Alan Taylor, Pulitzer & Bancroft prize winner
Pulitzer and Bancroft prize winner Professor Alan Taylor joins the Center for Life Enrichment for two presentations.
Many Americans may have been surprised by the recent uneasiness in the relationship between the US and Canada and Mexico. But it is hardly unprecedented as Taylor will discuss in his first presentation on June 9 from 2 to 4 pm. In that presentation, he will explore the untold connections of the American Civil War and conflicts in Canada and Mexico.
Americans only think of the Civil War in terms of the conflict between Union and Confederate armies fought on American soil. But, as Taylor will explain, the outbreak of the Civil War created a continental power vacuum.
To the North, Canadians long alert to the covetous eyes of annexationists to their South, reacted with concern at the Union triumph. John Macdonald, the dominant Canadian political figure, foresaw a crisis, fearing Yankee forces would invade Canada to spite the British. An abortive invasion by Irish-American radicals across the Niagara River only served to cement Canadian unity and hasten the move towards confederacy. To counter the ambitious Americans, Macdonald persuaded the British to press the maritime provinces into a Canadian confederation, to which British Columbia and Manitoba were later added.
In Mexico, French forces invaded in 1862 and established an empire ruled by a Habsburg archduke. This invasion inflamed an ongoing power struggle between Mexican conservatives who aligned themselves with the French forces and Confederate soldiers along the southwestern border. Initial American neutrality prolonged the Mexican conflict. But, when the Union triumph restored the continental balance of power, the French forces withdrew and the US government brought enough pressure to enable the Republican cause to prevail.
On June 10 from 10 to noon, Taylor returns to examine Thomas Jefferson’s vision for public education and his belief that it was essential to train citizens who would defend the Commonwealth of Virginia against demagogues and tyrants. Despite Jefferson’s urgings, the Commonwealth of Virginia refused to fund Jefferson’s quest to fund such a program. Professor Taylor will also explore the origins and early years of the University of Virginia and Jefferson’s attempts to reform the leadership class in that state.
Presentations will be held in the CLE Lecture Hall at the Peggy Crosby Center, 348 S. 5th Street, Highlands. Cost is $30/$40 Member/Non-Member for each presentation. Register by calling (828) 526-8811 or at www.clehighlands.com.