The Filson Institute for the Advanced Study of the Ohio Valley and the Upper South will conduct a three-day academic conference to examine calls for secession or disunion in the United States from the Revolutionary era to the Civil War. The conference, which will convene at The Filson Historical Society in Louisville, Kentucky, marks the 150th anniversary of South Carolina’s secession. It will explore the moments in U.S. history between 1783 and 1865 when Americans threatened or acted upon a perceived right to secede from or nullify the laws of national or state authorities.
The conference conveners are Manisha Sinha of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, author of The Counterrevolution of Slavery: Politics and Ideology in Antebellum South Carolina; and Kevin Barksdale of Marshall University, author of The Lost State of Franklin: America's First Secession. James Loewen, a sociologist and professor, is among the conference’s speakers. His best-known book, Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong, won the American Book Award. Other speakers at the conference include Jon Kukla, author of Mr. Jefferson's Women and A Wilderness So Immense: The Louisiana Purchase and the Destiny of America; and Andrew Cayton of Miami University, who co-authored the Washington Post Best Book of 2005, The Dominion of War: Empire and Liberty in North America, 1500-2000, with Fred Anderson.
The conference begins on Thursday evening at 6:30 p.m. at The Filson Historical Society and lasts through Saturday afternoon. There is no cost for this conference, though reservations are suggested. Find details about the conference at http://www.filsonhistorical.org/programs-and-publications/the-filson-institute.aspx. You may reserve your seat by visiting www.filsonhistorical.org or by calling The Filson at (502) 635-5083.