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METHOD:PUBLISH
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260811T134248Z
UID:365-2587442@old-swedes.org
DTSTART:20260910T230000Z
DTEND:20260911T000000Z
CLASS:PUBLIC
CREATED:20260802T132746
DESCRIPTION:While the Continental Congress debated the issue of independenc
 e from Britain\, laboring people were already fighting for their rights in
  the fields and the streets. It did not take long for the wealthier and mo
 re conservative members of the Congress—a coalition of merchants\, lawye
 rs\, and slave-holding Southern planters—to express alarm at the outspok
 en and often clamorous participation of the less prosperous segments of so
 ciety in the revolutionary process.\nJohn Adams\, James Madison\, and othe
 rs expressed their fears of what they called “riff raff\,” “the rabb
 le\,” and “the mob.” They believed that the “lower orders\,” onc
 e they had mobilized\, could bring forward a type of “excessive democrac
 y” that would disrupt the previously “stable” and “balanced” pol
 itical system that wealthy men with property had always dominated.\nAnd ye
 t\, it was the less wealthy sectors of American life—small farmers\, sho
 pkeepers\, craftsmen\, journeymen\, apprentices\, mariners\, laborers\, an
 d Black people (both slave and free)—who were the mainspring of the Revo
 lution. The men met in local assemblies\, fought in the militias or at sea
 \, and marched the length of the Eastern seaboard\, while the women furnis
 hed the American army with supplies while continuing to keep civil life hu
 mming.\nIn this illustrated lecture at Gloria Dei (Old Swedes’) Church\,
  history researcher and writer Michael Schreiber will describe how many 
 “lower-class” and laboring people contributed in exciting ways to the 
 American Revolution. He will show how recent research has uncovered the ac
 tivity during the Revolution of a number of people who were members of the
  Gloria Dei congregation and subsequently buried or memorialized in the ch
 urchyard.\nThis program is hosted by Preserve Old Swedes\, the non-profit 
 organization that preserves and interprets Gloria Dei (Old Swedes') Church
  and its graveyard. A portion of the proceeds will help us preserve this N
 ational Historic Site for current and future generations.
LAST-MODIFIED:20260802T132746
LOCATION:
SUMMARY:Radicals\, Rebels\, and Riff Raff
URL;VALUE=URI:https://www.old-swedes.org/events/radicals-rebels-and-riff-ra
 ff/2026-09-10
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 .png
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