1 00:00:05,640 --> 00:00:08,320 Speaker 1: On this episode of New World. The lies of these 2 00:00:08,360 --> 00:00:11,680 Speaker 1: men are essential to understand the American form of government 3 00:00:11,880 --> 00:00:15,280 Speaker 1: and our ideals of liberty. The Founding Fathers all played 4 00:00:15,360 --> 00:00:19,159 Speaker 1: key roles in securing American independence from Great Britain and 5 00:00:19,200 --> 00:00:21,200 Speaker 1: in the creation of the government of the United States 6 00:00:21,239 --> 00:00:38,280 Speaker 1: of America. And now the life of Thomas Jefferson, I 7 00:00:38,320 --> 00:00:44,920 Speaker 1: would argue that in many ways Jefferson personified the spirit 8 00:00:44,960 --> 00:00:50,480 Speaker 1: of freedom and had developed out of it something much 9 00:00:50,520 --> 00:00:54,080 Speaker 1: more profound than most of his colleagues. As Founding Fathers, 10 00:00:54,640 --> 00:00:59,320 Speaker 1: he deeply distrusted all governments. He didn't just deeply distrust 11 00:00:59,320 --> 00:01:03,360 Speaker 1: the British government, he deeply distrusted the American government. And 12 00:01:03,440 --> 00:01:07,959 Speaker 1: as a result, while he was the ambassador in Paris 13 00:01:09,080 --> 00:01:13,640 Speaker 1: as the American Constitution was being developed, he wrote his 14 00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:18,280 Speaker 1: very very close friend James Madison and said that he 15 00:01:18,319 --> 00:01:25,200 Speaker 1: would oppose the adoption of the Constitution unless they added 16 00:01:25,240 --> 00:01:29,800 Speaker 1: a Bill of Rights. And the whole fabric of American 17 00:01:29,840 --> 00:01:34,560 Speaker 1: life has revolved around these ten amendments that came to 18 00:01:34,640 --> 00:01:38,240 Speaker 1: define our rights. And remember this is always one of 19 00:01:38,280 --> 00:01:41,839 Speaker 1: the most difficult things to get across because its counterintuitive. 20 00:01:42,640 --> 00:01:46,480 Speaker 1: The Bill of rights are designed to limit government not 21 00:01:46,600 --> 00:01:49,520 Speaker 1: to limit people. The Bill of Rights came out of 22 00:01:49,520 --> 00:01:52,600 Speaker 1: a belief that in fact, virtue resides in the people, 23 00:01:53,360 --> 00:01:58,400 Speaker 1: but the government was always dangerous. Now. Jefferson at the 24 00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:01,360 Speaker 1: time was the ambassador of France as the French monarchy 25 00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:04,960 Speaker 1: was collapsing and as they were inexorably moving towards the 26 00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:09,920 Speaker 1: French Revolution, which is a classic case study of a 27 00:02:10,760 --> 00:02:15,280 Speaker 1: system that can't control itself. The American Revolution was a 28 00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:19,800 Speaker 1: fight over who would govern in America, and it was 29 00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:27,040 Speaker 1: between basically Americans who saw themselves as successful independent standing 30 00:02:27,080 --> 00:02:30,400 Speaker 1: on their own achievement, and Americans who still were comfortable 31 00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:33,960 Speaker 1: operating within the framework of the British King and the 32 00:02:33,960 --> 00:02:38,840 Speaker 1: British government. And that fight ultimately was very controlled. If 33 00:02:38,840 --> 00:02:41,880 Speaker 1: you go back and you look when the Founding Fathers won, 34 00:02:42,360 --> 00:02:45,880 Speaker 1: they were very cautious about what they were trying to 35 00:02:45,919 --> 00:02:47,480 Speaker 1: set up, and they had a lot of experience. Remember 36 00:02:47,480 --> 00:02:51,320 Speaker 1: their thirteen colonies, which means there are thirteen constitutions. In 37 00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:54,560 Speaker 1: several of the colonies, the constitutions fail, so they write 38 00:02:54,600 --> 00:02:57,920 Speaker 1: more constitutions. By the time they get to Philadelphia to 39 00:02:57,960 --> 00:03:00,760 Speaker 1: write the Constitution of the United States, these folks that 40 00:03:00,840 --> 00:03:05,160 Speaker 1: had more experience at writing constitutions than any generation in history, 41 00:03:06,280 --> 00:03:09,000 Speaker 1: and all of them was aimed at a very core 42 00:03:09,080 --> 00:03:12,720 Speaker 1: principle because they understood a world different than we do. 43 00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:16,840 Speaker 1: They knew that the world was dangerous. It was dangerous 44 00:03:16,840 --> 00:03:21,200 Speaker 1: to their west because Native Americans were still independent, armed 45 00:03:21,280 --> 00:03:26,040 Speaker 1: and capable of causing enormous casualties in the constant struggle 46 00:03:26,040 --> 00:03:28,480 Speaker 1: over who was going to dominate. And remember the West 47 00:03:28,600 --> 00:03:32,400 Speaker 1: in this period is around Pittsburgh. We're not talking about 48 00:03:32,440 --> 00:03:36,600 Speaker 1: the west of Cheyenne, Wyoming. So they're looking at one 49 00:03:36,640 --> 00:03:39,880 Speaker 1: direction at Native Americans, many of them armed both by 50 00:03:39,920 --> 00:03:42,520 Speaker 1: the British and the French, and the British, of course 51 00:03:42,640 --> 00:03:46,560 Speaker 1: loved to subsidize the arming of the Native Americans, so 52 00:03:46,680 --> 00:03:50,560 Speaker 1: they would harass and torment the new United States. At 53 00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:54,000 Speaker 1: the same time, they were vividly aware of the great 54 00:03:54,040 --> 00:03:57,520 Speaker 1: power struggle that was underway to see who would dominate Europe. 55 00:03:57,560 --> 00:04:02,560 Speaker 1: So they knew that between the French, the Spanish, the British, 56 00:04:02,680 --> 00:04:06,960 Speaker 1: the Prussians, the Dutch, that there was this ongoing, very 57 00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:11,560 Speaker 1: deep and very powerful struggle of systems much bigger than 58 00:04:11,960 --> 00:04:16,159 Speaker 1: the current American military of the current American Navy. So 59 00:04:16,279 --> 00:04:19,640 Speaker 1: on the one hand, in order to protect our freedom, 60 00:04:20,279 --> 00:04:24,480 Speaker 1: they wanted a government strong enough to offset these dangerous countries. 61 00:04:25,240 --> 00:04:28,200 Speaker 1: On the other hand, in order to protect our freedom, 62 00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:30,200 Speaker 1: they want to make sure that the government that was 63 00:04:30,240 --> 00:04:33,680 Speaker 1: strong enough to protect our country couldn't then take over 64 00:04:33,920 --> 00:04:39,520 Speaker 1: and control us. And in this effort to find a 65 00:04:39,640 --> 00:04:44,000 Speaker 1: path between the two the future of domination by foreigners 66 00:04:44,279 --> 00:04:47,400 Speaker 1: and the future of domination by bureaucracy and government at home, 67 00:04:48,120 --> 00:04:50,880 Speaker 1: Jefferson was one of the leaders in trying to find 68 00:04:50,920 --> 00:04:55,640 Speaker 1: a way to have us be a genuinely free country, 69 00:04:55,839 --> 00:04:59,040 Speaker 1: which meant freedom for the individual, not just freedom for 70 00:04:59,080 --> 00:05:02,400 Speaker 1: the king or the president. Presidents basically are just temporarily 71 00:05:02,440 --> 00:05:05,520 Speaker 1: elected kings. And it's the House and the Senate that 72 00:05:05,600 --> 00:05:09,520 Speaker 1: make America so much different from the European monarchies. But 73 00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:16,119 Speaker 1: Jefferson himself had spent a long and really quite curious life. 74 00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:20,680 Speaker 1: I'm an amateur palaeontologist. And when you visit Monticello, you 75 00:05:20,760 --> 00:05:24,719 Speaker 1: will find, for example, teeth from mastodons and mammoths. You'll 76 00:05:24,720 --> 00:05:28,560 Speaker 1: find part of the skeleton of a giant sloth that 77 00:05:28,600 --> 00:05:31,280 Speaker 1: had gone extinct sometime in the place to see you'll 78 00:05:31,279 --> 00:05:35,640 Speaker 1: find that Jefferson is collecting everything. He's fascinated by the world, 79 00:05:36,279 --> 00:05:38,560 Speaker 1: and that you know, I always tell people I'm willing 80 00:05:38,600 --> 00:05:41,599 Speaker 1: to be a Jeffersonian, by which I mean that I 81 00:05:41,600 --> 00:05:44,360 Speaker 1: will not buy more than half a continent at any 82 00:05:44,360 --> 00:05:47,440 Speaker 1: one time. So think of that as limited government, and 83 00:05:47,480 --> 00:05:50,400 Speaker 1: I won't do more than send the Marines to Tripoli 84 00:05:50,480 --> 00:05:52,760 Speaker 1: without telling the Congress. And by the way, when he 85 00:05:52,800 --> 00:05:55,400 Speaker 1: bought half a continent, he bought it and then told 86 00:05:55,440 --> 00:05:58,479 Speaker 1: the Congress. One of the reasons I find Jefferson so 87 00:05:58,560 --> 00:06:03,160 Speaker 1: complicated to talk about is that he's this massive contradictions. 88 00:06:03,760 --> 00:06:06,680 Speaker 1: On the one hand, he wants limited government, unless he 89 00:06:06,720 --> 00:06:10,160 Speaker 1: decides he wants unlimited government, in which case he briefly 90 00:06:10,200 --> 00:06:14,840 Speaker 1: deviates buys the whole area that is the Mississippi River basin. 91 00:06:15,200 --> 00:06:18,240 Speaker 1: Then he reversed back to wanting limited government. He vetos 92 00:06:18,680 --> 00:06:21,640 Speaker 1: a bridge over the Potomac as not the business of 93 00:06:21,720 --> 00:06:25,360 Speaker 1: government because he's frugal, But then he spends millions buying 94 00:06:25,440 --> 00:06:27,960 Speaker 1: the West from the French. You try to fit all 95 00:06:27,960 --> 00:06:31,360 Speaker 1: this into one personality. Began to realize that if he'd 96 00:06:31,360 --> 00:06:34,440 Speaker 1: been your uncle, he would have been a very complicated uncle. 97 00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:38,000 Speaker 1: He also was a polymath, in the sense that he 98 00:06:38,120 --> 00:06:41,479 Speaker 1: learned everything in every direction. On one of his trips 99 00:06:41,480 --> 00:06:43,800 Speaker 1: to Europe. Remember back then, if you say I think 100 00:06:43,839 --> 00:06:46,320 Speaker 1: I'll go to Europe, it was a long voyage by 101 00:06:46,360 --> 00:06:49,240 Speaker 1: sailing ship. On one of his trips to Europe, he 102 00:06:49,320 --> 00:06:54,440 Speaker 1: taught himself Spanish by reading Spanish novels. And you said 103 00:06:54,440 --> 00:06:57,440 Speaker 1: this image of Jefferson wrapped up in a blanket, sitting 104 00:06:57,480 --> 00:07:02,040 Speaker 1: on the deck of the ship gradually going east towards 105 00:07:02,120 --> 00:07:05,200 Speaker 1: Europe and trying to literally teach himself Spanish. He already 106 00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:09,760 Speaker 1: had French. He also was a person who had a 107 00:07:09,920 --> 00:07:15,040 Speaker 1: very complicated vision of religion. Jefferson had written at one 108 00:07:15,080 --> 00:07:20,640 Speaker 1: point that there should be a wall between government and religion. 109 00:07:21,560 --> 00:07:24,320 Speaker 1: Now people that interpreted that to mean the government should 110 00:07:24,320 --> 00:07:27,880 Speaker 1: be anti religious. That's not what Jefferson said. Jefferson was 111 00:07:27,920 --> 00:07:30,600 Speaker 1: living in an era when the Church of England was 112 00:07:30,640 --> 00:07:34,320 Speaker 1: paid for by the government, when the Catholic Church in 113 00:07:34,400 --> 00:07:37,360 Speaker 1: France was getting government money, and what he was saying 114 00:07:37,520 --> 00:07:40,800 Speaker 1: was that no religion should get money from the government. 115 00:07:42,120 --> 00:07:44,640 Speaker 1: But he did not intend in any way to have 116 00:07:44,680 --> 00:07:47,920 Speaker 1: government be hostile to religion. In fact, while Jefferson was president, 117 00:07:48,320 --> 00:07:50,840 Speaker 1: he signed a bill to send missionaries to the Indians. 118 00:07:51,360 --> 00:07:54,000 Speaker 1: He allowed the Treasury Building to be used as a church, 119 00:07:54,400 --> 00:07:56,760 Speaker 1: because there were no very large buildings in Washington at 120 00:07:56,760 --> 00:07:59,800 Speaker 1: that time. And the week that he signed the letter 121 00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:03,160 Speaker 1: explaining that there would be a wall of separation between 122 00:08:03,200 --> 00:08:06,320 Speaker 1: church and state, that week he got into a carriage 123 00:08:06,320 --> 00:08:08,880 Speaker 1: and went up to the Capitol, where the capital was 124 00:08:08,920 --> 00:08:12,760 Speaker 1: actually used as a church until the eighteen forties. So 125 00:08:12,800 --> 00:08:16,160 Speaker 1: it's a little hard to say that he wanted total separation. 126 00:08:16,520 --> 00:08:18,840 Speaker 1: What he did want is for people to be able 127 00:08:18,840 --> 00:08:22,120 Speaker 1: to worship freely. He was very open to people finding 128 00:08:22,160 --> 00:08:24,520 Speaker 1: God in their own way, and he wanted to make 129 00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:26,880 Speaker 1: sure that the government wouldn't put its thumb on the 130 00:08:26,920 --> 00:08:30,360 Speaker 1: scales in one direction or another. One of the places 131 00:08:30,400 --> 00:08:32,679 Speaker 1: I go when I want to think about the founding Fathers, 132 00:08:33,200 --> 00:08:36,120 Speaker 1: they are really in my mind three great centers. One 133 00:08:36,200 --> 00:08:38,880 Speaker 1: is to go to Boston and look at the Adams family, 134 00:08:39,440 --> 00:08:42,720 Speaker 1: Samuel and John and others, and think about what that 135 00:08:42,800 --> 00:08:45,400 Speaker 1: whole experience was like there. The second is to go 136 00:08:45,440 --> 00:08:49,840 Speaker 1: to Philadelphia and to stand in the shadow of Benjamin Franklin. 137 00:08:50,400 --> 00:08:54,080 Speaker 1: The third is to go to Williamsburg. The Rockefeller Foundation 138 00:08:54,240 --> 00:08:57,840 Speaker 1: rebuilt Williamsburg in the nineteen thirties. I find every time 139 00:08:57,840 --> 00:09:00,600 Speaker 1: I go there that the historic part of my soul 140 00:09:00,679 --> 00:09:04,400 Speaker 1: gets renewed and refreshed. They've done an amazing job. And 141 00:09:04,440 --> 00:09:08,920 Speaker 1: you can imagine yourself walking down the street where mister 142 00:09:08,960 --> 00:09:12,880 Speaker 1: Jefferson is studying and reading law under mister Wyath, who's 143 00:09:12,880 --> 00:09:16,480 Speaker 1: one of the great lawyers of that generation, and then 144 00:09:16,520 --> 00:09:19,080 Speaker 1: going down to one of the taverns which are still there, 145 00:09:19,800 --> 00:09:23,480 Speaker 1: and having a libation and talking about the law, and 146 00:09:23,520 --> 00:09:26,160 Speaker 1: talking about what's going on in Europe, and talking about 147 00:09:26,400 --> 00:09:30,839 Speaker 1: the theoretical principles on which freedom should be based. And 148 00:09:30,920 --> 00:09:36,880 Speaker 1: you have this whole notion that Jefferson was capable of 149 00:09:36,960 --> 00:09:40,960 Speaker 1: talking about almost anything. Jefferson, first of all, is a reader. 150 00:09:41,520 --> 00:09:43,960 Speaker 1: He loved to read so much that he actually built 151 00:09:44,360 --> 00:09:47,319 Speaker 1: a movable desk so that he could if he was 152 00:09:47,400 --> 00:09:49,679 Speaker 1: going to go, say to Philadelphia, which back then was 153 00:09:49,720 --> 00:09:52,360 Speaker 1: a long trip, he had a desk that he could 154 00:09:52,400 --> 00:09:56,720 Speaker 1: put in the carriage so that he could work both 155 00:09:56,800 --> 00:10:01,359 Speaker 1: reading and writing while he traveled. Since he was constantly 156 00:10:01,920 --> 00:10:04,840 Speaker 1: trying to improve things, he was constantly looking can I 157 00:10:04,840 --> 00:10:07,720 Speaker 1: do it better? Can I do it faster? And Jefferson, 158 00:10:07,840 --> 00:10:13,920 Speaker 1: I've always thought, was very happy learning and very happy thinking. 159 00:10:14,600 --> 00:10:16,200 Speaker 1: And if he also had to deal with people. That 160 00:10:16,280 --> 00:10:20,400 Speaker 1: was all right, but that was not his primary focus. 161 00:10:39,440 --> 00:10:42,320 Speaker 1: Jefferson had grown up in what then was sort of 162 00:10:42,320 --> 00:10:44,560 Speaker 1: the western part of Virginia. If you look at a map, 163 00:10:44,800 --> 00:10:48,120 Speaker 1: we were talking about central Virginia today, but back then, 164 00:10:48,720 --> 00:10:52,480 Speaker 1: Unlike Washington, who had grown up in the planter part 165 00:10:52,520 --> 00:10:56,360 Speaker 1: of the state, with large homes and elegant dances and 166 00:10:56,400 --> 00:10:59,839 Speaker 1: people who wore fancy clothes, Jefferson was much closer to 167 00:10:59,840 --> 00:11:03,920 Speaker 1: the frontier, and he loved the frontier. He loved farmers 168 00:11:03,960 --> 00:11:07,440 Speaker 1: as a group, and he really felt that virtue was 169 00:11:07,480 --> 00:11:09,400 Speaker 1: to be found in small towns in many ways. I 170 00:11:09,480 --> 00:11:13,320 Speaker 1: think that you would find that in eighteen ninety six 171 00:11:13,760 --> 00:11:17,160 Speaker 1: when William Jennings Brian gave his speech about mankind being 172 00:11:17,200 --> 00:11:19,720 Speaker 1: crucified on the Cross of Gold, he was in a 173 00:11:19,800 --> 00:11:23,480 Speaker 1: sense channeling Jefferson. Part of the reason that the bitterness 174 00:11:23,760 --> 00:11:28,160 Speaker 1: between Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton is that Hamilton represents the cities, 175 00:11:28,600 --> 00:11:32,520 Speaker 1: the moneyed class, bankers, and Jefferson represents all the people 176 00:11:32,559 --> 00:11:35,440 Speaker 1: who owe money to the cities, the banker class, etc. 177 00:11:36,040 --> 00:11:40,400 Speaker 1: So there's a deep sense in Jefferson's mind that virtue 178 00:11:40,480 --> 00:11:44,280 Speaker 1: comes from being close to the land. And that a 179 00:11:44,360 --> 00:11:48,640 Speaker 1: nation made up of farmers would by definition be freer 180 00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:52,480 Speaker 1: and more virtuous than a nation that was made up 181 00:11:52,520 --> 00:11:56,600 Speaker 1: of manufacturers, or of bankers, or of big cities. Jefferson 182 00:11:57,480 --> 00:12:03,040 Speaker 1: learned enormously fast. He went to school in English at five, 183 00:12:03,480 --> 00:12:08,880 Speaker 1: he went in Latin at nine. He really constantly was learning, 184 00:12:09,440 --> 00:12:13,040 Speaker 1: and he learned basically from a tutor, a mister Douglas, 185 00:12:13,040 --> 00:12:17,000 Speaker 1: who was a clergyman from Scotland. He learned every day, 186 00:12:17,520 --> 00:12:21,160 Speaker 1: He read constantly. He built a huge library. In fact, 187 00:12:21,200 --> 00:12:24,480 Speaker 1: the base of the Library of Congress was Jefferson's library, 188 00:12:25,360 --> 00:12:28,000 Speaker 1: about four thousand volumes at the time, which was a 189 00:12:28,080 --> 00:12:31,680 Speaker 1: huge library back then. Being Jefferson, of course he sold 190 00:12:31,720 --> 00:12:34,720 Speaker 1: it to the Congress. It wasn't an act of civic 191 00:12:34,760 --> 00:12:37,000 Speaker 1: good will. He was trying to pay off some debts, 192 00:12:37,760 --> 00:12:40,840 Speaker 1: so he sold the library, which tragically was burned later. 193 00:12:41,160 --> 00:12:43,600 Speaker 1: But it was the base of having a Library of Congress, 194 00:12:43,600 --> 00:12:46,320 Speaker 1: which is today the largest library in the world. So 195 00:12:46,480 --> 00:12:49,480 Speaker 1: it's come a long way from Jefferson's first four thousand volumes. 196 00:12:49,800 --> 00:12:53,839 Speaker 1: In that era, colleges were being formed, law schools are 197 00:12:53,840 --> 00:12:58,240 Speaker 1: being formed. But he really was largely taught directly by 198 00:12:58,240 --> 00:13:03,080 Speaker 1: tutors and then he went to George with and George 199 00:13:03,080 --> 00:13:07,640 Speaker 1: With's law office still exists at Williamsburg, and you can 200 00:13:07,720 --> 00:13:11,360 Speaker 1: imagine in the morning Jefferson getting up, having a cup 201 00:13:11,360 --> 00:13:14,080 Speaker 1: of tea or coffee, maybe a small piece of bread, 202 00:13:14,520 --> 00:13:18,040 Speaker 1: going in and literally, back then they called it reading 203 00:13:18,080 --> 00:13:20,640 Speaker 1: the law because that's what they were doing. This is 204 00:13:20,679 --> 00:13:25,000 Speaker 1: before you got law schools and tenured professors and high 205 00:13:25,160 --> 00:13:29,520 Speaker 1: tuition costs. So Jefferson is living in Williamsburg, which was 206 00:13:29,600 --> 00:13:32,800 Speaker 1: the center of politics in that period for Virginia. So 207 00:13:33,400 --> 00:13:36,679 Speaker 1: when the House of Burgesses, which was their legislature, when 208 00:13:36,720 --> 00:13:39,679 Speaker 1: it was in session, people came from all over the state. 209 00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:43,040 Speaker 1: And if you were a young person studying under George 210 00:13:43,040 --> 00:13:46,520 Speaker 1: with With knew everybody, and so you inevitably would end 211 00:13:46,600 --> 00:13:49,760 Speaker 1: up at dinner surrounded by the whole state. Over the 212 00:13:49,760 --> 00:13:53,640 Speaker 1: course of time, Jefferson came naturally to him to be 213 00:13:53,720 --> 00:13:57,760 Speaker 1: engaged in politics, and in seventeen sixty eight he's elected 214 00:13:57,800 --> 00:14:01,440 Speaker 1: to the House of Burgesses. He also began, and this 215 00:14:01,559 --> 00:14:05,880 Speaker 1: is very typically Jeffersonian, he began to level a mountaintop 216 00:14:05,880 --> 00:14:09,160 Speaker 1: at Monticella. I mean, this is a guy who dreamed big, 217 00:14:09,240 --> 00:14:12,640 Speaker 1: thought big, built big, and was permanently in debt because 218 00:14:12,640 --> 00:14:15,559 Speaker 1: of all the things he wanted to do, And by 219 00:14:15,600 --> 00:14:20,040 Speaker 1: seventeen eighty he began building Monticella, which is one of 220 00:14:20,080 --> 00:14:24,000 Speaker 1: the most remarkable buildings of the eighteenth century, and if 221 00:14:24,080 --> 00:14:27,240 Speaker 1: you have never been there, it is really worth your 222 00:14:27,400 --> 00:14:31,280 Speaker 1: while to go and to look at what he designed, 223 00:14:31,360 --> 00:14:33,840 Speaker 1: how it was built, the degree to which it was 224 00:14:33,880 --> 00:14:39,280 Speaker 1: at that time a remarkably advanced building. And also little 225 00:14:39,440 --> 00:14:43,479 Speaker 1: side things you'll notice when you tour. For example, Jefferson 226 00:14:43,520 --> 00:14:46,480 Speaker 1: tended to sleep sitting up. People thought it was better 227 00:14:46,520 --> 00:14:49,160 Speaker 1: for you because if you lay down, you could get 228 00:14:49,200 --> 00:14:51,920 Speaker 1: water in your lungs, and so it was really sort 229 00:14:51,920 --> 00:14:55,120 Speaker 1: of a norm. Now, Jefferson himself was very tall, so 230 00:14:55,160 --> 00:14:57,840 Speaker 1: you have this tall guy in a long bed sitting up. 231 00:14:58,120 --> 00:15:03,600 Speaker 1: Jefferson finally gets really lucky and inherits eleven thousand acres 232 00:15:03,640 --> 00:15:06,440 Speaker 1: of land and one hundred and thirty five slaves, which means, 233 00:15:06,440 --> 00:15:10,240 Speaker 1: of course, he quit practicing law. Unlike some people who 234 00:15:10,280 --> 00:15:13,240 Speaker 1: loved practicing law, Jefferson had earned a living. Now he 235 00:15:13,280 --> 00:15:15,360 Speaker 1: didn't have to earn a living, so he didn't. It's 236 00:15:15,480 --> 00:15:20,000 Speaker 1: interesting the Jefferson in that very same time period wrote 237 00:15:20,400 --> 00:15:23,920 Speaker 1: an article called a Summary view of the rights of 238 00:15:23,960 --> 00:15:27,080 Speaker 1: British America. So seventeen seventy four, the same year he's 239 00:15:27,120 --> 00:15:30,920 Speaker 1: inheriting Land, and he says, resolved that it'd be an 240 00:15:30,920 --> 00:15:34,880 Speaker 1: instruction to the Deputies, when assembled in General Congress, with 241 00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:38,360 Speaker 1: the deputies in other states of British America, to propose 242 00:15:38,880 --> 00:15:42,440 Speaker 1: to the said Congress that an humble and dutiful address 243 00:15:42,480 --> 00:15:46,840 Speaker 1: be presented to His Majesty, begging leave to lay before him, 244 00:15:47,240 --> 00:15:50,960 Speaker 1: as Chief Magistrate of the British Empire, the united complaints 245 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:54,720 Speaker 1: of His Majesty's subjects in America, complaints which are excited 246 00:15:55,080 --> 00:15:59,440 Speaker 1: by many unwarrantable encroachments and usurpations attempted to be made 247 00:15:59,720 --> 00:16:02,440 Speaker 1: by the legislature of one part of the Empire upon 248 00:16:02,520 --> 00:16:05,960 Speaker 1: those rights which God and the Laws have given equally 249 00:16:05,960 --> 00:16:10,400 Speaker 1: an independently law. Now notice the forerunner of the declaration, 250 00:16:11,160 --> 00:16:14,160 Speaker 1: where did the rights come from? Those rights which God 251 00:16:14,360 --> 00:16:17,480 Speaker 1: and the laws? And Jefferson would have argued, as would 252 00:16:17,480 --> 00:16:21,080 Speaker 1: most of the founding fathers, that the law was in 253 00:16:21,080 --> 00:16:25,680 Speaker 1: fact the systemic implementation of God's will, and therefore that 254 00:16:25,720 --> 00:16:28,600 Speaker 1: the rule of law was central to the rule of freedom, 255 00:16:29,200 --> 00:16:31,760 Speaker 1: but that they were both based on God. This is 256 00:16:31,800 --> 00:16:36,080 Speaker 1: a radical statement. Hard to recognize today how radical it is, 257 00:16:36,520 --> 00:16:39,840 Speaker 1: because it's saying that the rights don't come from the king, 258 00:16:40,640 --> 00:16:44,720 Speaker 1: the rights come from God. And it is the forerunner 259 00:16:44,760 --> 00:16:47,520 Speaker 1: of what he will write two years later. So support 260 00:16:47,520 --> 00:16:50,880 Speaker 1: and remember you have this sudden explosion of energy in 261 00:16:50,920 --> 00:16:55,320 Speaker 1: the late seventeen sixties early seventeen seventies, partially brought about 262 00:16:55,680 --> 00:16:58,400 Speaker 1: because in winning the Seven Years War, or as we 263 00:16:58,520 --> 00:17:01,760 Speaker 1: called it in the world, the French and Indian War, 264 00:17:03,400 --> 00:17:06,600 Speaker 1: the French were eliminated as a threat, and now not 265 00:17:06,640 --> 00:17:09,280 Speaker 1: having to be afraid of the French, the Americans looked 266 00:17:09,320 --> 00:17:12,320 Speaker 1: up and said, well, if we don't have to be 267 00:17:12,359 --> 00:17:13,840 Speaker 1: afraid of the French, why are we paying all this 268 00:17:13,880 --> 00:17:17,520 Speaker 1: money to the British Crown. And the British Crown basically said, well, 269 00:17:17,560 --> 00:17:21,560 Speaker 1: because we own you. And the Americans said, actually you don't. 270 00:17:22,560 --> 00:17:26,399 Speaker 1: Our patriotism comes from God, not from the court, and 271 00:17:26,440 --> 00:17:30,200 Speaker 1: we repudiate the idea that you owe us. There's a 272 00:17:30,240 --> 00:17:34,120 Speaker 1: great statement. A man who was quite elderly by that point, 273 00:17:34,200 --> 00:17:37,040 Speaker 1: i think, in his early eighties, who had fought in 274 00:17:37,080 --> 00:17:41,399 Speaker 1: the American Revolution, and somebody came to him and said, 275 00:17:42,240 --> 00:17:45,199 Speaker 1: why did you fight? Was it the Tax Act? Was 276 00:17:45,200 --> 00:17:49,000 Speaker 1: it the stamp Act? Was it the imposition of taxes? 277 00:17:49,440 --> 00:17:52,600 Speaker 1: Why did you end up fighting? And he said, young man, 278 00:17:53,119 --> 00:17:56,800 Speaker 1: we intended to be free, and they intended for us 279 00:17:56,880 --> 00:18:01,359 Speaker 1: not to be free, and so we fought, and now 280 00:18:01,400 --> 00:18:05,000 Speaker 1: we're free. And I think it was this sense which 281 00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:10,960 Speaker 1: you see suddenly coalesce between seventeen seventy and seventeen seventy 282 00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:14,240 Speaker 1: six in ways that are amazing. You could not predict 283 00:18:14,240 --> 00:18:18,160 Speaker 1: in seventeen seventy that six short years later they would 284 00:18:18,160 --> 00:18:23,840 Speaker 1: be passing the Decoration Independence. Now, Jefferson was a little 285 00:18:23,840 --> 00:18:27,199 Speaker 1: bit shy, and he understood that his great strength was 286 00:18:27,240 --> 00:18:30,359 Speaker 1: not as a debater or an arguer. He was not 287 00:18:30,480 --> 00:18:32,639 Speaker 1: a courtier. He was not a man who to go 288 00:18:32,720 --> 00:18:36,760 Speaker 1: around and win over. And in fact, John Adams said 289 00:18:37,280 --> 00:18:40,679 Speaker 1: that he was silent for his entire first year. He 290 00:18:40,680 --> 00:18:43,960 Speaker 1: was elected in seventeen seventy five to the Continental Congress. 291 00:18:44,200 --> 00:18:47,160 Speaker 1: And this is what Adams wrote in his autobiography. Mister 292 00:18:47,240 --> 00:18:50,560 Speaker 1: Jefferson had now been about a year a member of Congress, 293 00:18:50,920 --> 00:18:53,080 Speaker 1: but had attended his duty in the House but a 294 00:18:53,160 --> 00:18:55,760 Speaker 1: very small part of the time, and when there had 295 00:18:55,800 --> 00:18:58,879 Speaker 1: never spoken in public, and during the whole time I 296 00:18:58,920 --> 00:19:01,600 Speaker 1: sat with him in Congress, I never heard him under 297 00:19:01,680 --> 00:19:04,680 Speaker 1: three sentences together. The most of a speech he ever 298 00:19:04,720 --> 00:19:07,720 Speaker 1: made in my hearing was a gross insult on religion 299 00:19:08,040 --> 00:19:12,280 Speaker 1: in one or two sentences, for which I immediately gave 300 00:19:12,359 --> 00:19:16,159 Speaker 1: him the reprehension, which he richly merited. So you have 301 00:19:16,280 --> 00:19:21,399 Speaker 1: the sense of Jefferson being taciturn quiet, watching, learning, thinking. 302 00:19:21,920 --> 00:19:25,040 Speaker 1: And then in seventeen seventy six he is asked to 303 00:19:25,080 --> 00:19:29,000 Speaker 1: help write the Declaration of Independence, and there is no question 304 00:19:29,840 --> 00:19:34,720 Speaker 1: that he developed the core language of that declaration. He's 305 00:19:34,760 --> 00:19:37,720 Speaker 1: also elected in seventeen seventy six to the Virginia House 306 00:19:37,720 --> 00:19:41,719 Speaker 1: of Delegates, where he's appointed to revise Virginia law. Remember, 307 00:19:41,840 --> 00:19:44,560 Speaker 1: all thirteen of the colonies are going through the same process. 308 00:19:45,280 --> 00:19:49,200 Speaker 1: He helped create the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, and 309 00:19:49,240 --> 00:19:53,639 Speaker 1: this is extraordinarily important because it moves from just a 310 00:19:53,680 --> 00:19:58,000 Speaker 1: political argument to a profound argument about liberty and a 311 00:19:58,040 --> 00:20:02,680 Speaker 1: profound argument about the very nature of your relationship to 312 00:20:02,760 --> 00:20:06,440 Speaker 1: the king and your relationship to God. The General Assembly 313 00:20:06,560 --> 00:20:11,679 Speaker 1: in Virginia appointed five men to a committee of revisers 314 00:20:11,680 --> 00:20:13,919 Speaker 1: to review the law and to redraft them for the 315 00:20:13,960 --> 00:20:17,880 Speaker 1: independent state. Three of the five men were primarily responsible. 316 00:20:18,240 --> 00:20:23,280 Speaker 1: They included Thomas Jefferson, George W. And Edmund Pendleton. Jefferson 317 00:20:23,359 --> 00:20:26,560 Speaker 1: drafted the majority of the bills. So while he was quiet, 318 00:20:26,840 --> 00:20:30,040 Speaker 1: he was busy, But his strength was in the written word, 319 00:20:30,200 --> 00:20:32,520 Speaker 1: where he had time to think, and where he could 320 00:20:32,600 --> 00:20:36,000 Speaker 1: write with extraordinary elegance in a way that very few 321 00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:40,040 Speaker 1: people have been able to equal. In seventeen seventy nine, 322 00:20:40,480 --> 00:20:43,560 Speaker 1: when Jefferson had been elected governor of Virginia, the one 323 00:20:43,640 --> 00:20:46,760 Speaker 1: hundred and twenty six bills that the committee he served 324 00:20:46,800 --> 00:20:49,920 Speaker 1: and had drafted were presented to the General Assembly. Most 325 00:20:49,960 --> 00:20:52,960 Speaker 1: of them were not adopted or even seriously considered. However, 326 00:20:53,960 --> 00:20:58,200 Speaker 1: Bill eighty two, the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, which 327 00:20:58,240 --> 00:21:01,200 Speaker 1: called for a separation of church and state, was considered 328 00:21:01,520 --> 00:21:05,520 Speaker 1: and finally adopted in seventeen eighty six. Notice, by the way, 329 00:21:05,800 --> 00:21:09,720 Speaker 1: that sometimes these wave effects take time. You have to 330 00:21:09,760 --> 00:21:12,320 Speaker 1: think of them as a video rather than a snapshot. 331 00:21:12,600 --> 00:21:16,920 Speaker 1: And what isn't possible in frame one may be overwhelmingly 332 00:21:16,960 --> 00:21:20,679 Speaker 1: possible by frame thirty. And that's what's happening in this period. 333 00:21:21,160 --> 00:21:24,760 Speaker 1: This famous bill, the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, adopted 334 00:21:24,760 --> 00:21:28,240 Speaker 1: in seventeen eighty six, although it had been drafted initially 335 00:21:28,680 --> 00:21:32,320 Speaker 1: a decade earlier. It says, we, the General Assembly of Virginia, 336 00:21:32,400 --> 00:21:36,040 Speaker 1: do nact that no man shall be compelled to frequent 337 00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:41,000 Speaker 1: or support any religious worship place or ministry whatsoever, nor 338 00:21:41,080 --> 00:21:45,199 Speaker 1: shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burdened by in his 339 00:21:45,320 --> 00:21:49,000 Speaker 1: body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of 340 00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:52,480 Speaker 1: his religious opinions or belief But that all men shall 341 00:21:52,520 --> 00:21:55,720 Speaker 1: be free to profess, and by argument, to maintain their 342 00:21:55,760 --> 00:21:58,840 Speaker 1: opinions and matters of religion, And that the same shall 343 00:21:58,840 --> 00:22:02,719 Speaker 1: of no wives diminish and large or affect their civil capacities. 344 00:22:03,560 --> 00:22:05,879 Speaker 1: Now think about that, You and I live in a 345 00:22:05,960 --> 00:22:08,760 Speaker 1: time when there are many countries where you can be 346 00:22:08,800 --> 00:22:11,399 Speaker 1: put to death for believing the wrong things. We live 347 00:22:11,440 --> 00:22:12,920 Speaker 1: in a time when there are many countries when you 348 00:22:12,960 --> 00:22:15,200 Speaker 1: can be put in jail for believing the wrong things. 349 00:22:15,760 --> 00:22:18,520 Speaker 1: And yet here they are in the late eighteenth century, 350 00:22:19,160 --> 00:22:23,160 Speaker 1: laying out a frame of reference that liberates people from 351 00:22:23,200 --> 00:22:27,040 Speaker 1: government and says, your religious beliefs are up to you, 352 00:22:27,760 --> 00:22:30,119 Speaker 1: and you will not be punished, You will not be fined, 353 00:22:30,520 --> 00:22:32,879 Speaker 1: you will not be sent to jail, because you are 354 00:22:32,960 --> 00:22:35,960 Speaker 1: protected in your right to approach God as you see fit. 355 00:22:36,640 --> 00:22:39,359 Speaker 1: When Jefferson learned that the bill had passed finally after 356 00:22:39,600 --> 00:22:42,399 Speaker 1: all those years, he had it translated into French and 357 00:22:42,440 --> 00:22:46,800 Speaker 1: Italian and distributed as widely as possible, because he thought 358 00:22:47,160 --> 00:22:51,640 Speaker 1: that religious liberty was one of his greatest achievements. James Madison, 359 00:22:51,680 --> 00:22:54,679 Speaker 1: his close friend, later wrote that the Virginia Statute for 360 00:22:54,720 --> 00:22:58,440 Speaker 1: Religious Freedom quote is a true standard of religious liberty. 361 00:22:58,800 --> 00:23:02,600 Speaker 1: Its principle the great barrier against usurpations on the rights 362 00:23:02,600 --> 00:23:06,040 Speaker 1: of conscience. As long as it is respected, and no 363 00:23:06,160 --> 00:23:09,160 Speaker 1: longer these will be safe. And as we go through 364 00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:12,320 Speaker 1: some of our current fights, and we watched the government 365 00:23:12,400 --> 00:23:16,240 Speaker 1: encroach upon religious liberty, and we watch the woke left 366 00:23:16,280 --> 00:23:20,200 Speaker 1: trying to impose their radical values on people of religion, 367 00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:25,280 Speaker 1: you can understand how truly central Jefferson was in helping 368 00:23:25,320 --> 00:24:00,359 Speaker 1: develop a very very different approach. Now, Jefferson was avowed 369 00:24:00,359 --> 00:24:04,840 Speaker 1: and much more than just religious liberty. He actually believed 370 00:24:04,840 --> 00:24:07,200 Speaker 1: that's something which I wish we could get back into 371 00:24:07,240 --> 00:24:10,479 Speaker 1: the current political environment. He actually believed that knowledge mattered, 372 00:24:11,160 --> 00:24:14,960 Speaker 1: and he actually believed that education mattered. In seventeen seventy eight, 373 00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:18,200 Speaker 1: he drafted a bill in Education entitled quote a Bill 374 00:24:18,280 --> 00:24:21,720 Speaker 1: for more general diffusion of knowledge. Now, this is one 375 00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:28,400 Speaker 1: of Jefferson's great passions. Here's what Jefferson himself wrote. Whereas 376 00:24:28,400 --> 00:24:31,400 Speaker 1: it appears that, however, certain forms of government are better 377 00:24:31,440 --> 00:24:35,080 Speaker 1: calculated than others to protect individuals in the free exercise 378 00:24:35,160 --> 00:24:38,280 Speaker 1: of their natural rights, and are at the same time 379 00:24:38,680 --> 00:24:43,720 Speaker 1: themselves better guarded against degeneracy. Yet experience has shown that 380 00:24:43,760 --> 00:24:47,240 Speaker 1: even under the best forms, those entrusted with power have, 381 00:24:47,320 --> 00:24:51,400 Speaker 1: in time and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny. 382 00:24:51,760 --> 00:24:53,520 Speaker 1: Let me repeat this because it sort of fits the 383 00:24:53,520 --> 00:24:56,800 Speaker 1: world recurrent to living in. Even under the best forms, 384 00:24:57,000 --> 00:25:02,080 Speaker 1: those entrusted with power have, in time and by slow operations, 385 00:25:02,440 --> 00:25:06,600 Speaker 1: perverted it into tyranny. Jefferson goes on to say, and 386 00:25:06,640 --> 00:25:09,320 Speaker 1: it is believed that the most effectual means of preventing 387 00:25:09,359 --> 00:25:12,719 Speaker 1: this would be to eliminate, as far as practical, the 388 00:25:12,800 --> 00:25:15,879 Speaker 1: minds of the people at large, and more especially, to 389 00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:19,679 Speaker 1: give them knowledge of those facts which history exhibiteth that 390 00:25:19,800 --> 00:25:23,200 Speaker 1: possess Thereby of the experience of other ages and countries, 391 00:25:23,600 --> 00:25:26,400 Speaker 1: they may be enabled to know ambition under all its shapes, 392 00:25:26,680 --> 00:25:30,320 Speaker 1: and prompt to exert their natural powers to defeat its purposes. 393 00:25:31,080 --> 00:25:33,919 Speaker 1: And whereas it is generally true that people will be 394 00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:37,560 Speaker 1: happiest whose laws are best and are best administered, and 395 00:25:37,640 --> 00:25:41,600 Speaker 1: the laws will be wisely formed and honestly administered, in 396 00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:45,040 Speaker 1: proportion as those who form and administer them are wise 397 00:25:45,080 --> 00:25:49,119 Speaker 1: and honest. Whence it becomes expedient for promoting the public 398 00:25:49,160 --> 00:25:53,160 Speaker 1: happiness that those person whom nature hath endowed with genius 399 00:25:53,160 --> 00:25:57,240 Speaker 1: and virtue should be rendered by liberal education worthy to 400 00:25:57,320 --> 00:26:00,639 Speaker 1: receive and able to guard the sacred deposit of the 401 00:26:00,720 --> 00:26:03,359 Speaker 1: rights and liberties of their fellow citizens, And that they 402 00:26:03,359 --> 00:26:07,320 Speaker 1: should be called to that charge without regard to wealth, birth, 403 00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:11,480 Speaker 1: or other accidental condition or circumstance, but the indigence of 404 00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:14,399 Speaker 1: the greater number disabling them from self educating at their 405 00:26:14,440 --> 00:26:17,560 Speaker 1: own expense, those of their children whom nature hath fitly 406 00:26:17,600 --> 00:26:20,679 Speaker 1: formed and disposed to become useful instruments for the public. 407 00:26:21,080 --> 00:26:23,719 Speaker 1: It is better that such should be sought for and 408 00:26:23,920 --> 00:26:27,159 Speaker 1: educated at the common expense of all, than that the 409 00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:30,199 Speaker 1: happiness of all should be confided to the weak or 410 00:26:30,200 --> 00:26:33,760 Speaker 1: the wicked. Now, if you go back and reread that, 411 00:26:34,440 --> 00:26:38,040 Speaker 1: and you realize that our current situation, schools that don't 412 00:26:38,080 --> 00:26:43,399 Speaker 1: teach teachers that don't educate, total avoidance of history, dumbing 413 00:26:43,480 --> 00:26:47,000 Speaker 1: down of mathematics, giving people passing grades so they feel 414 00:26:47,040 --> 00:26:50,920 Speaker 1: good even if they know nothing. You can sense that 415 00:26:50,960 --> 00:26:55,119 Speaker 1: we have arrived at a counter Jeffersonian moment when everything 416 00:26:55,200 --> 00:26:58,639 Speaker 1: Jefferson feared in terms of ignorant people giving up their 417 00:26:58,680 --> 00:27:01,640 Speaker 1: freedoms are far too close to be having a reality. 418 00:27:01,880 --> 00:27:05,680 Speaker 1: And it's why Jefferson is always worth revisiting and thinking about. 419 00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:08,639 Speaker 1: Jefferson himself, by the way, guests to be elected governor 420 00:27:08,640 --> 00:27:12,440 Speaker 1: and is a terrible governor. He doesn't like power, always 421 00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:14,239 Speaker 1: brilliant at using it when he has to, and when 422 00:27:14,280 --> 00:27:18,359 Speaker 1: he's president he's brilliant at using power. But in the 423 00:27:18,400 --> 00:27:21,240 Speaker 1: period of seventeen seventy nine to seventeen eighty one, the 424 00:27:21,240 --> 00:27:24,560 Speaker 1: British Army was rampaging through Virginia. There was an effort 425 00:27:24,640 --> 00:27:29,200 Speaker 1: to crush the rebellion, and Jefferson is really put in 426 00:27:29,200 --> 00:27:32,680 Speaker 1: an awkward position. He's not an effective wartime governor. It's 427 00:27:32,680 --> 00:27:36,520 Speaker 1: not his strength and as a result, I think he 428 00:27:36,520 --> 00:27:38,960 Speaker 1: would say that his governorship was one of the least 429 00:27:39,320 --> 00:27:43,960 Speaker 1: impressive of his activities. However, being Jefferson, he's done to stop. 430 00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:47,600 Speaker 1: While he's governor. He also writes his only book, Notes 431 00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:50,160 Speaker 1: on the State of Virginia. He didn't intend to write 432 00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:53,200 Speaker 1: or publish it, and he actually worried that their publication 433 00:27:53,240 --> 00:27:58,119 Speaker 1: would do more harm or good. But he says things 434 00:27:58,119 --> 00:27:59,880 Speaker 1: he really deeply believes in. And again he goes back 435 00:27:59,880 --> 00:28:04,560 Speaker 1: to freedom of religion. In Query seventeen Religion, Jefferson defended 436 00:28:04,640 --> 00:28:07,359 Speaker 1: separation of church and states, saying it does me no 437 00:28:07,520 --> 00:28:10,200 Speaker 1: injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods 438 00:28:10,320 --> 00:28:13,520 Speaker 1: or no guid and neither picks my pocket nor breaks 439 00:28:13,560 --> 00:28:18,280 Speaker 1: my leg. Again, he's arguing that you have freedom, and 440 00:28:18,400 --> 00:28:21,040 Speaker 1: that you shouldn't be taxed to pay for their beliefs, 441 00:28:21,320 --> 00:28:23,360 Speaker 1: but that they should therefore be allowed to have their 442 00:28:23,359 --> 00:28:27,440 Speaker 1: beliefs without the government interfering. He actually took the manuscript 443 00:28:27,600 --> 00:28:29,920 Speaker 1: to his book to Paris, and he contracted a printer 444 00:28:30,160 --> 00:28:33,960 Speaker 1: who printed two hundred copies. Jefferson's little book on Notes 445 00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:38,120 Speaker 1: in State of Virginia was sufficiently controversial that James Madison 446 00:28:38,160 --> 00:28:42,160 Speaker 1: and George with put copies in the college library rather 447 00:28:42,200 --> 00:28:45,520 Speaker 1: than giving them to students, saying such an indiscriminate gift 448 00:28:45,680 --> 00:28:49,479 Speaker 1: might offend some narrow minded parents in Paris, Jefferson gave 449 00:28:49,520 --> 00:28:53,440 Speaker 1: a few copies to close friends and confidential persons, writing 450 00:28:53,480 --> 00:28:57,480 Speaker 1: in each copy a restraint against publishing it. However, a 451 00:28:57,560 --> 00:29:00,000 Speaker 1: copy fell into the hands of a bookseller who accorded 452 00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:04,040 Speaker 1: under Jefferson employed a hirelying translator and was about publishing 453 00:29:04,120 --> 00:29:07,479 Speaker 1: it in the most injurious form possible. To keep that 454 00:29:07,520 --> 00:29:10,680 Speaker 1: from happening, Jefferson entered into agreement for the translation into 455 00:29:10,680 --> 00:29:16,360 Speaker 1: French with the highly respected writer Abbe Morrelais. Unfortunately, Jefferson 456 00:29:16,400 --> 00:29:19,000 Speaker 1: and Morley had different ideas as to what the translation meant. 457 00:29:19,440 --> 00:29:21,880 Speaker 1: Jefferson wanted the translation of his strict word for word 458 00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:25,600 Speaker 1: translation of his text. Morlay, however, believed that the translated 459 00:29:25,760 --> 00:29:28,360 Speaker 1: job was to be an active collaborator and ended up 460 00:29:28,440 --> 00:29:32,840 Speaker 1: changing the work. Jefferson was very displeased. Jefferson then turned 461 00:29:32,840 --> 00:29:35,760 Speaker 1: to John Stockdale, an English publisher, agreed to print the 462 00:29:35,760 --> 00:29:38,320 Speaker 1: work and told Jefferson, I know there is some bitter 463 00:29:38,400 --> 00:29:41,719 Speaker 1: pills relative to our country. After all, this was shortly 464 00:29:41,760 --> 00:29:45,200 Speaker 1: after we had defeated the British and earned our independence. 465 00:29:45,920 --> 00:29:49,760 Speaker 1: On August fourteenth, seventeen eighty seven, Jefferson wrote to Stockdale 466 00:29:49,760 --> 00:29:52,800 Speaker 1: that he'd received the initial copies. In all this period, 467 00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:56,560 Speaker 1: Jefferson remains active. He is elected delegate to Congress in 468 00:29:56,600 --> 00:30:00,000 Speaker 1: seventeen eighty three. Between seventeen eighty four and seventy eight, 469 00:30:00,120 --> 00:30:03,320 Speaker 1: and he serves in France as the Commissioner and US Minister. 470 00:30:04,080 --> 00:30:06,240 Speaker 1: In seventeen eighty seventy, he wrote to a good friend, 471 00:30:06,440 --> 00:30:09,920 Speaker 1: Francis Hopkinson, his desire for this position to be silent 472 00:30:09,960 --> 00:30:12,280 Speaker 1: and to be out of the limelight. And this gives 473 00:30:12,280 --> 00:30:16,640 Speaker 1: you a flavor of Jefferson. This is so oddly contradictory. 474 00:30:16,880 --> 00:30:19,520 Speaker 1: He says. My great wish is to go on in 475 00:30:19,560 --> 00:30:22,760 Speaker 1: a strict but silent performance of my duty, to avoid 476 00:30:22,760 --> 00:30:26,200 Speaker 1: attracting notice, and to keep my name out of newspapers, 477 00:30:26,600 --> 00:30:28,920 Speaker 1: because I find the pain of a little censure, even 478 00:30:28,960 --> 00:30:32,240 Speaker 1: when it is unfounded, is more acute than the pleasure 479 00:30:32,280 --> 00:30:36,000 Speaker 1: of much praise. Now, so, hey, you have this guy who, 480 00:30:36,320 --> 00:30:39,240 Speaker 1: on the one hand, really is secretive and really doesn't 481 00:30:39,240 --> 00:30:41,840 Speaker 1: want to be noticed. On the other hand, he is 482 00:30:41,880 --> 00:30:44,400 Speaker 1: active in politics. He's governor of the state. He's ultimately 483 00:30:44,400 --> 00:30:47,160 Speaker 1: going to be Secretary of State and vice president and 484 00:30:47,200 --> 00:30:50,640 Speaker 1: then president United States. And that sort of captures Jefferson. 485 00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:56,520 Speaker 1: He is a very complicated person of enormous willpower, great 486 00:30:56,600 --> 00:31:01,440 Speaker 1: patience and discipline, enormous capacity for work, and he's just really, 487 00:31:01,680 --> 00:31:05,400 Speaker 1: really smart. You could probably argue that he and Benjamin 488 00:31:05,440 --> 00:31:09,800 Speaker 1: Franklin were the too smartest of the Founding fathers. They 489 00:31:09,800 --> 00:31:12,880 Speaker 1: were both able to learn almost everything, and they both 490 00:31:12,920 --> 00:31:16,520 Speaker 1: made major contributions to knowledge. To give an example of 491 00:31:16,600 --> 00:31:21,560 Speaker 1: Jefferson's genuinely diverse interests, in seventeen ninety one, he and 492 00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:24,720 Speaker 1: his friend James Madison made a botanical tour of the 493 00:31:24,760 --> 00:31:28,360 Speaker 1: Northern Lakes, and his most lengthy journal entries was on 494 00:31:28,440 --> 00:31:32,200 Speaker 1: the Fly. But final report was never presented anybody, but 495 00:31:32,600 --> 00:31:34,840 Speaker 1: it still exists. So again, here's the guy who has 496 00:31:34,840 --> 00:31:38,320 Speaker 1: written the decreation independence, served in the Congress, served as governor, 497 00:31:38,600 --> 00:31:42,640 Speaker 1: served as a bessitor, and he's off writing a discourse 498 00:31:43,080 --> 00:31:52,120 Speaker 1: on the nature of the fly. Jefferson also served in 499 00:31:52,160 --> 00:31:56,360 Speaker 1: a committee referred in the Society's Minutes of June sixteenth, 500 00:31:56,400 --> 00:32:00,520 Speaker 1: seventeen ninety seven as the Bone Committee, who his priority 501 00:32:00,600 --> 00:32:04,360 Speaker 1: was to procure one or more entire skeletons of the mammoth. 502 00:32:05,320 --> 00:32:08,800 Speaker 1: In eighteen oh seven, when Jefferson financed the dig conducted 503 00:32:08,840 --> 00:32:11,840 Speaker 1: by William Clark at Big Bone Lick, Kentucky. Of the 504 00:32:11,880 --> 00:32:15,880 Speaker 1: over three hundred bones that Clark sent back, Jefferson offered 505 00:32:15,920 --> 00:32:19,640 Speaker 1: the society any of the fossils that were not already 506 00:32:19,680 --> 00:32:24,040 Speaker 1: in their collection. On March third, seventeen ninety seven, Jefferson 507 00:32:24,080 --> 00:32:28,400 Speaker 1: became president of the American Philosophical Society, the day before 508 00:32:28,560 --> 00:32:32,120 Speaker 1: he became Vice President of the United States. He served 509 00:32:32,120 --> 00:32:35,960 Speaker 1: as president of the Philosophical Society for the next eighteen years. 510 00:32:36,680 --> 00:32:40,160 Speaker 1: He offered three letters of resignation when the government moved 511 00:32:40,160 --> 00:32:43,240 Speaker 1: to Washington, d c. When he retired to Monticello, but 512 00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:48,440 Speaker 1: the Society refused to allow his resignation. They finally accepted 513 00:32:48,440 --> 00:32:54,480 Speaker 1: his resignation on January twentieth, eighteen fifteen. And so you 514 00:32:54,520 --> 00:32:57,480 Speaker 1: can see that Jefferson's a complex person with an enormous 515 00:32:57,600 --> 00:33:01,120 Speaker 1: range of interests. And in the next to part I'm 516 00:33:01,160 --> 00:33:05,120 Speaker 1: going to talk about Jefferson as president and the extraordinary 517 00:33:05,400 --> 00:33:08,640 Speaker 1: complex nature of his presidency and of what he did 518 00:33:08,680 --> 00:33:12,320 Speaker 1: after that. So I hope you'll listen also to Jefferson 519 00:33:12,360 --> 00:33:16,800 Speaker 1: as an American immortal in Part two on Newt's World. 520 00:33:25,880 --> 00:33:29,160 Speaker 1: On the one hand, Jefferson was a very idealistic person. 521 00:33:29,720 --> 00:33:34,160 Speaker 1: On the other hand, he's a very sophisticated, subtle, and 522 00:33:34,280 --> 00:33:39,200 Speaker 1: often duplicitous politician, and both are somehow captured in the 523 00:33:39,280 --> 00:33:42,240 Speaker 1: same person. He's a man of great principles, but on 524 00:33:42,280 --> 00:33:45,040 Speaker 1: the other hand, as you'll see as president, he sometimes 525 00:33:45,080 --> 00:33:50,280 Speaker 1: broke those principles in amazing ways. The term Jeffersonian Democrat 526 00:33:50,760 --> 00:33:53,560 Speaker 1: for a very long time meant somebody who was for 527 00:33:53,640 --> 00:33:59,520 Speaker 1: limited government, was for lower expenses, and was essentially very 528 00:33:59,640 --> 00:34:03,240 Speaker 1: very suspicious of power in Washington. But at the same time, 529 00:34:03,280 --> 00:34:06,000 Speaker 1: as you'll see, this is a guy who bought half 530 00:34:06,080 --> 00:34:09,080 Speaker 1: a continent. He's a person who sent the Marines in 531 00:34:09,120 --> 00:34:12,680 Speaker 1: the Navy to the shores of Tripoli without telling Congress, 532 00:34:13,200 --> 00:34:15,520 Speaker 1: and so on the one hand, he was sort of 533 00:34:15,560 --> 00:34:18,920 Speaker 1: for limited government unless he wasn't for limited government. And 534 00:34:18,960 --> 00:34:22,560 Speaker 1: it's this kind of complexity that makes Jefferson so fascinating. 535 00:34:23,600 --> 00:34:27,040 Speaker 1: He was also not only extraordinarily smart, one of the 536 00:34:27,080 --> 00:34:29,840 Speaker 1: three or four smartest of our presidents, but he was, 537 00:34:29,920 --> 00:34:35,920 Speaker 1: in addition, a person of extraordinarily wide eclectic interests. Jefferson 538 00:34:36,280 --> 00:34:41,000 Speaker 1: read widely, taught himself Spanish while on a ship going 539 00:34:41,040 --> 00:34:45,680 Speaker 1: to Europe by reading Don Quixote, be studied fossils collected them. 540 00:34:45,719 --> 00:34:48,719 Speaker 1: If you go to Monticello, his home, you'll see some 541 00:34:48,760 --> 00:34:50,920 Speaker 1: of the fossils that were collected. While he was president, 542 00:34:51,440 --> 00:34:55,080 Speaker 1: he sponsored an expedition which was almost the equivalent of 543 00:34:55,080 --> 00:34:59,000 Speaker 1: going to Mars, and Lewis and Clark crossed the continent 544 00:34:59,320 --> 00:35:03,160 Speaker 1: to explore the territory that Jefferson had just bought from France. 545 00:35:03,360 --> 00:35:06,239 Speaker 1: Napoleon very cleverly sold it because he realized with the 546 00:35:06,320 --> 00:35:09,799 Speaker 1: Royal Navy controlling the ocean, that the French would not 547 00:35:09,880 --> 00:35:12,160 Speaker 1: be able in the long run to keep the western 548 00:35:12,200 --> 00:35:14,440 Speaker 1: part of the United States. So he sold the entire 549 00:35:14,480 --> 00:35:19,719 Speaker 1: Mississippi Valley to Jefferson, and Mississippi through a tributary the 550 00:35:19,760 --> 00:35:23,879 Speaker 1: Missouri really goes an amazing distance west, and so they 551 00:35:24,120 --> 00:35:26,120 Speaker 1: ended up more than doubling the size of the United 552 00:35:26,160 --> 00:35:29,000 Speaker 1: States in this one purchase. All of these are things 553 00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:33,160 Speaker 1: by a president who claimed to be for extraordinarily limited government. 554 00:35:33,800 --> 00:35:36,960 Speaker 1: In order to win, he actually had to invent a 555 00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:42,520 Speaker 1: political party. So Jefferson had risen and ultimately had become 556 00:35:42,560 --> 00:35:45,560 Speaker 1: the Secretary of State. Because he had served in France, 557 00:35:45,880 --> 00:35:48,759 Speaker 1: he had a pretty good bit of diplomatic experience, and 558 00:35:48,840 --> 00:35:52,080 Speaker 1: I think Washington thought that he was the right person 559 00:35:52,600 --> 00:35:55,440 Speaker 1: to try to represent the United States in foreign policy. 560 00:35:56,239 --> 00:36:01,000 Speaker 1: He very difficultly coexisted, if that's the right term, with 561 00:36:01,120 --> 00:36:07,640 Speaker 1: Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton represented the commercial interests, had worked out 562 00:36:07,960 --> 00:36:10,240 Speaker 1: how to borrow a huge amount of money from the Dutch, 563 00:36:10,800 --> 00:36:14,520 Speaker 1: and was able to stabilize the American debt, was able 564 00:36:14,600 --> 00:36:18,759 Speaker 1: to create in the first Report on Manufactures, probably the 565 00:36:18,760 --> 00:36:22,560 Speaker 1: best single statement ever written about why there are times 566 00:36:22,560 --> 00:36:25,960 Speaker 1: when a country with the brand new small industry should 567 00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:29,920 Speaker 1: protect itself as a remarkable statement in favor of tariffs, 568 00:36:30,480 --> 00:36:33,440 Speaker 1: and Hamilton himself was clearly brilliant. I would say that 569 00:36:33,719 --> 00:36:36,759 Speaker 1: if you look at Hamilton, Franklin, and Jefferson, you're looking 570 00:36:36,800 --> 00:36:39,440 Speaker 1: at three of the brightest people ever to be involved 571 00:36:39,480 --> 00:36:42,920 Speaker 1: in American government. But Hamilton's interest in his vision of 572 00:36:42,920 --> 00:36:48,040 Speaker 1: the world was remarkably different from Jefferson. Jefferson really represented 573 00:36:48,080 --> 00:36:51,040 Speaker 1: a rural, agrarian world. He would have set a world 574 00:36:51,120 --> 00:36:53,880 Speaker 1: of small farmers, although the truth was that he owned 575 00:36:53,880 --> 00:36:58,239 Speaker 1: slaves and basically had a plantation. But Jefferson was capable 576 00:36:59,080 --> 00:37:03,560 Speaker 1: of envision this world of limited government and representing the 577 00:37:03,600 --> 00:37:06,520 Speaker 1: interests of rural America, which at that time was the 578 00:37:06,560 --> 00:37:09,600 Speaker 1: dominant part of America, and Virginia at that time was 579 00:37:09,640 --> 00:37:13,160 Speaker 1: the biggest state in the country. On the other hand, 580 00:37:13,640 --> 00:37:18,200 Speaker 1: Hamilton had this vision of a manufacturing and commercial future, 581 00:37:18,600 --> 00:37:21,600 Speaker 1: of an America which would grow strong enough to defend itself, 582 00:37:21,960 --> 00:37:25,520 Speaker 1: in an America which would find its ultimate source of 583 00:37:25,560 --> 00:37:30,319 Speaker 1: wealth in big cities and in factories, things which Jefferson 584 00:37:30,360 --> 00:37:35,080 Speaker 1: found abhorrent. Jefferson wanted a much more rural lifestyle, would 585 00:37:35,120 --> 00:37:38,959 Speaker 1: claim to want a more galitarian world, although the truth 586 00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:44,120 Speaker 1: of Jefferson himself was clearly aristocratic and not particularly a galitarian. 587 00:37:44,680 --> 00:37:50,640 Speaker 1: In order to seize power, Jefferson and his sidekick James Madison, 588 00:37:50,960 --> 00:37:54,800 Speaker 1: also of Virginia and the author of the Bill of Rights, 589 00:37:54,800 --> 00:37:58,960 Speaker 1: invented the Democratic Party. As John F. Kennedy used to say, 590 00:37:59,440 --> 00:38:03,880 Speaker 1: he was out gathering butterflies, because the excuse that Jefferson 591 00:38:03,880 --> 00:38:06,640 Speaker 1: and Madison used for going to New York to meet 592 00:38:06,680 --> 00:38:09,839 Speaker 1: with Aaron Burr was that they were collecting butterflies. In fact, 593 00:38:09,920 --> 00:38:13,240 Speaker 1: what they were doing was plotting with Burr to create 594 00:38:13,600 --> 00:38:17,719 Speaker 1: a party in order to win an election. Jefferson had 595 00:38:17,760 --> 00:38:23,040 Speaker 1: won the vice presidency in seventeen ninety six with John Adams, 596 00:38:23,560 --> 00:38:28,560 Speaker 1: the former vice president, under Washington becoming president. But Adams 597 00:38:28,600 --> 00:38:32,239 Speaker 1: represented a New England and New York vision of the 598 00:38:32,239 --> 00:38:36,799 Speaker 1: world and was really pretty close to an aristocratic rather 599 00:38:36,880 --> 00:38:41,640 Speaker 1: than the galitarian sense of how America should develop. Jefferson 600 00:38:41,680 --> 00:38:47,360 Speaker 1: represented an upsurge of populism and was a brilliant political 601 00:38:47,400 --> 00:38:52,000 Speaker 1: plotter maintained through correspondence and network across the whole country. 602 00:38:52,640 --> 00:38:57,160 Speaker 1: Aroused people to an affect. Petition against what Adams wanted 603 00:38:57,200 --> 00:39:00,719 Speaker 1: to do. Got Adams so angry that he passed the 604 00:39:00,719 --> 00:39:04,480 Speaker 1: Eleen and Sedition Acts, which would have punished people for 605 00:39:04,640 --> 00:39:08,840 Speaker 1: criticizing the government, and those were then thrown out as unconstitutional. 606 00:39:09,280 --> 00:39:13,960 Speaker 1: They were wildly unpopular. Jefferson came along and really was 607 00:39:14,040 --> 00:39:16,719 Speaker 1: an open rebellion. It was the last time that they 608 00:39:16,760 --> 00:39:20,200 Speaker 1: would have a president and vice president of opposite parties. 609 00:39:20,440 --> 00:39:24,840 Speaker 1: It was a totally unwieldy project, and Adams unfortunately totally 610 00:39:24,920 --> 00:39:30,160 Speaker 1: changed American history because Adams and his sidekick Alexander Hamilton, 611 00:39:30,400 --> 00:39:34,759 Speaker 1: who represented the New York Federalists, hated each other and 612 00:39:34,800 --> 00:39:37,960 Speaker 1: the result was their party was totally split. Well, faced 613 00:39:37,960 --> 00:39:42,520 Speaker 1: with a split and decaying Federalist party really representing New 614 00:39:42,600 --> 00:39:46,480 Speaker 1: York and North Jefferson was able to mobilize rural America. 615 00:39:46,920 --> 00:39:50,000 Speaker 1: And as I said earlier, he had the largest state 616 00:39:50,040 --> 00:39:55,360 Speaker 1: in Virginia, and Jefferson won a sweeping election in eighteen 617 00:39:55,440 --> 00:39:59,640 Speaker 1: hundred and it's really the first peaceful transfer of power 618 00:40:00,280 --> 00:40:04,719 Speaker 1: between two clearly opposed sides, and it created a sense 619 00:40:04,719 --> 00:40:09,279 Speaker 1: of stability for the Republic. Jefferson would then govern, as 620 00:40:09,360 --> 00:40:13,879 Speaker 1: seen by modern liberals, in an idealistic way, although since 621 00:40:13,960 --> 00:40:17,279 Speaker 1: Jefferson on slaves, he's now out of fashion with the 622 00:40:17,320 --> 00:40:19,719 Speaker 1: modern left, but for a very long time he was 623 00:40:19,840 --> 00:40:22,279 Speaker 1: kind of their model. But in fact what he was 624 00:40:22,360 --> 00:40:26,960 Speaker 1: doing was very methodically destroying the Federalist Party, and by 625 00:40:27,200 --> 00:40:31,040 Speaker 1: about eighteen twelve, the Federalists disappear, and for a brief 626 00:40:31,040 --> 00:40:35,640 Speaker 1: period of time, what were called the Democratic Republican Party 627 00:40:36,200 --> 00:40:38,760 Speaker 1: was the only major political force in the United States 628 00:40:39,160 --> 00:40:43,480 Speaker 1: until it broke down with the populist insurgency of Andrew Jackson, 629 00:40:43,880 --> 00:40:47,000 Speaker 1: who was a Democrat, and that led to the formation 630 00:40:47,120 --> 00:40:49,880 Speaker 1: of the Whigs as the opposing party. But that doesn't 631 00:40:49,920 --> 00:40:52,840 Speaker 1: occur until the late eighteen twenties, so there's about a 632 00:40:52,840 --> 00:40:56,840 Speaker 1: twenty year period where the Jeffersonians are totally dominant. You 633 00:40:56,920 --> 00:41:01,120 Speaker 1: get three presidents in a row from Virginia in Jefferson, Madison, 634 00:41:01,320 --> 00:41:04,680 Speaker 1: and Monroe. And remember that the first president, George Washington, 635 00:41:04,719 --> 00:41:08,120 Speaker 1: was also from Virginia. So four of the five initial 636 00:41:08,160 --> 00:41:11,799 Speaker 1: presidents of the United States all come from Virginia, which was 637 00:41:11,840 --> 00:41:17,840 Speaker 1: the dominant state, and Virginia represented an agrarian interest remarkably 638 00:41:17,880 --> 00:41:23,640 Speaker 1: different from the commercial and banking and manufacturing interest of 639 00:41:23,760 --> 00:41:29,239 Speaker 1: people like Alexander Hamilton. Jefferson ends up in a very 640 00:41:29,239 --> 00:41:33,160 Speaker 1: strange situation in eighteen hundred because they had not quite 641 00:41:33,360 --> 00:41:37,800 Speaker 1: figured out that if you had the same Electoral College 642 00:41:37,880 --> 00:41:41,320 Speaker 1: votes for both the president and vice president, they would 643 00:41:41,320 --> 00:41:46,160 Speaker 1: be tied. Now, everybody had agreed that Jefferson was the 644 00:41:46,200 --> 00:41:49,600 Speaker 1: candidate for president and Burr was the candidate for vice president. 645 00:41:49,920 --> 00:41:54,440 Speaker 1: But Burr, who is a remarkably despicable and dishonest figure, 646 00:41:54,719 --> 00:41:57,160 Speaker 1: a man who came very close to treason later on 647 00:41:57,200 --> 00:41:59,480 Speaker 1: in his life, and the man who shot and killed 648 00:41:59,719 --> 00:42:02,880 Speaker 1: Alixander Hamilton, and a duel. I mean, I always remind 649 00:42:02,880 --> 00:42:05,960 Speaker 1: people and they worry about how intense and how difficult 650 00:42:06,040 --> 00:42:09,600 Speaker 1: our political process occasionally gets, that we have not had 651 00:42:09,600 --> 00:42:12,720 Speaker 1: a former Secretary of the Treasury killed by a former 652 00:42:12,840 --> 00:42:16,680 Speaker 1: vice president for over two hundred years, So these guys 653 00:42:17,000 --> 00:42:20,040 Speaker 1: understood a level of toughness. So we fortunately have not 654 00:42:20,160 --> 00:42:24,439 Speaker 1: had repeated. But Jefferson and Burr each had seventy three 655 00:42:24,520 --> 00:42:27,840 Speaker 1: electoral votes. Well, there was no provision at the time 656 00:42:27,880 --> 00:42:31,240 Speaker 1: for breaking the tie. Everybody agreed as a gentleman's agreement 657 00:42:31,239 --> 00:42:34,560 Speaker 1: that Jefferson will be president, but there was no real 658 00:42:34,600 --> 00:42:37,560 Speaker 1: proof of what would happen, and it actually took thirty 659 00:42:37,680 --> 00:42:41,720 Speaker 1: six ballots. They started meeting on February the ninth, eighteen 660 00:42:41,760 --> 00:42:46,720 Speaker 1: oh one, and finally on February seventeenth, on the thirty 661 00:42:46,800 --> 00:42:51,640 Speaker 1: sixth vote, Jefferson was elected outside the capital. By the way, 662 00:42:52,000 --> 00:42:55,040 Speaker 1: there were over one hundred thousand people who had gathered 663 00:42:55,040 --> 00:42:58,480 Speaker 1: as a gigantic crowd. It was just an amazing moment. 664 00:43:27,840 --> 00:43:32,400 Speaker 1: Jefferson then is sworn in and on March fourth, eighteen 665 00:43:32,440 --> 00:43:35,800 Speaker 1: oh one. This is all changed after FDR becomes president 666 00:43:35,800 --> 00:43:38,200 Speaker 1: in the nineteen thirties and they realize that they're just 667 00:43:38,280 --> 00:43:41,920 Speaker 1: too long a period between an election in November and 668 00:43:42,040 --> 00:43:44,759 Speaker 1: the taking of power in March, and they bring it 669 00:43:44,840 --> 00:43:47,560 Speaker 1: up to January twentieth, which has been ever since. But 670 00:43:48,120 --> 00:43:50,920 Speaker 1: notice that in the earlier era, when everything is done 671 00:43:51,239 --> 00:43:55,879 Speaker 1: without a telegraph without radio by people riding horses. They 672 00:43:55,880 --> 00:43:58,520 Speaker 1: had allowed a great deal of time for the election 673 00:43:58,640 --> 00:44:01,400 Speaker 1: to occur, the electors to get other, and finally the 674 00:44:01,440 --> 00:44:04,240 Speaker 1: president to be sworn in. So in March fourth, eighteen 675 00:44:04,280 --> 00:44:07,600 Speaker 1: oh one, Jefferson delivered his inaugural address, and he said, 676 00:44:07,640 --> 00:44:12,880 Speaker 1: in part quote, let us, then, fellow citizens, unite with 677 00:44:12,960 --> 00:44:16,440 Speaker 1: one heart and one mind. Let us restore to social 678 00:44:16,480 --> 00:44:21,280 Speaker 1: intercourse that harmony and affection, without which liberty and even 679 00:44:21,320 --> 00:44:24,680 Speaker 1: life itself are but dreary things. We have called by 680 00:44:24,680 --> 00:44:28,960 Speaker 1: different names, brethren of the same principle. We are all Republicans, 681 00:44:29,440 --> 00:44:33,560 Speaker 1: we are all Federalists. Now he didn't actually mean that. 682 00:44:34,400 --> 00:44:38,600 Speaker 1: What he really meant was, as democratic Republicans, we are 683 00:44:38,600 --> 00:44:41,080 Speaker 1: going to wipe out the Federalists. And in fact, they 684 00:44:41,120 --> 00:44:45,680 Speaker 1: were very aggressive in exerting their power. Jefferson, of course, 685 00:44:46,200 --> 00:44:48,759 Speaker 1: was not a great public speaker, and he knew it, 686 00:44:49,280 --> 00:44:52,839 Speaker 1: but he was a great writer. So when it came 687 00:44:52,920 --> 00:44:57,320 Speaker 1: time to address the Congress, Jefferson decided that he would 688 00:44:57,320 --> 00:45:00,840 Speaker 1: write it and send up his written address, having his 689 00:45:00,960 --> 00:45:05,080 Speaker 1: secretary Meriwether Lewis, who'd become famous later for the Lewis 690 00:45:05,120 --> 00:45:09,600 Speaker 1: and Clark Expedition, having him deliver the address, and throughout 691 00:45:09,640 --> 00:45:14,040 Speaker 1: his eight years as president, Jefferson never addressed Congress in person, 692 00:45:14,520 --> 00:45:17,400 Speaker 1: instead opting to write it to the Congress, so they 693 00:45:17,440 --> 00:45:22,840 Speaker 1: got written addresses that continued just as a tradition until 694 00:45:23,080 --> 00:45:26,239 Speaker 1: Woodrow Wilson appeared. And Woodrow Wilson, who had been a 695 00:45:26,239 --> 00:45:31,160 Speaker 1: college professor at Princeton, liked to give speeches, saw himself 696 00:45:31,200 --> 00:45:35,719 Speaker 1: as a great orator, and so in nineteen thirteen Wilson 697 00:45:35,719 --> 00:45:38,040 Speaker 1: appeared in person to deliver the State of the Union. 698 00:45:38,440 --> 00:45:41,200 Speaker 1: But from the time Jefferson sent up a written version 699 00:45:41,680 --> 00:45:45,880 Speaker 1: until nineteen thirteen, it had always been done in writing. 700 00:45:46,200 --> 00:45:50,279 Speaker 1: For example, Lincoln's amazing addresses to the Congress, which were 701 00:45:50,320 --> 00:45:54,200 Speaker 1: among the greatest writing in American presidential history, were all 702 00:45:54,280 --> 00:45:57,480 Speaker 1: just delivered in writing. They weren't delivered by Lincoln himself. 703 00:45:58,040 --> 00:46:01,400 Speaker 1: Jefferson argued that it wasn't that he didn't like to 704 00:46:01,480 --> 00:46:05,000 Speaker 1: speak in public. Instead, he wrote to Benjamin rush On 705 00:46:05,160 --> 00:46:09,080 Speaker 1: to Summer twentyeth eighteen oh one, quote our winter campaign. 706 00:46:09,160 --> 00:46:12,160 Speaker 1: The winter session of Congress has opened with more good 707 00:46:12,239 --> 00:46:15,719 Speaker 1: humor than I expected. By sending a message instead of 708 00:46:15,719 --> 00:46:18,120 Speaker 1: making a speech at the opening of the session, I 709 00:46:18,239 --> 00:46:21,480 Speaker 1: have prevented the bloody conflicts to which the making an 710 00:46:21,480 --> 00:46:24,520 Speaker 1: answer would have committed them. They consequently were able to 711 00:46:24,520 --> 00:46:27,400 Speaker 1: set into real business at once without losing ten or 712 00:46:27,400 --> 00:46:30,800 Speaker 1: twelve days in combating an answer. In other words, Jefferson 713 00:46:30,840 --> 00:46:33,200 Speaker 1: figured if he showed up in person, he would so 714 00:46:33,400 --> 00:46:36,040 Speaker 1: irritate some of the members of Congress that they would 715 00:46:36,040 --> 00:46:39,320 Speaker 1: feel compelled to spend their time attacking him, and instead, 716 00:46:39,760 --> 00:46:43,040 Speaker 1: he thought that he had diffused the emotional tension by 717 00:46:43,080 --> 00:46:46,360 Speaker 1: sending the document up. In writing, he also defended not 718 00:46:46,440 --> 00:46:50,239 Speaker 1: doing it when he wrote John Wales's EPPS on January first, 719 00:46:50,239 --> 00:46:53,440 Speaker 1: eighteen oh two, quote, Congress have not yet done anything 720 00:46:53,520 --> 00:46:56,280 Speaker 1: or passed a vote which has produced a party division. 721 00:46:56,920 --> 00:46:59,640 Speaker 1: The sending a message instead of making a speech to 722 00:46:59,640 --> 00:47:02,400 Speaker 1: be answer is acknowledged to have had the best effect 723 00:47:02,400 --> 00:47:06,760 Speaker 1: toward preserving harmony. So I think it's fair to say 724 00:47:07,320 --> 00:47:12,279 Speaker 1: that from Jefferson's perspective, he's always thinking strategically. Now that 725 00:47:12,360 --> 00:47:17,560 Speaker 1: he has power, he's concerned with relaxing and consolidating the power. 726 00:47:17,960 --> 00:47:21,120 Speaker 1: And he knows that the less he fights with the Federalists, 727 00:47:21,160 --> 00:47:23,279 Speaker 1: and the more he allows them to just atrophy and 728 00:47:23,320 --> 00:47:26,880 Speaker 1: gradually disappear, the less friction there is, the less fighting 729 00:47:26,880 --> 00:47:30,160 Speaker 1: there is, the better off he is because he's president 730 00:47:30,360 --> 00:47:32,600 Speaker 1: and he already has all the power of the presidency. 731 00:47:33,040 --> 00:47:36,480 Speaker 1: The fact is that he also wasn't a great public speaker, 732 00:47:36,480 --> 00:47:39,280 Speaker 1: and in fact, when he gave his second inaugural address 733 00:47:39,480 --> 00:47:41,959 Speaker 1: on March fourth, eighteen oh five, a lot of people 734 00:47:41,960 --> 00:47:44,440 Speaker 1: in the room couldn't even hear him. So the address 735 00:47:44,520 --> 00:47:47,239 Speaker 1: was sent in advance to the newspapers, and the newspapers 736 00:47:47,280 --> 00:47:50,160 Speaker 1: could publish them even if you couldn't hear them. Now, 737 00:47:50,320 --> 00:47:54,480 Speaker 1: Jefferson had moved west, and it's hard to believe nowadays 738 00:47:54,520 --> 00:47:57,600 Speaker 1: because you don't think of Charlottesville as all that far west. 739 00:47:58,000 --> 00:48:03,000 Speaker 1: But in fact, the time farmers, the great planters, the 740 00:48:03,040 --> 00:48:06,560 Speaker 1: government that had been in Williamsburg, all those things from 741 00:48:06,640 --> 00:48:10,400 Speaker 1: Jefferson's perspective were behind him, and his focus was to 742 00:48:10,480 --> 00:48:13,800 Speaker 1: the west. His father, Peter Jefferson, was one of the 743 00:48:13,840 --> 00:48:17,000 Speaker 1: founding members of the Loyal Company, created to ask for 744 00:48:17,520 --> 00:48:20,640 Speaker 1: grants of land west of the Alleghany Mountains. And remember, 745 00:48:20,680 --> 00:48:25,360 Speaker 1: back then the frontier is the Alleghany Mountains. Nowadays we 746 00:48:25,400 --> 00:48:28,279 Speaker 1: think of that just as eastern and if anything, you 747 00:48:28,360 --> 00:48:32,600 Speaker 1: might think of the Rockies as the frontier. Interestingly, Lewis Merriweather. 748 00:48:33,160 --> 00:48:37,000 Speaker 1: His father had been a member with Peter Jefferson in 749 00:48:37,120 --> 00:48:41,040 Speaker 1: founding the Loyal Company, which was trying to open up 750 00:48:41,080 --> 00:48:44,040 Speaker 1: the West and asking for land in the west. Now, 751 00:48:44,360 --> 00:48:48,239 Speaker 1: when you look at that period, Jefferson is fascinated with 752 00:48:48,320 --> 00:48:51,319 Speaker 1: the West, but frankly, he personally don't know that much 753 00:48:51,360 --> 00:48:55,319 Speaker 1: time to go do things. If anything, he's spending time 754 00:48:55,400 --> 00:49:00,560 Speaker 1: in France where he's the minister, He's spending time in Philadelphia, 755 00:48:59,760 --> 00:49:04,000 Speaker 1: and he's helping other people go west, but he is 756 00:49:04,120 --> 00:49:07,799 Speaker 1: not himself able to go west. And in a funny way, 757 00:49:08,360 --> 00:49:12,720 Speaker 1: Washington was more of a frontiersman than Jefferson. Washington really 758 00:49:12,800 --> 00:49:16,799 Speaker 1: was physically very very active. Washington goes west both as 759 00:49:16,800 --> 00:49:20,640 Speaker 1: a surveyor. He surveys places like Little Washington in Virginia. 760 00:49:20,960 --> 00:49:23,920 Speaker 1: He goes west as a head of the Virginia Militia 761 00:49:24,280 --> 00:49:26,640 Speaker 1: and helped start the French and Indian War what became 762 00:49:26,719 --> 00:49:29,480 Speaker 1: called the Seven Years War in Europe. So Washington was 763 00:49:29,520 --> 00:49:33,600 Speaker 1: a genuine frontiersman and understood a great deal about the frontier. 764 00:49:34,000 --> 00:49:38,759 Speaker 1: Jefferson's really a gentleman, farmer and an intellectual who's fascinated 765 00:49:38,760 --> 00:49:42,279 Speaker 1: with the West as an idea and interestingly, at one 766 00:49:42,320 --> 00:49:45,799 Speaker 1: point he's subsidizes when he's the Minister to France, he 767 00:49:45,880 --> 00:49:49,600 Speaker 1: subsidizes a guy named John Ledyard who's an American explorer, 768 00:49:50,040 --> 00:49:52,800 Speaker 1: and their idea is that the way they will explore 769 00:49:52,840 --> 00:49:56,799 Speaker 1: the west is he will go east across Siberia and 770 00:49:56,880 --> 00:50:00,279 Speaker 1: travel to the western coast of North America. However, when 771 00:50:00,320 --> 00:50:02,279 Speaker 1: he tried to do that, he was arrested by the 772 00:50:02,360 --> 00:50:05,520 Speaker 1: Russians and sent back to Europe, so that failed. In 773 00:50:05,560 --> 00:50:10,160 Speaker 1: seventeen ninety three, Jefferson enlisted members of the American Philosophy Society, 774 00:50:10,440 --> 00:50:13,480 Speaker 1: which at that time was the leading kind of intellectual 775 00:50:13,520 --> 00:50:16,320 Speaker 1: gathering in America, and he got a group of them 776 00:50:16,360 --> 00:50:21,040 Speaker 1: to sponsor Andre Micheaux, a French botanist, to quote find 777 00:50:21,080 --> 00:50:24,880 Speaker 1: the shortest and most convenient route of communication between the 778 00:50:25,000 --> 00:50:27,839 Speaker 1: US and the Pacific Ocean. But it didn't get very 779 00:50:27,840 --> 00:50:31,520 Speaker 1: far and didn't have anything accomplished. In eighteen oh five, 780 00:50:32,000 --> 00:50:37,040 Speaker 1: the Territorial governor of Louisiana, General James Wilkinson, persuaded President 781 00:50:37,120 --> 00:50:41,160 Speaker 1: Jefferson to authorize an expedition to explore the beginning of 782 00:50:41,200 --> 00:50:44,640 Speaker 1: the Mississippi. Now, interestingly, by the way, I always find 783 00:50:44,640 --> 00:50:49,799 Speaker 1: this fascinating. The Mississippi itself starts in Minnesota, but the 784 00:50:49,880 --> 00:50:53,560 Speaker 1: great source of water is the Missouri, which starts much 785 00:50:53,600 --> 00:50:57,840 Speaker 1: further west and pours into the Mississippi at Saint Louis 786 00:50:58,239 --> 00:51:01,880 Speaker 1: and has dramatically more water than the Mississippi, but is 787 00:51:02,120 --> 00:51:06,000 Speaker 1: subordinated and named the Mississippi when they joined. So they're 788 00:51:06,040 --> 00:51:08,919 Speaker 1: looking for the origin of the Mississippi, when in fact, 789 00:51:09,120 --> 00:51:12,279 Speaker 1: far more important is to find the origin of the Missouri. 790 00:51:12,760 --> 00:51:17,640 Speaker 1: Jefferson did agree with General James Wilkinson, the territorial governor Louisiana, 791 00:51:18,040 --> 00:51:22,240 Speaker 1: and Lieutenant Zebulen Pike, for whom Pike's Peak is named, 792 00:51:22,719 --> 00:51:25,960 Speaker 1: was appointed to lead the party to negotiate peace chreaties 793 00:51:26,000 --> 00:51:28,960 Speaker 1: with the Indian tribes they encountered, but they reached the 794 00:51:29,000 --> 00:51:32,359 Speaker 1: present day Canadian border and then turned back. A year later, 795 00:51:32,400 --> 00:51:35,319 Speaker 1: Pike was appointed to lead an expedition to explore the 796 00:51:35,400 --> 00:51:40,200 Speaker 1: red in Arkansas Rivers. He entered Colorado unsuccessfully attempted to 797 00:51:40,200 --> 00:51:43,280 Speaker 1: scale the mountain that today is called Pike's Peak. After 798 00:51:43,560 --> 00:51:47,400 Speaker 1: entering Spanish controlled New Mexico, he was captured and sent back, 799 00:51:47,800 --> 00:51:52,520 Speaker 1: but Jefferson still had not abandoned the idea. On January 800 00:51:52,560 --> 00:51:57,120 Speaker 1: eighteenth eighteen o three, Jefferson sent a letter to Congress 801 00:51:57,280 --> 00:52:01,320 Speaker 1: asking for twenty five hundred dollars to fund an expedition 802 00:52:01,360 --> 00:52:04,880 Speaker 1: of the Pacific Ocean. They approved it, and by the way, 803 00:52:05,239 --> 00:52:08,560 Speaker 1: the expedition, as often happens with government projects, turned out 804 00:52:08,600 --> 00:52:12,040 Speaker 1: to cost far more than twenty five hundred dollars. A 805 00:52:12,160 --> 00:52:15,960 Speaker 1: year later, about forty five men, headed by Meriwether Lewis 806 00:52:16,000 --> 00:52:19,040 Speaker 1: and William Clark, left on what became a very very 807 00:52:19,040 --> 00:52:23,840 Speaker 1: famous expedition. There is a remarkable book called Undaunted Courage, 808 00:52:24,400 --> 00:52:28,600 Speaker 1: which I recommend to everybody. It captures day by day 809 00:52:29,120 --> 00:52:32,680 Speaker 1: this extraordinary expedition, which, as I said earlier, is in 810 00:52:32,719 --> 00:52:37,520 Speaker 1: many ways that era's equivalent of going to Mars. I mean, 811 00:52:37,560 --> 00:52:41,239 Speaker 1: these guys are leaving Saint Louis, They're paddling their way 812 00:52:41,320 --> 00:52:45,719 Speaker 1: up the Missouri, they are crossing over around Yellowstone, they 813 00:52:45,760 --> 00:52:49,240 Speaker 1: are going down the Columbia, they are encountering all sorts 814 00:52:49,239 --> 00:52:53,640 Speaker 1: of Native American tribes, they are encountering grizzly bears and 815 00:52:54,480 --> 00:52:58,640 Speaker 1: generally roughing it. And really an expedition that just took 816 00:52:58,719 --> 00:53:02,600 Speaker 1: a level of personal endurance and personal courage that is 817 00:53:02,640 --> 00:53:07,680 Speaker 1: absolutely astonishing. And if you go to Philadelphia. The Academy 818 00:53:07,719 --> 00:53:11,600 Speaker 1: of Natural Sciences, which became the repository for the American 819 00:53:11,640 --> 00:53:16,640 Speaker 1: Philosophical Society, actually has the material that Lewis and Clark 820 00:53:16,719 --> 00:53:19,760 Speaker 1: brought back, and so you can actually go and see 821 00:53:20,120 --> 00:53:22,560 Speaker 1: what it was they were gathering up, and they were 822 00:53:22,560 --> 00:53:25,960 Speaker 1: gathering things about plants and animals, they were taking notes 823 00:53:26,000 --> 00:53:29,280 Speaker 1: about geography. They were reporting on all sorts of meetings 824 00:53:29,280 --> 00:53:32,600 Speaker 1: with different Native tribes, and it is one of the 825 00:53:32,640 --> 00:53:37,560 Speaker 1: great romantic expeditions in American history. They're also helped dramatically 826 00:53:38,000 --> 00:53:41,680 Speaker 1: by a Native American woman who both helps them talk 827 00:53:41,760 --> 00:53:45,320 Speaker 1: with tribes and helps them survive. They have an African 828 00:53:45,360 --> 00:53:48,279 Speaker 1: American as part of the expedition who has a vote, 829 00:53:48,320 --> 00:53:51,040 Speaker 1: and they said, look, he deserved the vote because his 830 00:53:51,120 --> 00:53:52,880 Speaker 1: life was at risk too. So when they got to 831 00:53:52,920 --> 00:53:55,680 Speaker 1: certain big decision points, they would all talk it out 832 00:53:56,000 --> 00:54:17,440 Speaker 1: and it was kind of like a traveling democracy. Jefferson 833 00:54:17,680 --> 00:54:23,480 Speaker 1: had a very busy presidency was involved in reshaping the judiciary. 834 00:54:23,800 --> 00:54:28,000 Speaker 1: The Jeffersonians hated the Federalists judges. They saw judges as 835 00:54:28,440 --> 00:54:31,839 Speaker 1: instruments of government to oppress the people, and they very 836 00:54:31,920 --> 00:54:36,080 Speaker 1: much favored a much more popular society in which juries 837 00:54:36,120 --> 00:54:39,800 Speaker 1: played a bigger role, and judges were very limited. Lawyers 838 00:54:40,360 --> 00:54:43,880 Speaker 1: will all cite Marlbori versus Madison, which was a major 839 00:54:43,920 --> 00:54:49,320 Speaker 1: decision involving the grant of a certificate to a person 840 00:54:49,320 --> 00:54:52,640 Speaker 1: who had been appointed to a job by the Federalists 841 00:54:52,640 --> 00:54:56,160 Speaker 1: and who, now that the Jeffersonians were taking over, was 842 00:54:56,200 --> 00:54:58,799 Speaker 1: not going to get that job. If you actually read 843 00:54:58,840 --> 00:55:02,239 Speaker 1: the case carefully, what you find is that the new 844 00:55:02,480 --> 00:55:06,959 Speaker 1: Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Marshall, is very 845 00:55:07,000 --> 00:55:11,080 Speaker 1: aware that the Jeffersonians hate the Court, and he knows 846 00:55:11,160 --> 00:55:14,960 Speaker 1: that if he takes Jefferson head on immediately after Jefferson 847 00:55:15,040 --> 00:55:18,120 Speaker 1: having won control of the Presidency and control the House 848 00:55:18,160 --> 00:55:21,799 Speaker 1: and Senate, that they'll simply abolish him. And so he 849 00:55:21,920 --> 00:55:27,880 Speaker 1: maneuvers to maintain the independence of the Court without infuriating Jefferson. 850 00:55:28,440 --> 00:55:32,320 Speaker 1: And it's actually not some key moment where the Court 851 00:55:32,400 --> 00:55:37,080 Speaker 1: stands up boldly, but rather a brilliant maneuver to preserve 852 00:55:37,120 --> 00:55:40,640 Speaker 1: the independence of the Court by not standing up boldly. 853 00:55:41,120 --> 00:55:44,080 Speaker 1: And it's worth your studying because it both tells you 854 00:55:44,120 --> 00:55:47,160 Speaker 1: how lawyers sort of aggrandize their role in life, and 855 00:55:47,200 --> 00:55:50,600 Speaker 1: it tells you that the Court has always been inherently political. 856 00:55:51,000 --> 00:55:54,120 Speaker 1: That's the nature of a supreme court. In a free society, 857 00:55:54,480 --> 00:55:58,040 Speaker 1: they have to pay some attention to deep popular interests. 858 00:55:58,320 --> 00:56:01,000 Speaker 1: Jefferson having success, he needed for in eight years, and 859 00:56:01,040 --> 00:56:03,800 Speaker 1: he did an amazing amount. I mean, as I said earlier, 860 00:56:04,120 --> 00:56:06,480 Speaker 1: you know, buying half a continent, sending the Marines in 861 00:56:06,520 --> 00:56:11,200 Speaker 1: the Navy to Tripoli to defeat the Barbary pirates, organizing 862 00:56:11,520 --> 00:56:15,200 Speaker 1: the dominant Majority Party, which is still today the Democratic 863 00:56:15,239 --> 00:56:19,600 Speaker 1: Party is the longest serving political organization on the planet. 864 00:56:20,160 --> 00:56:24,400 Speaker 1: It's outlasted the Nazis, the Communists, the fascist It's outlasted 865 00:56:24,520 --> 00:56:29,600 Speaker 1: most monarchies. And it's a remarkable institution. And Jefferson was, 866 00:56:29,640 --> 00:56:33,719 Speaker 1: in fact, along with Madison, at the very center of organizing. 867 00:56:34,400 --> 00:56:38,080 Speaker 1: In eighteen oh nine, Jefferson goes home, he leaves the presidency, 868 00:56:38,120 --> 00:56:41,920 Speaker 1: he leaves public life, and he helps found the University 869 00:56:41,920 --> 00:56:45,280 Speaker 1: of Virginia. He was then Central College, but it becomes 870 00:56:45,320 --> 00:56:48,680 Speaker 1: the University of Virginia. Jefferson plays a major role when 871 00:56:48,800 --> 00:56:53,200 Speaker 1: in February fourteenth, eighteen sixteen, the Virginia General Assembly established 872 00:56:53,200 --> 00:56:57,000 Speaker 1: a charter for Central College, which becomes the University of Virginia. 873 00:56:57,120 --> 00:57:00,440 Speaker 1: Jefferson was elected to the college's board of visitors and 874 00:57:00,600 --> 00:57:03,840 Speaker 1: rector of the college. Jefferson also designed the college and 875 00:57:03,880 --> 00:57:07,040 Speaker 1: again as an example of his intellectual reach, remember that 876 00:57:07,360 --> 00:57:12,600 Speaker 1: Jefferson is an architect. He designs Monticello, he designs other 877 00:57:12,640 --> 00:57:16,680 Speaker 1: public buildings. He's also a bibliophile. The original Library of 878 00:57:16,680 --> 00:57:21,040 Speaker 1: Congress is Jefferson's personal library, about four thousand volumes, although 879 00:57:21,040 --> 00:57:23,120 Speaker 1: it might be pointed out he sold them to the 880 00:57:23,160 --> 00:57:26,200 Speaker 1: government because he needed the money for his entire life. 881 00:57:26,360 --> 00:57:29,280 Speaker 1: Jefferson is short of money and is constantly trying to 882 00:57:29,280 --> 00:57:32,960 Speaker 1: find sources of additional revenue. He's not a particularly great farmer, 883 00:57:33,000 --> 00:57:36,000 Speaker 1: doesn't focus on farming, doesn't make a huge amount of money. 884 00:57:36,160 --> 00:57:38,520 Speaker 1: Very different, by the way, from George Washington, who is 885 00:57:38,560 --> 00:57:42,400 Speaker 1: a great businessman, a great farmer, and was generally competent 886 00:57:42,400 --> 00:57:44,960 Speaker 1: at everything he touched. I think it's fair to say 887 00:57:45,000 --> 00:57:51,480 Speaker 1: that Jefferson had a deep passionate interest in education. Jefferson 888 00:57:51,600 --> 00:57:56,080 Speaker 1: was not anti religious. Jefferson did write a letter to 889 00:57:56,360 --> 00:57:59,360 Speaker 1: the Baptist in Connecticut saying that there should be a 890 00:57:59,400 --> 00:58:02,920 Speaker 1: wall of set between church and state. But what Jefferson 891 00:58:03,000 --> 00:58:06,040 Speaker 1: was saying was in a world where the Anglican Church 892 00:58:06,560 --> 00:58:09,880 Speaker 1: got paid tax money that he did not think any 893 00:58:09,960 --> 00:58:13,439 Speaker 1: church should get government money. However, he was not for 894 00:58:13,680 --> 00:58:17,520 Speaker 1: an anti religious position. In fact, Jefferson allowed the Treasury 895 00:58:17,520 --> 00:58:21,280 Speaker 1: building to be used as a church. He himself went 896 00:58:21,360 --> 00:58:24,040 Speaker 1: up to the Capitol, which was a church up until 897 00:58:24,480 --> 00:58:27,959 Speaker 1: the mid eighteen forties. Jefferson signed a bill to send 898 00:58:27,960 --> 00:58:31,280 Speaker 1: missionaries to the Indians. So the whole notion that he 899 00:58:31,480 --> 00:58:35,480 Speaker 1: was in any way anti religion is just wrong. And 900 00:58:35,520 --> 00:58:38,479 Speaker 1: in fact, if you go to the Jefferson memorial, you'll 901 00:58:38,480 --> 00:58:41,560 Speaker 1: see a great quote from Jefferson where he has sworn 902 00:58:41,600 --> 00:58:45,160 Speaker 1: eternal hostility against all forms of tyranny over the minds 903 00:58:45,200 --> 00:58:48,120 Speaker 1: of man. And I think that that's the heart of Jefferson. 904 00:58:48,680 --> 00:58:52,040 Speaker 1: He really was committed. And to give you a sense 905 00:58:52,120 --> 00:58:55,360 Speaker 1: of the depth of his commitment on education and the 906 00:58:55,400 --> 00:58:58,840 Speaker 1: depth of his commitment on religious liberty, he wrote out 907 00:58:59,360 --> 00:59:03,840 Speaker 1: for his own tombstone. Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, author 908 00:59:03,880 --> 00:59:07,320 Speaker 1: of the Declaration of American Independence, of the Statute of 909 00:59:07,400 --> 00:59:11,800 Speaker 1: Virginia for Religious Freedom, and father of the University of Virginia. 910 00:59:12,440 --> 00:59:17,600 Speaker 1: Born April second, seventeen forty three, old style, died July fourth, 911 00:59:17,680 --> 00:59:20,960 Speaker 1: eighteen twenty six. He thought those were the three things 912 00:59:20,960 --> 00:59:24,280 Speaker 1: he wanted to be remembered for. Not president, not vice president, 913 00:59:24,360 --> 00:59:27,800 Speaker 1: not foreign minister, not ambassador of France, author of the 914 00:59:27,800 --> 00:59:31,800 Speaker 1: Declaration of American Independence, of the Statute of Virginia, for 915 00:59:31,920 --> 00:59:36,120 Speaker 1: religious freedom, and father of the University of Virginia. And 916 00:59:36,160 --> 00:59:39,200 Speaker 1: he gives you a flavor of what he had dedicated 917 00:59:39,200 --> 00:59:44,600 Speaker 1: his life to. Symbolically, he died on exactly the same day, 918 00:59:44,640 --> 00:59:48,760 Speaker 1: the fourth of July, as John Adams, his great rival 919 00:59:49,200 --> 00:59:52,360 Speaker 1: in developing political power. They had gotten to write each 920 00:59:52,360 --> 00:59:55,080 Speaker 1: other and sort of reconciled over the years, and there 921 00:59:55,160 --> 00:59:59,440 Speaker 1: was something symbolic that on July fourth, the date when 922 00:59:59,520 --> 01:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Jefferson and Adams had helped author the Decoration Independence, they 923 01:00:04,360 --> 01:00:08,160 Speaker 1: both passed away. He is an immortal. There's no question 924 01:00:08,280 --> 01:00:11,840 Speaker 1: that to understand America, you have to spend some time 925 01:00:12,160 --> 01:00:15,960 Speaker 1: trying to understand Thomas Jefferson. And there's no question that 926 01:00:15,960 --> 01:00:18,680 Speaker 1: that time will be well spent because he was a 927 01:00:18,760 --> 01:00:25,959 Speaker 1: remarkable person. Thank you for listening to Founding Father's Week 928 01:00:26,000 --> 01:00:29,480 Speaker 1: on Newtsworld. You can learn more about Thomas Jefferson on 929 01:00:29,480 --> 01:00:33,120 Speaker 1: our show page at newtsworld dot com. Newsworld is produced 930 01:00:33,120 --> 01:00:37,680 Speaker 1: by gingridh three sixty and iHeartMedia. Our executive producer is 931 01:00:37,760 --> 01:00:42,360 Speaker 1: Guernsey Sloan and our researcher is Rachel Peterson. The artwork 932 01:00:42,400 --> 01:00:46,760 Speaker 1: for the show was created by Steve Penley. Special thanks 933 01:00:47,120 --> 01:00:50,640 Speaker 1: the team at gingrichh three sixty. If you've been enjoying Newtsworld, 934 01:00:50,920 --> 01:00:53,640 Speaker 1: I hope you'll go to Apple Podcast and both rate 935 01:00:53,720 --> 01:00:56,880 Speaker 1: us with five stars and give us a review so 936 01:00:56,960 --> 01:01:00,400 Speaker 1: others can learn what it's all about. Right now, listeners 937 01:01:00,400 --> 01:01:03,400 Speaker 1: of neut World consign up for my three free weekly 938 01:01:03,480 --> 01:01:08,040 Speaker 1: columns at Ginrich three sixty dot com slash newsletter. I'm 939 01:01:08,120 --> 01:01:10,240 Speaker 1: new Gingrich. This is neutrald