Film - "Jefferson-Hamilton Debate" July 14, 2008

Originally broadcast on C-SPAN, this program features scholars dressed in period clothing portraying Jefferson and Hamilton. Jefferson is portrayed by Clay Jenkinson, who was featured on the popular public radio series, The Thomas Jefferson Hour. Hamilton is presented by Hal Bidlack, a noted historian. The debate was filmed at the William L. Clements Library at the University of Michigan.

The debate brings the Republican and Federalist viewpoints of post-Revolutionary America to life for a modern audience and presents their disparate views of democracy, the founding of the nation and projects the two founding fathers' possible views of modern politics.

This program is presented as part of Alexander Hamilton: The Man Who Made Modern America, a traveling panel exhibit that examines Hamilton's central role during the Revolutionary War and Founding period (1774-1804) in creating the economic, constitutional, social, journalistic, political and foreign policy templates for modern America. The exhibit will acquaint visitors with a statesman and visionary whose life inspired discussion and controversy and shaped the America we live in 200 years after his death.

The free exhibit will be on display at the James City County Library, 7770 Croaker Road, Norge from June 28 to August 7 during normal library hours. Programs associated with the exhibit can be found at http://www.wrl.org/hamilton. They are presented without charge thanks to a grant from the Friends of Williamsburg Regional Library.

Alexander Hamilton: The Man Who Made Modern America is organized by the The New-York Historical Society, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, and the American Library Association. The traveling exhibition has been made possible in part through a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, dedicated to expanding American understanding of human experience and cultural heritage.

The traveling exhibition is based on the New-York Historical Society's exhibition commemorating the 200th anniversary of Hamilton's death as well as the 200th anniversary of the founding of the Society in 1804.

Event submitted by Eventful.com on behalf of programs.