Britain & The American Dream
- Apr 4
- 2 min read
Wednesday 1 July
6.30pm-8pm (Doors open 6pm) £27.50
Bestselling historian Peter Moore traces how Enlightenment ideas were exported from Britain and put into practice in America - where they became the most successful export of all time, the American Dream
As the USA celebrates its 250th birthday attention returns once again to Thomas Jefferson’s famous words in the preamble to the Declaration of Independence: ‘Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness’.
Today this phrase lies at the heart of a quintessentially American creed – one that speaks to free, expansive, questing life that so many in the USA hold dear. But Jefferson’s choice of words in 1776 were not original.
They owed much to the values, ideas and personalities of the European Enlightenment and, particularly, Georgian Britain. Stories can be glimpsed inside them: John Wilkes's bravura political campaigns of the 1760s, Samuel Johnson's emphasis on living a 'happy' life, Catharine Macaulay's zeal for liberty, Thomas Paine's opposition to tyranny.
Join bestselling historian and author Peter Moore as he explores how the British stories contributed to a seismic moment of political change on the anniversary of the first Independence Day.
Copies of Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Happiness by Peter Moore will be available to buy at the event.
Peter Moore Peter Moore is a writer, journalist and lecturer. He teaches creative writing at the University of Oxford. His debut, Damn His Blood, reconstructed a rural murder in 1806. His second, The Weather Experiment, a New York Times 'Notable Book of the Year', traced early efforts to forecast the weather. His latest book, Endeavour, was a multiple book of the year and a Sunday Times bestseller. He presents a history podcast called Travels Through Time.
Ticket includes a welcome drink, book signing and a chance to view Dr Johnson's House.
Doors open & welcome drink: 6pm
Talk starts: 6.30pm
Event ends: 8pm
Limited capacity. Early booking advised. A small number of priority tickets have been set aside for members.
Accessibility
There is regrettably no step-free access to Dr Johnson's House.
There are seven steps to access the entrance (with a handrail).
The building is a four-storey townhouse with a staircase between each floor.
There are handrails on each side of the staircase and visitor seating in every room.
Toilets are located down a steep set of stairs.
