{"id":115222,"date":"2026-07-09T11:09:54","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T15:09:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.cga.ct.gov\/osh\/?p=115222"},"modified":"2026-07-09T11:51:23","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T15:51:23","slug":"connecticuts-old-state-house-celebrates-the-states-defiance-declaration-of-independence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.cga.ct.gov\/osh\/2026\/07\/09\/connecticuts-old-state-house-celebrates-the-states-defiance-declaration-of-independence\/","title":{"rendered":"Connecticut\u2019s Old State House Celebrates the State\u2019s Defiance & Declaration of Independence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Where better to kick off Long Weekend Hartford than at the spot where Connecticut\u2019s patriots conspired, debated, and dared to break with a crown? Guests gathered inside the historic courtroom at Connecticut\u2019s Old State House, which was transformed into a colonial tavern alive with the spirit of 1776. Guests gathered for an evening of history, oration, and colonial \u201cmusick,\u201d marking America\u2019s 250th birthday.

The theme for the evening was \u201cDefiance & Declaration: Connecticut 1776\u201d <\/strong>and included a conversation with Historian Dr. Matthew Warshauer<\/strong> of Central Connecticut State University. Warshauer regaled guests as he traced Connecticut\u2019s bold march to independence, from the publication of Thomas Paine\u2019s Common Sense<\/em> essay printed in the firebrand Connecticut Courant<\/em>, to the moment Governor Trumbull called an emergency Assembly on June 14, 1776, and Connecticut declared itself free.

Re-enactor Dayne Rugh <\/strong>stepped into the boots of Governor Jonathan Trumbull, giving voice to Connecticut\u2019s own Proclamation of Independence. At the same time, musician Richard Franklin Donohue<\/strong> performed a fiery repertoire of revolutionary-era \u201cmusick,\u201d setting the unmistakable mood of a colony on the edge of history.

The Connecticut Democracy Center and Connecticut’s Old State House were proud to be a partners of the Long Weekend celebration, which ran July 1-5 in the City of Hartford.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Where better to kick off Long Weekend Hartford than at the spot where Connecticut\u2019s patriots conspired, debated, and dared to break with a crown? Guests gathered inside the historic courtroom […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":115259,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[151,141,143,142],"class_list":["post-115222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-america250ct","tag-ctdemocracycenter","tag-ctoldstatehouse","tag-ctosh"],"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Connecticut's Old State House","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/wp.cga.ct.gov\/osh","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.cga.ct.gov\/osh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.cga.ct.gov\/osh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.cga.ct.gov\/osh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.cga.ct.gov\/osh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.cga.ct.gov\/osh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115222"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/wp.cga.ct.gov\/osh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":115262,"href":"https:\/\/wp.cga.ct.gov\/osh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115222\/revisions\/115262"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.cga.ct.gov\/osh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.cga.ct.gov\/osh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.cga.ct.gov\/osh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.cga.ct.gov\/osh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}