ALEXANDER HAMILTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY of KENTUCKY
Meetings are held the third Saturday of each month at 10:30am. They are held in-person at the Masonic Home (3701 Frankfort Avenue). Please use the CONTACT page to reach us if you'd like to attend.
March 16, 2024
Tim Hawkins
Fears of a Setting Sun: the Disillusionment of the America's Founders
by
Dennis C. Rasmussen
February 17, 2024
Annual Constitutional Symposium at Bellarmine University - Prof. Gerard N. Magliocca
January 20, 2024
John McLeod
To Starve an Army at Pleasure
by
E. Wayne Carp
December 16, 2023
*Updated 24NOV23*
Dr Richard Werking
A presentation on the video "Gordon Wood on the American Revolution": part of a series called
"The Great Minds of American History" that appeared on The History Channel, with support from American Heritage.
Roger Mudd interviewed five historians for different time periods.
November 18, 2023
Prof. Aaron Hoffman
A Debt Against the Living: An Introduction to Originalism
by
Ilan Wurman
October 21, 2023
Dr. Richard Werking
American Colonies: The Settling of North America
by
Alan Taylor
Alan Taylor is the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Professor of History at the University of Virginia. Two of his books have won the Pulitzer Prize for American History.
September 16, 2023
Joseph Cecil
Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation
by
Joseph J. Ellis
August 19, 2023
Matt Hankowill
Alexander Hamilton's Public Administration
by
Richard T. Green
July 15, 2023
Christopher Poché
Librarian and Adjunct Professor of Philosophy
University of Louisville
"A Logical Analysis of the Declaration of Independence"
May 20, 2023
Bill Nash
James Madison
America's First Politician
by
Jay Cost
June 17, 2023
Mark Webster
African Founders: How Enslaved People Expanded
American Ideals
by
David Hackett Fischer
April 15, 2023
Jack Brammer
John Peter Zenger and the birth of freedom of the Press
March 18, 2023
Bill Riley
The Great Wagon Road
from Philadelphia to the South
by
Park Rouse, Jr
February 18, 2023
Annual Constitutional Symposium at Bellarmine University - Prof. Ilya Somin
January 21, 2023
Prof. John McLeod
The Consequences of Loyalism
Essays in honor of Robert M. Calhoon
December 17, 2022
Dr. Lee Alan Dugatkin
Behind the Crimson Curtain: The Rise and Fall of
by
Lee Alan Dugatkin
November 19, 2022
Prof. Aaron Hoffman
The Constitution:
An Introduction
by
Michael Stokes Paulsen and Luke Paulsen
October 15, 2022
Dr. Richard Werking
American Republics: A Continental History 1783-1850
by
Alan Taylor
September 17, 2022
Joseph Cecil
First Principles: What America's Founders Learned from the Greeks and Romans and How That Shaped Our Country
by
Thomas E. Ricks
August 20, 2022
Marilyn Gordon McCarthy
Genealogist
"The rise, fall, and demise of the Natchez Trace 1780-1820"
While researching her family tree, she ran across a relative, Captain John Gordon, who fought with General Andrew Jackson in the War of 1812. He became involved in Western North Carolina (Tennessee) politics and built one of the early houses/stations/trading posts at the north end of the Natchez Trace.
July 16, 2022
AHHS members Gilbert Brunnhoffer and Richard Werking will have a joint presentation.
"A MODERATED CONVERSATION BETWEEN THE GHOSTS OF BURR AND HAMILTON"
Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton two young men on their way up in the new country with excellent reputations in the Revolutionary War, a common future in the law and commerce, on their way up in politics. Both taking their rightful place as revered senior statesmen. What prompted them to get out of bed before dawn on July 11th, 1804, to row across the Hudson River, clime the steep palisades and attempt to shoot each other before breakfast? Come at 10:30am on Saturday, 16 July 2022 (five days after the duel's 218th anniversary) for some answers and, almost certainly, even more questions.
June 18, 2022
Mark Webster
American Slavery, American Freedom
The Ordeal of Colonial Virginia
by
Edmund S. Morgan
May 21, 2022
Bill Riley
President of AHHS-KY
The Indispensables:
The Diverse Soldier-Mariners Who Shaped the Country, Formed the Navy, and Rowed Washington Across the Delaware
by
Patrick K. O'Donnell
April 16, 2022
John McCleod
Professor of History and Director of Undergraduate Studies
Department of History
University of Louisville
Travels with George:
In Search of Washington and his Legacy
by
Nathaniel Philbrick
March 19, 2022
Dr. William Nash
Alexander Hamilton
by
Ron Chernow
February 12, 2022
Constitutional Symposium
Bellarmine University – Cralle Theatre, Wyatt Center for the Arts
January 15, 2022 (change in speaker)
DVD presentation of American Heritage's Great Minds of American History: Gordon Wood, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Radicalism of the American Revolution, and renowned expert on the colonial era brings to life the birth of the first modern democracy. Moderated by Roger Mudd
December 18, 2021
Jack Brammer
Paul Revere's Ride
by
David Hackett Fischer
November 20, 2021
Dr. Richard Werking
American Revolutions: A Continental History, 1750-1804
by
Alan Taylor
October 16, 2021
Dr. Aaron D. Hoffman
John Adams
by
John Patrick Diggins
September 18, 2021
Joseph Cecil
Democracy, Bureaucracy, & Character: Founding Thought
by
William D. Richardson
July-August 2021
Summer break
July 15, 2021
Kentucky History Education Conference
(virtual)
Zoom meeting info:
Topic: AHHS-KY's Zoom Meeting
Time: Jul 15, 2021 12:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
June 19, 2021
Mark Webster
A Son of Thunder: Patrick Henry and the American Republic
by
Henry Mayer
May 15, 2021
Dr. William Nash
Rush: Revolution, Madness, and Benjamin Rush, the Visionary Doctor Who Became a Founding Father
by
Stephen Fried
April 17, 2021
member discussion on future meetings with respect to COVID restrictions
March 20, 2021
Bill Riley
President, AHHS-KY
Ten Crucial Days:
Washington's Vision for Victory Unfolds
by
William L. Kidder
February 13, 2021
Constitutional Symposium
Christina Mulligan, Vice Dean & Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School
“Diverse Originalism”
January 16, 2021
Prof. John McLeod
Liberty Without Anarchy:
A History of the Society of the Cincinnati
by
Minor Myers, Jr.
December 19, 2020
Dr. William Nash
The Quartet
Orchestrating the Second American Revolution, 1783-1789
by
Joseph Ellis
November 21, 2020
Dr. Richard Werking
The British are Coming
The War for America Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777
by
Rick Atkinson
via Zoom
October 17, 2020
Dr. Aaron Hoffman
Our Republican Constitution: Securing the Liberty and Sovereignty of We The People
by
Randy E. Barnett
via Zoom
August 15, 2020
CANCELLED
Dr. Pattie Dillon
Thomas Paine and the Clarion Call for American Independence
by
Harlow Giles Unger
July 18, 2020
Mark Webster
Topic: James Madison
via Zoom
July 16th, 2020
AHHS-KY a Virtual Vendor at the 2019 Kentucky History Education Conference
Canceled due to COVID
June 20, 2020
Bill Riley
Ten Crucial Days:
Washington's Vision for Victory Unfolds
by
William L. Kidder
Canceled due to COVID
May 16, 2020
Dr. William Nash
Canceled due to COVID
April 18, 2020
Jack Brammer
Paul Revere’s Ride
by
David Hackett Fischer
Canceled due to COVID
March 21, 2020
Dr. Richard Werking
The British Are Coming:
The War for America, Lexington to Princeton 1775-1777
by
Rick Atkinson
February 8, 2020
Frank J. Colucci
Associate Professor of Political Science, Purdue University Northeast
"Liberty and the Constitution"
Cralle Theatre, Wyatt Center for the Arts
Bellarmine University
January 19, 2020
Dr. John McLeod
Contest for Liberty
Seanegan P. Sculley
December 21, 2019
Scott Miller
November 16, 2019
Dr. William Nash
Polk: The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America
by
Walter R. Borneman
October 19, 2019
Dr. Aaron Hoffman
The Accessible Federalist: A Modern English Translation of 16 Key Federalist Papers
by
S. Adam Seagrave
September 21, 2019
Joseph Cecil
The Transformation of Governance: Public Administration for Twenty-first Century America
by
Donald F. Kettl
August 17, 2019
Bill Riley
If By Sea: The Forging of the American Navy - from the Revolution to the War of 1812
by
George Daughan
July 20, 2019
Mark Webster
"Alexis de Tocqueville: Did he find what the founders founded?"
Democracy in America
trans. by
Arthur Goldhammer
June 15, 2019
Dr. William Nash
Heirs of the Founders: The Epic Rivalry of Henry Clay, John Calhoun, Daniel Webster, the Second Generation of American Giants by H.W. Brands
May 18, 2019
Dr. Patricia Dillon
American Dialogue: The Founders and Us
by Joseph Ellis
April 20, 2019
Jack Brammer
Fallen Founder: The Life of Aaron Burr
by Nancy Isenberg
March 16, 2019
Dr. Richard Werking
"The French Connection: Lafayette and His Countrymen in the American Revolution" relying on
Lafayette in the Somewhat United States
by Sarah Vowell
February 23, 2019
* 4th Saturday
Symposium at Bellarmine University
January 19, 2019
Dr. John McLeod
Stop the Revolution: America in the Summer of Independence and the Conference for Peace
by
Thomas J. McGuier
December 15, 2018
Scott Miller
Topic: Andrew Jackson
November 17, 2018
Dr. Charles Dobbs
Topic TBD
October 20, 2018
Sean Southard
Constitutional History of the American Revolution,
Volume I - The Authority of Rights
by
John Phillip Reid
September 15, 2018
Dr. William Nash
Friends Divided: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson
by Gordon Wood
August 18, 2018
Bill Riley
Sea of Glory
by Nathaniel Philbrick
July 21, 2018
Mark Webster
The Founders and the Classics
Greece, Rome, and the American Enlightenment
by Carl J. Richard
June 16, 2018
Pattie Dillon
American Sanctuary: Mutiny, Martyrdom, and National Identity in the Age of Revolution
by A. Roger Ekirch
May 19, 2018
Lauve Poché
John Marshall: The Chief Justice Who Saved the Nation
by Harlow Giles Unger
April 21, 2018
Jack Brammer
Twilight at Monticello
The final years of Thomas Jefferson
by Alan Pell Crawford
March 17, 2018
Dr. John McLeod
The Loyal Son
The War in Ben Franklin's House
by Daniel Mark Epstein
February 17, 2018
Symposium: “Madison’s Constitution in a Partisan Era"
January 20, 2018
Dr. Richard Werking
retired Naval Academy professor, AHHS-KY member
will review
The Civil War of 1812: American Citizens, British Subjects, Irish Rebels, and Indian Allies
by Alan Taylor.
January 21, 2017
Professor of History, University of Louisville
Revolution on the Hudson: New York City and the Hudson River Valley in the American War of Independence
by George C. Daughan
February 25, 2017
Bellarmine University Symposium
arranged by Dr. Aaron Hoffman
March 18, 2017
Dr. Patricia Dillon
Associate Professor, History Department
Spalding University
The Quartet: Organizing the Second American Revolution 1783 - 1789
by Joseph J. Ellis
April 15, 2017
Jack Brammer
AHHS member and Reporter, Lexington Herald-Leader
Bunker Hill: A City, A Siege, A Revolution
by Nathaniel Philbrick
May 20, 2017
Jim Hill
AHHS member and Attorney
Reclaiming the American Revolution
The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions and their legacy
by William J. Watkins, Jr.
June 17, 2017
Dick Ernst
July 15, 2017
Mark Webster
Attorney
The Great Debate: Edmund Burke, Thomas Paine and the Birth of the Right and Left the American Revolutio
by Yural Levin
August 19, 2017
Bill Riley
AHHS Board member
Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold and the Fate of the American Revolution
by Nathaniel Philbrick
September 16, 2017
Larry Curry
AHHS member
The Louisiana Purchase, Jefferson and Napoleon
October 21, 2017
Dr. Aaron Hoffman
Associate Professor of Political Science, Bellarmine University
The Founding Fathers: A Very Short Introduction
by R.B. Bernstein
November 18, 2017
Hank Schildknect
AHHS member and Attorney
John Jay
December 16, 2017
Scott W. Miller
AHHS-KY Board Member
will review
Daniel Webster: The Man and His Time
by Robert V. Remini.
January 2016
Dr. John McLeod
Professor, University of Louisville
The Men Who Lost America
by Andrew Jackson O'Shaunessey
February 2016
Symposium
March 2016
Ann Durbin
AHHS Board Member
Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation
by Cokie Roberts
April 2016
Jack Brammer
AHHS member and Correspondent,
Lexington Herald-Leader
Thomas Paine
May 2016
Dick Ernst
AHHS Treasurer
The Return of George Washington
by Edward J. Larsen
June 2016
Senator Scott W. Miller, Jr.
Henry Clay: America's Greatest Statesman
by Harlow Giles Unger
July 2016
Mark Webster
AHHS member, Attorney
Fire and Light: How the Enlightenment Transformed Our World
by James MacGregor Burns
August 2016
Bill Riley
AHHS Board Member
Wedding of the Waters: The Erie Canal and the Making of a Great Nation
by Peter L. Bernstein
September 2016
*SAR Headquarters at 809 W. Main*
Dr. William Nash
AHHS member
The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution 1763-1789
by Robert Middlekauff
October 2016
Bethany Morse
Outreach Services Librarian, Oldham County Public Library
Independence Lost: Lives on the Edge of the American Revolution
by Kathleen DuVal
November 2016
Dr. Richard Werking
retired professor, U.S. Naval Academy
The Idea of America: Reflections of the Birth of the United States
by Gordon S. Wood
December 2016
Video of PBS's American Experience biography of Alexander Hamilton: The Duel.
January 2015
Speaker: Dr. Mark McLeod
Topic: The Battle for the Fourteenth Colony, by Mark R. Anderson
February 2015
Symposium at Bellarmine University: "The President's Power: When is it Constitutional?" moderated by Dr. Aaron Hoffman
March 2015
Speaker: Dr. William Nash
Topic: John Quincy Adams by Fred Kaplan
April 18 2015
Speaker: Jack Brammer
Topic: Ben Franklin and the 1754 Plan of Union
May 16 2015
Speaker: Jim Hill, J.D.
Topic: John Marshall: Definer of a Nation by Jean Edward Smith
June 20 2015
Speaker: Dr. Karl Kuhl
Topic: A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America by Stacy Schiff
July 18 2015
Speaker: Mark Webster, J.D.
Topic: Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power
by John Meacham
August 15 2015
Speaker: Bill Riley
Topic: The Battle for New York: The City at the Heart of the American Revolution by Barnet Schecter
September 19 2015
Speaker: Senator W. Scott Miller
Topic: John Paul Jones
October 17 2015
Speaker: Lynn Olympia and Lauve Poche
Topic: The First Salute by Barbara Tuchman
November 21 2015
Speaker: Dr. Charles Dobbs
Topic: Lafayette by Harlow Unger
December 19, 2015
Speaker: The Hon. Michael O. McDonald
Topic: American Whigs
January 2014
Dr. John McLeod, Professor of History at University of Louisville reviewed Unnatural Rebellion Loyalists in New York City During the Revolution by Ruma Chopra.
February 2014
Bellarmine University (George G. Brown Center/Frazier Hall)
Symposium on “The U.S. Constitution: Foundations and Controversies"
presented by:
The Alexander Hamilton Historical Society of Kentucky
Pi Sigma Alpha (the National Political Science Honor Society) Alpha Theta Pi chapter, Bellarmine University
The Political Science Club, Bellarmine University
The Pre-Law Society, Bellarmine University
Moderator:
Aaron D. Hoffman, Associate Professor of Political Science, Bellarmine University
Panelists:
Evanthia Speliotis, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Bellarmine University
Philosophical Foundations of the U.S. Constitution
Lee Remington Williams, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Bellarmine University
Judicial Legitimacy of the U.S. Supreme Court
Jane Lollis, Attorney at Law
The Supreme Court and the Balance of Power among the Three Branches of Government
Cedric Merlin Powell, Professor of Law, University of Louisville
Inequality and Constitutional Originalism
Discussant:
Paul E. Salamanca, Professor of Law, University of Kentucky
Audience questions will follow.
Quote
“The Alexander Hamilton Historical Society of Kentucky has sponsored an annual symposium on the Constitution for six years now. This year we wanted to work with Bellarmine University to present the Constitutional Symposium. Our goal with such an event is to promote a better understanding of the Founding Fathers' political philosophy, the genesis of the Constitution, and the resulting institutions required for effective government.”
-
Lynn Olympia, President, Alexander Hamilton Historical Society of Kentucky
March 2014
Hon. Michael O. McDonald spoke on the history of Common Law.
April 2014
AHHS member Dr. William Nash will review
the book Polk: The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America,
by Walter Borneman. In one short term Polk's accomplishments include: tariff reduction, reestablishment of an independent treasury, Texas's entry into the Union, and addition of the Oregon and California territories.
May 2014
Dr. James Holmberg, Curator Archives, Filson Club, reviewed his book on the letters of William Clark to Jonathon Clark, Dear Brother.
A review from from Yale University Press's website:
Dear Brother: Letters of William Clark to Jonathan Clark; Edited and with an introduction by James J. Holmberg; Foreword by James P. Ronda.
Over the course of his career, American explorer William Clark (1770–1838) wrote at least forty-five letters to his older brother Jonathan, including six that were written during the epic Lewis and Clark Expedition. This book publishes many of these letters for the first time, revealing important details about the expedition, the mysterious death of Meriwether Lewis, the status of Clark’s slave York (the first African American known to have crossed the continent from coast to coast), and other matters of historical significance.There are letters concerning the establishment of the Corps of Discovery’s first winter camp in December 1803, preparations for setting out into the country west of Fort Mandan in 1805, and Clark’s 1807 fossil dig at Big Bone Lick, Kentucky. There are also letters about Lewis’s disturbed final days that shed light on whether he committed suicide or was murdered. Still other letters chronicle the fate of York after the expedition; we learn the details of Clark and York’s falling out and subsequent alienation. Together the letters and the richly informative introductions and annotations by James J. Holmberg provide valuable insights into the lives of Lewis and Clark and the world of Jeffersonian America.James J. Holmberg is Curator of Special Collections, The Filson Historical Society. James P. Ronda is H. G. Barnard Professor of Western History at the University of Tulsa.
June 2014
Jack Brammer, reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader, will review Revolutionary Summer, The Birth of American Independence by Joseph Ellis.
July 2014
AHHS member and attorney Mark Webster will review The Great Upheaval, America and the Borth of the Modern World 1788 - 1800 by Jay Winnik.
August 2014
We are now in the bicentennial year of the ending of America’s second war for independence. War was declared June 18, 1812 against Great Britain for a variety of reasons: Britain’s interference with American Maritime Commerce: the impressments of sailors from American ships; British alliance with native peoples within American borders. As John Adams is our forgotten Founder, the War of 1812 is the forgotten war.
In August 1814, as American and British diplomats met in Ghent, Belgium, the British Navy and Army launch a major offensive on the east cost of America. Resulting in the burning of Washington City and the bombardment of Fort McHenry.
August 16, 2014, AHHS member Bill Riley will review the book Through the Perilous Fight, Six Weeks that Saved America by Steve Vogel.
September 2014
Dr. Aaron Hoffman, AHHS member and Bellarmine University Political Science Professor will review Madison's Metronome: The Constitution, Majority Rule, and the Tempo of American Politics by Greg Weiner.
October 18, 2014
AHHS member and attorney Jane Lollis will discuss John Jay.
November 15, 2014
State Senator Scott Miller will discuss admiralty law.
December 20, 2014
AHHS member Dick Ernst will speak on the relationship between Madison and Monroe referencing the book Founding Rivals: Madison and Monroe, the Bill of Rights, and the Election that Saved a Nation by Chris DeRose. Facing off in a congressional election in 1789, James and Madison and James Monroe - though friends and political allies - differed on the Constitution. Madison, principal author of the Constitution, believed that without it the United States would not survive. Monroe was opposed. He believed the Constitution gave the Federal Government too much power and failed to guarantee fundamental rights.