How are governments created? How can they be sustained or changed? How do we deal with disagreement, dissent, willful ignorance, or even contempt for those laws that others or we ourselves don’t want to apply to us?

Revisiting the Founding Era brings to life some of the earliest attempts in America and Hawaiʻi to answer these questions. Then shows how through constitutions, legislation, and laws, both turned those theories and dreams into practice.

Join us to hear some of the passionate, analytic, self-interested, and idealistic words that led to the creation of the 18th century republican Constitution and government of the United States, and the 19th century Constitutional Monarchy of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi—two great, ongoing experiments which directly affect all of our lives today.

This original play written by Victoria N. Kneubuhl and directed by Sammie Choy is part of Revisiting the Founding Era, a three-year national initiative of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History presented in partnership with the Amercian Library Association and the National Constitution Center, with generous support from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Hawaii programming is in partnership with Hawaii Council for the Humanities.

If you need an auxiliary aid/service or other accommodation due to a disability, please contact the library at least 7 days prior to the program date. We will make every attempt to fulfill all requests for accommodations. All programs are subject to change. For a list of upcoming library events, visit test-library.ehawaii.gov/events