aaron burr dies after he does. that is sort of the other side. >> host: in 2006 you wrote "what would the founding fathers do?: our questions, their answers" and in that you write the founders invite our questions now because they invited discussion when they lived. they were argumentative, expansive know it alls hanging their ideas out to dry in public speeches and in journalism. proud of doing that and this is virtually unique in the world. holland had been a republican though it was going down the tubes. this was a unique form of government being created and compared to all the competitors, monarchies and what not it is open. it is based on popular rule. the franchise was restricted in a lot of ways that there is a franchise so voters, the electorate has to be appealed fraud to -- to. they do this constantly and the lot of them are journalists. they write for the newspapers. some of them are professional journalists. alexander hamilton founded a newspaper that is still going on at the new york post. he found it.

the house speaker was retiring, a speechwriter on his staff took the aaron burr speech and put it in there almost verbatim, and the speaker didn't know that. he gave the speech. he subsequently learned that indeed it was a plagiarized speech and he subsequently committed suicide. now >> what was his name? >> i've forgotten. but it -- hitting that, committing suicide over -- everybody is concerned about plagiarism. it happens. it can happen easily. it can happen without much thought sometimes despite the fact it shouldn't. and i think every senator kind of realized, you know, we have staff people writing for us and i'm getting up there and i'm going to give a public speech, it could happen to me. >> is it known he committed suicide over this fact? >> not precisely, but strong presumption that it was. >> who was the woman senator that gasped? >> i shouldn't -- i can't say. i should not -- i need -- because these are all closed-door meetings. everything goes on behind those closed doors has to stay there so -- >> so, how many years ago did she gasp? >> not going to work. >> there's 17 w

aaron burr didn't know what he was doing. he was just collecting malcontents. so anybody who had a gripe or a plan or a complaint or something, and burr would, like, listen. he'd listen, that kind of thing. he's the guy, he's going to make it happen for me. so he's collecting this odd assessment of unhappy people. but he didn't know what he was doing. he just liked seeing what's going to turn up here, what's going to turn up? well, what turns up is he's tried for treason, and thanks to justice marshall, he gets acquitted. >> host: last call comes from ventura, california. douglas, please, we have about a minute left. >> caller: good afternoon. it's been great fun listening to the show. and my question when you were talking about william f. buckley reminded me of the many times he and gore vidal had fun discussions together -- >> guest: oh, no, not so fun. [laughter] >> caller: i agree. that was the fun part about it, i guess. and how would gore vidal's take on his historical novels compare to yours? and that's about it. thank you. >> guest: well, i read, i read

i guess you're not about aaron burr and alexander hamilton. let's talk about the markets.of china. you had a profit job at j.p. morgan chase. we're off 101 points right now. the s&p and the nasdaq are both down. next week is a big week for the stock market as we heard into earnings season. i know you can't wait. martin bashir is up. [ male announcer ] if you believe the mayan calendar, on december 21st polar shifts will reverse the earth's gravitational pull and hurtle us all into space. which would render retirement planning unnecessary. but say the sun rises on december 22nd, and you still need to retire. td ameritrade's investment consultants can help you build a plan that fits your life. we'll even throw in up to $600 when you open a new account or roll over an old 401(k). so who's in control now, mayans? ♪ spread a little love my way ♪ ♪ spread a little something to remember ♪ ♪ ♪ spread a little joy... [ female announcer ] fresh milk and real cream. that's what makes philadelphia. ♪ so spread a little... [ female announcer ] and that's what makes the moment we enjoy