The Insurgent Delegate - book launch

Maine Historical Society - Programs Podcast

Recorded November 7, 2019 - Listen to editor William C. "Chuck" diGiacomantonio as discuss a fascinating book that features a selection of letters, writings, and remarkable anti-slavery speeches by George Thatcher (1754-1824). Many of the letters are drawn from Maine Historical Society's manuscript collections. Copies of the book are available for purchase in our Museum Store. George Thatcher served as a U.S. representative from the Maine District of Massachusetts throughout the Federalist Era (1789-1801) which was the most critical and formative period of American constitutional history. A moderate on most political issues, he was a maverick in matters relating to education, the expansion of the slave interest, the rise of Unitarianism, and the separation of church and state. Following Thatcher's journey as a New England Federalist, abolitionist, religious dissenter, and pedagogical innovator can add depth to our understanding of the early American Republic. Written over his 40-year career as a country lawyer, national legislator, and state supreme court justice, selections in The Insurgent Delegate serve as an encyclopedic resource on the Founding Generation as it was lived and experienced in Maine, Boston, and the three capitals where Thatcher served (New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C.). Historians, lawyers, legal scholars, teachers, and genealogists will find this book compelling, as will all readers who are captivated by the dramatic immediacy and authenticity of Thatcher's personal letters. About the Author: William C. diGiacomantonio, Chief Historian of the U.S. Capitol Historical Society, spent most of his career on the editorial team that recently completed the twenty-two-volume Documentary History of the First Federal Congress.