i condemn slavery so did jefferson. i don't condemn jefferson. i, i don't know that i would have done any better if i been in jefferson's position, born into his virginia and into his family. and i don't find it easy to put myself into the shoes of someone from the past and be judgmental all because i know that we are all so much a proud act of circumstance says considerably beyond our control. jefferson was hated in his own, of course, just as to some extent he's hated now. he's hated as a jacobean revolutionary, as a, theist as and agnostic, as a populist demagogue. he was also a president to preached against strong executive but excess, very strong executive power when he felt it was in his ideological and his view of the nation's selfish to do so. for example, of course, the louisiana purchased a it was also a man who preached against and detested actually more than preached. again, she detested a lot of the things we take for granted as desirable like banks and banking and wall street and industry any sizable way. and he certainly detested i

that was from jefferson.e don't dwell often on the fact declaration of independence makes a kind of moral community out of us but it also makes a smaller moral community of the signers of the declaration of independence. they pledged to each other their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor, not to us, not to the citizen body as such. that is part of the charm of the declaration of independence which is visible both in adams's routes and jefferson's roots, both of those gentlemen were very interested in what it meant to be a founder. adams in particular was quite interested with the ancient founders and the problem of how to imitate them under modern conditions and what a founder should do. a founder of republican government under modern conditions, jefferson was less interested in founding as a theme of political science which is how adams is interested in it, but he was, of course, himself, he helped to rewrite the constitution of virginia so he was not as abstract a theoretician as we might think ei

that's thomas jefferson. in an absolutely shocking passage in his notes on the state of virginia, he compares wheatley with roman poets who were enslaved like terrence and says that wheatley's poetry is beneath contempt. essentially that no black people can write poetry because black people are intellectually inferior. he said, he ventures this is a suspicion only. the degree of his racism is shocking. it's not shared by washington or franklin who claimed her genius or many of the other founders. it reveals the fact that jefferson's hypocrisy on slavery was both rooted in racism that was unusual even by the standards of his time and also in his avarice. it's really important to ask the question, how was it that these founders who claim to be so devoted to virtue and self-mastery and virtues like industry and frugality could rely on in slave labor to make their lifestyles possible? what was so striking to learn is that they didn't even try. this is -- there's this amazing quotation by patrick henry where he gi

that was from jefferson. sacred honor is jefferson's term. think we don't dwell often either on the fact that the declaration of independence has a kind of -- makes the kind of moral community out of us, but it also makes a smaller moral community of the signers of the declaration of independence. they pledged to each other their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor, not to us. not to the citizen body as such. and that is part, i think, of the charm of the declaration of independence, which is visible both in its adams' roots and jefferson's roots. both of those gentlemen were very interested in what it meant to be a founder. adams in particular was quite interested with the ancient founders and with the problem of how to imitate them under modern conditions and what a founder should do. a founder of republican government under modern conditions. jefferson is a little less interested in founding as a kind of theme of political science, which is how adams is interested in it, but he was, of course, himself -- he helped to rewrite the

just simply with the jefferson's bourbon. a little bit of apple cider, apple butter and a couple of dashes of bitters. it's really great for the holidays, and people love that cocktail. so two great cocktails that you can batch up, by the way, and make ahead of time. all these recipes. we can do that ahead of time especially. we need something to nosh on to. danny. yes, this is hungry. you're going to love this. this is my sweet and spicy nuts. and the secret to this is it's made with egg whites and sugar. that gives it the crunch. and then, of course, we put in some spices of cinnamon and cayenne. give it a little heat. if you want to try one, you've got one there. oh, this is fun. people love these. and again, you can make a lot of these ahead of time. keep them frozen. bring them out when your guests here. and i like to serve them in individual containers. i love that right. and yes, i'm obsessed with this idea you have for hanukkah that i've never thought of before. this is wonderful. and i like this. it's an easy dip. yo

at one time, except when thomas jefferson dined here alone. the furnishings of the room are of that era. they are american furniture. about 1818 ten. that's, you know, right in the jefferson terms that that these pieces would have been made in his era. they weren't in the white house, in his era. they're probably better than anything that jefferson could afford to put in the white house in his time. the wonderful portrait of benjamin franklin hangs over the fireplace that was painted when he was in england. that's one of the american representatives for colonial governments that silver plated coffee urn that sits on the sofa table that was owned by john and abigail adams was probably bought when he was the american minister to great britain in the federal period. but not too long after the declaration of independence, the wonderful scene of philadelphia that hangs above the sofa, in fact, is philadelphia in the mid-19th century. but it shows independence hall, which is linked that to john adams and benjamin franklin. and jefferson is sort of t

now, nearly 50 years after farewell tour visits to monticello, jefferson's israel jefferson, a former enslaved worker there, wrote about a carriage ride with general quote, lafayette remarked that he thought the slaves ought to be free, that no man could rightly hold ownership in his brother. man, that he gave his best service as to and spent his money on behalf of the americans because freely because he felt that they were fighting for a great and noble principle the freedom of mankind that, instead of being free. a portion were held in bondage which seemed to grieve his noble heart that it would be mutually beneficial to masters and slaves if the latter were. this conversation very gratifying to me, and i treasure it up in heart at montpelier. lafayette engaged james madison and his neighbors in a debate over the issue of slavery. lafayette lobbied his friend, chief john marshall, by sending an anti-slavery pamphlet. benjamin lowndes a plan for the gradual abolition of slavery in the united states. although his anti-slavery views were well known in america, lafayette did not general

so he turned against jefferson and he was the one who broke the story about jefferson having an affairith sally hemmings, one of his enslaved people on this plantation, it was considered very salacious at the time and jefferson was still reelected and became a popular president. the thing is, as often happens with these starting of rumors, dna evidence has shown that jefferson did have an affair with sally hemmings. so given the for many years this was considered an excessive negative charge, it turns out he was right. we have had waves of this in our history. the worst example of our toxic politics where we cannot resolve our differences and find common ground was the civil war, which was a terrible calamity for the united states. it ended slavery and saved the union but at an enormous cost to the country. our lives and respect for each other and so on. what happens is, after having researched at this quite extensively, the country goes through a period where people are afraid, unsettled, resentful, full of grievance and the toxic politics comes back and that is where we are now. host

our jefferson award winner coming up. >>> beautiful sunset out there. temperatures today, above average across the entire bay area. a few more days this warm spell to go coming up. take that up a little bit higher. you should feel that, like, right back here. oh, yeah, i felt that! good, that is so much better than last week. thanks, i've been doing 'em every night while i'm watching tv. - oh, what are you watching? it's a mystery. high quality care that meets you where you are. >>> state senator scott wiener rolling out two new pieces of legislation at the capitol, targeting drug cost. aiming to cap monthly insulin copays at $35. the other would crack down on practices by pharmacy benefit managers. those practices tend to push patients towards higher priced medications and away from those cheaper generic options. they are also under scrutiny at the federal level. but governor newsom vetoed it in october of 2023, despite overwhelming support. >> i respectfully disagree with the governor's veto of the two bills, but we're going to keep making the case. t

, who was enslaved by jefferson and was interviewed decades later. and he that he remembered this for the entirety of his life. i think that something that is perhaps missing in society today and which is why, i call it a little bit of a call to action at, the end that if we are inspired by lafayette, it is our responsibility to be that lafayette and not it doesn't have to be. you don't have to go on a 13 month tour and meet thousands of people and have parades. you can do this in small ways. you can do this without the expectation of getting anything for it, which i think is exactly what lafayette did. so that's why i of hope to see as the result of this bicentennial and beyond. thank you. i just have to say, another round of applause for elizabeth. she was amazing. please join us downstairs for. book signing with elizabeth and a reception. and yes, to answer the question, we do have lafayette. where is downstairs is in an exhibition case. so you can see for yourself the face of lafayette on a mug. but again, thank you again for coming to the lectur

for example, when jefferson was elected in 1803. he pardoned everyone in prison who were convicted under the alien sedition act. >> what did those people do? >> they were alleged to have engaged in sedition against the united states. and will jefferson thought it was all political and just aimed at the federalist's political opponent. i'm saying it's been done. so he can't -- he could. he said he's going to. and i wouldn't be surprised if he did. >> and thomas jefferson, was he the first president? the third president. but the first to pardon? >> no. george washington pardoned the participants in the end of the whiskey rebellion. and john adams granted a few pardons. i can't tell you off the top of my head how many. there weren't that many because there weren't that many prosecutions. >> sam in baltimore, a democrat. good morning. >> good morning. here's my point. i think that president biden changed his idea because he has seen what trump is talking about with his vengeful attacks. he's going to use the department of justice to go

and before that, he was a president and ceo of thomas jefferson's poplar forest. thomas jefferson's retreat house and plantation located near lynchburg, virginia. he also worked at the mark twain house and museum in hartford, connecticut, and several roles serving as executive director for the final four years of his tenure there. he also serves as treasurer for a museum. of course, our featured author tonight is david s brown. david teaches history at elizabethtown college in pennsylvania. he is the author of seven books, among them four biographies. the first populist, the defiant life of andrew jackson, the last american aristocrat, the brilliant life and improbable education of henry adams and paradise lost a life of scott fitzgerald and richard hofstadter, an intellectual biography. of course, tonight at the new book, we are here for to celebrate is titled a hell of a storm. the battle for kansas, the end of compromise and the coming of the civil war. we've got to be just one blurb. this one's from a dr. alan kelso, who i'm sure we all know. he writes, quote,

jean-baptiste to coin was kaskaskia chief referenced here by jefferson. so can we see as a crossing significant territories in these efforts at negotiation the part of native leaders? well during this early era of the nation the first national peace medal for the united states on record least isn't issued until 1789. it's not surprising that this doesn't happen during. the heyday of the era of. and we're going to see henry knox be very important in, sort of convincing the washington administration to to get the point of making this medal and then of issuing that medal as well so the legacy of of these negotiations of, you know, this zone of sort of constant diplomacy. it's to persist. it's going to take us into the 19th century. we're going to see lewis and clark taking 89 piece metals with them on their expedition as well. and we know the spanish try to catch them on that expedition and i think we discount it some now but anyway it's a that's ongoing sort of as a legacy of the american so thank you very much.

so he turned against jefferson and he was the one who broke the story about jefferson having an affairh sally hemmings, one of his enslaved people on this plantation, it was considered very salacious at the time and jefferson was still reelected and became a popular president. the thing is, as often happens with these starting of rumors, dna evidence has shown that jefferson did have an affair with sally hemmings. so given the for many years this was considered an excessive negative charge, it turns out he was right. we have had waves of this in our history. the worst example of our toxic politics where we cannot resolve our differences and find common ground was the civil war, which was a terrible calamity for the united states. it ended slavery and saved the union but at an enormous cost to the country. our lives and respect for each other and so on. what happens is, after having researched at this quite extensively, the country goes through a period where people are afraid, unsettled, resentful, full of grievance and the toxic politics comes back and that is where we are now. host:

in richmond, virginia, to convict jefferson davis treason. if davis had been exonerated in court was highly likely it would have nullified the united states government's for waging war against the south. so lee devoted last five years of his life to educating the young men of the south. here, his president of washington college. he was an educational innovator. he revamped the schools curriculum, adding classes and modern language journalism, engineering, science, business and law. he inspired the student run honor code, and when he was asked by students what the rules were, he said, young gentlemen, we have but one rule here, and that is that every student must be a gentleman. he turned down offers for far more lucrative, and he responded to one such offer, saying, i'm grateful for the offer, but i have a self-imposed task which i must accomplish. i've led the young men of the battle of the south in battle. i've seen many of them die on the field i shall devote my remaining energies training young men to do their duty in life. after the war,

in fact, why were no confederates not even jefferson davis ever tried for treason? was secession legal? the constitution is silent on the rights of the states to secede. but southerners like lee believe that when their state seceded, the state carried them along with it and that they owed their loyalty to their states, not to the united states. and if the states had the right to secede, then lee and other confederates were not traitors. they were like their american revolutionary heroes fighting for the independence of their states. the legality of secession was not resolved in court. it was settled solely by the might of the united states army. so lee was indicted for treason but he was never put on trial. likewise with jefferson davis, who spent two years in prison after the war, the federal government dropped the charges because they knew they could never get a jury in richmond, virginia, to convict jefferson davis of treason. if davis had been exonerated in court, which was highly likely, it would have nullified the united states governments justification for wa

jefferson is a renaissance man.ve skills to pay the bills. but also to fulfill his dreams. >> for -- the community not having money -- it's very important to help the community. i'm from this community. >> reporter: he says that is why every dollar matters. jefferson is a part of the 36% of u.s. workers engaging in the gig economy through primary or secondary jobs. he immigrated from brazil where he said there were limited opportunities for him. but here, his ambitions remain vast. >> a lot of dreams. especially now -- i really liking -- having money to pay my school. >> reporter: and so he has mastered balancing it all. quite literally as he plays the violin, while riding a giraffe june cycle and hopes to engage a larger crowd and a larger tip. ultimately, jefferson would love to attend the san francisco conservatory of music. but until then, just like the other 57 million gig workers in the u.s., he will just keep playing. >> people making me happy. always they stopping and they enjoy my music. >> reporter: a joy

and there couldn't have been two more different concerts. >> the jefferson airplane, jefferson airplane we had had the hells angels b security at a number of free in the park concerts that we had done, and they were fine. >> they were funny. they were doing what they were supposed to do. so we suggested using hells angels and that the other side of the slide, i believe now what happened was that a lot of speed and alcohol, that's a deadly combination for bikers we tried marty said the f word to one of the hells angels while we were on stage the hells angel knocks him down. that was just the beginning. >> i'd like to mention that the hells angels just smashed marty balin in the face and knocked him out for a bit. i'd like to thank you for that. >> you talking to me? >> i'm going to talk to you. >> not talking to you, man. i'm talking to the people that hit my lead singer. >> talking to my people. right let me tell you what's happening you what's happening oh, no one makes you larger and one pill makes you small and the ones that mother gives you don't do anything at all. >> oh, that's wh

jefferson is a renaissance man. from the violin to juggling. he uses his creative skills to pay the bills. also, to fulfill his dreams. >> for a community not having money. it is very important to help. i am from this community. >> reporter: he says that is why every dollar matters. ♪. >> reporter: jefferson is part of the 36th percent of u.s. workers engaging in the gig economy through primary or secondary jobs. he immigrated from brazil where there were limited opportunities for him. but here, his ambitions remain vast. >> i have a lot of dreams. special now. i really like having money to pay for my school. >> reporter: so, he mastered balancing it all. quite literally. as he plays the violin while riding a uni-cycle he hopes to engage a larger crowd and larger tip. he would love to attend san francisco conservetory of music. until then, just like the other 57 million gig workers in the u.s. he will just keep playing. >> people making me happy. i always enjoy my music. a joy that keeps him gigging from season to season. >> i am feeling a litt

sharon chin has this week's bay area jefferson award winner.ave batteries. okay, we're going to turn right up here. >>>>judy santiago sleigh is a shopping cart at target. her elves, energetic volunteers. >>>>i call them my village. so many people have stepped in to help and volunteer. they know how many girls. how many boys? >>>>judy's made her list, and she's checking it twice to make sure all 300 children from alviso elementary school will get a gift at the party she's hosting the next day. >>>>it's been going on so long, it's just kind of part of me now. i think we're still in the process of assessing the damage. >>>>the toy giveaway started in 1983, when a major flood in alviso left some families out of their homes for months. that holiday season at the library. judy and her husband, joe santiago, brought candy canes. joe wore his santa suit. >>>>a lot of the families, you know, were devastated. they lost pretty much everything, and we didn't, of course, didn't have money to buy toys. but just having santa come really cheered up the kids. >

host: jefferson was the first? guest: no, george washington pardoned the participants in the whiskey rebellion. john adams granted a few pardons. i can't tell you how many off the top of my head, but there weren't many, there weren't that many prosecutions. host: sam, democratic line. caller: good morning. here's my point. i think that president biden changed his idea because he thinks that what trump is talking about with his vengeful attacks, he's going to use the department of justice to go after people repeatedly. didn't biden have a plea deal? i don't care about that, they want to keep him in the papers, the press, they want to keep continually attacking them. i understand why he would go so broad. trump is vindictive and vicious and wants to hurt people that he feels has wronged him. can you comment on that? thank you. guest: you're right, that was their concern. that's clearly why they did it. they were concerned that there were other at least potential charges out there and that trump would pursue them, so

remember, democrats used to say we're going to have a jefferson jackson day dinner.t have that anymore. he's seen as racist and very anti-native american and did things that killed a lot of people in the native american community in particular. he's not well respected today by scholars. another person i would say is -- whose reputation has gone down is woodrow wilson, the great reformer. he's governor of new jersey and then president of the united at. however, he now is widely seen as having done two things that were big mistakes. one, he resegregated the federal workforce and had been integrated. two, and this is very damaging as well, he had a stroke with about 18 months to go. he couldn't do what he had done before. he hid that from the public, and his wife essentially became a shadow president. she was really making decisions and deciding things that maybe he should have decided and the public didn't know this. that was a big problem. >> you often ask biographers what question they would most want to pose to the subject of their presidential biography. let me exp

sharon chin has this week's bay area jefferson award winner.started when judy santiago bought a santa suit to entertain their grandkids. but they never imagined they would bring joy to hundreds of children every year. >> no guns, no swords, no gifts that have batteries, okay? we're going to turn right up here. >> reporter: judy santiago's sleigh is a shopping cart at target. her elves, volunteers. >> and so many people have stepped in to help and volunteer. everybody mes how many girls and how many boys. >> reporter: she has made her list, checking it twice to make sure all 300 children from the elementary school will get a gift at the party she is hosting the next day. >> it's been going on for so long that it is just kind of a part of me now, i think. >> will and we are still in the process of assessing the damage. >> reporter: the toy giveaway started in 1983 when a major flood left some families out of their homes for months. that holiday season at the library, judy and her husband, joe santiago, brought candy canes. joe wore his santa suit

from his role as assistant district attorney of jefferson parish, to serving as judge of division o of the 24th judiciary district court, and chief judge of the fifth district court -- circuit court of appeals, he has worked tirelessly to uphold the principles of fairness and equity for the people of louisiana. marin's service for our state extends to every part of our community. he was on the boards of several nonprofit organizations, including the board of the boys and girls club, the salvation army, grace house of louisiana, responsibility house, g-ready and the jefferson parish community foundation. he's also supported those suffering with substance abuse in our state. founding one of the first treatment-based district courts in louisiana. and receiving awards, including the council on alcohol and drug abuse, pioneer and recovery award of the office of addictive disorders, professional services award. the compassion he has shown to his neighbors in their most difficult moments is a testament to his character and serves as a shining example for all of us to follow. through his leade

well, my book came out a week or two ago, and and it is study of lincoln and jefferson as commanders in chief. so i was and it had taken five years to write the book and. i so i have thought and research and written a lot about this. it's really the first two years of the civil war and. to be absolutely honest, there are certain similarities between. montgomery and mcclellan. you know, mcclellan did clearly have an ability to connect with ordinary soldiers, i suppose what we call gis know he, he and mcclellan to issue these messages to the troops these orders of the day to to foster a sense that army command is in knows you, is concerned about welfare, gives you some idea of what his hopes are for you and. so sometimes when i would read these mcclellan documents, i would think, wow, especially when he would things like, i love you. mcclellan well, monti didn't quite that far, but but to jump in, though, you know, i think the army, the they loved little mac and he's a great organizer here but he was also organizing the things like the artillery train and how many ambulances which then

thomas jefferson and george washington.ese guys were not college educated founding fathers either and i think that level ofha security honest is at least in my lifetime at an all-time high. why is that? the last eight years people have been talking to the media is not to beur trusted. the information you are saving we know we have been burned and weapons en masse destruction to iraq and the basis for the 2008 bailout to the russian collusion that ever was in the origin of covid to the laptop story of hunter biden that was suppressed in our money money was being. ukraine. people say okay me once or twice or thrice or seven times. me eight times you won't. i think that's created a hunger where people and they the term middler america that we refer to middle america is independently consuming information that is grounded en masse reason logic and skepticism of what they are fed and it's an opportunity for us right now. this is like a 1776 moment we live in and this is where i see the daylight between what i think of as an old

let me tell you, folks, 1800, you know, between adams and jefferson and aaron burr. but those were so colorful and interesting. i mean, we are boring by comparison, as we say in texas. i guarantee you it was a lot more interesting in those days, the tensions. i mean, you had media in those days that were really stoking the fires of, you know, the federalists hating the democratic were republicans and vice versa. lies through the lies repeated with thomas jefferson and john adams supervising the media production of these articles that were blatant lies. so we've had some rough times. the 1960s. well, see, i'm just old enough to remember a bit of. 1960s. you got a good laugh with that one? that's right. some historian that. that's right. that's right. the 1960s were really interesting because i what i remember well, i had a brother who graduated from the air force academy, and so he was flying a force in the vietnam era that kind of has a way of riveting your attention when there's a lot of civil unrest, a lot of anti war protests. that was a period of of great protest

[laughter] i go back to thomas jefferson. he was 33 when he wrote the declaration of independence. now let's just think about our country. the only thing i will save in our movement, okay, when i want a my9 yacht and we're speaking amongst friends here to to level this up is to say i don't want the america first movement to be one to accept that we have to be a nation in decline,. we're taught to believe it, it's easy to believe it, i understand why you might believe it. we don't is have to be a nation in decline. i think as a nation we're all really just a little young, actually. going through our own version of collective adolescence, figuring out who we're really going to be the when we grow up. and when you view it that way, at least for me, it starts to make sense again. you go through your adolescence, you lose your way a little bit. you lose your self-confidence, you lose your sense of who you really are. but we are stronger for it when we get to our adulthood on the ore side. yes, we go through that identity crisis, that national identity crisis. but we can be stronger for

adams and jefferson were good friends.were the co-authors, the co-architects of liberty, the declaration of independence. and jefferson was adams's vice president when john adams was vice president and things began to go south. their relationship tension rose and it culminated in a very vicious presidential election of 1800. it was notoriously toxic and vitriolic. adams said if jefferson, our wives and daughters would be brutally raped in the streets. team jefferson said adams was a man of most hermaphroditial e character. jefferson won the election. it was at the expense of his relationship with adams. they had not talked for 12 years after that. it was because of benjamin rush, a friend of both parties and a fellow founding father and noted abolitionist, he fostered the reproach and encouraged them to reconcile and they eventually did. they wrote 150 letters to one another over the next decade, until they both died. they talked about in these letters, everything under the sun. they talked about their grandkids. they remi

adams and jefferson were good friends.y were the co-authors, the co-architects of liberty, the declaration of independence. and jefferson was adams's vice president when john adams was vice president and things began to go south. their relationship tension rose and it culminated in a very vicious presidential election of 1800. it was notoriously toxic and vitriolic. adams said if jefferson, our wives and daughters would be brutally raped in the streets. team jefferson said adams was a man of most hermaphroditial e character. jefferson won the election. it was at the expense of his relationship with adams. they had not talked for 12 years after that. it was because of benjamin rush, a friend of both parties and a fellow founding father and noted abolitionist, he fostered the reproach and encouraged them to reconcile and they eventually did. they wrote 150 letters to one another over the next decade, until they both died. they talked about in these letters, everything under the sun. they talked about their grandkids. they re