but they screwed it up. >> with the electoral college tied between thomas jefferson and aaron burr, the0 goes to the house of representatives. if burr can win the support of the federalists in congress, he could steal the presidency. for years, jefferson has played politics to get what he wants, alienating many along the way, an approach that could now backfire. >> the federalists in congress will try to ally with burr. but you have the power to stop that. >> i shall help no man steal the presidency, least of all you! >> the fate of the country now rests in the hands of a bitterly divided congress. and, as politics turn personal, it's only a matter of time before blood is shed. [ two gunshots ] pregnancy is an exciting time, but you may experience common discomforts. introducing trunatal from one a day. trunatal is a new line of products designed to address discomforts with nausea relief and regularity support. add trunatal from one a day for relief and support you can trust. and an early morning mode.ode. and a partly sunny mode. and an outside... to clear inside mode. transitions® sig

but they screwed it up. >> with the electoral college tied between thomas jefferson and aaron burr, ther can win the support of the federalists in congress, he could steal the presidency. for years, jefferson has played politics to get what he wants, alienating many along the way, an approach that could now backfire. >> the federalists in congress will try to ally with burr. but you have the power to stop that. >> i shall help no man steal the presidency, least of all you! >> the fate of the country now rests in the hands of a bitterly divided congress. and, as politics turn personal, it's only a matter of time before blood is shed. [ two gunshots ] looking for balance in your digestive system? try align probiotic. for a non-stop, sweet treat goodness, hold on to your tiara kind of day. live 24/7. with 24/7 digestive support. try align, the #1 ge recommended probiotic. my bladder leakage made me feel like i couldn't be the father that i wanted to be. my kids see me as this rock of the family and a part of me felt like i became less of that hero to them but with depend, i have none of th

john adams and thomas jefferson were rivals. john adams was the real ringleader, the principal person advocating for independence. he had been a strong figure in the first continental congress and was very strong in the second. he was the person who said let's go back, send the delegates back to the states. get the authority to vote for independence. thomas jefferson was young. he did not want to be there. he had illnesses in his family, he would rather be in virginia because that is where the action was. who cares about the second covenant of congress? he was a junior man in the totem pole in virginia. and ultimately, add-ins and he came to a working relationship that was good then but over many years later, they fought. he fought over different principles. adams became president was a strong federal government person. jefferson became president but it was a weaker federal government and more of a closer to the people kind of democrat. that caused some problems. the problem between july 4 and july 2 was probably some of their d

he actually had to fight a battle against his opponent who was thomas jefferson. these two had been friends, obviously, they wrote the declaration of independence together. now opposite sides of the fence. they don't want to talk to each other. the election is very ugly, it's nasty, very close. it's sort of for us today a normal presidential election. john adams wins by three electoral votes. we have never had a president who got half the votes. we have never had a president who had to really fight for an election. of course, the other problem in the early days is if you come in second, you are vice president. the new president is one party. the new vice president is the other party. pick any modern election and put them together and you can see how neither would be particularly happy. they are not happy to be up in the front of the room together. this is a full house that day. the balcony, seats, you have most of the government here. a lot of curiosity. you can also figure about half of the men in this room are not very happy to see john adams standing up there.

there was a biographer, fawn brodie, who got into trouble writing about thomas jefferson and calling it a psychohistory. the book most blessed of the patriarchs is out now. what my co-author and i tried to do is to be responsible in reading jefferson's words and looking at his actions and making inferences about that. you can look at the patterns you discern. you hope you see what the person was attempting to do in the world. i don't think it's possible to present a picture of a subject without trying to get into their mind. that is what all biographers do. whether they are doing psychology or not they are psychoanalyzing. jon: ralph waldo emerson said there is no history only biography. if you don't practice psychiatry without a license, you should find another line of work. ron: there has to be psychological understanding. what is very important in general is not to introduce anachronism. we love about biography is that it casts a spell, it transports you into the past. to introduce modern psychological jargon has a way of breaking that spell. the present suddenly invades the past.

john marshall is afraid that if he actually orders thomas jefferson to appoint this guy named william marbury to this position, that's that marbury is all about, marbury comes to court saying i want you, the judges, to order james madison, who is jefferson's wing man, secretary of state, i want you, john marshall, to order madison to give this guy a piece of paper saying he's a judge. remember, at the end of the administration, adams tried to pack the judiciary with all of these featherless types. marshall is afraid, if he does that, he's going to be impeached. and maybe convicted. and that's actually only the second worst option -- scenario. the best scenario is he'll just be ignored and made a fool of. second best is he's going to be impeached and i'll tell you why he thinks that. other possible scenario, remember, we have an -- we know how history turned out. he doesn't. thomas jefferson was there in france, he says lots of things about the french revolution and the, you know, the tree of liberty must be watered by the blood of tyrants, so maybe the guillotine. he doesn't know this

he actually had to fight a battle against his opponent who was thomas jefferson. now these two had been friends. obviously they wrote the declaration of independence together, but now opposite sides of the fence -- they don't even want to talk to each other. so the election is very ugly, it's very nasty, it's very close. it's sort of, for us today, a normal presidential election. john adams wins by three electoral votes. only slightly more than half. we've never had a president who got only half the votes. we've never had a president who had to really fight for an election. and of course the other problem in those early days is if you come in second, you are vice president, which means that the new president is one party, the new vice president is the other party. just pick any modern election you like, put the two opponents together for four years as the executive, and you can see how neither of them would be particularly happy. so john adams and thomas jefferson are not happy to be standing up in the front of the room together. this is a full house that day. bal

it was thomas jefferson and john adams. and did they ever get vicious. people were riding through the putting into newspapers that thomas jefferson was dead. people saying barack obama is not a citizen? people were saying thomas jefferson is dead, so don't bother voting for him. iesday's, there was no cnn -- n those days, there was no cnn or something that could quash a rumor like that. that got into the body politic. recently put together a backthat might have aired in those days. if television existed and john adams put together a spot attacking thomas jefferson, what would it look like? to give you an idea of the vitriol at the times and how our politics are not that bad by comparison to the earlier era. ♪ >> ignition destroyed, dwellings in plains, female chastity the pike and help her. it happen in france, but it can happen in america is thomas jefferson is elected president. murder, robbery, rape and insist will be openly taught and practiced. the soil will be soaked in blood and the nation black with crimes. great god of compassion and justice, sh

her forthcoming book on thomas jefferson, we'll look forward to that. jon meacham is a presidential historian and executive vice president at random house. his book american lion, andrew jackson in the white house, won the prize in 2009. he just wrote a book on george herbert walker bush. our moderator is the director of the lbj presidential library in austin. he's an analyst for abc news on matters relating to politics in the presidency. thanks to each of you in attendance for making this a very special evening. please welcome our panelists. to discuss presidential biographies, the challenges, then and now. thank you. [applause] mark: thank you, ken, con gracesed on your point. it is a pleasure to moderate this panel with this illustrious group. we will start with presidential icons like washington and jefferson and lincoln. that is well trodden territory for biographies. for george washington alone, there are 900 biographies. i will ask each of you, when you are tackling a mammoth subject like a george washington or thomas jefferson or an andrew jacks

he's not thomas jefferson though. he's much more pragmatic, he tends to read pretty quickly, he never heard a great library like jefferson, he's a different kind of person. >> what i put on the screen, this is a group of people who are at the constitutional convention and just to show you the ages of some of them, you can talk about them as you see it up on the screen. we have charles who is 29, alexander hamilton is 30, john lansing is 32 governor morris 35, james madison 46 and george mason is 62. >> and you're missing franklin who was in his early '80s. so madison, george mason who's on the screen but also benjamin franklin really had been the movers and shakers of the time of the revolution. george mason certainly was well known out of virginia for having drafted the virginia bill of rights and was very important. madison is okay with him. ben franklin at the convention drives him crazy. he is in his 80s and he thinks everything should still be like it was in the revolution. madisons competitors a little bit at the

thomas jefferson and john adams. and did they ever get vicious. riding throughle countryside putting into newspapers the got spread across newspapers that thomas jefferson was dead. talking about barack obama and not a citizen? they were saying thomas jefferson was dead. you would not vote for a dead man. in those days, there was no cnn, c-span. nothing that could quickly quash a rumor. so got into the body politic, perhaps he is dead. maybe it will vote for the other guy. -- puty recently did a together a spot that might have aired back in those days. -- ifn adams was television existed and john adams put together a spot attacking thomas jefferson what would it look like which marked to give you some idea of the vitriol of the time and maybe our politics really aren't that had bite comparison to that early era. [videotape] >> female chastity violated. children dying. it happened in france but it could happen right here in america of thomas jefferson's elected president. murder, rape, interest will be open only taught and practiced. the great god

as john marshall inn validating act of congress, but the real drama is john marshall against thomas jefferson because marshall's opinion goes on and on about how lawless the jefferson administration has been, in the same way that today's court is being invited to say, well, the obama administration is lawless on immigration policy, and the obama administration was lawless on obamacare and not just in the law, but the implementation of the law, and the obama administration is lawless on some of their carbon rules and the epa. so this is nothing new. it's a feature of the distinct structural pattern of a presidency that's a four-year term with this tidal feature and justices who have life tenure. so marbury is a drama. now flash forward. roger tawney and abraham lincoln. abraham lincoln becomes president by running against roger tawney, by telling everyone who will listen just how preposterous dread scott is, this young lawyer from illinois calls it, quote, i love this phrase, an astonisher in legal history. now the tension when lincoln confronts tawney who wants to invalidate everything lincol

so that when thomas jefferson sends troops to paste to negotiate new orleans, because as jefferson said whoever controls new orleans is our natural enemy. right? because you think of that western expansion. if you're a farmer, if you're in the west, if you're in kentucky, or points west, you're not thinking to lug your produce back across the anticipappalach mountains. you're looking to float it down the ohio, down the mississippi to new orleans. if spain holds out, if france holds out, you've got a problem. so jefferson's ministers go looking to buy new orleans. they arrive in paris and the french minister says, have we got a deal for you. because napoleon has decided to unload. the war with britain, the disasters in the caribbean, convinced napoleon to wash his hands of the french empire. this is not jefferson's vision. this is not -- well, maybe it is divinely ordained. maybe that's what's explains it all. but maybe it's chance. which we don't like to necessarily think about. so look at this. so, yes, this is -- my daughter did this, yeah. but you could construct something like this.

and raise taxes, a plan based on britain's economic system. >> this causes great hardship with thomas jeffersonalexander hamilton and his financial schemes in the treasury department are throwing america back into the hands of stock-jobbers in great britain. >> jefferson insists on believing that hamilton is engaged in some type of nefarious plot to restore aristocracy and royal government to the united states. >> gentlemen, you know what i want. surely, there must be something you want just as badly. >> virginians jefferson and madison want the nation's capital to be in the south. in exchange for the national bank, a 100-square-mile plot along the potomac is set aside, a small price for hamilton to pay. >> i question your method of paying the wartime debt. >> your thinking on this issue, mr. madison, is somewhat antiquated. we are no longer a conglomeration of states but one body. when the right hand is wounded, does not the left rise to bandage it? >> i was duped by the secretary of the treasury and made a tool for forwarding his schemes. and of all the errors in my political career, this, th

he said i knew thomas jefferson, thomas jefferson was a friends of mine and governor, you are no thomas two countries as alike as the united states and the so cents union. henry wallace was the worst vice president we ever had. john: he was showned gulags, the labor camps. >> they put on a show for him and gave him a painting to take home which he hung proudly on his mantel. he ran for the presidency in 1948. john: sarah palin became the brunt of jokes for saying this. john: you can see russia from her lands. so it became part of the caricature of sarah palin. >> i can see russia from my house. john: she never said her house. >> her biggest gaffe came in her book "going rogue." she said her daughter asked her mother why don't you ever cry. and said if this were a murder mystery, this would be the sociopath. john: al gore once said this. >> during my service in the united states congress i took the initiative in creating the internet. john: thank you, al, enjoying your internet. fewer people know that when gore was given a tour of thomas jefferson's home he didn't recognize some of the m

thomas jefferson who helps bring west point into being although he thought he speaks of west point in the same way also for jefferson it's more important in scientific terms of the time of the development that would come out of it. >> is their dissent allowed at military academies? >> yes. and in a place like west point, encouraged is maybe too strong of a word that it's a liberal arts education and a general liberal arts education means that while we want to cultivate certain understandings of politics and certain habit of mind that will be essential for leadership part of the habit will be subject to questioning and that's something that those who think about the national universituniversity are aware oy dawn. on. they want to really sort of each the range of ideas about the politics and government and even while trying to cultivate an understanding and you see some of that at west point and beyond west point in many ways we are very open when we teach liberal arts about the varieties of the experience and we want to be critical of the institutions and get most of them themselves ar

so we have chapters on thomas jefferson, starting with tom paine, thomas jefferson, there is a piece on john quincy adams, abraham lincoln, on through linda johnson. so what i think i will do before taking questions and how much more time have i got? is my out there? how mistimed i have i have? >> about ten minutes. but see in five or ten minutes what he wants. you want to hear thomas jefferson or devoid? devoid wins right away. the he fits right in the middle of the book and he's important because well you'll see. in his mysterious education, printed in 1970 aging henry adams ushered in the 20th century with the scientific prophecy of expending chaos and accelerated historical time. a few years earlier his new englander and harvard man, the young we need to boy was equally mysterious and with the prophecy of his own. the palm of the 20th century is the problem of a color. both prophecies still live, with as many portents as the rest of the century ahead as the one just passed. the two men apparently never met or corresponded, adams left his teaching post at the harvard teaching post

one is thomas jefferson. the other henry clay. yet as we shall see, despite his impressive array of talents clay had a penchant for making stunningly bad political decisions. in part this is because clay was a gambler. that was his basic nature. as one newspaper observed, mr. clay is a gamester in politics but not a cool one. this poor judgment ultimately cost him the great ambition of his life, which was the presidency. after several successful years at the bar clay decided to embark upon his political career. he was elected to the kentucky general assembly in 1803 and quickly rose in the political ranks, becoming speaker of the kentucky house. 1806 marked a particularly important year for clay. he purchased ashland, his nearby kentucky home, which is today a famed historical site. it was also the year he was first elected to the u.s. senate by the state legislature and made his arrival on the washington scene. clay just short of the required age of 30 thus launched a senate career that with a good many interruptions would not en

then like james madison and thomas jefferson worked, that a new leader could have rights and for themit's vital that personal freedoms are not replayed but written into the constitution as the bill of rights we still value today. >> well the genesis bill of right social security the central government and several states said if we can add individual rights to this document, then we will finally support it. >> it's james madison that sits down and writes the ten amendments that's the bill of rights. >> one, congress shall make no law respects a status or a freedom of speech or the press. >> our country is in danger. the measure taken by our congress must be ashoed. a well regulated and that and to bare arms should not be pursued. the right shall not be violated. then the power is not dell gietd the united states by the constitution are reserved to the states for or to the people. >> here here. >> the constitution defines the power of the american government, and the bill of rights defines the rights of american citizen but the clash between the government power and then the people will

the vice president which we'll start with john adams and he'll be succeeded by thomas jefferson, they would be here a good bit of the time. probably a lot more than the vice president today. today the vice president can sit in the senate any day they want, but early on they made it clear to john adams they didn't want him talking so he can sit there and run the meetings, which left him very disappointed. he's the first, but certainly not the last vice president to complain about the limitations of that job. he is allowed to vote only to break ties, which again, that carries through the years, so if there's a tie vote the vice president is always the tie breaker. so any big day, any big vote, the vice president will be there and other than that, the vice president, you know, john adams would find he was kind of stuck here in philadelphia running a bunch of meetings with a bunch of guys who wouldn't let him talk and found it dissatisfying and for thomas jefferson, when he's vice president his opponent is the president so he doesn't necessarily agree with a lot of the policies that he ha

thomas jefferson. and james madison. henry clay, however, was at or near the top of american political life with little interruption for four decades. from his speakership, to the end of his life, it is difficult to think of any other american political figure who can claim that type of lengthy, prominent career. on the other side of the ledger, clay's record on slavery was complex to say the least. as a younger man he had advocated that kentucky amend its state charter to permit the gradual freeing of slaves. he maintained throughout his life the position that slaves should be freed, despite those noble sentiments, clay himself was a slave owner his entire adult life. to his profound discredit, he did not put his sentiments into action by manumitting all his slaves. the best he could offer was to assist freed slaves in being transferred to west africa. moreover, despite the prescience of clay's american system, he failed to get most of it enacted in his lifetime, although some measures would later be adopted by succeedi

and apparently thomas jefferson brought -- you know how i am with the food.urse i'm going to eat all of it. >> dig >> thomas jefferson brought a waffle iron over from france. i'm just going to go with this. >> and, you know, the waffle has had many copiers since. the waffle robe. the waffle fries. everybody is trying -- >> somebody take a bite. >> we're talking. >> how is it? is it good? >> yeah. >> there are a lot of places all over today you can celebrate national waffle day. we encourage you to go out and help celebrate. >> that's really good. >> take a bite of your waffle. >> i love that you've even the entire thing in the course of this. all right. was it really good? >>> let's move on. speaking of luck. >> no. >> i'm trying to get rid of carbs. every day i'm like pumpkin spice ce >> all right. all right. >> so there's a lucky woman. do we have the photos of this woman who was really lucky. >> in the penny slots. she won in the penny slots. she's trying to remain anonymous. we know she's from hawaii. kendis is waiting for us to go to commercial so he doe

her fourth coming back "the most blessed of patriarch, thomas jefferson" we all look forward to. jon meacham is a presidential historian, contributing editor at "time" and executive vice president and executive editor at random house. his book "american lion, andrew jackson and the white house" won the pulitzer prize in biography in twine. most significant to this audience may be his just-published book destiny in power, the american oodsy of george herbert walker bush." and our moderator is the director of the lbj presidential library in austin and author of four books on the presidency, he's an analyst for abc news on matters relating to politics and the presidency and he's written for countless publications. thanks to each of you in attendance for making this a special evening and a special event today and tomorrow and please welcome our panelists to discuss presidential biographies, the challenge then and now. thank you. [ applause ] >> thank you,. it's a pleasure to moderate this panel. let's start with presidential icons like washington and jefferson and lincoln, it's prett

thomas jefferson was on the committee but he basically wrote it. constitution, there's really not going to be that one obvious writer. you're going to have a five-man committee called the committee of detail, which name is exactly what it sounds like. the guys putting in the details of what this government is going to be. three of the five will be on the united states supreme court. one will be our first attorney general. so that's the kind of men you're going to have on there. the very much legal minded men. probably the main guy who puts together most much their reports is james wilson from pennsylvania. he is one of the signers of the declaration of independence as well. he will end up on the united states supreme court. and more than likely, he came up with the three words, "we the people" at the very beginning of the constitution. that's the beginning of the committee detail report. we the people. nothing else that would be recognizable to us today but he does start out with "we the people." now as they go through this committee of detail repo

enough to captivate even thomas jefferson while in france. the story line that's smart and beautiful women held their own with their male counterparts makes feminism look easy. it ignores the powerful resistance when it came to treating women as equals and sanitizes the thinking of most of the founders. why do we need them? why did it take nearly a century long campaign to secure the female vote? if the problem was already solved by the founders and the hip women of their generation. i strongly urge all to revisit hamilton's report on manufacturers published in 1791. in which it was quite clear that the classes to be exploited for factory workers were women and children even children of a tender age. why? because they were idle and contributed nothing of value to the economy. so yes, hamilton did anticipate our modern industrial economy, but one built on the backs of poor women and children. i ask again, what could possibly be less progressive than advocating child labor? this is why the 18th century hamilton cannot be dragged into the 21st c

thomas jefferson called it the great commanding theater of our nation. it may also be said that here on this site, within these walls, there is an abundance of story such as we found in no other one structure in all our country. some have likened congress to an ever-flowing river, the content of which keeps steadily changing. from the time congress first took up business here on the hill in 1800, more than 11,000 men and women have come and gone as members of the house and senate. the current members number 535, but the continuing population of this city unto itself is greater by far. there are a total of 1,800 capitol hill police serving or a force more than three times the size of congress. 100 or more engineers look after electricity and plumbing and fire protection. another small army of workers maintains the grounds. barbers, chefs, waiters and waitresses, a resident physician, and congressional staff members are also part of the workforce within this building. then there are the 65 tour guides, visitors numbering from 3 million to 5 million a year.

one person who was not in williamsburg at that meeting was thomas jefferson, but he spent the next 50 years complaining about that constitution. my guess is that he was complaining because he was not participating. thomas jefferson could not imagine that anybody could do anything like write a constitution without him. by the way, it is written into my contract at the university of virginia that i cannot have a talk without at least one mention of thomas jefferson, so you have just heard my one obligatory mention of jefferson. jefferson did not like that constitution. his argument was that the body of men in williamsburg who wrote that constitution was also enacting laws in virginia, and that was confusing, to have the same people constitutions and laws because constitutions are then just ordinary laws. they can be made and unmade just like any other law, so what we did not do in virginia, our friends in massachusetts did four years later. in 1780, massachusetts had a convention in elected by the people for the express purpose of writing the constitution, which was then put out in refe

so we have chapters on thomas jefferson -- well, starting with tom paine to thomas jefferson, there's a piece on john quincy adams, lots on abraham lincoln, two chapters, on through to lyndon johnson. so what i think i'll do before taking questions -- and how much more time have i got? let me make sure. is maya out there? how much more time have i got? >> [inaudible] >> 5-10 minutes. well, let's see. in 5-10 minutes, what do you want, do you want to hear thom jefferson or w.e.b. dubois? >> [inaudible] >> dubois wins right away. that's good. i'm happy to the read that part. he fits chronologically in the middle of book, and he's important because, well, you'll see. in his mysterious education printed in 1907, the aging henry adam belatedly ushered in the century with accelerated historical time. a few years earlier, his fellow new englander and harvard man, the young w.e.b. dubois, ushered in the new century with his poetic, equally mysterious "the souls of black folk," and with it a prophesy of his own. quote: the problem of the 20th century is the problem of the color line. both prop

i don't think it dawned on him until we start digging in. >> reporter: letter was written by thomas jefferson himself in 1815 and focuses on the war of 1812. that is what makes it incredibly rare. before mailing it, jefferson received news about the end of the war and then added this ps under his name. >> on the day of the date of this letter, the news of peace reached washington. >> reporter: jefferson's letter is in remarkable condition not surprising as he had finest materials of the day. >> this letter is in better condition then a newspaper from 1980. >> reporter: rob is currently selling the letter and it can be yours for $325,000. if you cannot afford it, rob says to start looking around your house, you never know what you might find. >> it is such a powerful, emotional letter of jefferson you can really sit and picture him sitting down apartment his desk penning this american treasure. >> reporter: in ardmore david spunt for cbs-3 "eyewitness news". >>> amazing. >> his handwriting is beautiful. >> we're marveling at the condition of this document, and penmanship. >> very good. >> like

i don't think it dawned on him until we start digging in. >> reporter: letter was written by thomas jeffersonimself in 1815 and focuses on the war of 1812. that is what makes it incredibly rare. before mailing it, jefferson received news about the end of the war and then added this ps under his name. >> on the day of the date of this letter, the news of peace reached washington. >> reporter: jefferson's letter is in remarkable condition not surprising as he had finest materials of the day. >> this letter is in better condition then a newspaper from 1980. >> reporter: rob is currently selling the letter and it can be yours for $325,000. if you cannot afford it, rob says to start looking around your house, you never know what you might find. >> it is such a powerful, emotional letter of jefferson you can really sit and picture him sitting down apartment his desk penning this american treasure. >> reporter: in ardmore david spunt for cbs-3 "eyewitness news". >>> amazing. >> his handwriting is beautiful. >> we're marveling at the condition of this document, and penmanship. >> very good. >> like s

thomas jefferson said wherever the people are well informed, they can be trusted with their own government. and there is really the crux of some of the problem that we're running into. you have ever been down to the library of congress, you will have seen probably thomas jefferson's library that's recreated there. nice round space, round bookcases which contained virtually the entirety of human knowledge at the time. and he had read all of those books and contained that in his mind. he was a scientist and an attorney, sort of like francis bacon was. and that was a possible idea back then, the well-informed voter. but what happens now nearly a quarter century -- nearly a quarter millennia later when science has continued to advance, and it's not at all possible for one person to know even a fraction of all that there is to know? how do we have well-informed voters that are able to govern themselves successfully in the in a democracy in the age dominated by complex science and technology? that's the rub that we're bumping up against. well, in order to come up with this idea for democracy, to

i am the director of the thomas jefferson center and we are the host of the program today. is a source of great pride this is the 22nd virginia of festival of the book one way or another with all 22 festivals and it is something we will continue to do for many years to come because one of the best waysbesa to combat censorship for the desire is to remind people of the benefits of free speech. but it is a small price to pay for all the benefitsle before the concept is. >> yes for the first amendment. >> this was the very room that i discovered that i needed to wear glasses. [laughter] because at some point i started to do this number and asking me to read housekeeping details. and asked me to be patient. but i want to tell you that this is virginia festival of the book the product of the virginia foundation for humanities. please silence your cell phones this will be recorded if you would like to tweet you day and they say that as if i had any idea what that means. >> include me if you wore on twitter please. >> she could be speaking a foreign language right now.. [laughter]

a curator at the central library talking about "the federalist papers" but keep them in mind thomas jefferson was in paris. >> this was one of job -- jefferson's copies so what has a unique inscription the first one reads for the honorable mr. jefferson to john j. and then a present for mr. jefferson gave his copy to the scottish philosopher and mr. stewart writes i was told that the greater parts of the papers were written by mr. matheson -- madison. sa o after words as they become increasingly famous son they disagreed after hamilton's death and then mattison said no that there are some that historians disagree on. >> check out these numbers. >> guest: madison wrote most and then in the beginning and then he writes the great as they. and then write about congress and then hamilton writes and that was hamiltons idea so then he writes a few. >> as a pair asa a federalist nine of how you govern a large territory? medicine copy step from the convention for federalist and he was probably bracing for. cspan2: and we talk about be interest but dash leading all of that would not surprise them. so o