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When America's revolutionary founders created the Constitution, they thought long and hard about a central paradox in modern political theory: liberty cannot exist without a strong government to secure individual rights, yet unchecked governmental power poses a threat to liberty. Professor Seth Cotlar will explore how the paradoxical relationship between liberty and power has inflected the meaning of American freedom from our country's origins up to our present moment in history.   

Seth Cotlar is a professor of history at Willamette University where he teaches courses on the American Revolution, the history of anti-democracy in America, the history and memory of slavery, and the history of American conservatism.  

Cotlar's first book was Tom Paine's America: The Rise and Fall of Transatlantic Radicalism in the Early American Republic (University of Virginia Press, 2011), which won the James Broussard Prize for Best First Book from the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic. He also co-edited Historian in Chief: How Presidents Interpret the Past to Shape the Future (University of Virginia Press, 2019) with Richard Ellis. Cotlar's current research project is "Rightlandia: Walter Huss and the Long History of the Far Right in Oregon, 1955-2005." 

Enjoy 15% off your hotel stay on History Pub nights! Show your ticket at check-in.

These events are open to everyone interested in Pacific Northwest history, and beyond! Often co-sponsored by local or state historical and civic organizations, we bring you experts, scholars, first-person experiencers, historians and documentaries expounding on topics from indigenous history to the birth of Portland, early explorers to hop growing, and on and on! It's like being back in the classroom - except this time you get to settle into comfortable seats and enjoy a drink or two with dinner while you listen and learn.

This event is eligible for a History Pub Stamp