already heard a couple of meditations, at least, about george washington that wonderful talk by david hackett fischer, gordon wood talked about his distinctiveness. we heard about john adams. of course later on david mccullough is going to be part of these proceedings and the pre-eminent scholar john adams. i asked a question about adams' son, john quincy. we've heard about thomas jefferson. we've heard from the jefferson chair at the university of virginia which is jefferson's university in the person of peter onuf, the so-called father of the constitution, james madison, jefferson's good friend. we saw a picture of james monroe in that boat right there right beside george washington. again, john quincy adams was mentioned. that's the spine of american history. and i want to suggest, just because i wanted to -- my talk today is going to be about the constitution. that's what i do, that's where i live and move and have my being as intellectually as in the constitution, and i wanted to basically give you one kind of memorable way to to pull together the basic theme of my talk. i want to suggest that o

. >>> next author and history professor david hackett fischer discusses the tactics and strategies that george washington used to confront challenges. he spoke at a university of oklahoma symposium on the founding of america. this is 50 minutes. >>> good morning. how are the acoustics? loud and clear? i have two mikes on me. i think that might be one too many. i'm here to tell you a story you heard before. we're going to talk about george washington. and in light of the frame that everybody else has been bringing to this occasion, that is the troubles of our time, i wanted to talk about washington and some of the troubles of his time and how he dealt with it. and i want to do it by story telling. the great attraction for me to history are these wonderful stories. i think of arthur snobl who sat down to play beethoven and he stopped and turned to the audience and said, this music is better than it can ever be played. i think that's the way it is with these stories. they are better than they can ever be told. i want to do that also with regard to a picture that you've seen before. this is

what did we hear from david hackett fischer? 60,000 troops all told, a massive projection of military force. when they get here they're going to slit your throat and your wife's throat and your daughter's throat and your son's throat and your mom's throat. this is not a joke. no one who opposes the american revolution fiercely goes on to any position of public authority. the most prominent person i've been able to come up with is phillip barton key. flash forward the constitution. you can be fiercely opposed to the constitution and become president of the united states. you saw a picture of him. that's james monroe. vice president of the united states, george clinton. justice on the supreme court. samuel chase. it's pretty extraordinary. you can be for it. you can be against it. remarkable free speech and beard makes you forget that. beard makes you forget all the elections. beard is the only with one who knew it for a very long time. i asked ed morgan did you know the fact? that's kind of interesting. in 8 of the 13 states prop

already heard a couple of meditations, at least, about george washington that wonderful talk by david hackett fischer, gordon wood talked about his distinctiveness. we heard about john adams. of course later on david mccullough is going to be part of these proceedings and the pre-eminent scholar john adams. i asked a question about adams' son, john quincy. we've heard about thomas jefferson. we've heard from the jefferson chair at the university of virginia which is jefferson's university in the person of peter onuf, the so-called father of the constitution, james madison, jefferson's good friend. we saw a picture of james monroe in that boat right there right beside george