those stories here at hunter why don't we make a big round of applause for louie thank you. thank you for being here. sotonight's lecture will paint a

vivid portrait of andre michaux, one of the most accomplished scientific explorers was of north america. before thomas set lewis and clark off on their famous expedition, moscow's work took him from the bahamas to the hudson bay, and it's likely that no other had seen so much of this continent at the time. but there's more to the story during his decade sojourn in america, he found at the center of a vast international

conspiracy. and as the story winds on unexpected figure emerges at, the center of the plot, one very well known to all of us here in virginia, and that is thomas jefferson joining us this evening to unpack this conspiracy is patrick spero until. recently, patrick served as the library man and director of the american philosophical society library, one of the oldest, one of the very oldest history organizations, our nation. and in this january, official he will take on the reins this august organization as its new ceo. patrick is a scholar of early american history and the author of several articles and four books, including frontier country the politics of war in early pennsylvania. frontier rebels the fight for independence in the west and the other presidency. the thomas jefferson and the american philosophical society. and most recently, the work

there will be the form will the bulk of his talk this evening the scientist turned spy andre michaux thomas jefferson and the conspiracy of 7193. i much appreciate you all taking the time to be here this evening for your wonderful support of this august. and i hope now you'll join me. a very warm welcome for my friend patrick spero. well, thank you, jamie, for that very generous introduction. i thought you were done with the clap and then you went on so and it's great actually to be back here. i was reminiscing earlier, my first visit to this site was the virginia historical society. at the time was when i was working on that first book, frontier country the politics of war and early pennsylvania, and that book among things, studied something called dunmore war, which is probably fairly well

known with this audience. but i was looking in particular at how pennsylvania and virginia were actually in a conflict at the same time over who would control pittsburgh virginia as it was want to do. i'm a pennsylvania and you know like the state claims to a whole vast parts of the country they said pittsburgh was part of virginia of course, pennsylvania said no, but a lot of records of that was here. in any case, it's been i don't know, over 15, 16 years since i've been here and and seen the transformation. and so thank you for giving me a round of applause. but i have to say, having walked through here today, you all oh, jimmy got a huge round of applause for the change that he's put out here. yeah. so i want to talk tonight about my book front. the scientist turned spy. i've got all the books conflated now. i head and what i want to do is talk a little bit first about how i came to write the book that i did and then share with you some of my findings.

so the story of this book actually begins with with this i should ask why a show of hands? how many people have heard of andre michaux before? a fair number, but not many. so when i was a librarian, the amerhilosophical society, you know, it's a large library, got a administrative functions. i would say 90% of my job was screen, behind theesk glued glued to the computer, dealing with email and various other . but every once in a while, the greatest part of the job was when we got to take the treasures and give a showcased the incredible collection that we at the philosophical society and one of my favorite documents to share was is one. it was the andre michaud subscription list. and the reason i like the chair is because this is a national treasure which i'll talk abut it also tells a really interesting story. so what we want too is share with you what i would tell vips who would come to philosophical

society for four treasurr, at least what i would tell them i wrote this book, the i'll tell you what, then i will tell you what i say in the book. so to begin. this document isttenn 1793. the first half o it is in thomas jefferson's hand at the time, 1793, jefferson was the cretary of state, but he was also vice president of the amerhilosophicalty, which was the country't oldest and most distinguished learned, which had also begun. develop a library around it the society, supported research. what this shows in this top half is a project that jefferson was trying to fund and you can see there the top portion says whereas andrew michaux wasndre a native of france and it happened in the united states has undertaken to explore the country of north america from the mississippi along missouri, west really to the pacific ocean. so this is lewis and clark. clk, that middle section there

where that arrow is, it says th said society. we'll raise money, the proceeds thereof will fund this exons atlantic ocean and. then what you're looking at beneat there are all the people who supported this project. so jon wtehis and then he brought it around to all of his friends in philadelphia to say, i found who wants to ta transcontinental expedition? will you support it? and here you can see somhe sign on e top. george washington $100. hn adams beneath him in middle there is thomas jefferson, $50 beneath him is, alexander milton and above him, you see the docks. and then to the right is james madison. so three of virginia sons are on, but also the first four so this isved to be the only one to contain the first four presidents signatures on it. they all weren't at the declaration and they all wer the constitution. now, most remarkable part of this document is there was only

read discovered in 1917 nine when a school intern was going through an old vault in the philosophical society. he found a scroll roll rolled up with a red ribbon on it, realized, well, is probably above my pay grade to open this and decided to take to the librarian's office who unfurled it and realized they had a national treasure on his hands. now i often got asked, you know. so so what happens? they raised all this money. what happened to this expedition? i've never heard of andre michaux or this expedition, and i'd usually summarize it by what we wrote on our own. the apes wrote on their website. ultimately, the expedition was called off due to diplomatic difficulties with france, which ed much of the territory to be explored. summary diplomatic difficulties with. france is didot happen and that they owed much of the territory be explored. this is important so the story of how i came to write this book. is this this always fascinated

me and i. it was the pandemic. my my life had gotten waylaid like else. one of the things that also happened was i have three children, all of their soccer canceled. so all of a sudden i have my evenings and i started thinking, well, i something to do and and almost the same time the director of development at aps. hey you know that document you always talk the me show subscription list it'd be really interesting if you would give a talk that subscription list at an event in california in september of 2020 and i thought, this is great i really would like to dive into this more to figure out what the whole story is behind this document. so as you know, september 2020, i probably did not to california. and instead of giving a 20 minute talk in san francisco, i ended up writing a 400 page book and i'm now here giving you a 40 minute talk about what i found. so that was the spark for the

book. it really was. it was supposed to be a talk. and i wanted to range the talk around four questions. and these are the four questions that end up forming the core of the book. so who was and what is the real story of this desiption list? and what really and probably most importantly, did it matter what's the legacy and so i want to share with you now some of the findings that uncovered during my expedition, if you will, into the past but if you want the full answers, understand, there's a book signing afterwards out the hall. so so who was andre michaud was jamie mentioned think andre michaux is probably the greatest scientific a natural historian of his generation that you've never heard of before. in fact, there is no no likeness of him. what you're looking at here is image i found in the aps library and another french botanist papers who just decided to sketch what botanist would look

like in the field, conducting. and so this was actually really helpful for me when i was trying to imagine michaux and all these expeditions because you can see here i don't know if you can make it out, but he's got a gun over his shoulder, he's got a pickax in right hand. he's got all this treasure and specimens him. and this is how i pictured michaux throughout the story. so i hope maybe you will. so i'll tell you a little bit more about michaux michaux was born in france in 1746. he was outside of rissi. so you're looking at vici here he was born on an area called sartori, whicht e time where a number farms, this was land that was by the king of france, o then leased it out to individuals. and often these individuals ha gained the favor and support of the. and so if you had one of these farms, you could rely on a fairly lucrative income. why? because you fed and there were a t of males avici all the time to feed and any excess you had you could then bring to

market you could also feed your own family. sartori is actually that forest down there on the bottom? there is now forest that was all farmland before. so you can get a sense of how close michaux was to riverside. w shows farther anticipate that his son would just follow in his footsteps. this is, you know, monarchical, autocratic, hierarchical france. as far as he was concerned. this is a great living. it's an inheritance that he to pass on to his son. and michaux, for all intents and purposes, followed in his father's dreams, followed in his father's footsteps, in eventually took over the farm and everything was going swimmingly for michaux. and as see this is a theme in me shows life. everything seems to be going really well. he marries he has a young son named francois for andre. and then the unexpected happens. tragedy strikes michaux, whose wife dies, just months after

childbirth, leaving him a widower, a young, single father. and most of all, what becomes clear in his life story is that he had a passionate love for his wife and he never again. there's no record of him ever again finding a friend and he's sent into this deep, dark depressive abyss are accounts of his neighbors and his friends worried about michaud. and they feared that he was going to do something drastic. and his friends are inviting over for dinner. they're all trying to raise his spirits and nothing seems to work until he's invited to a botanist who is working at versailles. and that botanist was working on that top area there, if you can see kind of a cross-check that's brow he invited or 'd heard about michaux, understood michaux had a farm and he asked, if you do me a favor, he'd receive these new seeds from afar. and he wanted to see if michaud could conduct an experiment to see if they would grow in french soil. michaux agreed and next thing he

knew the work consoled him and also consumed him. michaux realized he had found his passion. he was a scientist. this sparked that interest in him and the botanist. at first i realized that he had somebody had incredible aptitude. michaux blew me away with his ability to conduct this experiment, and soon he takes me show under his wing and he becomes his protege. and after he spends a month vici studying under him, he sent paris to study at the royal garden. there and then they are so impressed with him they send michaux over to london, study in the botanical gardens in the uk he returns from london and he sent out in some very early kind apprenticeship what are called botanist expeditions. that's when a botanist goes out to conduct experiment in the pyrenees mountains, and then he returns to paris and he's hungry for adventure. he's hungry to prove who he is and what he can do. and that coincides in 1782 with the arrival or the departure of

a diplomatic mission to the middle east, the french are sending an envoy who are supposed to go to baghdad to conduct diplomacy, to a console and. they and michaux lobbies to be appointed on this expedition and the crown. maria to one out in particular agrees to underwrite his costs to the middle east. and so michaux spends three years traveling throughout the middle east. he travels all the way up to the caspian sea, and then he returns to paris and he returns ladened with all of these treasures he carries back with him. he can. he's the person that's believed to be the first person to create a french to persian dictionary. he carries back something called the stone and. i read about this michaux stone and was described as 50 pounds. and it had this this kind of ancient hieroglyphics on it that nobody could interpret. actually, nobody could actually crack it until the mid-19th century, but everybody knew it was valuable because it had some sort of data on it. well, i went to paris to conduct

research and to kind of walk in shows footsteps, and they had the stone out. the stone was only about this big, but was 50 pounds, which is pretty incredible. and he has hundreds new specimens and seeds. he arrives back at the court of france. they're blown away by him. and king louis, the 16th, decides, appoint michaux as his royal botanist. and michaux thinks, oh, this is great. i finally made it. i can now establish as a botanist, i'm going to have a steady stream income and i can pursue botany however i wish. and the says to him, i don't think so. and he says what do you mean? he says, he sure says, i've just got to travel to the far east and i've actually see there is so much more in asia to discover. i want to go there. the environment can be similar to france. i can find all these new treasures there to bring back. and king says, no, no, i have different plans for you, young man. you were to head west, travel across the atlantic ocean to the united states.

why? there are several reasons. the king decided to send michaux over to the united states. michaux agrees to, of course, he is in the patra under the patronage of the king of france at time france. this is the first time france had really had to eastern north america. and it had offered an incredible amount to the french. so first off, as many of you probably know, france had just fought almost 30 years of constant warfare. the seven years war also as the french and indian war, followed by the american revolution, the of the united states during the american and as a result the french force were largely depleted they had depleted their force in order to provide their military especially turned the navy with the stores necessary to sustain these wars. and so the king said to me, show i you to go to united states, try and discover american oats that are hardy enough that can be planted in france so we can

replenish our forests. the other hope for the other objective was that because the british controlled eastern america for so long, french had largely not had access to that area. and the french hopeful that there are all these crops and plants and even animals that be exported from the united states and import into france, that would transform french agriculture to strengthen their but also to provide greater sustenance for those in france. this was a period of time which famine remained a real and they hoped they believed there are crops in america that we could be sent to france and, imported into their soil, transformed french agriculture. and then the third objective, which was actually one we show, had the most interest in, was to find new plants that were incredibly beautiful. and so that was the third objective that michaux had. so we show travels across atlantic ocean in 1785, he'll

arrives in new york city. this is where they think he's going to open up his first botanical garden. and he meets a number of new yorkers and he immediately realizes this is not the place for him. he why why are you all laughing? i haven't got to the punch line yet. he writes, and this is a quote that new york city people are cold and only care about money, not science. and and so he starts to explore other areas of the country areas. the other thing he's frustrated with is he not find the horticulture the plant life that he's looking for in this expedition. and so he starts traveling around north america to try and find a different spot and of course, one of the places he visits is virginia. he's carrying with him letters of introduction from lafayette and others. and he finds himself at, mount vernon, to meet george.

he and george washington spend a night together. washington is taken. michaux it's one of those stories where as, far as we can tell, washington had no idea was going to show up on his doorsteps. but he shows up and he's carrying a letter introduction from lafayette. so, of course, washington's going to invite him in. and then washington, all these stories about the middle that michaux is regaling him with. and he says, you know, if you need any help, if you want to use mount vernon as site for experimentation, i can give you some area if you if you'd like it. so they really hit it off and michaux sends washington in a number of pistachio nuts and other plants that that washington plants as well as he's traveling throughout north america. he eventually lands in charleston, south carolina, and he realizes the charleston, south carolina, provides with the base that he wants to work. and so he opens a botanical in charleston, south carolina at about the same time. he also opens second garden in new jersey. it's only it's a smaller garden in new jersey.

he has 110 acres, 111 acres in south carolina. so by 1785, andre michaux frenchman has opened two large botanical gardens, north america, one in new jersey that, actually took an act of the new jersey state legislature to create because foreigners were not allowed to own any land at the time. but in recognition of the french support for the american revolution, they decided to allow me show to open a garden and then 110 acres from charleston, south carolina rved as me shows base of operations and as you can see here michaux from that south caroli hub took a number of expeditions. north america the way pattern was basically every spring he would launch an expedition to a new area return and then spend the fall and winter mons taking those plants, those specimens, planting them, cultivating them and keeping up with his sentific. and here you can see he traveled through florida. he went to the bahamas. everything is going swimmingly

from his show. he may have been reluctant to come to the united states, but after a couple of years, he is smitten with the united. this is where he is making incredible discoveries. he's writing back to france. he ends up sending 50,000 living specimen ends across the atlantic to france. it's really remarkable. but going back, that pattern in me shows life. everything seems to be going well. it isn't anymore. and he's completely waylaid by events outside of his control as we all probably know. eventually the french happens. by 1791, the king has been deposed. he is no longer able fund me shows, expeditions. michaux himself has run out of his own personal money. he's in dire financial straits. he's going to former bankers, financiers in charleston and boston, new york city, trying to find somebody who would keep him in the united south carolina goes far they know he how desperate michaux is and how

vital the work he is doing is. south carolina him citizenship. in exchange they will give him if he'll stay in the united states, they will fund his garden. he refuses because he refuses to become an american citizen. he like the united states, but he is a frenchman and foremost so michaux is in dire straits. he decides that, you know, the best thing for him is to get. in fact, one of the funny stories is he receives a letter from his supervisor in france and he says, we can't support you anymore. it's time for you to come home. you have end this project and we show he writes to a friend. he says, you know, i just pretended i never received letter. so we may be able to to that in some respects. finally he goes, what can i do i've got to get out of charleston. so starts selling some of his property in he starts to sell some of those he'll enslaved to fund a major an expedition all the way up to the hudson bay.

so michaux takes an expedition just him in three native american guides travel all the way up to almost the hudson bay and back. and michaux arrives back the united states. it's now the winter. 7th december 1792. and he knows that he's going to be recalled again. he's trying to think, how can i what can i do to stay here? and looks at this map? and he writes, he looks at all of his expeditions and he realizes you know, i've done a lot of eastern north america, but i haven't yet that mississippi river and gone the way to the pacific ocean. and since i've just had since he's successfully done this hudson bay expedition, he has the confidence, he believes that he can successfully do transcontinental expedition with just three or four native american guides. and so he thinks, well, if i want do this, where how can i do this? and he realizes there's the american philosophical society. michaux become very close through his scientific work with

many members of the american philosophical, which was this incredible scientific organization, the greatest thinkers were at the philosophical society, people, william bartram, benjamin smith barton, thomas jefferson, david benjamin franklin was the founder of the society and its first president. so this was a scientific similar to the french academy of sciences we show no knew about so he arrives in december 1792 in philadelphia. he meets with a group apes members and he says, i a great idea for you. i want to travel across this continent. i will make discovery that you can't even imagine. discoveries that will be useful to united states and to mankind and i will share with you my discoveries if you underwrite this expedition. and the apes members say, huh? we've heard idea before we, you know. have you ever heard of thomas jefferson? he's been talking about this for almost a decade, as early as 1783, jefferson had trying to

fund a transcontinental expedition. in fact, in 1783, he appointed he reached out to george rogers clark, conqueror of the west, to see clark would undertake an expedition to the pacific ocean. he to raise money, particularly through the virginia government, but he couldn't receive any funding. so it died 1791, 92. he'd approached the apes. he said, do you think can raise the money through the apes to do this? the apes try to reach out and find somebody who could undertake this expedition? one of the people there, they broached idea with was meriwether lewis jefferson said he didn't think lewis was to the task yet by the time he probably wasn't. but he meets andre michaux these members say you've got to meet thomas jefferson, you've got to talk to him. jefferson hears this, but he also hears about the expedition michaux has undertaken. he's heard about incredible expedition to the middle east, where michaux had confronted. he had been robbed. he had fought off pirates. he had encountered dangerous animals, horrendous weather.

he'd heard about his travels, the hudson bay with, just three or four native american guides. he realizes somebody is going to undertake this expedition successfully. it is andre michaux. and he also realizes michaux provide him with the cover necessary to succeed, because at the time, jefferson is acutely aware of the tensions that have developed between the united states and native american communities, especially those in the ohio and points west, who are fearful that this new country is just an aggrandizing power. there, going to colonize and subjugate them. and jefferson is very worried that if he sends an american envoy out there, they're going to assume that's what's going on. so he thinks that if i can send a frenchman there, this will look suspicious. so jefferson, with this idea decides to try and raise money for real. and that's what the subscription list is about. theocties successfully raises the equivalent of point seveillion to underwrite this expedition. this is how create a number of

coes tdo this. and afte sucssfully ise the money they decide to create third committee, a committee that going to outline the mission purpose, the priorities the michaux should have as he travels west and at the head of this new committee it's the it's the luminaries of american science it's got benjamin rush on it it's got somebody named caspar wistar. it's got thomas jefferson. it's david rittenhouse. they decide to write instructions to michaux and you're looki ahere once again in thomajeerson's hands, and this is held by the apes library are the instructo andre michaux. now, these are very long, want to highlight what their priorities for michaux so the firsrity and this is emphasized and again in these instructions they observe to you that the chief objects of your journey are defined the shortest and, most convenient route of communication between the u.s. the pacific ocean

how quickly can we reach the pacific ocean? this is about communication. s about trade this is out commerce. they want to find a fast spread out to the pacific, not to explore th fastest to the pacific and then if you're to find any animals, lly want you toind a mammoth. and if you have a chance. also want you to find allama. now, the reason they do this very important. i'm happy to talk about it later. but the point i want to make here is think about who andre michaux was he was a botanist when first was appointed royal. the royal. he said to the king, i want to travel to asia to pursue science for its own sake. and now he's got a bunch of americans telling him to find fastest route so the united states can have greater commercial access to the pacific and to find mammoth and a llama. so michaux and the apes into this actually one other little fun fact jefferson also tells me

show or instructions tell me show that you should keep a journal just like lewis clark did, but also to make sure that the most information is tattooed on his skin in the event that if he were to die and his body returned, they have access to that knowledge. or if he did lose journals, he would have it, not lose it. so so let me show here's this. and he writes in the aps has this correspondence. he says, no, this is not the plan. i want to travel on my own accord. i'm going to explore. i'm pursuing natural history for its own sake. i am not willing to be an employee essentially of the aps. he's particularly worried how this might be perceived in france if he's getting paid by the apes and pursuing u.s. interests. how are french going to interpret his actions? i should remind you. this is also the time where lot of people were losing their heads. so they are locked in negotiations. they come to loggerheads. it's a total stalemate.

and then once again, in the show's life and unexpressed too, the event completely redirects. is man arrives in philadelphia you. can anybody recognize him. who said that? edmond rené, this is the first diplomatic representative of the french revolutionary government arrive in the united states. he arrives in charleston to great fanfare. he arrives in philadelphia. he is there to advocate for the french revolution objective is to try to try to convince the united states, especially their citizens, to support the french revolution. this is a time in which the french revolution itself is a great controversy. the united states is still is challenged with how to deal with the french revolution. the french are looking to the united states as their allies. they say, you know, we you during your revolution this is a sister revolution. you should be supporting us at

the same the british, the spanish, european monarchies see the french revolution as this great threat to tradition and their institutions. so the french are at war with great britain and spain and in philadelphia george washington, the president of the united states is struggling with how to navigate this foreign dilemma. his heart some respects is with the french revolution. he's very concerned about the way things are unfolding in paris at this very moment. at the same time, he a he exercises. he knows that this is a very dangerous period of time for the united states, its foundations, extraordinarily fragile and it were to enter into a conflict allied with france then great britain could very easily take back north america their their forts in the northwest are well manned. they the seas with the british navy and so washington to issue a neutrality to say we are going to stay out this conflict all

together much to the frustration of the french who feel like that is the united states turning their back on them. so january in philadelphia with the objective to try convince american citizens, lobby the government to be more supportive of the french revolution. he also carries with them secret instructions that he hopes will force the united states to side with france if they won't do so by their own convictions. he has instructions to mobilize angry frontiersmen in kentucky to invade louisiana, which is at the time controlled by spain. their belief is that if these invade new take control of spanish louisiana, they will erect a republic, an independent republic aligned with and most importantly, those in europe will consider this an act of the united states, a group of independent rabble rousing kentuckians. all right.

and so ginny arrives in philadelphia with these and within days of arriving in philadelphia, he meets andre michaux. and he says, oh, andre, so you're planning to go out west kentucky on that route? you to be a scientist and everybody thinks you're a scientist. is there any way you might go out there and meet with some kentucky and see if they'll do this invasion. michaux, the loyal frenchman that he is, agrees much to his again, once again, extraordinary reluctance. even ginni writes about, you know, i don't think he really wanted to do it, but he was very loyal france and he did it. and so ginni amy show construct a plan to travel out to kentucky which michaux is going to travel under the guise science. some people may be aware of this project with the apes and he goes out to kentucky he's to meet george rogers clark that person jefferson had approached

years ago for the transcontinental expedition at the time. george rogers clark frustrated with the lack of support that he had received from the u.s. government after the american revolution, and he had indicated he was willing to renounce his allegiance, the united states, and conduct an invasion of spanish louisiana if received the support of the french government. so, ginny decides this is a great plan but i need some special cover for michaux and he hears and becomes very close friends with jefferson jefferson. as you probably know in this debate about french revolution, jefferson is a great of the french. he's a great supporter of. the french revolution. he believes the united states should be more supportive of the french. so on july the fifth, 1793, jeanine meets jeffersons house and remember, jefferson is secretary state,e is very close. janay and janay that he can

trustrson he tells the secretary of state this entire plot and you can see , th isrso's notes on that meeting. and i highlighted the key parts said, communica me these things not as of state, but as mr. jefferson, meaning he waing as a friend, not he asked me to write a letter introduction. i took back the lette i wrote another one exac janay asked him to do. so now has letter of introduction from the secretary of state in which the secretary of state saying this is a botanist traveling under to conduct science. please allow him to travel freely freely throughout your and meet with people. he should not be under any suspicion. yeah well, how about this thinking for a second? this is the secretary of state. i would compare this as the secretary of state knew when russia was to invade ukraine and decided not to say anything to their administration.

and so what happens michaux ends up going to kentucky and i know we're short on time so i'll summarize very quick quickly travels and if you want to know full story that's that's the book in the lobby that's all part of my plan so to me show successfully travels out to kentucky he meets rogs clerk clerk manages to raise troops of over 2000 men they crea their own uniforms they muster they train there are reportshat the iron iron forges in kentucky are burning brighter smelting cannons for the invasion they build whole flotilla of boats that are tasked with traveling down the mississippi for the invasion. they have plans. everybody is talking about it and everything looks like launch is going to happen in the spring. 1793 or four. but then the spanish catch wind.

what's happening they're able to keep this largely just in kentucky. it's pretty remarkable, but there's a spanish spy who's part of this and leaks this information to the spanish ambassador stationed in philadelphia. that's ambassador immediately to. yes, i hear the jefferson the secretary of state is not here to tell about plot. jefferson says, oh, my he reports it to washington says. you don't know what you can't believe what's happening out west and jefferson, all these star letters to the governor that got to tamp this down. it creates huge crisis for washington, a crisis in his presidency that isn't well-staged. they talk a lot about it in the book, but washington is really trying to sort is what is the executive in power to do a situation like this does. he has the authority to tamp down this potential rebellion. does have the authority to use the u.s. army that is stationed out there to clamp this down. he isn't certain cabinet debates

about it, something the president doesn't, something that's local states have had the authority and the right to do so ultimately washington decides that he does have the authority to order the u.s. army to this down if it's necessary. and the reason, he says, is because his, number one, duty is to protect the united constitution. this invasion, if successful, could fundamentally undermine not just his administration, but the republic itself. now, it never comes to that because he issues a number of very stern proclamations arthur st clair is the governor out there who makes it clear that the federal government means business, that they're going to arrest people, they're going to be tried, they could even be executed. and so it kind of just dissipates. and this rebellion never comes to pass. and i have to tell you, this is kind of an anti ending to the story. it was for me as a historian and author to say, well, i was sucked into story and it all just ends. so that's it. so that fourth question i told

you about, you know, who was andre michaux? what's the story of the subscription and the story behind it? what really happened, which was clearly far more far to the story than the original website said, but did it really matter? and there i was blown away with all the ways i found that it did. so let me just share with you some of the lasting legacies of this this conspiracy. so first, what is the legacy of andre michaux so we show in north america ends up discovering over a thousand new species plants. he has a remark record of discovery of modernizing work but it doesn't just end in the united states what ends up happening. he has to go back to paris eventually and in paris he to take another expedition and. as you can see here, he goes through africa. he ends up in madagascar where he realizes the biodiverse city in madagascar is even more than what he saw in the south. he decides to create another

botanical garden into madagascar once. again, things are going swimmingly for me. show. but this time tragedy, this time the most severe of all tragedies he's stricken with sort of local virus and he dies in madagascar. but for those in the of botany, michaud looms very large. he is credited with over a thousand new species of plants. the legacies at the this to me is one of the more interesting parts of the story. it's something i didn't know about some of it. so first off, the spirit that ed the apes in 1793 ntinues to animate the institution. the society has always been pushing the unries of knowledge. in 1803, during the lewis clark expedition jefferson nally in realizing this vision, the first thing he does is he tells meer lewis, go to the apes and ith their scientists so you can learn it is so you can learn scientific medical treatments that you're to need on this expedition. so the apes essential to the

launch, the lewis and clark expedition today we are stewards of t lewis and journals, perhaps even more in the instructions that jefferson for lewis. lewis and clark, he used these instructions for michaux as his first draft, and the editors, the papers of thomas jefferson have shown that there are verbatim copies language from this in the instructions to and clark. so it's clear this was by his side and he's referring back to it as he wrote out those instructions for lewis and clark. and today the society in that same spirit of and lewis and clark continues to fund research around the world. you can see there that we have funded research in over seven continents again spurring new discoveries through the work of botanist expeditions and other types of field wor the final thing is the legacies for the united states and this was my most spring discovery, which is i started own expedition into the pt asking about this document.

and little did i know that question about this docume would take me to. the middle east would take me to the hudson bay, would take me to a cspiracy that threaten the foundations of the united in the early republic and ultimate to a question about citizenship and this is probably the finding that most surprised me because citizenship at this time it it was an undefined idea everybody in the united states. most people the united states had been subjects before the american revolution. this idea of being a citizen was new concept. and so just washington was trying to figure out what authority do i have as an executor. so too were americans saying. what is this idea? a citizenship mean? and one of the things that emerged during this conspiracy that those in kentucky had a very different of citizenship than those in especially people like washington. and many of the founders had. we were able to see in the

arguments those in kentucky had to justify their action and what they said time again is that citizenship ends the borders of the country as soon as an american citizen leaves, the united states they are not bound by any laws or obligations this country. they are basically an independent of the world. and for washington he said, no, no, no, we have policies people have to be bound by the policies of the united states. and so in 1795 washington and along with congress, this is at the period of the really the first party system where there's incredible partizan divide within the united states agree that they have to pass a law that further clarifies the duties, obligations and limits on citizenship, making it clear that americans conduct the type of efforts that george rogers clarke's and other did in kentucky, that that would be against the law that citizens have to be bound by the policies and laws of the united states wherever they are. so little did i know that

explorer ing this one document would lead me on journey to something as fun to mealnd essential to our country. today. the meaning of citizenship. and for me that is what doing history is all about. that's why places like this exist. i mean, think about this is the story of. one document unraveling incredible story. and at the aps, we have 14 million pages of documents. there's an incredible trove here at the virginia historical museum of history and culture. just think about many more stories are resting in our waiting to be told. thank you so. was kentucky a state at this point? yes, it had just been made a state. and it was it's basically the

first governor isaac shelby. so a big part of the story is that those in kentucky are arguing what it means to be a state, what powers do the state have and you, as you know, there's a growing, you know, states rights mentality is developing in kentucky as recognized in the results a year after all this there are a number of conventions that are held in which many of the people involved in this conspiracy write petitions arguing to the federal government that they need greater support and if not, they will become perhaps independent. a lot of threats about independency. so they had just been made a state and that's a big part of the as well what to his son michel thank you yeah i never know how much i can tell because i was watching my my watch so. yeah. francois andre michaux. oh, this is great. you're going to get me to tell us. i always like to tell, but i kind of. so. francois andre michaux, when when michel goes to the middle east, he decides his son is too young.

so puts him with his sisters, who, for him when we show goes to north america, france. while andre is now a teenager and he wants his son follow in his footsteps, just like his father wanted him to follow in his footsteps. michaux, of course, decided to go his own path so with him at his side, much of this period of time he's involved in a very serious accident in which his is struck with a bullet. and it looks like his eye may be lost. and so michel tries, to treat him, anybody, i guess with the best way in the 1790s was to treat a wound is infected in your eye. bleed bleed yourself right that's the to treat the eye so so so he almost loses out he sent back to paris where he receives a medical treatment. his eye is saved france andre in his father's footsteps he returns to the united states and becomes an incredible botanist himself. he travels all the areas his father traveled. he publishes a number of books. if you've heard the name

michaux, it's perhaps because his son published a journal. but his travels united states when his son andre dies, there is no michaux left. and so francois andre decides to, give the entire estate to the american philosophical society. so the society received this incredible gift in the late 19th century. and they said, should we do with this corpus? how how can we use it? and we should use it. serve the idea of michaux in france to andre in france while andre was a member the apc. so they said what we use this for. it's interesting at this period of time in the united states because of the industrial revolution, the united states itself had now gone through its own. and this is the very early days of the forestry movement, their desire to conserve the environment in the united states. and so the apes decides use this fund to hire a lecturer or to travel around pennsylvania advocating for preserving in the states in state which really had

been denuded the landscape because of both farming industrial revolution and so this this lecturer would go around and historians have written about this and he started off with a very small audience member or three, and then it grew larger and larger. he was this incredibly gifted lecturer, and after several years, the state creates the department of forestry and appoint him the first director of forestry and the state, and he then in honor of francois andre michaux decides to name the first state forest michaud forest in pennsylvania in recognition of those funds that were used to support this endeavor. thank you for that question question. if andre was a botanist royal botanist, obviously he was working for the french king. well, when the french king was

overthrown by the rebels. witness how did they any authority over michaux and to be able to call him home. yeah that's a really good question. basically michaux money and i write about this in book you know so michaux people have asked me in the past, well, did michaux support french revolution or not? he supported the french revolution, but he was not he wasn't there at the center of it. but we've in his writing, he was a he received patronage from the crown he knew how to perform that art. he relied on the government for funding without the french government, whether it was the crown or the revolutionary. he needed their support. and so his goal with the deposition of the king was actually get reappointed by the french revolutionary government to receive funding for them to continue on in united states. and he could have stayed in the

united states. but that's the part you can really see above all else. michaux is a loyal frenchman, and so he he wants to get the support of the french government, he's that he's still working for the french government because he hopes that by doing so he can then, look, i'm serving you now. you've got to pay me. and in fact, one of the things he's constantly negotiating is can he get a formal appointment, can he start getting paid again? and the reason he returns to paris is because the money never comes. also, other reason he decides to return to paris is he determined to do this transfer continental trip across the united states? and he, in his friends in the united states, especially those in philadelphia, they say to him andre, we'd love you to do this, but let's honest, you're probably not going to make it back. you've got go to paris and publish all that you found and make sure herbarium, which is well, that's where these thousand new species are documented, take that herbarium and save it somewhere for posterity. you've got to go back, do that. and so we show agrees with the

idea that he's going to go back to the united states and do this hopefully with some funding from the french government. the fact is, one of the things you realize, well, we show is that driven he's determined his. friends describe him as a stoic who only talks science. you know, he in his letters. there's not a lot of personality that comes. you can just see him as this very driven person, the one that he loves and botanist. he struggles with publishing. and so for years trying to publish, he can't publish. he's in financial straits. that's actually why he goes off to africa, never returns again. so let's talk about a little different a direction, but i want to share that as well. when you talked about the citizen going a subject to citizenship, you referring to the 14th amendment? no no, no, that's later. so before the american revolution, most colonists were considered of the crown, which

meant you paid your obedience, loyalty, not just to the british, but most importantly, to the british. king so were subjects you were, you know, subject to. king underneath the king the idea of citizenship, which is born out of the democrat revolution, the revolution and the creation of a republic, the idea that in some you all are equal citizens, you know, equal individuals under government. the idea is that the term citizen is what is used to describe that that new political conception of the individual that they're a citizen, not a subject to a crown. your independ and of that and in fact the idea of citizenship really sweeps the atlantic ocean because after the french revolution those in france start describing themselves as citizens and some people start describing themselves as citizens of the that they no longer are subject in fact to any country. but this is this transnational category individuals who all share the same values. okay. i think that's going be all we

have time for tonight. so if you'll all me in giving a speaker another of applause for a fantastic paul and patrick is going to be in commonwealth paul shortly the lecture where you can enjoy a reception and purchase copies of the book and sir any more questions that you might have thank you for your support great thank you all. florida senator marco rubio was confirmed as secretary of state for the trump administration. senator rubio appeared on booktv in 2015 to discuss his book, american dreams. here's a portion of that program. and most of all, the 21st century will also be about about big aspirations and big dreams. and the american people still have those two. i honestly believe that if we confront the challenges and embrace the opportunities of this new era, the 21st century will also be an american century. i honestly believe that not only will we save the american dream,

but we will allow it to reach more people than it's ever reached before. and for me, that's a deeply personal principle. it's one that i hold very dear to my heart. i tell people all the time what's compelled me to enter public services is the reality that america doesn't owe me a single thing. i have a debt to this country that no matter how long i live or how hard i work, i will never be able to repay. i've been able to achieve things in my life and live a life that would have been impossible. had my parents not come here, had this nation not existed, had america not been exceptional. and what we're not now is not just for that to continue, but to reach more people than ever before. as i said at the outset, every country in the world has successful people. there have been other countries that have large militaries and big geopolitical importance. there are other nations with large economies and big companies. i truly believe that what separates us not just from the

other nations on the earth, but other nations in history, is that here we have been united by the belief that every human being deserves the chance to achieve their god given potential to go as far as their talent and their work will take them. and if that if we ever were to lose that we will lose what makes us different. we'll still be big. we'll still be important. we'll still be powerful. we'll still be important. and we'll still matter on the global stage. but we won't be as special. and i, for one, don't want to be part of the first generation of americans. that leaves the next worse off. i, for one, don't want to be part of the first generation of americans that has to turn to their children and explain to them why we got to grow up in the greatest country in human history. but they will not have the same chance. now, i know that there's a lot of narrative out there about how divided the republican party. i'm sorry about how divided we are between republicans and democrats, how divided we are among our political feelings and ideas. and it's true. we've we've always been a pretty

opinionated people, as evidenced here tonight. that's the benefit of our freedom. but i believe that what unites us is even more important. no matter what your voter registration card says or who you voted for in the last election, i do believe there's a unifying principle in america. and it's the idea that every single human being should matter, that everyone deserves the right to achieve the dreams they have for themselves and for their families, and that we will continue to endeavor to be the country that provides that to people as the task of our time. and if we achieve it, not only will this be the greatest error on american history, but the 21st century will also be an american century. and so that's why i took the time to write this book. i tell us the story of real people and their real challenges. i describe what's gone wrong in their life, what we're doing about it now, and what we can do better. you'll notice in the book that there are many ideas that are bipartisan. they involve my collaboration with people of another party

colleagues like chris -- in connecticut and cory booker in new jersey. many of our policy proposals really aren't partizan at all, particularly when it comes to higher education. you'll read about how i'm working with mark warner to make higher education more affordable. how i'm working with cory booker of new jersey to provide more access to wi-fi and internet platforms, especially in disadvantaged neighborhoods. these are important initiatives as well. they're not easy to put on a bumper sticker. they don't win a lot of elections for you. but the critical to the future of our country. so we still have time and space and we should debate the issues we disagree on. but i hope that we can come together and cooperate on the essential issues of our time, because what we have before us is an extraordinary opportunity, and that is to usher in the most prosperous era in all of our history. and that's saying a lot for a country with a history like ours and the full program is available to watch online at