Trouble in the Land of Steady Habits: How We Got to the Constitution of 1818
Topics: Constitution of 1818, Religious Establishment, toleration, Political History, Early US Republic, Standing Order, Environmental History, Economic History, Demographic Change
Length: 45 minutes
Connecticut in 1818 was in many ways eerily similar to Connecticut in 2018: A troubled state, seeking a new direction. This lecture highlights the perfect storm of crises — environmental, economic, demographic, religious, and political — which converged in the middle of the eighteen-teens (1810s) to force the state to rethink the ways it had been conducting its affairs for the previous two centuries. The comprehensive nature of these problems, and the accidental events that ultimately produced Connecticut’s constitutional transformation, offer essential insights for our equally-challenging time.
