What if America's founding wasn't inevitable? Long before the Articles of Confederation, colonial Americans spent over a century struggling to unite—and mostly failing spectacularly.
Discover the forgotten stories of America's "rough drafts": the New England Confederacy's bold 1643 experiment, the authoritarian disaster of the Dominion of New England, William Penn's visionary continental congress proposal, and Benjamin Franklin's ahead-of-its-time Albany Plan. Each attempt crashed against the rocks of regional jealousies, cultural clashes, and economic chaos.
These weren't just boring political experiments; they were high-stakes gambles involving real people grappling with questions that still echo today: How do you balance local autonomy with collective strength? Can diverse communities truly unite?
Join us for a journey through America's messiest political moments, where failure taught the lessons that eventually made success possible. The path to union was anything but straight.
To register for this virtual event, press the Tickets button and make a donation of any amount to Old North Illuminated, the nonprofit that preserves and interprets Old North Church Historic Site. Your generosity supports our education programs. A Zoom link will be sent to you before the event.
Liz Covart turns dusty archives into riveting stories. As creator of the award-winning Ben Franklin's World podcast, she's brought early American history to thousands of people across more than 400 episodes and more than 13 million downloads.
A Ph.D. historian with serious academic chops, Liz has served as Founding Director of Colonial Williamsburg Innovation Studios and Digital Projects Editor at the prestigious Omohundro Institute. But she's not content staying in ivory towers. She co-founded Clio Digital Media and the History Explorers Club to connect everyday history lovers with cutting-edge scholarship.
Liz believes the most important stories are the ones that help us understand who we are and how we came to be who we are.
Old North Illuminated's 2025 Speaker Series events are brought to you in part by Hub Town Tours.
