Tag: Joseph Addison

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Cato: A Tragedy: The Enduring Theatrical Mystery at Valley Forge

The Valley Forge winter of 1777-78 is an integral part of America’s national narrative.[1] For many citizens, the name “Valley Forge” relates both a physical and intellectual landscape, specific spatial geography in Pennsylvania and a certain emotional acreage representative of the enduring suffering many Americans embraced during the revolution. At the end of that challenging […]

by Shawn David McGhee
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Joseph Addison’s Cato: Liberty on the Stage

The study of ancient Greece and Rome was a significant part of upper class education in Colonial and Revolutionary America.  The founders were familiar with spread of Greek democracy, the fall of the Roman Republic, concepts of citizenship, and the rise of tyrants and dictators.  They drew cautionary lessons, particularly about the vulnerabilities of democracies […]

by Eric Sterner
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George Washington’s Favorite Play

Thanks to the porous state of the British lines around Philadelphia and the industry of General Washington’s secret agents, there is little doubt that American officers at Valley Forge were aware of the dramas that a British Army theater company known as Howe’s Strolling Players presented at the Southwark Theater during 1777-78. The Americans considered […]

by Thomas Fleming