ADA, Okla. – East Central University’s Annual Rothbaum Lecture returns to campus Tuesday, Sept. 17, at 7 p.m. in the Estep Multimedia Center located in the Bill S. Cole University Center. The lecture is free and open to the public.
The Rothbaum Lecture, traditionally delivered on Constitution Day, marks the same date in 1789 when the final draft of the U.S. Constitution was signed by members of the Constitutional Convention.
Dr. Houston Mount will deliver the lecture this year, titled “Who Shall Rule? Foundations of the U.S. Constitution”
“Most know that the U.S. Constitution provided a more robust national government after the Articles of Confederation,” said Mount. “Fewer are familiar with the revolution in political thought that made the Constitution possible. This presentation will explore some significant early developments in constitutional thinking. In forming state constitutions, then later the U.S. Constitution, newly independent Americans would have to answer an unavoidable question: "Who shall rule?"
The Rothbaum Lecture is funded by an endowment established by the late Julian Rothbaum with a $25,000 gift to the ECU Foundation that was matched by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education. Rothbaum also established an endowment to fund the George Nigh Award for ECU’s top graduating senior.
A native of Tulsa, Rothbaum was a longtime leader in Oklahoma civic affairs, a 1986 inductee into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame and a member of the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education and the University of Oklahoma Regents.
For more information on the lecture or the ECU Department of History, contact Dr. Christopher Bean at cbean@ecok.edu or 580-559-5418.
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