STOUGHTON — The St. Ambrose Academy Faculty Lecture Series will be held on Monday, Oct. 21, from 7 to 8 p.m. at St. Ann Parish in Stoughton.
The newest faculty member at St. Ambrose, Michael Kwas, will share his research on “Conspiracy! Catholics, Anti-Catholicism, and Political Corruption in Civil War Era Wisconsin.”
During its first 15 years of statehood, Wisconsin witnessed a proliferation of real and imagined cases of corruption and conspiracy so extreme that the New York Tribune claimed, “Wisconsin is lost to honor; the home of corrupt politicians, and the home of a degraded people.” Anti-Catholic prejudice was often at the center of these cases.
This presentation will explore this history by focusing on two stories: the 1853 impeachment of Justice Levi Hubbell and the Ozaukee County Civil War Draft Riot of 1862. History lovers of all ages are welcome to this talk that promises to shed light on our American preoccupation with conspiracies.
Kwas received his Bachelor’s and Master’s of Arts degrees in history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is currently writing a dissertation on corruption and conspiracy in Wisconsin during the 1850s.
He had served as an adjunct professor at UW-Madison. This fall, he is teaching sixth and eighth grade U.S. history, senior high U.S. history, and sixth grade earth science at St. Ambrose.