Discover the American Revolution at History Forum 250

 

History Forum talks take place on Saturdays at 11 am (unless otherwise noted) at the Minnesota History Center and are offered both in-person and virtually with live captioning. Tickets are $20, with MNHS members receiving 20% off. Series packages for all six lectures are also available—$105 in person or virtual. Students (K–12 and college) can enjoy free rush tickets on the day of the event with valid ID, as space allows.

 

History Forum 250 lectures include:

The Pursuit of Liberty: How Hamilton vs. Jefferson Ignited the Lasting Battle over Power in America

Saturday, January 31, 2026 with Jeffrey Rosen *1–2:30 pm*

In The Pursuit of Liberty, bestselling author and CEO Emeritus of the National Constitution Center Jeffrey Rosen explores the clashing visions of Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson about how to balance liberty and power, a debate that continues to define—and divide—our country. Jefferson championed states’ rights and individual liberties, while Hamilton pushed for a strong Federal government and a powerful executive. This ongoing tug-of-war has shaped pivotal moments in American history, including Abraham Lincoln’s fight against slavery and southern secession, the expansion of federal power under Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, and Ronald Reagan’s and Donald Trump’s conservative push to shrink the size of the federal government. The Pursuit of Liberty is a compelling history of the opposing forces that have shaped our country since its founding, and our ongoing struggle to balance liberty and power.

The Memory of ’76: The Revolution in American History

Saturday, February 21, 2026 with Michael D. Hattem

Americans agree that their nation’s origins lie in the Revolution, but they have never agreed on what the Revolution meant. In this sweeping take on American history, Michael D. Hattem reveals how conflicts over the meaning and legacy of the Revolution—including the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution—have influenced the most important events and tumultuous periods in the nation’s history. Whether it has been African Americans, women, and other oppressed groups shaping the popular memory of the Revolution, or the Cold War influencing our contemporary memory of the nation’s founding, Hattem shows how the meaning of the Revolution has never been fixed.

Angelica: For Love and Country in a Time of Revolution

Saturday, March 21, 2026 with Molly Beer

In this enthralling and revealing view of the Revolutionary era through the eyes of Angelica Schuyler Church, Molly Beer breathes vibrant new life into a period usually dominated by masculine themes and often dulled by familiarity. Few women of the American Revolution have come through 250 years of US history with such clarity and color as Schuyler Church. Her transatlantic network of important friends spanned the political spectrum of her time and place, and her astute eye and brilliant letters kept them well informed. A woman of great influence in a time of influential women (Catherine the Great and Marie-Antoinette were contemporaries), Angelica was at the red-hot center of American history at its birth. In telling her story, Beer illuminates how American women have always plied influence and networks for political ends, including the making of a new nation.

Making the Presidency: John Adams and the Precedents That Forged the Republic

Saturday, April 11, 2026 with Lindsay Chervinsky

Executive Director of the George Washington Presidential Library Lindsay Chervinsky offers a portrait of one of the most fascinating and influential periods in US history: an authoritative exploration of the second US presidency, a period critical to the survival of the American republic. Through meticulous research and engaging prose, Chervinsky illustrates the unique challenges faced by Adams and shows how he shaped the office for his successors. Though one of the most qualified presidents in American history—he had been a legislator, political theorist, diplomat, minister, and vice president—Adams had never held an executive position. Despite this, the quixotic and stubborn Adams would rely on his ideas about executive power, the Constitution, politics, and the state of the world to navigate the hurdles of the position and secure its future, even though it cost him his own political future.

A Promised Land: Jewish Patriots, the American Revolution, and the Birth of Religious Freedom

Thursday, May 7, 2026 with Adam Jortner

Historian Adam Jortner shows how Judaism was central to the debate over religious freedom in America at a critical juncture. Jews played a critical role both in winning the American Revolution—fighting for the Patriot cause from Bunker Hill to Yorktown—and in defining the republic that was created from it. As Jortner reveals in this eye-opening account, the decision to extend citizenship to all religions was not a twentieth-century phenomenon prompted by immigration and Supreme Court rulings, but a debate the Founding generation itself had had —unambiguously deciding against the idea of a nation defined exclusively by Christianity. Instead, the Founders, Jewish patriots, and their allies sought and achieved the broadest possible definition of religious liberty, and the separation of church and state. A Promised Land sheds new light on this key struggle in early America and the driving forces behind it.

This program is made possible in part by the generosity of Mike E. Larsen.

Freedom Round the Globe: A New History of the American Revolution

Saturday, June 13, 2026 with Sarah Pearsall

Historian Sarah Pearsall’s new global history of the American Revolution—encompassing places as distant as Kolkata, St. Kitts, Ghana, and Guangzhou—offers a new view of this epoch-defining set of events. In 1776, all kinds of people around the world, not just the men who declared independence, sought the end of oppression, asserting rights to life, liberty, and happiness. This broader Revolution was more contested, protracted, and diverse, with a wider cast of characters than is usually assumed. Piecing together a number of unexpected locations and unheralded “founders,” this book tells the story of the American Revolution in a surprising and novel way and clarifies the Revolution’s origins, trajectory, ideas, and action.

This program is part of MN250, commemorating the 250th anniversary (semiquincentennial) of the American Revolution.

 

About the Minnesota Historical Society

The Minnesota Historical Society is a non-profit educational and cultural institution established in 1849. MNHS collects, preserves, and tells the story of Minnesota’s past through museum exhibits, libraries and collections, historic sites, educational programs, and book publishing. Using the power of history to transform lives, MNHS preserves our past, shares our state’s stories, and connects people with history.