i'm going to date it 1782 to 1795. you could date it a little different different differently, i'm just going to pick that period and say, something happened there that, of course, with all of the things that went into his life before he arrived in the continental congress, he brought all that baggage and all that inspiration and everything that made him, but something happened there that was different from what everyone else was doing, things that he saw that others -- he was not alone in this, but things that he saw that ot

next, historian joanne freeman talks with the logic behind the american dueling culture before and after the civil war. she describes the so-called "code of honor" that led to dueling and explains the political strategies behind these confrontations. she is the author of "the field of blood, violence in congress and the road to the civil war." this was part of the great lives lecture series hosted by the university of mary washington. [applause] >> hello, everybody. good evening.

i had to read joanne freeman's book to be reminded back into civil war days, back during abraham lincoln's time, there was greater partisanship and people were slaughtering each other up. we haven't seen that in the present times and it's disturbing to see that inability to communicate and have more tolerance of one another. >> so, there is a microphone over here. we will take a few questions. >> this is a related question. going forward, but are a couple significant events that are happening now -- easy things evil thing now that come out of the three that you've identified from the past or the forces in latin america that are shaping and perhaps a different way? personalities or exploitation by different economies, i guess what you see going forward for the next 25 to 50 here's? >> there've been many attempts to win the heart of latin america starting from, as you say, there was the communist way of and that was rejected. there was the wave of democracy, and that is now being sort of rejected. we have presidents that are elected, and we have bolivia, elected by the people and did some ve

the session up next features yale university history and studies professor joanne freeman, editor of "the essential hamilton." >> good morning. i'm a professor of history at the university of central florida and a proud member of the board of the national council for history education. i trust all of you are doing well and keeping safe. these are very strange times. we will drink even for historians who have a lonrm

. >>> next joanne freeman talks about the logic behind the american duelling culture. she describes a code of honor that led to duelling and explains the political strategies behind the confrontations. she's the author of "the field of blood, violence in congress and the road to civil war." this talk was part of the william b. crawly great lives lecture series hosted by the university of mary washington.

lectures hosted by the university of mary washington in fredericksburg, virginia, with historian joann freeman on the american duelling culture. she described the so-called code of honor that led to duelling and explains the political strategy behind the confrontations. american history tv, this week and every weekend on c-span 3. >>> this year marks the 100th anniversary of the start of prohibition banning the sale or transportation of intoxicating liquors. up next from the smithsonian associates historian and author and tour guide garrett peck discusses the rise and fall of the 13-year experiment in america. he's the author of the "prohibition hangover, alcohol in america from demon rum to cult cabernet and prohigs hib is in washington, d.c., how dry we weren't." >> i'm lauren rosenberg. to our members, welcome. and if you're joining us for the first time, a warm welcome and open invitation to explore the wide range at smithsonian associates. now is the time to silence your cell phone. we're thrilled tonight to welcome author, historian and tour guide garrett peck back to the smithsonian. ga

lectures hosted by the university of mary washington in fredericksburg, virginia, with historian joanne freemane describes the so-called code of honor that led to dueling and describes the political strategies behind these confrontations. american history tv this week and every weekend on c-span 3. >>> next on american history tv, tony perrottet talks about his book. he examines fidel castro's humble beginnings and highlights the important role of women and young people in the cuban revolution. the smithsonian instit

lectures hosted by the university of mary washington in fredericksburg, virginia, with historian joanne freeman. she describes the so-called code of honor that led to dueling and describes the political strategies behind these confrontations. american history tv this week and every weekend on c-span 3. >>> next on american history tv, tony perrottet talks about his book. he examines fidel castro's humble beginnings and highlights the important role of women and young people in the cuban revolution. the smithsonian institute hosted this event. >> tonight we are very pleased to welcome to the smithsonian tony, australian born perpetual explorer, travel, writer and author of six books including napoleon's privates 21 years of history unzipped, the centers grand tour, a journey through the underbelly of europe, and most recently the improbable revolution that changed world history. as a college student tony regularly disappeared to hitchhike through the outback and travel through rural india where he briefly enjoyed an inglorious career as a film extra. based in the east village of manhattan he mak

lectures hosted by the university of mary washington in fredericksburg, virginia, with historian joann freeman on the american duelling culture. she described the so-called code of honor that led to duelling and explains the political strategy behind the confrontations. american history tv, this week and every weekend on c-span 3. >>> this year marks the 100th anniversary of the start of prohibition banning the sale or transportation of intoxicating liquors. up next from the smithsonian associates historian and author and tour guide garrett peck discusses the rise and fall of

it is my pleasure to introduce speaker, historian joanne freeman. dr. freeman is a professor of history at yale university.