Dates: Third Thursdays, July 2025-August 2026
Time: 6:00pm – 8:00pm
Location: Lawshe Memorial Museum
More Information and registration is available on the Dakota County Historical Society's Website.
As part of the upcoming Semiquincentennial (250th) anniversary of the Signing of the Declaration of Independence, we are offering a 14-part presentation series that can be taken as a whole, or individual sections. Each program is designed to explore a different aspect of our government to show why, and how, it was set up that way and its impact on today. This series is presented by educator and historian, Frank Sachs.
The Dates and Topics are:
- July 17, 2025 - The Road to Independence: The Declaration of Independence
- August 21, 2025 - Struggles with Self-Governance: The Failure of the Articles of Confederation
- September 18, 2025 - Inventing a Nation: The Constitutional Convention
- October 16, 2025 - Article I – The Legislative Branch: Power of the Commerce Clause
- November 20, 2025 - Article II – The Executive Branch: Powers of the Presidency
- January 15, 2026 - Article III – The Judicial Branch: Power of Judicial Review and a Look at Articles IV-VIII
- February 19, 2026 - The Federalist Papers: Road to Ratification and How These Papers Helped Define the Constitution
- March 19, 2026 - The Bill of Rights (Part 1): The Historical Origin of the First Ten Amendments to the Constitution
- April 16, 2026 - The Bill of Rights (Part 2): How They Came to Protect Our Civil Liberties and Government Interference in Our Personal Lives
- May 21, 2026 - Supreme Court from 1789 – 1986: Marshall, Taney, Warren, and Burger
- June 18, 2026 - Supreme Court from 1987 to Present: Rehnquist and Roberts
- July 16, 2026 - Voting Rights
- August 20, 2026 - Representative Government
- September 17, 2026 - The Electoral College