Protecting Global Commerce: From USS Constitution to the South China Sea

Throughout the first half of the 1800s, USS Constitution was deployed to locations around the globe to protect American maritime commerce and interests. Keeping seaways open and safe for American ships passing through far-flung locales was a fundamental goal in the creation of the US Navy and USS Constitution. Today, US Navy ships are still stationed and patrolling waters around the world to protect maritime commerce and freedom of navigation in increasingly volatile regions such as the South China Sea.

In a virtual panel discussion on August 26, the USS Constitution Museum brings together three experts to discuss Constitution‘s history of protecting maritime commerce and how that legacy is reflected in the deployments of US Navy ships to tense sea lanes around the world today. What lessons does “Old Ironsides” offer us for guidance in understanding overseas naval presence today? How do global issues of maritime security affect commerce coming to and from American shores today and how does that compare to the 19th-century commerce Constitution sought to protect?

Panelists are:

Robert Allison, Professor of History at Suffolk University, and author of The Crescent Obscured: The United States and the Muslim World 1776-1815

James Holmes, the J. C. Wylie Chair of Maritime Strategy at the U.S. Naval War College and author of Red Star over the Pacific: China’s Rise and the Challenge to U.S. Maritime Strategy

Rockford Weitz, Director of the Maritime Studies Program at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and an entrepreneur in maritime logistics and support.

The program will be moderated by Carl Herzog, Public Historian for the USS Constitution Museum, with questions and input from the virtual attendees.

Wednesday, August 26 at 4 p.m. EDT on Zoom.

No cost.

Registration is required.

This event has been made possible by a National Endowment for the Humanities: CARES Act Grant.