i go by jay jefferson loony, and i'm the editor of the pages of dot -- thomas jefferson at monticello. we are here today to talk about jefferson and his correspondents. and my moderator will be my esteemed colleague michael balderson who will handle questions for us, i will turn it over to her. >> thanks jeff. can you tell us what is your role in working with jefferson's correspondents? >> i am in charge of the project to produce total ultimate total of 24 volumes from 1809 to 1826 than evolve jefferson. i work with a team of 12 to ten people to do that. and our job is to take jefferson's letters and papers and produce and authoritative addition for those years that will enable future scholars to lie on that, and not have to go back to the originals. >> and so then what exactly do you do is a documentary editor? >> well, won the most important things is to make it clear what we aren't. you hear of a documentary editor and you think either that you are creating film documentaries, and we have in fact had had people apply for jobs and who were baffled at first but the because the applic

jefferson was asked. are you franklin's replacement said oh miss. you know, i'm a successor. nobody can replace dr. franklin. um, and that is often sort of taking as a charming so self-deprecating story that jefferson told but i think i think actually contains sort of a deeper meaning that because that jefferson realized that he would never be able to take franklin's place. in french society because in the same text where jefferson relates that story he said that franklin was more revered and loved in france than any other public figure both french or form. um and i mean that was something that justin could never live up to i mean both. because the bar was so high but also because temperamentally jefferson was not somebody who went out. um to social functions and was very sort of outgoing or like made friends easily. so he preferred to invite people to his own home. just as you would do in monticello. and have sort of a small circle of intimate friends. whereas franklin had very deliberately gun out and b

carpenter and jefferson has quite a robust correspondence with him at one point because jefferson is at monticello and hemmings is at popular forest, jefferson's other home in bedford and so jefferson is receiving and writing lots of letters to hemmings basically specifying what he wants done in terms of the construction of poplar forest. these are important and interesting letters. one of the more interesting things about it is that jefferson routinely begins his letters sir or dear sir, and it's actually -- there is a kind of a code there where dear sir seems to be somebody who he knows personally in some way and sir is not. some editions would leave that out as formulaic, we think that's important. in fact, jefferson sometimes does not -- sometimes you can be demoted. there was a man he was calling dear sir and then he made a business proposal jefferson didn't like and the next letter was addressed, again, to just sir. i bring it up here because jefferson was in a bit of a bind in terms of his letters to hemmings because jefferson has very unfortunately different views about the s

um jefferson grew i think 38 different varieties of peas. he had a competition with his neighbor to bring first piece to table which meant he would try to plant it as early in the spring as possible and harvest them first and he most the time lost one year he won but even said, whatever it came time to claim victory, he said might as well keep quiet and let him think that he's never lost. so he's i think was the simple one. but yeah, well, he loved peaches and in the orchard and so those were one of his favorite fruits. he once wrote that we abound in the luxury that luxury of the peach. he loved tulips which mean we're sitting next to some beautiful tulips here, and we try to grow a lot of the historic varieties the one we're looking at today is one called keizer screwing which is days to 1750s. um, so i think it depended on you know, i think it was just kind of love plants of all all types and trees trees. of course, i'd say the poplar in the white oak where the on jupiter of our groves he once road and you would walk people around in his

you think jefferson's great, thomas jefferson is so ideological he can't hear what he doesn't want to hear. sound familiar? we have that problem today. i am so impressed that washington whoeo does not have strong ideologicaltm commitments, let's get to the facts. i want to hear both sides f carefully and then i will make up my mind. so jefferson is not the worlds best listener. and sean adams is not the world the best listener. some are better at projecting. now what is washington's substantive idea? union. just like franklin understands join or die. on that very page that join or die appears in may of 1754, on that same page there is a reference to the young officer, george washington. this is benjamin franklin time but george washington at age 22. he understands her military point of view unless the colonies hang together enough independent states in 1776 they are done for. he is a continental list. who is at hishe right hand throughout the american revolution? pretty early on, alexander hamilton. to borrow a phrase alexander hamilton american. alexander hamilton is not just about m

jefferson. and welcome to you as i myself and welcome here. i look forward to our conversation mrs. adams if you will a chair. thank you, sir, please join. i thank you indeed. well. i'm very curious as to hear what we will be asked of today and considering the length of time. we have known one in the other and of course. my mutual friend and your dear husband john adams. so shall we engage the first question? ms what had each of you heard about the other before you knew each other and what were your impressions when you first met? yeah, well, i i suppose i heard of you long before i actually met you in particular when my husband was attending the grand congress in philadelphia the continental congress where he and mr. jefferson became most well acquainted and john. to adams was forever writ. ing about your skill with the pins sir in addition to the arguments and compromises be worked out in that sweltering heat. it was terribly hot and during all of the congresses, but particularly the extension

now, jefferson was a child of the enlightenment. he knew the significance of enlightenment through exploration, that people on the ground seen things and writing them down and recording those would be very valuable for science. and so his attempts to explore what became the united states are legendary. these are just three of the attempts that he made. first was to george rogers clark in a letter that we just read. he was a military soldier who had won in campaigns during the american revolution. and he said that he wanted him to lead this expedition, and clark replied that he was not in very good health, but if he decided to do it in the future, he should think about asking his little brother william who will eventually join the lewis and clark expedition, so that's pretty cool. the second was john ledyard. this explorer had an interesting idea that you could explore the western part of the americas by coming from russia. and so he actually tried to cross russia and go through kamchatka and alaska and the coast. but he was stopped

jefferson. i will call you thomas if that's all right with you, sir. >> that's quite fine by me, doctor. in fact, you remind me that my youth in your eyes continued because when we greeted one and the other again in paris and i was so taken by your particular reception from the young ladies. my heavens, continually bee besieged by the ladies. >> old ladies, too. >> yes, but when i asked you whether i can secede as well to such an attention, do you remember what you said? >> i thought you were young, i referred to your youth in one way or another, sir. >> that's correct, you said you're still too young, thomas. >> well, you know, some things have to be earned, thomas. >> well, doctor, shall we receive the questions from our friends who have gathered to enjoy our conversation now? >> indeed. let's do that. >> well, ms. wagner, if you will. we'd like to hear the first questions from our friends. >> thank you. dr. franklin and mr. jefferson, can you tell us about the circumstances under which you fi

jefferson's federal town as he called it a few acres. single-story brick buildings separated by fields and woods and forests. think of the architecture of politics or the politics of architecture. at the federal government is just a couple small brick building the states are supreme. there is not a challenge with the institution of slavery. give a great and glorious rome on the potomac then the federal government has power that could change the equation. so washington really challenges his fellow southerners in the jeffersonian model in envisioning this brand-new incredible capitol city. furthermore washington is cognizant of he learned his life lesson serving and fighting indians in what was then the wilderness, washington realizes seat we have a brand-new unknown system of government. we are going to create a brand-new capitol and they are going to grow up together. and that capitol city will influence the development of this new nation in countless ways paid which i think is just an extraordinary way of thinking about it. and again i'

jefferson. what is your favorite board game? board game i've never been boarded and again and they then said no mr. jefferson. what do you appreciate? well, i will tell you chess is probably my favorite game and i enjoy playing chess not only but my grandchildren anyone's so interested in inclined, but but also with mr. madison the two of us will sit down and have the most engaging chess game and it will last for days. well all of the fourth poor thought that needs to be applied all of your logistics and maneuvers who have to think this out. it doesn't doesn't happen just like that. so yes, i would welcome with anyone who would care to stay for dinner tonight to a game of chess. another one of our young friends would like to know more about your wife and how you met her. well, thank you for that. i i rarely up mrs. jefferson. um rest assured she still does remain deep in my heart and affections and you may know that we were only married 10 years. she produced six children. and we could not under

and it changed my idea about hamilton and jefferson has done correspondents. and if i would've said if i'm lucky enough to have a son i will name him jefferson. so my views about him have changed, but obviously a good word about him, especially the young generation he will become the northwest ordinance, not just in the northwest, but in all western territories and he dreams of an america that is open and he's going to help the smart kids that are not born privileged to be able to ride because of their academic aptitude, he inspires ordinary people and in his book it doesn't get the common noun, he's a little bit too stiff and from a geostrategic perspective he talks about that. he tends to do smart things, one of the smartest things he ever does is double the landmass of the united states, an epic achievement. >> it is completely consistent with his geostrategic idea and i'm not sure that they could have done that as federalist because of the french that like jefferson and he's wonderful at uttering people up. and so i'm not sure napoleon ever would've done.

jefferson. >> i wanted to add to this that meanwhile, back in the colonies, we could not help but here are your extraordinary efforts to introduce the albany act, a particular method to allow our economy in american parliament. that was based upon the iroquois compact. >> yes, the albany plan of union, which i addressed at an albany conference in 1754, it would unite the colonies not in one organic way, but unite the colonies and matters of defense and trade and such, a loose confederation, based on the iroquois confederation. i think you know of the incident, mr. jefferson, where one of the iroquois chiefs, and trying to put the confederation together, made a very visual illustration of the benefits of that. he took a stick and showed how he could just break that stick. then he tied six sticks together and showed that he could not break them and said this will be the strength of our confederation.. the and so, i certainly felt like -- i felt from very early on that i was a british citizen, i wa

jefferson? it's because i have never really cared to have my birthday recognized rather the birthday of our nation as i have referred to earlier. and yet there would be a difference of opinion because another member of the committee mr. adams to whom i just referred has always believed that the true birthday of our nation is july the second because that was the day that the continental congress did vote. for independency it was not immediate. there was one abstention. never forget that mr. lewis morris a new york did not feel he could properly represent his constituents in new york, and he requested to take leave that he would be back and mind you pleased to not forget. mr. morris did return and he did vote in favor. a valiant dependency however, we still had to vote upon our declaration. and so for two more days. throughout the rest of the second through the third of july and the fourth we are going to debate at argan and debated how we wanted the rest of the world to know. where the reasons wh

there are people who do not know that thomas jefferson of slaves. as a former teacher, what do you think about that or in slave people? i mean, i encountered some of those folks when i was at manage. hello, ironically enough women done in grace who i met when i went to monitor hello and i went up to them after i went on slavery at monticello, which is a tour manager let it focuses specifically on the legacy of slavery and its relationship to jefferson and i went up to them after and they said it really took a shine off the guy. i had no idea jefferson knows i know idea the monitor was what they say, stay clean when you when they said what, how to, how do you handle that? i think you try to extend whatever grace and generosity you can to people, especially in this context because you are asking strangers questions that are in many ways deeply personal and reveal themselves to be deeply shameful. and so i'm not attempting to, in this book, to present myself in any way that is sort of antagonistic. i'm not attempting to do . i sort of gotcha. like, i c

jefferson. that i'm i must be something approaching 37 years older than you or something like that as i was there very closely. they're upon their dog when we met in in when we met for the second continental congress. i not i was away for the first. i i believe and and when i had checked on that that i was 70 years old, i knew that but i believe you were something like 33 or something and something something approaching that so, you know we so you'll forgive me by addressing you less formally than mr. jefferson and i i will call you thomas if that's all right with you and that's that's quite quite fine by me doctor. in fact, you remind me that my youth in your eyes a continued because when we greeted one on the other again in paris, and i was so taken by your particular reception from the young lady. i haven't continually besieged by the old ladies to know yes, but then when i asked you whether i can succeed as well to such an attention. do you remember what you said? well, i said you were young

except on his jefferson -- except thomas jefferson, but he has to remodel this rented place and add a book room, and so madison is spending a fair amount of his time borrowing books from jefferson, the books that he didn't bring with him, and he is writing these notes, which i call notes on government, in which he says in these notes that this is a continuation of the thought about republican government that he had begun in the federalist papers. he bill on that. he starts out these notes by citing montesquieu. the very first salvo of these notes is his citation of montesquieu citing plato. [laughs] so right from the start, we know this is a broad enterprise. this isn't simply about the removal power of the executive order something like that -- executive or something like that, one of the issues they are dealing with in the first congress. this is about the big picture, republican theory. he also writes this piece called spirit of governments about montesquieu. it is about how montesquieu has a glimpse of the true essence of politics, but he doesn't really get it. he's not, madison s

jefferson. the virginia i was the only one on the committee south of the line drawn by messlers mason and dixon. now we all hope that dr. franklin will be the author. he was our mentor elder but franklin, oh, he cared not to take on that responsibility. i think he replied gentleman. i cannot for anything else. i may write to receive the scrutiny of a committee. he looked at me and it was mr. adams john adams who suggested i be the author. well, i said no mr. adams. you must write it. he said oh no, you must write it. i said no you and mr. adams replied. no, i am i'm generally considered obnoxious. this is like no you have quite the flare for a fluid and for listeners writing. i think you should write it besides that he said, of virginian ought to be at the head of this business. yes. we had put forth that resolution for independency first. your next question mr. light? what sources of inspiration did you draw on and drafting about? you asked me what sauces of inspiration did i draw upon and draf

and pg beauregard, the confederate, general jefferson davis and better president bobby lease confederate general. and thinking about what it meant that i grew up in a majority blast city, in which there were more modules to labor than there were 20 people. and what does that mean? what does it mean to get to school? i had to go to our property, we boulevard to get to the grocery store. i had to go down jefferson davis parkway to get to my middle school with name dr. elite a better se that my the street my parents live on is named after somebody who owned a 115 slave people. and one of the implications of that because we know that symbols and maggie and names are not just symbols, they are reflective of the story that people tell. stories people tell, shape the narrative, communities carry those narrative, see public policy and public policy shapes material conditions of people's lives. which isn't to say that taking that you wouldn't labor is going to erase the racial wealth gap in contemporary united states. but it is to say that all these things are part of the same ecosystem of storie

thank you jefferson was facing. as an avalanche of opposition in the courts. >> that's one of the reasons it lasts so long because he erbil to accomplish that goal. thank you for much margo our final question this evening goes to lisa what is the limit of your process when you're researching marshall was there one thing that surprised you gave you because her gave you the ability chief justice marshall all the better? >> been in the white house when one of the presidents court barack obama had young daughters thirds that you cannot go out with him he's not good enough you or something like this. something that william are ready know or reprimanding them for leaving the butter out or something. trying to imagine what his daily life was. any seem to like his life. he loved his wife even though she went she really became a recluse after two of her children died in childbirth and two died. he always wrote her letters when he was off in washington and she was in richmond and insisted on letters back from her. he seemed t

tell us more about thomas jefferson's reading list, jefferson wrote everything is useful that contributeso fix and practices of virtue. prof. lacroix: thank you for inviting me to be here and for this great discussion and question. yes, i think the jefferson list from 1771 is this wonderful and revealing document that tells us so different things. first of all, as you said, jefferson wrote it in response to a query from a prospective brother-in-law, near relation. he wrote in 1771. jefferson, at this point, was a member of the virginia house of burgesses. it is early and career of thomas jefferson as we know him. obviously, even then, all of the virginia connections and family members and so forth new that he was somebody for whom libraries and reading was very important. it is interesting that he wrote him this letter and there is a lot of discussion about reading and the value of libraries. he was trying to create a shelf and make him look like it educated virginia gentlemen. i think that might have been some of the motivation behind the request but it also went deeper. it was not just

for the 220th anniversary swearingen thomas jefferson today.shall new the first ever president personally. what can teachers bring to the classroom about inauguration, peaceful transfer of power? at -- our name says it all. john marshall center of civics to really bring the constitution alive in classrooms. >> at the moment, you alluded to the classroom but given the pandemic, what is your experience working with teachers through digital means? >> we are all modeling through together so i think when you have online resources people can use, that's a good thing. every teacher is doing his or her best to provide, i teach law at the university, i have quickly learned how to make interesting presentations so we have found it to be a challenge but the teachers have risen to the challenge. we are all kind of doing this together. >> where and folks reached the marshall center?rs >> john marshall center.org as well special partnership we have right now with preservation virginia save john marshall's road so i say go to save the road.com and join us to

waterhouse convinced jefferson to try vaccination in virginia. kind of a somewhat unfortunate call back to this is that jefferson agreed to do so and he tested it out on three of his enslaved people. he took of them as the guinea pigs for the vaccination. jefferson ended up vaccinating more than 200 people, including members of his family, his neighbors, and his enslaved workers. jefferson, who has been a proponent of varialation became just as strong an advocate of vaccination and spread word of the practice throughout virginia and also to others while in washington, d.c. as president. just to give you a sense of jefferson's admiration for dr. jenner, he wrote to dr. jenner saying, yours is the comfortable reflection that mankind can never forget that you live too. future nations will know by history only that the low some smallpox had existed -- loaths ome smallpox has existed and by you has been extra paid -- e xtirpated. even in the 1806, jefferson recognized what had been wiped out as such is scored on the human race. by the 1840's, vaccinat

jefferson is drafting the declaration of independence. we don't know but we think it's possible that this might have had some influence on jefferson's writing of the declaration. now about 10 years later mason gets invited to go to philadelphia for the constitutional convention. it's the farthest. he's ever been from home. he's not super happy about doing it. he's a little concerned about leaving the kids that are still at home with his second wife his remarried at that time after the death of his first wife. um, but not super excited about it ends up in philadelphia end up being one of the top five speakers the constitutional convention. he's very adamant about many things. and in early september late, august early september of 1787. he stands up at the constitutional convention and says but wait. this document does not have a declaration of rights. it goes to a vote. and it is unanimously downvoted george mason at that time does not see a bill of rights added to the constitution. pretty and happy about that. there are some reasons why t

here we have thomas jefferson. the one on the left is actually the the portrait that exists of him at his oldest. the one on the right is the better known one. how americans think of people like thomas jefferson, right? gravitas, which equals age and wrinkles by the way even thomas jefferson was insecure. about whether his long life and he lived into his 80s. whether he'd done enough achieved enough. been important enough fulfilled enough goals he said this in 1800. five months before he assumed the presidency of the united states is the third president of the united states and he says right. i'm sitting down and taking an accounting of my life. and i don't know if my country is any better because i was alive. so by the way, if you're ever feeling insecure so our presidents this is taken from a life mask, which is literally an artist did the simulation on the right? of on a computer simulation from a life mass which is where they literally put plaster on your face and let it dry. it almost suffocated him to death,

but in terms of an intellectual, it's hard to find another one jefferson. maybe john quincy adams, but no one i mean roosevelt speaks multiple languages, we forget that you know as one of the audience pointed out, he wrote multiple books. he wrote more correspondence than any president. he wrote a hundred and fifty thousand letters in his time. i mean the next near president is is jefferson who writes about 20,000 man. i don't know how many emails are swirling around nowadays, but 150,000 letters is an awful lot. he's a he's an inspirational character for a lot of those reasons, but to be frank he does have his flaws as well and they're worth exploring because as you said and that humanizes him, none of us are perfect. are we not not any of us i was after i left the white house a fellow at the kennedy school institute of politics at harvard and i took us through the archives and they have a letter from president roosevelt to the president of harvard complaining that his son won't be home at the lake this summer and we really must have our son home part of t

this is coming full circle. 21 years ago, in paul anderson's classes at clemson, jefferson jackson and calhoun class that i first got hooked on history. he is the reason i have been inflicted on the historical profession so it is his fault. >> i'm not sure that is much blame my way as it is credit to you. one thing i remember about that first class at clemson all those years ago and where we are right now and that is calhoun is a hard guy to get to know so i can't imagine coming from student to scholar what that was like to write a biography of a very difficult person to make it breathe again. can you talk about that a little bit. >> reporter: not an incredibly personable or colorful character in the sense, not somebody like john quincy adams his diaries or letters overflow with personality. he deserves his reputation but fascinating in a different way. goes back to a quote that i used to explain why i wrote this book in david potter's book the impending crisis which i read in graduate school. in that book he describes calhoun as the most majestic champion of error and i was an english

representations made during the lives of either martha skelton jefferson the wife of thomas jefferson who predece him by many years or margaret mccall taylor the wife of zachary taylor who was alive, you know, during the era of photography and yet as a very busy woman, she had 10 children. she was not photographed or at least no photographs of her have survived to this day and this tells us something really, you know, very important about the role of gender in the preservation of images of our leaders and their families women were just not prioritized when it came to portraiture during the 19th century. so for these two very very important women in the history of the presidency martha scalp and jefferson and margaret mccall taylor. we simply don't know what they look like in the exhibition. we represented margaret taylor with her daughter betty taylor bliss with the picture. her next please. some first ladies like harry lane johnston, who was the niece of james buchanan and who served in that capacity as his hostess and first lady really understood the power of portraiture and here yo

after cadet jefferson helped to bandage his comrade. he got up and followed after the rest of the corps of cadets to their battle position. he didn't get very far a bullet slammed into his chest leaving him mortally wounded. this opening story kind of sets the scene for some things that i'd like to talk about in today's presentation. civil war medicine in the books that we read can be different than reality. we want to have this idea that medical care happened in a precise organized almost cookie cutter fashion, which is good in theory, but it didn't always happen that way on the battlefields or in the campaigns themselves. i'm definitely not advocating to throw out your civil war medical books read them. they have helpful information and are a great starting point for understanding the mentality that the surgeons were working with the things that the soldiers knew about injuries going on to the battlefields we get we learn what the surgeons thought we can learn that fighting on bullets wasn't really a thing during the civil war. anesth

now we will play the jefferson march for you. ♪ col. that was the thomas jefferson march that the marine band played for the first inaugural ball. as you noticed, the bass instrument of that group was the bassoon, but undoubtedly, another bass instrument used in those days was this here. this bears the title of a serpent or serpentine. strangely enough, it is made of wood wrapped with leather, and produces a very deep tone. originally it was called the bass of the bugle family. because it uses brass mouthpieces. undoubtedly it fit in very well with the instruments of the lower register. we could use this very acceptably and it was soon followed by another instrument. this is the instrument that followed the serpent. this was probably the first of the bass brass instruments used by the marine band. strangely enough, it had the key system that was used by clarinet in those days, and certainly the forerunner of the key system of the modern saxophone. however, it was played with a mouthpiece that was used by the rest of the brass family. i

in calhoun's answer to that question, he viewed himself as a disciple of thomas jefferson. supported andrew jackson. he sees himself as a small democrat throughout his life. he comes from the country of south carolina which has a kind of a more democratic culture may be than other parts of the state. and so calhoun is part of this much larger argument. he started about what democracy is going to look like in the modern world. in calhoun answer to that is to reject the natural rights argument that people like thomas jefferson which implies, broadly improves the democracy. usreally radical version of tha. in calhoun's argument is instead, to argue to have equality for some people, you have to have inequality for other people. but history shows, he thinks is that you always will that some people will always be pressed suppressed in a society and in society. it is a very bleak vision in a lot of ways. and his answer is simply that slavery is a more honest way of configuring that. were you just simply acknowledge straightforwardly that yes you are slave and oppressing people. th