Sunday, June 14, at 2:00 p.m.
St. James United Church of Christ,
10 East Broad Way, Lovettsville
In the late autumn of 1775, Thomas Paine wrote Common Sense to influence swaying public opinion on the 13 American colonies potential independency. The recently arrived Englishmen’s passionate yet clear-cut arguments were in print in a cheap paperback version released in Philadelphia on January 10, 1776. It arrived in Loudoun County, Virginia just 9 days later—which says something about its relevant urgency! Shared from person to person, often read aloud in taverns, ordinaries, and other public houses, that it caught on this way—as was intended—gives us a sense of how its pithy arguments were able to influence public opinion. After it was read or heard, conversations (and likely arguments) inevitably followed.
The Loudoun VA250 Committee, established in 2022 to promote interest and programming for America’s Semiquincentennial during 2023-2033, is teaming with the Lovettsville Historical Society & Museum to offer a public reading of Common Sense on June 14th at 2pm. Presented as “an antiphonal reading,” the public reading will be held at St. James United Church of Christ.
What is an antiphonal reading? Readers are placed about the audience in such a way that when they stand to read a small dramatic segment, they will be across the room from the previous speaker, allowing the audience attention to be constantly shifted. Loudoun history educator Richard Gillespie has taken Paine’s 47-page pamphlet and abridged it to its most pithy pieces. Hearing these, the attending audience will be encouraged to participate as 18th century listeners, responding to each of 32 arguments with their voiced sentiments as did our forebears.
Admission to our lectures is free, but donations are welcome to defray expenses of the program and to support the activities of the Lovettsville Historical Society.
For more information, call 540-822-9194.