UIS Speaker Series presents "The Townshend Moment: How Two Brothers Started an Age of Revolution"

WHAT: The University of Illinois Springfield Engaged Citizenship Common Experience (ECCE) Speaker Series, University of Notre Dame Hesburgh Lecture Series and the Notre Dame Club of Central Illinois present “The Townshend Moment: How Two Brothers Started An Age of Revolution.”

WHEN: Thursday, October 27, 2016, at 7 p.m.

WHERE: UIS Brookens Auditorium, located on the lower level of Brookens Library

DETAILS: Patrick Griffin, a professor of history at the University of Notre Dame, will lead a discussion exploring the relationship between imperial reform and revolution in the eighteenth-century British Atlantic world. He will focus on the lives and experiences of two brothers: George and Charles Townshend, who tried to transform relations between Ireland, America and Britain in 1767, leading to political upheaval in both Ireland and the American colonies. The talk will examine the brothers’ colorful background, their vision for empire and how their ideas led people to provinces far away to imagine new political futures.

Griffin was named the Madden-Hennebry Professor in 2008 and is currently the chair of the University of Notre Dame History Department. His work explores the intersection of colonial American and early modern Irish and British history, focusing on Atlantic-wide themes and dynamics.

For a list of other upcoming ECCE Speaker Series events and more information, visit www.uis.edu/speakerseries/. All events are free and open to the public.