1 00:00:05,600 --> 00:00:07,880 Speaker 1: On this episode of News World, we're going to deal 2 00:00:07,920 --> 00:00:12,600 Speaker 1: with somebody who's truly immortal and who has become surprisingly controversial, 3 00:00:13,200 --> 00:00:16,880 Speaker 1: which tells you more about the time we live in. 4 00:00:16,880 --> 00:00:21,200 Speaker 1: In April nineteen sixty two, President John F. Kennedy hosted 5 00:00:21,239 --> 00:00:24,919 Speaker 1: a Nobel Prize dinner at the White House. He said, quote, 6 00:00:25,560 --> 00:00:28,640 Speaker 1: I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent 7 00:00:29,240 --> 00:00:32,440 Speaker 1: of human knowledge that has ever been gathered together at 8 00:00:32,440 --> 00:00:36,040 Speaker 1: the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas 9 00:00:36,200 --> 00:00:40,920 Speaker 1: Jefferson dined alone. Now think about that tribute. It's a 10 00:00:40,960 --> 00:00:45,479 Speaker 1: little bit exaggerated. Jefferson was one of the most extraordinary 11 00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:49,960 Speaker 1: of the founding fathers, not only very, very smart, the 12 00:00:50,120 --> 00:00:54,680 Speaker 1: great writer, but somebody who had an almost universal interest 13 00:00:54,720 --> 00:00:57,320 Speaker 1: in knowledge. In a different era, he might have been 14 00:00:57,360 --> 00:01:02,000 Speaker 1: considered a renaissance man, but in the colonial period of 15 00:01:02,040 --> 00:01:07,360 Speaker 1: America people didn't even think like that. So Jefferson is fascinating. 16 00:01:07,480 --> 00:01:11,520 Speaker 1: He was controversial in his lifetime and he is controversial today. 17 00:01:12,400 --> 00:01:16,959 Speaker 1: He's the founder of the Democratic Republican Party, which is 18 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:21,520 Speaker 1: today the oldest political institution in the world. He created 19 00:01:22,040 --> 00:01:26,679 Speaker 1: the first really competitive presidential race and broke with many 20 00:01:26,720 --> 00:01:31,480 Speaker 1: of the norms of the British system. He distrusted government, 21 00:01:31,520 --> 00:01:34,240 Speaker 1: which is what's really remarkable when you look at the 22 00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:37,080 Speaker 1: people who today criticize him and are opposed to him. 23 00:01:37,640 --> 00:01:44,240 Speaker 1: Jefferson somehow came to this belief that freedom was based 24 00:01:44,280 --> 00:01:48,160 Speaker 1: on the individual and on the individual's relationship with God, 25 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:53,480 Speaker 1: and he insisted that on his tombstone they would only 26 00:01:53,520 --> 00:01:55,800 Speaker 1: mention three things. This is a man who would spend 27 00:01:55,800 --> 00:01:59,640 Speaker 1: a lifetime achieving things. He was quote author of the 28 00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:03,400 Speaker 1: debt ration of American independence, of the Statue of Virginia 29 00:02:03,440 --> 00:02:19,480 Speaker 1: for religious freedom, and father of the University of Virginia. 30 00:02:20,720 --> 00:02:26,960 Speaker 1: I would argue that in many ways Jefferson personified the 31 00:02:27,080 --> 00:02:32,680 Speaker 1: spirit of freedom and had developed out of it something 32 00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:36,680 Speaker 1: much more profound than most of his colleagues as founding fathers. 33 00:02:37,200 --> 00:02:41,840 Speaker 1: He deeply distrusted all governments. He didn't just deeply distrust 34 00:02:41,919 --> 00:02:45,720 Speaker 1: the British government. He deeply distrusted the American government. And 35 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:50,480 Speaker 1: as a result, while he was the ambassador in Paris 36 00:02:51,639 --> 00:02:56,200 Speaker 1: as the American Constitution was being developed, he wrote his 37 00:02:56,400 --> 00:03:00,840 Speaker 1: very very close friend James Madison and said that he 38 00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:07,760 Speaker 1: would oppose the adoption of the constitution unless they added 39 00:03:07,800 --> 00:03:12,360 Speaker 1: a Bill of rights and the whole fabric of American 40 00:03:12,440 --> 00:03:17,160 Speaker 1: life has revolved around these ten amendments that came to 41 00:03:17,200 --> 00:03:20,840 Speaker 1: define our rights. And remember this is always one of 42 00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:24,440 Speaker 1: the most difficult things to get across because it's counterintuitive. 43 00:03:25,160 --> 00:03:29,079 Speaker 1: The Bill of Rights are designed to limit government, not 44 00:03:29,160 --> 00:03:32,080 Speaker 1: to limit people. The Bill of Rights came out of 45 00:03:32,080 --> 00:03:35,160 Speaker 1: a belief that in fact, virtue resides in the people, 46 00:03:35,920 --> 00:03:40,960 Speaker 1: but the government was always dangerous. Now Jefferson at the 47 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:43,960 Speaker 1: time was the ambassador of France as the French monarchy 48 00:03:44,040 --> 00:03:47,520 Speaker 1: was collapsing and as they were inexorably moving towards the 49 00:03:47,520 --> 00:03:53,240 Speaker 1: French Revolution, which is a classic case study of a 50 00:03:53,280 --> 00:03:57,920 Speaker 1: system that can't control itself. The American Revolution was a 51 00:03:57,920 --> 00:04:02,360 Speaker 1: fight over who would govern in America, and it was 52 00:04:02,400 --> 00:04:09,560 Speaker 1: between basically Americans who saw themselves as successful independent standing 53 00:04:09,640 --> 00:04:12,920 Speaker 1: on their own achievement, and Americans who still were comfortable 54 00:04:13,040 --> 00:04:16,520 Speaker 1: operating within the framework of the British king and the 55 00:04:16,520 --> 00:04:21,359 Speaker 1: British government. And that fight ultimately was very controlled. If 56 00:04:21,400 --> 00:04:24,440 Speaker 1: you go back and you look when the Founding Fathers won, 57 00:04:24,920 --> 00:04:28,440 Speaker 1: they were very cautious about what they were trying to 58 00:04:28,480 --> 00:04:30,080 Speaker 1: set up, and they had a lot of experience. Remember 59 00:04:30,080 --> 00:04:33,800 Speaker 1: their thirteen colonies which means they are thirteen constitutions, and 60 00:04:33,920 --> 00:04:37,159 Speaker 1: several of the colonies the constitutions fail, so they write 61 00:04:37,160 --> 00:04:40,520 Speaker 1: more constitutions by the time they get to Philadelphia to 62 00:04:40,520 --> 00:04:43,360 Speaker 1: write the Constitution of the United States. These folks that 63 00:04:43,440 --> 00:04:47,720 Speaker 1: had more experience at writing constitutions than any generation in history, 64 00:04:48,800 --> 00:04:51,560 Speaker 1: and all of them was aimed at a very core 65 00:04:51,640 --> 00:04:55,440 Speaker 1: principle because they understood a world different than we do. 66 00:04:56,760 --> 00:04:59,359 Speaker 1: They knew that the world was dangerous. It was dangerous 67 00:04:59,400 --> 00:05:03,719 Speaker 1: to their west because Native Americans were still independent, armed 68 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:08,600 Speaker 1: and capable of causing enormous casualties in the constant struggle 69 00:05:08,640 --> 00:05:11,080 Speaker 1: over who was going to dominate. And remember the west 70 00:05:11,120 --> 00:05:15,000 Speaker 1: in this period is around Pittsburgh. We're not talking about 71 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:19,159 Speaker 1: the west of Cheyenne, Wyoming. So they're looking at one 72 00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:22,480 Speaker 1: direction at Native Americans, many of them armed both by 73 00:05:22,480 --> 00:05:25,080 Speaker 1: the British and the French, and the British, of course, 74 00:05:25,200 --> 00:05:29,120 Speaker 1: loved to subsidize the arming of the Native Americans so 75 00:05:29,160 --> 00:05:32,440 Speaker 1: that they would harass and torment the new United States. 76 00:05:32,920 --> 00:05:36,279 Speaker 1: At the same time, they were vividly aware of the 77 00:05:36,320 --> 00:05:39,240 Speaker 1: great power struggle that was underway to see who would 78 00:05:39,279 --> 00:05:44,159 Speaker 1: dominate Europe. So they knew that between the French, the Spanish, 79 00:05:44,440 --> 00:05:48,799 Speaker 1: the British, the Prussians, the Dutch, that there was this ongoing, 80 00:05:49,279 --> 00:05:53,880 Speaker 1: very deep and very powerful struggle of systems much bigger 81 00:05:53,920 --> 00:05:58,520 Speaker 1: than the current American military, of the current American Navy. 82 00:05:58,640 --> 00:06:02,000 Speaker 1: So on the one hand, in order to protect our freedom, 83 00:06:02,800 --> 00:06:07,040 Speaker 1: they wanted a government strong enough to offset these dangerous countries. 84 00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:10,760 Speaker 1: On the other hand, in order to protect our freedom, 85 00:06:11,160 --> 00:06:12,800 Speaker 1: they want to make sure that the government that was 86 00:06:12,800 --> 00:06:16,240 Speaker 1: strong enough to protect our country couldn't then take over 87 00:06:16,440 --> 00:06:22,039 Speaker 1: and control us. And in this effort to find a 88 00:06:22,200 --> 00:06:26,560 Speaker 1: path between the two the future of domination by foreigners 89 00:06:26,839 --> 00:06:30,000 Speaker 1: and the future of domination by bureaucracy and government at home, 90 00:06:30,680 --> 00:06:33,440 Speaker 1: Jefferson was one of the leaders in trying to find 91 00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:38,239 Speaker 1: a way to have us be a genuinely free country, 92 00:06:38,400 --> 00:06:41,640 Speaker 1: which meant freedom for the individual, not just freedom for 93 00:06:41,680 --> 00:06:45,040 Speaker 1: the king or the president. Presidents basically are just temporarily 94 00:06:45,040 --> 00:06:48,039 Speaker 1: elected kings. And it's the House and the Senate that 95 00:06:48,200 --> 00:06:52,160 Speaker 1: make America so much different from the European monarchies. But 96 00:06:52,760 --> 00:06:58,799 Speaker 1: Jefferson himself had spent a long and really quite curious life. 97 00:06:59,279 --> 00:07:03,240 Speaker 1: I'm an amateur paleontologist, and when you visit Manicello. You 98 00:07:03,320 --> 00:07:07,279 Speaker 1: will find, for example, teeth from mastodons and mammoths. You'll 99 00:07:07,320 --> 00:07:11,080 Speaker 1: find part of the skeleton of a giant sloth that 100 00:07:11,160 --> 00:07:13,840 Speaker 1: had gone extinct sometime in the place to see. You'll 101 00:07:13,840 --> 00:07:18,200 Speaker 1: find that Jefferson is collecting everything. He's fascinated by the world, 102 00:07:18,800 --> 00:07:21,160 Speaker 1: and that you know, I always tell people I'm willing 103 00:07:21,160 --> 00:07:24,160 Speaker 1: to be a Jeffersonian, by which I mean that I 104 00:07:24,200 --> 00:07:26,920 Speaker 1: will not buy more than half a continent at any 105 00:07:26,960 --> 00:07:30,000 Speaker 1: one time. So think of that as limited government. And 106 00:07:30,040 --> 00:07:32,920 Speaker 1: I won't do more than send the Marines to Tripoli 107 00:07:33,040 --> 00:07:35,320 Speaker 1: without telling the Congress. And by the way, when he 108 00:07:35,400 --> 00:07:37,960 Speaker 1: bought half a continent, he bought it and then told 109 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:41,040 Speaker 1: the Congress. One of the reasons I find Jefferson so 110 00:07:41,120 --> 00:07:45,680 Speaker 1: complicated to talk about is that he's this mass of contradictions. 111 00:07:46,320 --> 00:07:48,560 Speaker 1: On the one hand, he wants limited government, unless he 112 00:07:49,280 --> 00:07:53,560 Speaker 1: decides he wants unlimited government, in which case he briefly deviates, 113 00:07:53,800 --> 00:07:57,360 Speaker 1: buys the whole area that is the Mississippi River basin, 114 00:07:57,680 --> 00:08:01,080 Speaker 1: and then he reversed back to wantinglimited government. He vetos 115 00:08:01,200 --> 00:08:04,240 Speaker 1: a bridge over the Potomac as not the business of 116 00:08:04,280 --> 00:08:07,920 Speaker 1: government because he's frugal, but then he spends millions buying 117 00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:10,600 Speaker 1: the West from the French. Trying to fit all this 118 00:08:10,720 --> 00:08:14,080 Speaker 1: into one personality, began to realize that if he'd been 119 00:08:14,120 --> 00:08:17,000 Speaker 1: your uncle, he would have been a very complicated uncle. 120 00:08:17,440 --> 00:08:20,560 Speaker 1: He also was a polymath in the sense that he 121 00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:24,000 Speaker 1: learned everything in every direction. On one of his trips 122 00:08:24,040 --> 00:08:26,360 Speaker 1: to Europe. Remember back then, if you say I think 123 00:08:26,360 --> 00:08:28,880 Speaker 1: I'll go to Europe, it was a long voyage by 124 00:08:28,880 --> 00:08:31,760 Speaker 1: sailing ship. On one of his trips to Europe, he 125 00:08:31,840 --> 00:08:37,000 Speaker 1: taught himself Spanish by reading Spanish novels, And you said 126 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:40,040 Speaker 1: this image of Jefferson wrapped up in a blanket, sitting 127 00:08:40,040 --> 00:08:44,600 Speaker 1: on the deck of the ship, gradually going east towards 128 00:08:44,679 --> 00:08:47,800 Speaker 1: Europe and trying to literally teach himself Spanish. He already 129 00:08:47,800 --> 00:08:52,320 Speaker 1: had French. He also was a person who had a 130 00:08:52,480 --> 00:08:57,640 Speaker 1: very complicated vision of religion. Jefferson had written at one 131 00:08:57,679 --> 00:09:03,200 Speaker 1: point that there should be a wall between government and religion. 132 00:09:04,120 --> 00:09:06,880 Speaker 1: Now people that interpreted that to mean the government should 133 00:09:06,880 --> 00:09:10,440 Speaker 1: be anti religious. That's not what Jefferson said. Jefferson was 134 00:09:10,480 --> 00:09:13,160 Speaker 1: living in an era when the Church of England was 135 00:09:13,200 --> 00:09:16,960 Speaker 1: paid for by the government, when the Catholic Church in 136 00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:19,880 Speaker 1: France was getting government money, and what he was saying 137 00:09:20,040 --> 00:09:23,400 Speaker 1: was that no religion should get money from the government. 138 00:09:24,679 --> 00:09:27,160 Speaker 1: But he did not intend in any way to have 139 00:09:27,280 --> 00:09:30,480 Speaker 1: government be hostile to religion. In fact, while Jefferson was president, 140 00:09:30,880 --> 00:09:33,400 Speaker 1: he signed a bill to send missionaries to the Indians. 141 00:09:33,880 --> 00:09:36,199 Speaker 1: He allowed the Treasury Building to be used as a 142 00:09:36,320 --> 00:09:39,160 Speaker 1: church because there were no very large buildings in Washington 143 00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:42,040 Speaker 1: at that time, And the week that he signed the 144 00:09:42,160 --> 00:09:45,359 Speaker 1: letter explaining that there would be a wall of separation 145 00:09:45,400 --> 00:09:48,360 Speaker 1: between church and state, that week he got into a 146 00:09:48,440 --> 00:09:51,360 Speaker 1: carriage and went up to the Capitol, where the capital 147 00:09:51,400 --> 00:09:54,400 Speaker 1: was actually used as a church until the eighteen forties. 148 00:09:55,240 --> 00:09:57,600 Speaker 1: So it's a little hard to say that he wanted 149 00:09:57,760 --> 00:10:01,160 Speaker 1: total separation. What he did one is for people to 150 00:10:01,200 --> 00:10:03,960 Speaker 1: be able to worship freely. He was very open to 151 00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:06,760 Speaker 1: people finding God in their own way, and he wanted 152 00:10:06,800 --> 00:10:09,200 Speaker 1: to make sure that the government wouldn't put its thumb 153 00:10:09,280 --> 00:10:12,480 Speaker 1: on the scales in one direction or another. One of 154 00:10:12,480 --> 00:10:14,319 Speaker 1: the places I go, what I want to think about 155 00:10:14,320 --> 00:10:17,959 Speaker 1: the founding Fathers, they're really in my mind three great centers. 156 00:10:18,440 --> 00:10:20,560 Speaker 1: One is to go to Boston and look at the 157 00:10:20,640 --> 00:10:24,800 Speaker 1: Adams family, Samuel and John and others, and think about 158 00:10:24,840 --> 00:10:27,760 Speaker 1: what that whole experience was like there. The second is 159 00:10:27,760 --> 00:10:30,640 Speaker 1: to go to Philadelphia and to stand in the shadow 160 00:10:31,160 --> 00:10:34,760 Speaker 1: of Benjamin Franklin. The third is to go to Williamsburg. 161 00:10:35,400 --> 00:10:39,480 Speaker 1: The Rockefeller Foundation rebuilt Williamsburg in the nineteen thirties. I 162 00:10:39,640 --> 00:10:42,600 Speaker 1: find every time I go there that the historic part 163 00:10:42,600 --> 00:10:45,640 Speaker 1: of my soul gets renewed and refreshed. They've done an 164 00:10:45,640 --> 00:10:50,400 Speaker 1: amazing job. And you can imagine yourself walking down the 165 00:10:50,400 --> 00:10:54,480 Speaker 1: street where mister Jefferson is studying and reading law under 166 00:10:54,559 --> 00:10:57,080 Speaker 1: mister Wyatt, is one of the great lawyers of that generation, 167 00:10:57,760 --> 00:11:00,960 Speaker 1: and then going down to one of the taverns which 168 00:11:00,960 --> 00:11:05,520 Speaker 1: are still there, and having a libation and talking about 169 00:11:05,520 --> 00:11:07,720 Speaker 1: the law and talking about what's going on in Europe, 170 00:11:07,960 --> 00:11:12,240 Speaker 1: and talking about the theoretical principles on which freedom should 171 00:11:12,280 --> 00:11:17,160 Speaker 1: be based. And you have this whole notion that Jefferson 172 00:11:17,840 --> 00:11:22,839 Speaker 1: was capable of talking about almost anything. Jefferson, first of all, 173 00:11:22,920 --> 00:11:25,640 Speaker 1: is a reader. He loved to read so much that 174 00:11:25,679 --> 00:11:29,000 Speaker 1: he actually built a movable desk so that he could 175 00:11:29,480 --> 00:11:31,800 Speaker 1: if he was going to go safe to Philadelphia, which 176 00:11:31,840 --> 00:11:34,280 Speaker 1: back then was a long trip, he had a desk 177 00:11:34,360 --> 00:11:37,800 Speaker 1: that he could put in the carriage so that he 178 00:11:37,840 --> 00:11:42,280 Speaker 1: could work both reading and writing while he traveled, and 179 00:11:42,320 --> 00:11:45,760 Speaker 1: in that sense, he was constantly trying to improve things. 180 00:11:45,800 --> 00:11:48,080 Speaker 1: He was constantly looking can I do it better? Can 181 00:11:48,120 --> 00:11:53,680 Speaker 1: I do it faster? And Jefferson I've always thought very 182 00:11:53,720 --> 00:11:57,880 Speaker 1: happy learning and very happy thinking. And if he also 183 00:11:57,920 --> 00:12:00,120 Speaker 1: had to deal with people, that was all right, but 184 00:12:00,240 --> 00:12:23,320 Speaker 1: that was not his primary focus. Jefferson had grown up 185 00:12:23,360 --> 00:12:26,280 Speaker 1: in what then was sort of the western part of Virginia. 186 00:12:26,320 --> 00:12:28,199 Speaker 1: If you look at a map, we were talking about 187 00:12:28,360 --> 00:12:32,560 Speaker 1: central Virginia today, but back then, unlike Washington, who had 188 00:12:32,600 --> 00:12:36,199 Speaker 1: grown up in the planter part of the state, with 189 00:12:36,360 --> 00:12:40,480 Speaker 1: large homes and elegant dances and people who wore fancy clothes, 190 00:12:40,960 --> 00:12:44,800 Speaker 1: Jefferson was much closer to the frontier, and he loved 191 00:12:44,920 --> 00:12:47,760 Speaker 1: the frontier. He loved farmers as a group, and he 192 00:12:47,840 --> 00:12:51,000 Speaker 1: really felt that virtue was to be found in small 193 00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:53,800 Speaker 1: towns in many ways. I think that you would find 194 00:12:54,440 --> 00:12:57,760 Speaker 1: that in eighteen ninety six when WILLIAMS Jennings Bryan gave 195 00:12:57,840 --> 00:13:00,920 Speaker 1: his speech about mankind being crew sified on the Cross 196 00:13:00,920 --> 00:13:04,640 Speaker 1: of Gold, he was in a sense channeling Jefferson, and 197 00:13:04,760 --> 00:13:07,280 Speaker 1: part of the reason that the bitterness between Jefferson and 198 00:13:07,280 --> 00:13:12,840 Speaker 1: Alexander Hamilton. Is that Hamilton represents the cities, the moneyed class, bankers, 199 00:13:13,280 --> 00:13:16,280 Speaker 1: and Jefferson represents all the people who owe money to 200 00:13:16,400 --> 00:13:19,640 Speaker 1: the cities, the banker class, etc. So there's a deep 201 00:13:19,720 --> 00:13:24,679 Speaker 1: sense in Jefferson's mind that virtue comes from being close 202 00:13:24,720 --> 00:13:27,920 Speaker 1: to the land, and that a nation made up of 203 00:13:27,920 --> 00:13:33,199 Speaker 1: farmers would by definition be freer and more virtuous than 204 00:13:33,240 --> 00:13:37,040 Speaker 1: a nation that was made up of manufacturers, or of bankers, 205 00:13:37,120 --> 00:13:43,680 Speaker 1: or of big cities. Jefferson learned enormously fast. He went 206 00:13:43,760 --> 00:13:47,000 Speaker 1: to school in English at five, he went in Latin 207 00:13:47,040 --> 00:13:52,760 Speaker 1: at nine. He really constantly was learning, and he learned 208 00:13:52,760 --> 00:13:55,920 Speaker 1: basically from a tutor, a mister Douglas, who was a 209 00:13:55,920 --> 00:14:01,400 Speaker 1: clergyman from Scotland. He learned every day, He read constantly. 210 00:14:01,920 --> 00:14:04,240 Speaker 1: He built a huge library. In fact, the base of 211 00:14:04,280 --> 00:14:08,800 Speaker 1: the Library of Congress was Jefferson's library, about four thousand 212 00:14:08,880 --> 00:14:11,640 Speaker 1: volumes at the time, which was a huge library back then. 213 00:14:11,960 --> 00:14:15,200 Speaker 1: Being Jefferson, of course, he sold it to the Congress. 214 00:14:16,040 --> 00:14:18,560 Speaker 1: It wasn't an act of civic goodwill. He was trying 215 00:14:18,600 --> 00:14:21,760 Speaker 1: to pay off some debts and so he sold the library, 216 00:14:21,800 --> 00:14:24,640 Speaker 1: which tragically was burned later, But it was the base 217 00:14:24,720 --> 00:14:27,360 Speaker 1: of having a Library of Congress, which is today the 218 00:14:27,440 --> 00:14:29,760 Speaker 1: largest library in the world. So it's come a long 219 00:14:29,760 --> 00:14:32,960 Speaker 1: way from Jefferson's first four thousand volumes. In that era, 220 00:14:33,720 --> 00:14:37,680 Speaker 1: colleges were being formed, law schools are being formed, but 221 00:14:37,960 --> 00:14:42,200 Speaker 1: he really was largely taught directly by tutors. And then 222 00:14:42,640 --> 00:14:47,240 Speaker 1: he went to George With and George With's law office 223 00:14:47,480 --> 00:14:50,960 Speaker 1: still exists at Williamsburg. And you can imagine in the 224 00:14:51,000 --> 00:14:54,920 Speaker 1: morning Jefferson getting up, having a cup of tea or coffee, 225 00:14:55,280 --> 00:14:59,080 Speaker 1: maybe a small piece of bread, going in and literally 226 00:14:59,120 --> 00:15:02,640 Speaker 1: back then they reading the law, because that's what they 227 00:15:02,640 --> 00:15:05,160 Speaker 1: were doing. This is before he got law schools and 228 00:15:05,480 --> 00:15:10,440 Speaker 1: tenured professors and high tuition costs. So Jefferson is living 229 00:15:10,440 --> 00:15:13,480 Speaker 1: in Williamsburg, which was the center of politics in that 230 00:15:13,600 --> 00:15:17,720 Speaker 1: period for Virginia. So when the House of Burgesses, which 231 00:15:17,760 --> 00:15:21,280 Speaker 1: was their legislature, when it was in session, people came 232 00:15:21,320 --> 00:15:23,680 Speaker 1: from all over the state. And if you were a 233 00:15:23,760 --> 00:15:28,040 Speaker 1: young person studying under George With new everybody and so 234 00:15:28,080 --> 00:15:31,200 Speaker 1: you inevitably would end up at dinner surrounded by the 235 00:15:31,240 --> 00:15:35,240 Speaker 1: whole state. Over the course of time, Jefferson came naturally 236 00:15:35,280 --> 00:15:38,560 Speaker 1: to him to be engaged in politics. And in seventeen 237 00:15:38,680 --> 00:15:42,600 Speaker 1: sixty eight he's elected to the House of Burgesses. Now 238 00:15:42,760 --> 00:15:45,760 Speaker 1: he also began, and this is very typically Jefferson the end, 239 00:15:46,120 --> 00:15:50,160 Speaker 1: he began to level a mountaintop at Monticello. I mean, 240 00:15:50,280 --> 00:15:52,920 Speaker 1: this is a guy who dreamed big, thought big, built big, 241 00:15:53,200 --> 00:15:56,000 Speaker 1: and was permanently in debt because of all the things 242 00:15:56,000 --> 00:16:01,080 Speaker 1: he wanted to do. And by seventeen eighty he building Monicello, 243 00:16:01,120 --> 00:16:04,840 Speaker 1: which is one of the most remarkable buildings of the 244 00:16:04,920 --> 00:16:08,640 Speaker 1: eighteenth century, and if you have never been there, it 245 00:16:08,840 --> 00:16:12,160 Speaker 1: is really worth your while to go and to look 246 00:16:12,200 --> 00:16:15,720 Speaker 1: at what he designed, how it was built, the degree 247 00:16:15,760 --> 00:16:20,440 Speaker 1: to which it was at that time a remarkably advanced building. 248 00:16:20,880 --> 00:16:23,600 Speaker 1: And also little side things you'll notice when you tour. 249 00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:28,480 Speaker 1: For example, Jefferson tended to sleep sitting up. People thought 250 00:16:28,520 --> 00:16:30,840 Speaker 1: it was better for you because if you lay down 251 00:16:31,240 --> 00:16:33,680 Speaker 1: you could get water in your lungs, and so it 252 00:16:33,760 --> 00:16:36,520 Speaker 1: was really sort of a norm. Now, Jefferson himself was 253 00:16:36,640 --> 00:16:38,960 Speaker 1: very tall, so you have this tall guy in a 254 00:16:39,040 --> 00:16:43,560 Speaker 1: long bed sitting up. Jefferson finally gets really lucky and 255 00:16:44,400 --> 00:16:47,200 Speaker 1: inherits eleven thousand acres of land in one hundred and 256 00:16:47,200 --> 00:16:50,560 Speaker 1: thirty five slaves, which means, of course, he quit practicing law. 257 00:16:51,400 --> 00:16:55,280 Speaker 1: Unlike some people who loved practicing law, Jefferson had earned 258 00:16:55,280 --> 00:16:56,680 Speaker 1: a living. Now he didn't have to earn a living, 259 00:16:56,720 --> 00:17:00,680 Speaker 1: so he didn't. It's interesting the Jefferson in that very 260 00:17:00,720 --> 00:17:05,639 Speaker 1: same time period wrote a article called a Summary View 261 00:17:05,720 --> 00:17:08,959 Speaker 1: of the Rights of British America. So seventeen seventy four, 262 00:17:09,040 --> 00:17:12,840 Speaker 1: the same year he's inheriting land, and he says resolved 263 00:17:12,880 --> 00:17:16,040 Speaker 1: that it be an instruction to the Deputies, when assembled 264 00:17:16,040 --> 00:17:18,800 Speaker 1: in General Congress, with the deputies from ore the states 265 00:17:18,800 --> 00:17:23,240 Speaker 1: of British America, to propose to the said Congress, that 266 00:17:23,320 --> 00:17:27,440 Speaker 1: an humble and dutiful address be presented to His Majesty, 267 00:17:27,640 --> 00:17:31,119 Speaker 1: begging leave to lay before him, as Chief Magistrate of 268 00:17:31,160 --> 00:17:34,800 Speaker 1: the British Empire, the united complaints of His Majesty's subjects 269 00:17:34,800 --> 00:17:39,640 Speaker 1: in America, complaints which are excited by many unwarrantable encroachments 270 00:17:39,640 --> 00:17:43,320 Speaker 1: and usurpations attempted to be made by the legislature of 271 00:17:43,320 --> 00:17:46,240 Speaker 1: one part of the Empire upon those rights which God 272 00:17:46,320 --> 00:17:49,520 Speaker 1: and the Laws have given equally and independently at all. 273 00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:54,119 Speaker 1: Now notice the forerunner of the declaration, Where did the 274 00:17:54,200 --> 00:17:57,679 Speaker 1: rights come from? Those rights? Which God and the laws, 275 00:17:58,240 --> 00:18:01,040 Speaker 1: and Jefferson would have argued, as would most of the 276 00:18:01,080 --> 00:18:05,240 Speaker 1: Founding fathers, that the law was in fact the systemic 277 00:18:05,320 --> 00:18:08,760 Speaker 1: implementation of God's will and therefore that the rule of 278 00:18:08,800 --> 00:18:12,040 Speaker 1: law was central to the rule of freedom, but that 279 00:18:12,119 --> 00:18:15,920 Speaker 1: they were both based on God. This is a radical statement, 280 00:18:16,440 --> 00:18:20,440 Speaker 1: hard to recognize today how radical it is, because it's 281 00:18:20,480 --> 00:18:23,280 Speaker 1: saying that the rights don't come from the king, the 282 00:18:23,359 --> 00:18:27,399 Speaker 1: rights come from God, and it is the forerunner of 283 00:18:27,480 --> 00:18:30,560 Speaker 1: what he will write two years later. So supportan Remember 284 00:18:30,960 --> 00:18:33,880 Speaker 1: you have this sudden explosion of energy in the late 285 00:18:33,920 --> 00:18:38,679 Speaker 1: seventeen sixties early seventeen seventies, partially brought about because in 286 00:18:38,760 --> 00:18:41,439 Speaker 1: winning the Seven Years War, or as we called it 287 00:18:41,480 --> 00:18:46,040 Speaker 1: in the New World, the French and Indian War, the 288 00:18:46,080 --> 00:18:49,440 Speaker 1: French were eliminated as a threat, and now not having 289 00:18:49,480 --> 00:18:52,000 Speaker 1: to be afraid of the French, the Americans looked up 290 00:18:52,040 --> 00:18:55,160 Speaker 1: and said, well, if we don't have to be afraid 291 00:18:55,200 --> 00:18:56,720 Speaker 1: of the French, why are we paying all this money 292 00:18:56,720 --> 00:18:59,840 Speaker 1: to the British Crown. And the British Crown basically said, 293 00:19:00,160 --> 00:19:04,119 Speaker 1: because we own you, and the Americans said, actually you don't. 294 00:19:05,080 --> 00:19:08,879 Speaker 1: Our patriotism comes from God, not from the court, and 295 00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:12,760 Speaker 1: we repudiate the idea that you owe us as a 296 00:19:12,800 --> 00:19:16,720 Speaker 1: great statement. A man who was quite elderly by that point, 297 00:19:16,800 --> 00:19:19,600 Speaker 1: I think it is early eighties, who had fought in 298 00:19:19,600 --> 00:19:23,880 Speaker 1: the American Revolution, and somebody came to him and said, 299 00:19:24,800 --> 00:19:29,639 Speaker 1: why did you fight the Tax Act? The Stamp Act 300 00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:32,679 Speaker 1: was at the imposition of taxes. Why did you end 301 00:19:32,760 --> 00:19:36,600 Speaker 1: up fighting? And he said, young man, we intended to 302 00:19:36,640 --> 00:19:41,040 Speaker 1: be free, and they intended for us not to be free, 303 00:19:41,760 --> 00:19:45,800 Speaker 1: and so we fought, and now we're free. And I 304 00:19:45,800 --> 00:19:49,760 Speaker 1: think it was this sense which you see suddenly coalesce 305 00:19:50,440 --> 00:19:55,080 Speaker 1: between seventeen seventy and seventeen seventy six in ways that 306 00:19:55,240 --> 00:19:58,439 Speaker 1: are amazing. You could not predict in seventeen seventy that 307 00:19:58,640 --> 00:20:03,439 Speaker 1: six short years later they would be passing the Declation Independence. Now, 308 00:20:04,119 --> 00:20:08,520 Speaker 1: Jefferson was a little bit shy, and he understood that 309 00:20:08,640 --> 00:20:12,040 Speaker 1: his great strength was not as a debater or an arguer. 310 00:20:12,480 --> 00:20:14,280 Speaker 1: He was not a courtier. He was not a man 311 00:20:14,320 --> 00:20:17,720 Speaker 1: who to go around and win over. Then. In fact, 312 00:20:18,040 --> 00:20:22,480 Speaker 1: John Adams said that he was silent for his entire 313 00:20:22,520 --> 00:20:25,439 Speaker 1: first year. He was elected in seventeen seventy five to 314 00:20:25,480 --> 00:20:27,919 Speaker 1: the Continental Congress. And this is what Adams wrote in 315 00:20:27,920 --> 00:20:31,800 Speaker 1: his autobiography, mister Jefferson had now been about a year 316 00:20:32,080 --> 00:20:35,000 Speaker 1: a member of Congress, but had attended his duty in 317 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:36,840 Speaker 1: the House, but a very small part of the time, 318 00:20:37,320 --> 00:20:40,760 Speaker 1: and when there had never spoken in public. And during 319 00:20:40,760 --> 00:20:43,080 Speaker 1: the whole time I sat with him in Congress, I 320 00:20:43,200 --> 00:20:46,520 Speaker 1: never heard him utter three sentences together. The most of 321 00:20:46,520 --> 00:20:48,760 Speaker 1: a speech he ever made in my hearing was a 322 00:20:48,800 --> 00:20:53,520 Speaker 1: gross insult on religion in one or two sentences, for 323 00:20:53,640 --> 00:20:57,360 Speaker 1: which I immediately gave him the reprehension, which he richly merited. 324 00:20:58,240 --> 00:21:03,959 Speaker 1: So you have the sense of Jefferson being taciturn quiet, watching, learning, thinking. 325 00:21:04,400 --> 00:21:07,639 Speaker 1: And then in seventeen seventy six he is asked to 326 00:21:07,640 --> 00:21:11,640 Speaker 1: help write the Deculation Independence, and there is no question 327 00:21:12,400 --> 00:21:17,320 Speaker 1: that he developed the core language of that declaration. He's 328 00:21:17,359 --> 00:21:20,280 Speaker 1: also elected in seventeen seventy six to the Virginia House 329 00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:24,280 Speaker 1: of Delegates, where he's appointed to revise Virginia law. Remember, 330 00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:27,120 Speaker 1: all thirteen of the colonies are going through the same process. 331 00:21:27,800 --> 00:21:31,639 Speaker 1: He helped create the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, and 332 00:21:31,800 --> 00:21:36,159 Speaker 1: this is extraordinarily important because it moves from just a 333 00:21:36,280 --> 00:21:40,600 Speaker 1: political argument to a profound argument about liberty and a 334 00:21:40,600 --> 00:21:45,280 Speaker 1: profound argument about the very nature of your relationship to 335 00:21:45,320 --> 00:21:49,040 Speaker 1: the King and your relationship to God. The General Assembly 336 00:21:49,119 --> 00:21:54,240 Speaker 1: in Virginia appointed five men to a committee of Revisors 337 00:21:54,240 --> 00:21:56,480 Speaker 1: to review the law and to redraft them for the 338 00:21:56,520 --> 00:22:00,480 Speaker 1: independent state. Three of the five men were primarily resile. 339 00:22:00,800 --> 00:22:05,840 Speaker 1: They included Thomas Jefferson, George Wyth, and Edmund Pendleton. Jefferson 340 00:22:05,920 --> 00:22:09,360 Speaker 1: drafted the majority of the bills. So while he was quiet, 341 00:22:09,359 --> 00:22:12,399 Speaker 1: he was busy, But his strength was in the written word, 342 00:22:12,760 --> 00:22:15,160 Speaker 1: where he had time to think, and where he could 343 00:22:15,160 --> 00:22:18,600 Speaker 1: write with extraordinary elegance in a way that very few 344 00:22:18,600 --> 00:22:22,480 Speaker 1: people have been able to be equal. In seventeen seventy nine, 345 00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:26,480 Speaker 1: when Jefferson had been elected Governor of Virginia, the hundred 346 00:22:26,520 --> 00:22:29,399 Speaker 1: and twenty six bills that the committee he served on 347 00:22:29,520 --> 00:22:32,600 Speaker 1: had drafted were presented to the General Assembly. Most of 348 00:22:32,640 --> 00:22:36,760 Speaker 1: them were not adopted or even seriously considered. However, Bill 349 00:22:36,840 --> 00:22:41,040 Speaker 1: eighty two, the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, which called 350 00:22:41,040 --> 00:22:44,119 Speaker 1: for a separation of church and state, was considered and 351 00:22:44,400 --> 00:22:48,080 Speaker 1: finally adopted in seventeen eighty six. Notice, by the way, 352 00:22:48,320 --> 00:22:52,320 Speaker 1: that sometimes these wave effects take time. You have to 353 00:22:52,320 --> 00:22:54,639 Speaker 1: think of them as a video rather than a snapshot. 354 00:22:55,119 --> 00:22:59,480 Speaker 1: And what isn't possible in frame one may be overwhelmingly 355 00:22:59,480 --> 00:23:03,200 Speaker 1: possible I frame thirty. And that's what's happening in this speriod. 356 00:23:03,720 --> 00:23:07,320 Speaker 1: This famous bill, the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, adopted 357 00:23:07,320 --> 00:23:10,800 Speaker 1: in seventeen eighty six, although it had been drafted initially 358 00:23:11,240 --> 00:23:14,840 Speaker 1: a decade earlier, says we the General Assembly of Virginia, 359 00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:18,000 Speaker 1: do an act that no man shall be compelled to 360 00:23:18,160 --> 00:23:22,919 Speaker 1: frequent or support any religious worship place or ministry whatsoever, 361 00:23:23,359 --> 00:23:27,639 Speaker 1: nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burdened but in 362 00:23:27,720 --> 00:23:31,480 Speaker 1: his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account 363 00:23:31,480 --> 00:23:34,480 Speaker 1: of his religious opinions or belief. But that all men 364 00:23:34,800 --> 00:23:37,680 Speaker 1: shall be free to profess, and by argument, to maintain 365 00:23:38,119 --> 00:23:41,040 Speaker 1: their opinions and matters of religion, And that the same 366 00:23:41,080 --> 00:23:44,359 Speaker 1: shall have no wise diminish and large or affect their 367 00:23:44,400 --> 00:23:48,280 Speaker 1: civil capacities. Now think about that. You and I live 368 00:23:48,320 --> 00:23:51,040 Speaker 1: in a time when there are many countries where you 369 00:23:51,040 --> 00:23:53,160 Speaker 1: can be put to death for believing the wrong things. 370 00:23:53,680 --> 00:23:55,240 Speaker 1: We live in a time when there are many countries 371 00:23:55,280 --> 00:23:57,199 Speaker 1: when you can be put in jail for believing the 372 00:23:57,240 --> 00:24:00,240 Speaker 1: wrong things. And yet here they are in the late 373 00:24:00,280 --> 00:24:05,200 Speaker 1: eighteenth century, laying out a frame of reference that liberates 374 00:24:05,200 --> 00:24:09,199 Speaker 1: people from government and says your religious beliefs are up 375 00:24:09,200 --> 00:24:11,960 Speaker 1: to you, and you will not be punished. You will 376 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:14,280 Speaker 1: not be fined, you will not be sent to jail 377 00:24:14,800 --> 00:24:17,800 Speaker 1: because you are protected in your right to approach God 378 00:24:17,840 --> 00:24:20,640 Speaker 1: as you see fit. When Jefferson learned that the bill 379 00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:23,800 Speaker 1: had passed finally after all those years, he had it 380 00:24:23,840 --> 00:24:28,000 Speaker 1: translated into French and Italian and distributed as widely as possible, 381 00:24:28,520 --> 00:24:31,359 Speaker 1: because he thought that religious liberty was one of his 382 00:24:31,480 --> 00:24:36,119 Speaker 1: greatest achievements. James Madison, his close friend, later wrote that 383 00:24:36,160 --> 00:24:39,439 Speaker 1: the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom quote is a true 384 00:24:39,560 --> 00:24:43,120 Speaker 1: standard of religious liberty. Its principle of the great barrier 385 00:24:43,480 --> 00:24:46,960 Speaker 1: against usurpations on the rights of conscience. As long as 386 00:24:46,960 --> 00:24:50,560 Speaker 1: it is respected and no longer these will be safe. 387 00:24:50,920 --> 00:24:52,960 Speaker 1: And as we go through some of our current fights, 388 00:24:53,520 --> 00:24:56,479 Speaker 1: and we watched the government and quoch upon religious liberty, 389 00:24:56,800 --> 00:24:59,840 Speaker 1: and we watch the woke left trying to impose their 390 00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:04,520 Speaker 1: radical values on people of religion, you can understand how 391 00:25:04,960 --> 00:25:09,440 Speaker 1: truly central Jefferson was in helping develop a very very 392 00:25:09,480 --> 00:25:44,360 Speaker 1: different approach. Now, Jefferson was involved in much more than 393 00:25:44,440 --> 00:25:48,199 Speaker 1: just religious liberty. He actually believed that's something which I 394 00:25:48,240 --> 00:25:51,080 Speaker 1: wish we could get back into the current political environment. 395 00:25:51,320 --> 00:25:54,679 Speaker 1: He actually believed that knowledge mattered, and he actually believed 396 00:25:54,680 --> 00:25:58,119 Speaker 1: that education mattered. In seventeen seventy eight, he drafted a 397 00:25:58,119 --> 00:26:01,520 Speaker 1: bill in education entitled quote a Bill for more General 398 00:26:01,560 --> 00:26:06,399 Speaker 1: Diffusion of Knowledge. Now, this is one of Jefferson's great passions. 399 00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:12,280 Speaker 1: Here's what Jefferson himself wrote. Whereas it appearth that, however, 400 00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:15,480 Speaker 1: certain forms of government are better calculated than others to 401 00:26:15,600 --> 00:26:18,760 Speaker 1: protect individuals in the free exercise of their natural rights, 402 00:26:19,400 --> 00:26:23,480 Speaker 1: and are at the same time themselves better guarded against degeneracy. 403 00:26:24,119 --> 00:26:27,720 Speaker 1: Yet experience has shown that even under the best forms, 404 00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:31,880 Speaker 1: those entrusted with power have, in time and by slow operations, 405 00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:35,399 Speaker 1: perverted it into tyranny. Let me repeat this because it 406 00:26:35,440 --> 00:26:38,080 Speaker 1: sort of fits the world recurrent to living in. Even 407 00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:42,159 Speaker 1: under the best forms, those entrusted with power have, in 408 00:26:42,320 --> 00:26:47,840 Speaker 1: time and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny. Jefferson 409 00:26:47,880 --> 00:26:49,960 Speaker 1: goes on to say, and it is believed that the 410 00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:53,639 Speaker 1: most effectual means of preventing this would be to eliminate, 411 00:26:53,640 --> 00:26:56,679 Speaker 1: as far as practical, the minds of the people at large, 412 00:26:57,000 --> 00:27:00,600 Speaker 1: and more especially to give them knowledge of those acts 413 00:27:00,600 --> 00:27:04,520 Speaker 1: which history exhibiteth that possess thereby of the experience of 414 00:27:04,560 --> 00:27:07,520 Speaker 1: other ages and countries, they may be enabled to know 415 00:27:07,600 --> 00:27:10,800 Speaker 1: ambition under all its shapes, and prompt to exert their 416 00:27:10,880 --> 00:27:14,520 Speaker 1: natural powers to defeat its purposes. And whereas it is 417 00:27:14,560 --> 00:27:18,000 Speaker 1: generally true that people will be happiest whose laws are 418 00:27:18,040 --> 00:27:20,960 Speaker 1: best and are best administered, and the laws will be 419 00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:26,120 Speaker 1: wisely formed and honestly administered, in proportion as those who 420 00:27:26,160 --> 00:27:29,199 Speaker 1: form and administer them are wise and honest, whence it 421 00:27:29,280 --> 00:27:33,399 Speaker 1: becomes expedient for promoting the public happiness that those person 422 00:27:33,760 --> 00:27:37,000 Speaker 1: whom nature hath endowed with genius and virtue should be 423 00:27:37,040 --> 00:27:40,879 Speaker 1: rendered by liberal education, worthy to receive and able to 424 00:27:40,920 --> 00:27:44,159 Speaker 1: guard the sacred deposit of the rights and liberties of 425 00:27:44,160 --> 00:27:46,720 Speaker 1: their fellow citizens, And that they should be called to 426 00:27:46,760 --> 00:27:51,280 Speaker 1: that charge without regard to wealth, birth, or other accidental 427 00:27:51,320 --> 00:27:54,800 Speaker 1: condition or circumstance, but the indigence of the greater number 428 00:27:54,880 --> 00:27:58,320 Speaker 1: disabling them from so educating at their own expense, those 429 00:27:58,359 --> 00:28:01,560 Speaker 1: of their children whom nature hath formed and disposed to 430 00:28:01,560 --> 00:28:04,439 Speaker 1: become useful instruments for the public. It is better that 431 00:28:04,560 --> 00:28:08,000 Speaker 1: such should be sought for and educated at the common 432 00:28:08,040 --> 00:28:11,120 Speaker 1: expense of all, then that the happiness of all should 433 00:28:11,160 --> 00:28:15,200 Speaker 1: be confided to the weak or the wicked. Now, if 434 00:28:15,240 --> 00:28:17,800 Speaker 1: you go back and reread that and you realize that 435 00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:22,959 Speaker 1: a current situation schools that don't teach, teachers that don't educate, 436 00:28:23,640 --> 00:28:28,320 Speaker 1: total avoidance of history, dumbing down of mathematics, giving people 437 00:28:28,359 --> 00:28:30,760 Speaker 1: passing grade so they feel good even if they know nothing, 438 00:28:31,400 --> 00:28:34,919 Speaker 1: you can sense that we have arrived at a counter 439 00:28:35,080 --> 00:28:39,880 Speaker 1: Jeffersonian moment when everything Jefferson feared in terms of ignorant 440 00:28:39,880 --> 00:28:43,240 Speaker 1: people giving up their freedoms are far too close to 441 00:28:43,280 --> 00:28:45,840 Speaker 1: be giving a reality. And it's why Jefferson is always 442 00:28:45,840 --> 00:28:49,880 Speaker 1: worth revisiting and thinking about. Jefferson himself, by the way, 443 00:28:50,040 --> 00:28:52,320 Speaker 1: gets to be elected governor and is a terrible governor. 444 00:28:52,800 --> 00:28:55,920 Speaker 1: He doesn't like power, although he's brilliant at using it 445 00:28:55,920 --> 00:28:58,200 Speaker 1: when he has to, and when he's president he's brilliant 446 00:28:58,680 --> 00:29:02,080 Speaker 1: at using power. But in the period of seventeen seventy 447 00:29:02,120 --> 00:29:05,280 Speaker 1: nine to seventeen eighty one, the British army was rampaging 448 00:29:05,320 --> 00:29:08,280 Speaker 1: through Virginia. There was an effort to crush the rebellion, 449 00:29:08,720 --> 00:29:13,440 Speaker 1: and Jefferson is really put in an awkward position. He's 450 00:29:13,480 --> 00:29:16,640 Speaker 1: not an effective wartime governor. It's not his strength, and 451 00:29:16,920 --> 00:29:20,160 Speaker 1: as a result, I think he would say that his 452 00:29:20,240 --> 00:29:24,400 Speaker 1: governorship was one of the least impressive of his activities. However, 453 00:29:24,920 --> 00:29:27,960 Speaker 1: being Jefferson, he's done to stop while he's governor. He 454 00:29:28,080 --> 00:29:31,440 Speaker 1: also writes his only book, Notes on the State of Virginia. 455 00:29:31,640 --> 00:29:33,880 Speaker 1: He didn't intend to write or publish it, and he 456 00:29:33,960 --> 00:29:37,240 Speaker 1: actually worried that their publication would do more harm or good. 457 00:29:37,720 --> 00:29:41,800 Speaker 1: But he says things he really deeply believes in. And 458 00:29:41,800 --> 00:29:44,600 Speaker 1: again he goes back to freedom of religion. In Queries 459 00:29:44,720 --> 00:29:48,800 Speaker 1: seventeen Religion, Jefferson defended separation of church and states, saying 460 00:29:49,120 --> 00:29:51,840 Speaker 1: it does me no injury from my neighbor to say 461 00:29:51,880 --> 00:29:54,600 Speaker 1: there are twenty gods or no god. It neither picks 462 00:29:54,640 --> 00:29:58,880 Speaker 1: my pocket nor breaks my leg. Again, he's arguing that 463 00:29:59,320 --> 00:30:02,440 Speaker 1: you have free then that you shouldn't be taxed to 464 00:30:02,520 --> 00:30:05,040 Speaker 1: pay for their beliefs, but that they should therefore be 465 00:30:05,080 --> 00:30:08,520 Speaker 1: allowed to have their beliefs without the government interfering. He 466 00:30:08,600 --> 00:30:11,360 Speaker 1: actually took the manuscript to his book to Paris, and 467 00:30:11,400 --> 00:30:15,240 Speaker 1: he contracted a printer who printed two hundred copies Jefferson's 468 00:30:15,280 --> 00:30:17,360 Speaker 1: Little Book on the Notes in the State of Virginia 469 00:30:17,600 --> 00:30:21,960 Speaker 1: was sufficiently controversial that James Madison and George with put 470 00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:26,000 Speaker 1: copies in the college library rather than giving them to students, 471 00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:30,040 Speaker 1: saying such an indiscriminate gift might offense some narrow minded parents. 472 00:30:30,880 --> 00:30:34,000 Speaker 1: In Paris, Jefferson gave a few copies to close friends 473 00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:37,440 Speaker 1: and confidential persons, writing in each copy of a restraint 474 00:30:37,480 --> 00:30:41,160 Speaker 1: against publishing it. However, a copy fell into the hands 475 00:30:41,160 --> 00:30:44,600 Speaker 1: of a bookseller, who, according to Jefferson, employed a hireling 476 00:30:44,640 --> 00:30:47,880 Speaker 1: translator and was about publishing it in the most injurious 477 00:30:47,920 --> 00:30:51,880 Speaker 1: form possible. To keep that from happening, Jefferson entered into 478 00:30:51,920 --> 00:30:55,640 Speaker 1: agreement for the translation into French with a highly respected writer, 479 00:30:56,200 --> 00:31:00,160 Speaker 1: Abbe Mortalai. Unfortunately, Jefferson and Morley had different idea is 480 00:31:00,200 --> 00:31:03,200 Speaker 1: as to what the translation meant. Jefferson wanted the translation 481 00:31:03,280 --> 00:31:06,880 Speaker 1: of a strict word for word translation of his text. Morley, however, 482 00:31:07,160 --> 00:31:09,360 Speaker 1: believed that the translated job was to be an active 483 00:31:09,400 --> 00:31:13,959 Speaker 1: collaborator and ended up changing the work. Jefferson was very displeased. 484 00:31:14,560 --> 00:31:17,960 Speaker 1: Jefferson then turned to John Stockdale, an English publisher, agreed 485 00:31:17,960 --> 00:31:20,280 Speaker 1: to print the work, but told Jefferson, I know there 486 00:31:20,360 --> 00:31:23,360 Speaker 1: is some bitter pills relative to our country. After all, 487 00:31:23,560 --> 00:31:26,200 Speaker 1: this was shortly after we had defeated the British and 488 00:31:26,360 --> 00:31:31,560 Speaker 1: earned our independence. On August fourteen, seventeen eighty seven, Jefferson 489 00:31:31,560 --> 00:31:33,960 Speaker 1: wrote to Stockdale that he had received the initial copies. 490 00:31:34,520 --> 00:31:37,680 Speaker 1: In all this period of Jefferson remains active. He has 491 00:31:37,720 --> 00:31:41,520 Speaker 1: elected delegate to Congress in sevente eighty three. Between seventeen 492 00:31:41,520 --> 00:31:44,400 Speaker 1: eighty four and seventy nine, he serves in France as 493 00:31:44,400 --> 00:31:47,960 Speaker 1: the Commissioner and US Minister. In sevente eighty seventy, wrote 494 00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:51,360 Speaker 1: to a good friend, Francis Hopkinson, his desire for this 495 00:31:51,440 --> 00:31:53,640 Speaker 1: position to be silent and to be out of the limelight. 496 00:31:54,240 --> 00:31:59,080 Speaker 1: And this gives you a flavor of Jefferson so oddly contradictory. 497 00:31:59,400 --> 00:32:02,040 Speaker 1: He says, My great wish is to go on in 498 00:32:02,120 --> 00:32:05,280 Speaker 1: a strict but silent performance of my duty, to avoid 499 00:32:05,320 --> 00:32:08,720 Speaker 1: attracting notice, and to keep my name out of newspapers, 500 00:32:09,120 --> 00:32:11,480 Speaker 1: because I find the pain of a little censure, even 501 00:32:11,520 --> 00:32:14,800 Speaker 1: when it is unfounded, is more acute than the pleasure 502 00:32:14,840 --> 00:32:18,640 Speaker 1: of much praise. Now, so hey have this guy who, 503 00:32:18,880 --> 00:32:21,800 Speaker 1: on the one hand, really is secretive and really doesn't 504 00:32:21,840 --> 00:32:24,400 Speaker 1: want to be noticed. On the other hand, he is 505 00:32:24,400 --> 00:32:26,920 Speaker 1: active in politics. He's governor of the state. He's ultimately 506 00:32:26,960 --> 00:32:29,800 Speaker 1: going to be Secretary of State and vice president and 507 00:32:29,920 --> 00:32:33,640 Speaker 1: president United States, and that sort of captures Jefferson. He 508 00:32:33,840 --> 00:32:39,640 Speaker 1: is a very complicated person, of enormous willpower, great patience 509 00:32:39,640 --> 00:32:44,200 Speaker 1: and discipline, enormous capacity for work, and he's just really, 510 00:32:44,240 --> 00:32:47,960 Speaker 1: really smart. You could probably argue that he and Benjamin 511 00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:52,360 Speaker 1: Franklin were the too smartest of the Founding fathers. They 512 00:32:52,360 --> 00:32:55,440 Speaker 1: were both able to learn almost everything, and they both 513 00:32:55,480 --> 00:32:59,080 Speaker 1: made major contributions to knowledge. To give an example of 514 00:32:59,160 --> 00:33:04,160 Speaker 1: Jefferson's genuinely diverse interests, in seventeen ninety one, he and 515 00:33:04,200 --> 00:33:07,160 Speaker 1: his friend James Madison made a botan eco tour of 516 00:33:07,200 --> 00:33:10,760 Speaker 1: the Northern Lakes, and his most lengthy journal entries was 517 00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:14,680 Speaker 1: on the Fly, but final report was never presented anybody, 518 00:33:14,680 --> 00:33:17,280 Speaker 1: but it still exists. So again, here's the guy who 519 00:33:17,320 --> 00:33:20,320 Speaker 1: has written a decleation independence, served in the Congress, served 520 00:33:20,320 --> 00:33:24,440 Speaker 1: as governor, served as a vestitor, and he's off writing 521 00:33:24,560 --> 00:33:34,240 Speaker 1: a discourse on the nature of the fly. Jefferson also 522 00:33:34,280 --> 00:33:37,280 Speaker 1: served on a committee referred to in the Societies Minutes 523 00:33:37,680 --> 00:33:42,000 Speaker 1: of June sixteenth, seventeen ninety seven, as the Bone Committee, 524 00:33:42,320 --> 00:33:46,200 Speaker 1: whose priority was to procure one or more entire skeletons 525 00:33:46,240 --> 00:33:50,560 Speaker 1: of the Mammoth. In eighteen o seven, when Jefferson financed 526 00:33:50,560 --> 00:33:54,080 Speaker 1: the dig conducted by William Clark at Big Bone Lick, Kentucky. 527 00:33:54,120 --> 00:33:56,960 Speaker 1: Of the over three hundred bones that Clark sent back, 528 00:33:57,440 --> 00:34:01,480 Speaker 1: Jefferson offered the Society any of the fossils that were 529 00:34:01,520 --> 00:34:05,760 Speaker 1: not already in their collection. On March third, seventeen ninety seven, 530 00:34:06,080 --> 00:34:10,520 Speaker 1: Jefferson became president of the American Philosophical Society, the day 531 00:34:10,520 --> 00:34:14,160 Speaker 1: before he became Vice President of the United States. He 532 00:34:14,320 --> 00:34:17,640 Speaker 1: served as president of the Philosophical Society for the next 533 00:34:17,719 --> 00:34:22,080 Speaker 1: eighteen years. He offered three letters of resignation when the 534 00:34:22,120 --> 00:34:25,400 Speaker 1: government moved to Washington, c when he retired to Manicello, 535 00:34:25,719 --> 00:34:30,480 Speaker 1: but the Society refused to allow his resignation. They finally 536 00:34:30,520 --> 00:34:36,200 Speaker 1: accepted his resignation on January twentieth, eighteen fifteen. And so 537 00:34:36,960 --> 00:34:39,480 Speaker 1: you can see that Jefferson's a complex person with an 538 00:34:39,600 --> 00:34:43,719 Speaker 1: enormous range of interests. And in the next part, I'm 539 00:34:43,719 --> 00:34:47,720 Speaker 1: going to talk about Jefferson as president and the extraordinary 540 00:34:47,920 --> 00:34:51,200 Speaker 1: complex nature of his presidency and of what he did 541 00:34:51,239 --> 00:34:54,880 Speaker 1: after that, so I hope you'll listen also to Jefferson 542 00:34:54,920 --> 00:35:02,680 Speaker 1: as an American Immortal in Part two on Newtsworld. Thank 543 00:35:02,719 --> 00:35:06,520 Speaker 1: you for listening. You can read more about Jefferson's life 544 00:35:06,880 --> 00:35:10,040 Speaker 1: and get links to my other Immortals podcast on our 545 00:35:10,080 --> 00:35:14,080 Speaker 1: show page at newtsworld dot com. News World is produced 546 00:35:14,080 --> 00:35:18,880 Speaker 1: by Gingwish, Sweet sixty and iHeartMedia. Our executive producer is 547 00:35:18,920 --> 00:35:23,520 Speaker 1: Debbie Myers, our producer is Garnsey Sloan, and our researcher 548 00:35:23,920 --> 00:35:27,640 Speaker 1: is Rachel Peterson. The artwork for the show was created 549 00:35:27,719 --> 00:35:31,360 Speaker 1: by Steve Penley. Special thanks to the team at Gingwich 550 00:35:31,400 --> 00:35:34,960 Speaker 1: three sixty. If you've been enjoying Newtsworld, I hope you'll 551 00:35:34,960 --> 00:35:37,879 Speaker 1: go to Apple Podcast and both rate us with five 552 00:35:37,960 --> 00:35:41,520 Speaker 1: stars and give us a review so others can learn 553 00:35:41,560 --> 00:35:45,680 Speaker 1: what it's all about. Right now, listeners of Newtsworld can 554 00:35:45,760 --> 00:35:49,520 Speaker 1: sign up from my three free weekly columns at Gingwich 555 00:35:49,600 --> 00:35:54,759 Speaker 1: three sixty dot com slash newsletter. I'm newt Gingrich. This 556 00:35:54,880 --> 00:36:03,960 Speaker 1: is Newtsworld.