Our Declaration, Our Constitution: Securing the Blessings of Liberty at 250

Join us on Constitution Day, September 17, for Our Declaration, Our Constitution: Securing the Blessings of Liberty at 250, a conversation hosted by the Rudman Center and NH Humanities.  

We will explore the connection between these two foundational documents: the system of rights and responsibilities they established, the promises they made, and the 250-year history of our struggle to live up to their ideals.  Panelists include Eliga Gould, Professor of History at UNH and an expert on the American Revolution; Julian Jefferson, Clinical Assistant Professor at UNH Law and criminal-law expert; and Margaret O'Grady,  Assistant Professor of Law and constitutional-law expert.  Laura Knoy, Rudman Center Community Engagement Director, will moderate the discussion.  

Where: The UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law, 2 White Street, Concord, Room 282.

When: September 17, 5:30 p.m. 

Registration is required. Please register here. 

Panelists: 

Professor Eliga Gould

Professor Eliga Gould’s scholarship focuses on the American Revolution, with an emphasis on the entangled history that Americans shared with the rest of the Americas, as well as with Africa, Europe, and the wider world. His current book project, Peace and Independence (under contract with Oxford), examines the least studied of the United States’ founding documents: the Treaty of 1783 that ended the American Revolutionary War. In Among The Powers Of The Earth: The American Revolution And  The  Making Of A New World Empire (Harvard, 2012), he explored the manifold ways in which the early American republic’s quest to be accepted as a “treaty worthy” nation by Europe’s colonial powers shaped American thinking about an array of issues, including federalism, Native American treaty rights, and the abolition of slavery.

Professor Gould has taught at the University of New Hampshire since 1992. In addition to being recognized at UNH for excellence in teaching and research, he has held long-term fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the Fulbright-Hays Program, the National Endowment for the Humanities (twice), and the Charles Warren Center at Harvard. In 2025-26, he was Harmsworth Professor of American History at Oxford, and in 2026-27, he is the Robert Ritchie Distinguished Fellow at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California.  He did his undergraduate education at Princeton University, followed by graduate work at the University of Edinburgh and Johns Hopkins University, where he earned his PhD.

Professor Julian Jefferson

Professor Julian Jefferson specializes in criminal law and served as an attorney for 11 years at the New Hampshire Public Defender. He handled a wide range of cases from juvenile delinquency matters to allegations of murder. Over the years, he has participated in 32 jury trials ranging from misdemeanor appeals to aggravated sexual assault and murder, resulting in several acquittals. In addition, Professor Jefferson engaged in extensive litigation in both the Circuit and Superior Courts. He has received the Robert E. Kirby Award for excellent advocacy from the NH Bar Association and the Champions of Justice Award from the NH Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. 

Professor Maureen O'Grady

Professor Margaret O’Grady is an Assistant Professor of Law at UNH Law teaching courses in constitutional law and antitrust law. Her scholarship focuses on the digital economy, antitrust enforcement, and civil rights. Professor O’Grady first began at UNH teaching legal research and writing after a successful career as a litigator. She served as Senior Staff Attorney at the Project on Predatory Lending (“PPSL”), a plaintiff-side public interest litigation organization representing students who have been defrauded by for-profit colleges. Prior to PPSL, Professor O’Grady spent ten years as an antitrust litigator at a large firm in Boston.  She is a graduate of Wellesley College and Harvard Law School. She serves on the Board of PPSL and is a fellow with the Thurman Arnold Project at Yale University, 

Moderator:

Laura Knoy, Rudman Center Community Engagement Director

Laura Knoy is the founding host of New Hampshire Public Radio’s “The Exchange,"  a live daily call-in program that ran for 25 years. During that time, Knoy interviewed dozens of presidential candidates, hosted numerous political debates and NHPR's election night coverage. She moderated thousands of conversations about important topics including education, the economy, and the environment. Knoy stepped down from the show in 2021, and is a sought-after speaker, moderator, interviewer and narrator. In the fall of 2022, she joined the Rudman Center at UNH-Franklin Pierce School of Law as Director of Community Engagement. She recently published her first novel, The Shopkeeper of Alsace.