2026 Alfred E. Golz Memorial Lecture: Liberty is Sweet

In Liberty is Sweet, Woody Holton draws on his research from over a thousand eyewitness accounts to present the “hidden history” of the American Revolution – a history where nothing is at seems. The tale of a pistol-wielding Patriot foot-soldier who captures two British horsemen takes a twist when the Patriot turns out to be a woman in drag. The phrase “Liberty is Sweet,” which Holton takes as his title, does not come, as one might assume, from the pen of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, or any other celebrated Founding Father but from a 1775 letter describing slaves yearning to escape their bondage. George Washington’s slaves, to be exact. These and other overlooked Americans from all walks of life join and confront the Founding Fathers in a history that breathes new life into a story that we thought we already knew, one that explains why Britain never had a chance of overcoming the American struggle for independence.

WOODY HOLTON is Professor of History at the University of South Carolina, a multi-prize winning author, and a public intellectual who has written and presented at length on the history of the American Founding. His first book, Forced Founders Indians, Debtors, Slaves, and the Making of the American Revolution in Virginia, earned him the Organization of American Historians’ prestigious Merle Curti Award. He took home the Bancroft prize for his book, Abigail Adams, and his Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution was a finalist for the National Book Award. These and his other publications are required reading on more than 200 college campuses.