{"id":301004,"date":"2026-10-06T18:52:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T18:52:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/301004\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T18:52:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T18:52:13","slug":"a-fitting-backdrop-maxwell-examines-americas-250th-in-philadelphia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/301004\/","title":{"rendered":"A Fitting Backdrop: Maxwell Examines America\u2019s 250th in Philadelphia"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the Q&A that followed her talk, Murphy shared that the Haitian Revolution led to the second independent republic in the Americas.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the people who fought for Haitian independence were troops in the Battle of Savannah during the American Revolution,\u201d she said. \u201cSo there\u2019s a direct line in terms of some of the inheritances of U.S. independence in other parts of the Americas, which I think is something to be proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MuseumThe event was held Sept. 23 at Philadelphia\u2019s Museum of the American Revolution.<\/p>\n

Throughout the evening, attendees also had a chance to browse autographs from U.S. presidents such as George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, from the collection of Matthew Correia \u201908 B.S. (Econ). Correia shared the stories behind acquiring the signatures from every U.S. president and vice president, and he told fellow alumni he is the first person to have an autograph by every vice president.<\/p>\n

Correia\u2019s signed Washington artifact is a soldier discharge from 1783, the Revolutionary War\u2019s final year, and includes a message from the then-general: \u201cThe road to glory in a patriot army and free country is thus open to all.\u201d This, Correia said, alludes to the Revolution\u2019s reach for meritocracy. \u201cThey wanted to create a different type of governance, a different type of relationship of the people to the government.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murphy\u2019s historical perspective, along with the backdrop of the museum and Correia\u2019s collection, served as reminders that America\u2019s story is a work in progress.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are still learning so much more, both about our history, but then also what it means for our future,\u201d said Philadelphia-based education consultant Heidi Ramirez \u201996 B.A. (PSt) after Murphy\u2019s presentation. \u201cThis year has reminded us that there are so many voices in this thing we call American history and that just keeps evolving.\u201d<\/p>\n

That sentiment is captured in Maxwell\u2019s USA@250 lecture series, which features faculty talks on women\u2019s rights, Frederick Douglass, immigration, the U.S. Constitution and more and is available to all on YouTube<\/a>. The series reflects Maxwell\u2019s mission to bring scholarship on the nation\u2019s founding directly to the public in this semiquincentennial year.<\/p>\n

\u201cA milestone like this isn\u2019t just for scholars to study,\u201d Van Slyke said. \u201cIt\u2019s a call for all of us who care about the health of American self-government to carry forward.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the Q&A that followed her talk, Murphy shared that the Haitian Revolution led to the second independent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":301005,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[69,71,70],"class_list":["post-301004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301004\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}