- DURATION 60 mins
Event Description
A little over 230 years ago a group of men meeting in City Hall in Philadelphia drafted a document, a constitution. They did more than that; they created a new nation, the United States of America. The constitution endured, and the nation has grown to embrace an entire subcontinent of 350 million people. Chris Forse will explore the world of the Founding Fathers, their ideas, their hopes and their differences, and assess their impact through the history of the USA to the present day, a history that embraces the pinnacle of human flourishing and of sordid inequities. Today, this venerated document may be under greater challenge than at any time since the Civil War of the mid-19th Century as its contradictions and inconsistencies are exposed, and its institutions captured. The occasion for revisiting this issue is the upcoming presidential election which, more than any election in our times, may put the promise of those Founding Fathers to the test.
This talk was previously presented in October 2023
- Duration: 60 mins
- Online Zoom event: Join from your computer, phone or tablet (no replay available)
Meet the Host, Chris
Chris Forse is a retired teacher and administrator who spent 33 years in Hong Kong where he was also a sometime columnist and radio panel guest. He has travelled widely, enjoys travel photography and self-publishing and is a reputed speaker on travel, history and politics in the Midlands where he was for six years chairman of one of England’s largest U3As. He has produced several talks for Rest Less including his travel experiences in North America and China, and on the history of the Lake District.
Preparing for the Event
For the best experience, you will need to have Zoom downloaded onto your computer. Please ensure you're connected to broadband/wifi rather than using your mobile phone connection (3G/4G).
We also recommend that pets are either calmly sitting on your lap or in another room, and any refreshments you may require are within your reach!
More Information
What if I can’t make the event?
If a recording’s available for the event, you can still register for it and we will send you an email with a link to a recording shortly after it ends.
Will my camera be on and will I be visible to the other people?
Your camera and microphone does not need to be on for you to enjoy the event. The choice about whether to do this is completely yours.
How do I watch the live event?
Rest Less events are hosted on Zoom, a computer application that allows you to attend online events just by clicking a link. For detailed instructions, please go to our "FAQ" page, which you can find a link to in the nav bar at the top of the page.
How do I sign-up for and access the recording? (Recorded events only)
Book the event as normal (as if you are attending live). After the event ends you will automatically receive a post-event email with a link to the recording, as long as the event was recorded. You do not need to do anything else and there is no separate booking process for recordings only. Please note it can take up to 24 hours for Zoom to process recordings.