BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.2.3.1//EN
TZID:America/New_York
X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/New_York
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:2088@mariettaohio.org
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250502T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250502T130000
DTSTAMP:20250121T142413Z
URL:https://mariettaohio.org/events/discovering-history-speaker-series-2/
SUMMARY:Discovering History Speaker Series
DESCRIPTION:Lafayette and Human Rights\nAlan Hoffman\, President of The Ame
 rican Friends of Lafayette\nLafayette’s first foray into human rights wo
 rk was in the American Revolution which he saw as a cause important to all
  mankind. He wrote this as he sailed to America months prior to his 20th b
 irthday: “The welfare of America is intimately connected with the happin
 ess of all mankind\; she will become the respectable and safe asylum of vi
 rtue\, integrity\, tolerance\, equality and peaceful liberty.” He contin
 ued to promote natural rights – what he called “the Rights of Man and 
 the Citizen” in his 1789 declaration in France – through his support f
 or revolutions in Europe and South America.\nLafayette used his prestige a
 nd influence to advocate for causes designed to expand and enhance human r
 ights for the oppressed. He lobbied successfully in favor of Protestants i
 n France who had been unable to practice their religion publicly since the
  Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. He opposed solitary confinemen
 t and the death penalty. He urged universal manhood suffrage in France.\nT
 he abolition of American slavery was the cause that engaged Lafayette most
  intensely and continuously – from 1783 until his death in 1834. One rec
 ent biographer describes him as the first international abolitionist. He s
 poke truth to power – both to Washington\, his paternal friend in the 17
 80’s\, and later to Jefferson in the 1820’s. Lafayette advocated for e
 ducation of the enslaved and their gradual emancipation. In the 1780’s\,
  after Washington demurred about joining him in the purchase of an experim
 ental abolitionist plantation in America\, Lafayette purchased one in Fren
 ch Cayenne and had his overseer provide education for the workers and pay 
 them wages until they could buy their freedom. Lafayette was a close frien
 d of Thomas Clarkson\, the British abolitionist who in 1845\, 11 years aft
 er Lafayette’s death\, quoted him as follows: “I would never have draw
 n my sword in the cause of America\, if I could have conceived that thereb
 y I was founding a land of slavery.” After Clarkson’s letter was publi
 shed in the Liberator in January\, 1846\, abolitionists used “Lafayette
 ’s Lament” to advance their cause.\nAlan R. Hoffman obtained his BA in
  history from Yale where he studied under Professor Edmund Morgan\, before
  earning a JD at Harvard Law School. He practiced law in Boston for 50 yea
 rs. An avid reader of early American history\, he “discovered” Lafayet
 te in 2002 and spent two years – 2003 to 2005 – translating Auguste Le
 vasseur’s Lafayette in America in 1824 and 1825\, the first-hand account
  of Lafayette’s Farewell Tour of America written by his private secretar
 y. This translation was published in 2006 and is in its third printing. Ho
 ffman has lectured widely on Lafayette – over 200 talks – and has spok
 en in each of the 24 states (and Washington DC) which Lafayette visited du
 ring the Farewell Tour\, as well as La Grange\, Texas and Lafayette and De
 nver\, Colorado.\nThis event is sponsioed by the Washington County Public 
 Library\, and is FREE and open to the public.
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://mariettaohio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025
 /01/Untitled-copy-14.png
CATEGORIES:Historical
LOCATION:Campus Martius Museum\, 601 Second Street\, Marietta\, Ohio\, 4575
 0\, United States
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=601 Second Street\, Mariett
 a\, Ohio\, 45750\, United States;X-APPLE-RADIUS=100;X-TITLE=Campus Martius
  Museum:geo:0,0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:America/New_York
X-LIC-LOCATION:America/New_York
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
DTSTART:20250309T030000
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
END:DAYLIGHT
END:VTIMEZONE
END:VCALENDAR