America250: Code-making and Breaking in the Revolution

Join curatorial assistant Dawson Escott for an overview of American cryptography during and immediately after the Revolutionary war. As the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Clermont resident Robert R. Livingston played a critical role in developing and distributing the codes used by the founding fathers. Attendees can expect to learn about the difficulties of communicating sensitive information during wartime, the advantages and disadvantages of the many different systems which were invented, and even how to use a couple codes and ciphers themselves!