This event was organized by the Mid-Hudson Chapter of the First Amendment Cultural Team and hosted by kind permission of the National Parks Service. For further information contact Gully Stanford at gullystan@gmail.com.
On July 4th, 2026, a group assembled at “speaker’s corner” adjacent to the former home of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt; currently the FDR Presidential Library & Museum.
Within view of the evergreens that surround the burial place of the Roosevelts, a series of speakers limiting themselves to three minutes, spoke about the importance of the First Amendment to their area of expertise, how we might collectively defend and advance it.
This is reminiscent of the 1917 “Four minute men” launched as a program by then President Wilson to promote public speaking as a means to the broader civic engagement of the public in a time of war. That program was inspired by Revolutionary War “Minutemen” who stood by ready to fight on a moment’s notice, but the four minutes was defined by the amount of time it took to change a movie reel in a theater, the amount of time the screen would be blank.
It was an honor to be asked to speak to share my thoughts which I share here.
Bill Jeffway, Executive Director
Thank you for the invitation to be heard. Being heard is a central tenet of the First Amendment. I speak through the lens of my experience, local history.
What does the First Amendment mean to historians and the history community?
It means everything, because it allows us to understand our whole, complete and complex historical truth – and then share and engage with that truth.
A century ago Vassar Professor Lucy Salmon provocatively said a historian’s most important job is to continually rewrite history –as long as that rewriting is a tireless effort to get to a closer truth – by finding new sources. New information. New voices. Diverse voices.
Truth is such a powerful foundation. We hold these truths to be self-evident. Truth, Justice and the American Way! When Ulster County’s Isabella Baumfree liberated herself from enslavement in 1826 she chose the name she said reflected God’s intention for her, the name that inspired her: Sojourner Truth.
The First Amendment allows us to seek and understand a diverse and whole historical truth and learn from it unafraid, uncensored.
As always, we find efforts today to erase certain history. Through passive neglect or active erasure. But uncomfortable to whom? Decided by whom? How can anything but the truth be our guide?
One way of working together is by raising voices, locking arms, and taking actions. Not just with like minded people today that are gathered here, but by doing so with a sense of responsibility to those in the future. And by taking inspiration from those in the past.
Allow me to close with two such earlier examples.
In 1908, with women’s right to vote still some years in the future, the Vassar College President at the time prohibited the discussion of women’s rights on campus. As a result, Inez Milholland organized a rally of student suffragists off campus in the adjacent cemetery, resulting in national press coverage they might not otherwise have enjoyed. The drive to be heard is strong!
Solomon Garnett was feeling every one of his seventy years as he geared himself up to get to Poughkeepsie from Hyde Park in May of 1870. Garnett was part of a public parade and celebration noting the adoption of the 15th Constitutional Amendment, guaranteeing the right to vote regardless of race.
The moment carried a lot of emotional weight as Garnett had escaped enslavement in Virginia in the 1830s, right after New York abolished slavery. Instead of going to Canada, he decided to stay in the so-called New Guinea community of free Blacks and help others to freedom.
I have spoken about this for many years and often wondered if anyone, today, would come out to celebrate the US Constitution, and here we are!
I can not think of a better way to acknowledge and celebrate the 250th anniversary of the founding of our country, or to honor and take inspiration from those who made big moves – and the far greater number who took small actions: like organizing a rally in a cemetery, or taking part in a parade, that were part of a much much bigger ambition to create a more perfect union.
Such is the power of the First Amendment.
Graduate UPenn, Harvard Law School
Official New York Court Historian
Judicial fellow, NYU Law School
With law firm Mackey, Catania, and Whalen
Wife Julia, Daughter Betsy.
The Dutchess County Historical Society is particularly grateful to Judge Rosenblatt, who, for over a half century, as been a deeply committed advocate for the better understand of the US Constitution, its value, and important local contributions made to the document in Poughkeepsie in 1788. He, with his wife Julia, have equally been active supporters of the mission and work of DCHS, greatly enriching the quality, importance and relevance of our local history. This is why we are particularly pleased to be able to host Judge Rosenblatt’s important comments.