Weeden Lecturer Sean Wilentz Examines the Roots of American Antislavery

For more than a quarter century, Lawrenceville’s annual Weeden Lecture Series has brought some of the most noted American historians to campus to share their expertise with the School community. This year’s speaker, Sean Wilentz, continued that tradition. Wilentz, the Princeton University George Henry Davis 1886 Professor of History, addressed the anti-slavery tradition in America.

 

His most recent historical study, “No Property in Man: Slavery and Antislavery at the Nation’s Founding,” based on a series of lectures he delivered at Harvard University, was awarded the Thomas A. Cooley Book Prize for “the best book on the Constitution” by the Georgetown University Law Center.

 

Wilentz is the author or co-author of eight books on history, culture, and politics and has contributed some 400 articles, reviews, and op-ed pieces to national and international publications. His ”The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln”, was awarded the Bancroft Prize and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He is currently working on a companion volume, “The Triumph of American Antislavery.”

The Weeden Lecture Series was established by Walter Buckley, Jr. ‘56 to honor the memory of history teacher and coach Charles F. “Chuck” Weeden, III. The Series, sponsored by the Buckley family, is coordinated by history teacher Clare Grieve.

 

"Professor Wilentz reminded us that the history of our democracy is not simply a story of outcomes, but of process — of politics, compromise, and hard-won incremental progress,” Grieve said. “When students understand that antislavery was not a moment but a long, contentious political tradition, they begin to see democracy itself differently: as something that requires patience, persistence, and courage."