Bandy Heritage Center to Host "Thou Shalt Not Duel: The Impotency of Dueling Laws in the United States"
March 02, 2018
On Tuesday, March 27, 2018, from 6:00pm to 7:30pm in Room 102 in Sequoyah Hall on the campus of Dalton State College, the Bandy Heritage Center for Northwest Georgia will host the program “Thou Shalt Not Duel: The Impotency of Dueling Laws in the United States” by Mathew Byron, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History at Young Harris College. This program is free and open to the public.
During the latter part of the eighteenth century and the early decades of the nineteenth century, the United States witnessed the emergence of honor culture’s ritualistic practice of dueling on an alarming scale. The sheer quantity of duels between 1800 and 1810 alone, nearly eclipsed the total number of recorded duels in American history prior to 1800. As a result, a number of Americans attempted to eradicate these “affairs of honor” through various means. Legislators began passing dueling laws with ever increasing punishments and clergymen took to their pulpits to denounce the sin of dueling as an act of suicide, while others formed organizations and societies designed to oppose the practice of dueling. This presentation will demonstrate the rise and fluctuation of dueling, the legal and civil approaches taken to stop the practice, and how honor culture in the form of dueling was above the law.
Dr. Byron received his Ph.D., from the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville. He is Associate Professor and Chair of the History Department at Young Harris College where his specialization includes 17th, 18th, and 19th century American history with an emphasis on honor culture and violence. He is currently revising a manuscript on the history of dueling in the United States.