i was 45 men and they're all at least 20 years younger than me. >> colonel alexander jefferson, whose father -- grandfather was a founding member of the university. his favorite placed vacation is in hawaii. hopefully he will tell us what he likes to do in hawaii. colonel jefferson let's yield the floor to you. tell us a bit about yourself in the armed forces. >> someone asked me what how did you go to the army? i remember, 1941 world war ii is kicking off. i graduated from clark college in june 42. the first thing i did after the draft was go down from detroit, the federal building, and joint. i thought they were going to send me to tuskegee and we were segregated and all the training was there. they said go home and we will call you. they put me on a list. took me almost nine months before they called me. i'm a clark college graduate. i'm in the last class going to tuskegee of college blacks. the army, navy and marines were grabbing blackmon with college degrees. the classes after me went through three months of college training detachment. i graduated january of 1944. from tuskegee

lieutenant colonel alexander jefferson. lieutenant colonel james h. harvey iii. and our closer, lieutenant colonel harry stewart. let's first begin with lieutenant colonel harvey friend. we'll yield the floor to you and then we'll ask our friends in the audience to give a few questions. let's have a round of applause for our first panelists. so, colonel, just give us just a brief history about you and your accounts in the military. >> well, i was always interested in flying, and when that chance was offered me -- for instance i had a license in late 30s because i was part of a program the united states was doing in defense -- potential defense itself, and that was to train people to fly airplanes as they were doing in europe. and when time came for us to go to tuskegee i was more than prepared and i enjoyed it very much. one thing i would like to clarify from my personal standpoint everybody says tuskegee the place where they trained the african-americans. that's the wrong way i think to look at it. the right way to look at it is that was the place where they tra

well done. >> our fourth panelest is lieutenant commander alexander jefferson. his grabbed grandfather is one of the founding fathers at moorehouse university. his favorite place to vacation is in hawaii, so hopefully he'll tell us what he likes to do in hawaii. so colonel jefferson let's yield the floor to you, sir. tell us a bit of history of yourself and armed forces. >> someone asked why the hell did you go to the army? i remember 1941 world war ii was kicking out. i graduated from clark college in june '42. the draft was -- so the first thing i did was went down to the federal building and joined. i thought they were going to send me to tuskegee, put me on a list. took me almost nine months before they called me. remember now i'm a graduate, i'm a clark college graduate, and i'm in the last class going to tuskegee of college blacks or college graduates because the army, navy, marines were grabbing black men with college degrees. the classes after me went through three months of college training detachment. i graduated in january '44. from tuskegee as a secon

not and the history is fascinating but to cut to the chase thomas jefferson does prevail and the federalist party john adams and alexander hamilton on one side and jefferson and james madison on the other with intense competition like we have today hyper partisanship so to rebuild the electoral college thinking about jefferson's reelection in 18 oh four. he is the new image where there is partisan competition it isn't a consensus anymore us versus them if one side wins the other side loses the other side should be the majority party not the minority party. the majority rule based on the federal constitution the united states of america a compound majority were jefferson wins the electoral college to accumulate so that is the new idea adopted in 18 oh three ratified in 18 oh four. no one ever taught me that in constitutional law class that was ignored. and with those fundamental principles are as rich if not richer than the philadelphia convention. they had 12 years of the country under their built on - - belton republican form of government with the image of majority rule. that is the creation the basically to fall apart

it comes to play mostly, much more in jefferson davis then and alexander stevens. he wanted and expected the support of france and england during the war because of the large amount of cotton going mostly to england but a number to france as well. and an interesting -- jefferson davis was a far better politician than alexander stevens. he never mentioned slavery as a reason for secession. some good quotes early in this period that i'm looking at, alexander stevens is the joe biden, can i say that, of the administration. he would say anything. as i said in his speech to the virginia secession commission, convention, it's about white supremacy. that is why we left. and our constitution is built on that. jefferson davis was playing it a little more carefully and he was quite surprised, think he was rather surprised when england did not come in on the side of the confederacy. and part of that was the slavery issue. england would abolish slavery in the 30's, i think it, throughout the empire. if it was about slavery, they were not going to get involved. >> also, there wa

alexander stevens, he's vice president of the confederacy. he is not agreeing with his boss, jefferson davis. he says, yeah, we're getting it all wrong. we can't burn down northern cities. they're going to vote for lincoln because we're burning down northern cities. also, the confederates invade st. albans, vermont, rob the banks, they're going to set fire to new york city on election day. they also have plans to release prisoners of war from johnson's island off of erie, pennsylvania, and from camp douglas in chicago, and jefferson davis for the most part, yeah, do that, do that. he is going to try to make the voters so angry that they will get rid of abraham lincoln. you might think at this point of spielberg's lincoln and the piece -- alexander steechbts, and the piece on the boat. they were talking about how far they could settle for this and lincolns and oth lincoln and others say there's no way after he is elected. what does jefferson davis want? he says, peace without independence is failure. the confederacy and president of the confederacy, i will not accept a peace in which th

jefferson davis says well, it was not really a landslide. we have to cheer up. alexander stevens says, we are outmanned, out supplied. there are people in the confederate government saying, if we have an armistice, the army will disappear like frost on the morning sun, if we ever have an armistice as you can see, we had to take apart the election a little bit. we had to make sure that we set aside obvious facts that we had, oh lincoln has to be reelected. he himself on august 23rd said i do not think i will win this election. what had to change to get him back in the white house. thank you. [applause] a discussion about the u.s. constitution and secession. we will hear about the 67 constitutional amendments considered by congress before the start of the civil war. that sought to address the secession issue. this was hosted by the ulysses national historic in st. louis. >> so, to introduce doctor dwight, doctor earned his ph.d. from texas university. he worked for the national -- for 30 years. for the last ten years of his career he was the chief historian of the entire na

fascinating but cut to the chase, thomas jefferson does prevail and his party, which is the so-called federalist parties have the founders footprint, john adams and alexandern on one side in one party, jefferson and james madison on the other side and its intense competition like we have today, hyper partisanship.the jeffersonians refill the electoral college thinking about jefferson's reelection in 1804 so he is the new image of an authentic winner for a world where there is partisan partition is not going to be consensus anymore, it's going to be us versus them. if one side wins the other side loses at least the weather should be the majority party, not the minority party. majority rule for them is based on the federal constitution for the united states of america so it's a complicated compound majority were jefferson wins the electoral college majority by accumulating state-based majority. that's the new idea. this is the fourth amendment adopted by congress in 1803 ratified in time for 1804 and it's philosophically very different from the original. no one ever taught me that in my constitutional law class the 12th amendment was ignored it turns out the

left and then there's secretary of war henry knox, secretary of the treasury alexander hamilton, secretary of state thomas jefferson and attorney general edmund randolph. for certain extent they are all very summer, all white men of course, but in terms of the ideas that the represented and the experiences and expertise they brought into the cabin, they were very, very different. henry knox had been a major general of the artillery during the war. he had then serve as the commander of west point and then the secretary or underneath the confederation congress. he had indispensable military experience and indispensable experience the goshen with native american nations which was under the purview of the secretary of war at the time. hamilton had a brilliant financial mind, and while washington certainly understood the plans that hamilton came up with, he didn't necessarily have that same sort of creativity and ability to come up with complex solutions. so he needed someone who could really come up with those ideas. thomas jefferson had extensive dramatic experience and was fluent in french which was the light which o

it comes to play mostly in jefferson, much more so in jefferson davis than in alexander stevens. he wanted and expected the support of both france sbeng land during the war, because of the large amount of cotton that was going to england but a number to france as well. davis was a far better politician than stevens. he never mentions slavery as a reason for secession. there was good quotes on his white supremacy early. alexander stevens was sort of the joe biden -- can i say that -- of the administration. he would say anything. in his speech to the secession convention, he said it's about slavery, white supremacy. that's why we left. we're better for it. our constitution is built on that. jefferson davis was playing it a little more carefully and he was quite surprised -- i think he was rather surprised when england didn't come in on the side of the confederacy, and part of that was the slavery issue. england realized it would abolish slavery in the '30s, i think, throughout the empire. if it was about slavery, they weren't going to get involved. >> also, there was an incredible

the chase , can't thomas jefferson does prevail and his party which is the opponents of the so-called federalist parties, you have the founders littering. john adams and alexander hamilton on one side and one party , jefferson james madison on the other side and its intense competition like we have today. i've heardpartisanship . so the jeffersonian's rebuild the electoral college thinking about jefferson's reelection in 1804. so he's the new image of an authentic winner for a world where there is partisan competition. there's not going to be consensus anymore. it's going to be us versus them and if there is one side wins and the other side loses , the winner should be the majority party, not the minority party. but majority rules for them is based on the federal constitution. the united states of america so it's a complicated compound majority where jefferson wins the electoral college majority by actually state-based majorities so that the new idea. this is the 12th amendment adopted by congress in 1803 ratified in time for 1804 and it's philosophically very different from the original . no one ever taught me that in my constitutional law class,the 12th amend

>> there's secretary of war henry knox, secretary of the treasury alexander ham it en, secretary of state thomas jefferson and attorney general randal and to certain extent they are all fairly similar, all white men, of course, in terms of the ideas that they represented and the experiences and expertise they brought into the cabinet, they were very, very different. henry knox had been the major general of west point and secretary of war underneath confederation congress. so he had indispensable military experience and indispensable experience negotiating with native american nations which was one the purview of the secretary of war at the time. while washington certainly understood the plans that hamilton came up with he wouldn't necessarily come up with the solutions and he needed someone to come up with the ideas. thomas jefferson had extensive diplomatic experience and fluent in french which was the language of diplomacy while washington had been to barbados as teenager. that was the only time he only left the country so he needed someone who was experienced in the art of diplomacy and what it was lik

jefferson davis was a far better politician than alexander stevens. there's some really good quotes on the white supremacy early in this period that i am looking at. alexander stevens is sort of the joe biden of the -- can i say that? of the administration. he would say anything. as i said, in his speech to the virginia secession commission, convention, it's about white supremacy, slavery. that is why we left. we are better for it. our constitution is built on that. jefferson davis was playing it a little more carefully and he was quite surprised. i think he was rather surprised when england did not come in on the side of the confederacy. part of that was the slavery issue. england realized it would abolish slavery's in the thirties, i believe. if it was about slavery they would not get involved. >> also, there was an incredible giving up of slaves of the french and the british. they lost an incredible amount of money. during the civil war. cotton was no longer pay being sent to britain so what happened in britain was that incredible numbers of people

jefferson. and some of the divisiveness, by the way, i think many of these people blamed it on alexander hamilton. regardless of the fact he has a musical and none of them do currently, he has a better publicist than the rest of them. rush, adams, and jefferson all very much blamed hamilton for sort of fanning the flames of partisanship. and being kind of a bomb thrower in this era. and hamilton, during the yellow fever epidemic, announced he had yellow fever, and the cure that he was cured by somebody other than rush and the cure that he , had was the federalist cure. it really was unbelievably partisan, and a lot of it had to do with other countries. the image of being criticized for being too french after the french revolution was very common in the political writing in america, especially in the 1790's. fred: sarah? sarah: i think that there is an omnipresent fear of the french and british influence that is going to tear apart the first federal government. let me offer two quick, concrete examples. when john adams is serving as the first u.s. minister to great britain, there are little paragr

jefferson davis is saying, well, it wasn't really a landslide. got to cheer up. just because lincoln is president. alexander stevens say, look, we're outmanned, outsupplied, and there are people in the confederate government, you know, if we have an armistice like frost on the morning so if we ever have an armistice. >> we h to take a little bit apart. we had to set aside facts that we had and all of lincoln has ton re-elected and on august 23'd he said i don't think i'll win this election and what had to change to get him back into the white house. thank you. [ applause ] you're watching a special edition of american history-tv airing weekdays. tonight beginning to air at 8:00 p.m. eastern it's a look at african-americans and world war i. we look at the smithsonian african-americans to speak with a military history guest curator. watch american history-tv now and over the weekend on c-span 3. >>> modern transport poses new dangers of complete universal contagion. struggle against epidemics is a global one. for the danger of death is worldwide. >> sunday, on "american history-tv" at 4:00 p.m. eastern on "re

jefferson in 1796 i 1796 and tht contested election narrowly also. this is largely a factor of what is later described as a sectional divide. adams was contentious but he wasn't as contentious as alexanderhamilton. adams had attained his reputation through his service in europe as a diplomat for many years. and so >> caller: as vice president he may have been looked upon as his rotunda they are mocked by some, he maintained a sturdy reputation in the northern states. it was a very close election, but it was largely decided on the basis of geography. >> the other thing that changes is the increasing role of the party competition. you have to realize that according to the constitution, it doesn't recognize party. and they should have anticipated the party, because this is in great britain but they did. so what happens is during washington's administration, you get the rise of what is known as the anti-administration movement, and then eventually that ends up being a the party of madison and jefferson. and what comes with the parties is what i refer to as highly developed by the time jackson is ready. the art of party organization, or jackson's period, rewarding people with offices. so, ev

alexander hamilton on one hand who was advocating for this very sort of global, banking, merchant heavy, respectable sort of english-based system with strong military power and strong presidency and then you had thomas jefferson who was supportive of some of those things in much smaller doses but had a different vision of what they should look like and they literally duked it out in the cabinet to the point where thomas jefferson described the cabinet meetings as a cock fight. there is no better way to describe that. if you think of sort of a bloody, violent spectacle where you're fighting to the death, and they did meet in a room that was 15 by 20 feet, filled with furniture, it was five very large men by the standards of the day and they met for hours at a time, they met up to five times per week in the summer of 1793. we know that that summer was very hot and humid because there was a very bad yellow fever outbreak that fall. they had no air conditioning, it was philadelphia, it was very humid. and they hated each other by that point, and they were just locked in these battles over, you know, in some ways really small details of things, but in some ways this much larger vision of what the nation was going