Listening to America

Clay Jenkinson and Joe Ellis discuss the Enlightenment, a European intellectual movement that happened between 1680 and 1840 that believed in rationality, science, the rights of man and the possibility that humans could govern themselves. Joseph Ellis says that the very basis of the Enlightenment was truth and truth seeking. Mentioned on this episode : PBS: The Roosevelts: An Intimate History , PB...

David Swenson speaks with President Jefferson about the cost of the American Revolutionary War, the aid France provided to America, and Jefferson's position on aiding other nations in their struggles for freedom and liberty. Mentioned on this episode . Support the show by joining the  1776 Club  or by  donating  to the Thomas Jefferson Hour, Inc. You can learn more about Clay's cultural tours and...

In the second of two shows devoted to Theodore Roosevelt, Clay Jenkinson and Lindsay Chervinsky discuss Roosevelt's accomplishments and his shortcomings, including his collection of White House pets, his children, and how much the press enjoyed covering his presidency. Mentioned on this episode : The Best and Worst Presidential Cabinets in U.S. History by Lindsay M. Chervinsky for The Great Course...

Clay Jenkinson and Lindsay Chervinsky discuss Theodore Roosevelt's accomplishments and his shortcomings, including his great contributions to conservation and government reforms as well as the fact that he was considered a jingoist, an imperialist and at times a eugenicist and racist. Mentioned on this episode :  The Roosevelt Country Support the show by joining the  1776 Club  or by  donating  to...

David speaks with President Jefferson about the "original argument" between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton concerning whether or not the United States should have a national bank. Jefferson felt this was in a sense unconstitutional and Hamilton believed we needed a flexible constitution. This program originally aired in June of 2017. Mentioned on this episode . Support the show by joining...

Dr. Lindsay Chervinsky and Clay Jenkinson discuss John Jay, the American statesman, patriot, diplomat, Founding Father, abolitionist, and signatory of the Treaty of Paris in 1783. Jay was a proponent of strong, centralized government, which at times put him at odds with Thomas Jefferson. Jay worked to ratify the United States Constitution in New York in 1788 and was a co-author of The Federalist P...

David Swenson speaks with President Jefferson about Plato's Republic and American democracy. This program originally aired in 2016.   Clay will be performing live as Thomas Jefferson on May 14th in Newport News, Virginia at the Ferguson Center for the Arts . Mentioned on this episode : "Democracies End When They Are Too Democratic" by Andrew Sullivan Support the show by joining the  1776 Club  or...

Dr. Lindsay Chervinsky and Clay Jenkinson discuss King George III and his effect on the American Revolution. According to the British historian George Otto Trevelyan, the King was determined to "keep the rebels harassed, anxious, and poor, until the day when, by a natural and inevitable process, discontent and disappointment were converted into penitence and remorse." Mentioned on this episode : "...

David Swenson speaks with President Jefferson about the American character, both as citizens and as a nation. This program originally aired in May of 2017. Mentioned on this episode . Support the show by joining the  1776 Club  or by  donating  to the Thomas Jefferson Hour, Inc. You can learn more about Clay's cultural tours and retreats at  jeffersonhour.com/tours . Check out our  merch . You can...

Dr. Lindsay Chervinsky and Clay Jenkinson discuss Dr. Benjamin Rush, a Founding Father who signed the Declaration of Independence. Rush was the force behind the reconciliation correspondence between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams which began in 1812. Mentioned on this episode . Support the show by joining the  1776 Club  or by  donating  to the Thomas Jefferson Hour, Inc. You can learn more about...

Clay Jenkinson welcomes Yale Professor of History Joanne Freeman for a one on one conversation about her new book, The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War . In the book, Freeman writes about the physical violence on the floor of the US Congress in the decades before the Civil War. Legislative sessions were often punctuated by mortal threats, canings, flipped desks, and a...

Dr. Lindsay Chervinsky and Clay Jenkinson discuss Benjamin Franklin. When Franklin was asked what the U.S. Constitution would provide, he answered, "A republic, if you can keep it." Mentioned on this episode . Support the show by joining the  1776 Club  or by  donating  to the Thomas Jefferson Hour, Inc. You can learn more about Clay's cultural tours and retreats at  jeffersonhour.com/tours . Chec...

This week on the Thomas Jefferson Hour, Clay Jenkinson welcomes the author Derek Baxter to discuss Baxter's recently published book, In Pursuit of Jefferson: Traveling through Europe with the Most Perplexing Founding Father . To write the book, Baxter spent eight years doing research and traveling to sites in Europe that Jefferson visited. Mentioned on this episode . Support the show by joining th...

Clay Jenkinson and Lindsay Chervinsky discuss ten things about an event rather than an individual: the crossing of the Delaware River by George Washington and the Continental Army in a surprise attack on Christmas night, 1776. Mentioned on this episode . Support the show by joining the  1776 Club  or by  donating  to the Thomas Jefferson Hour, Inc. You can learn more about Clay's cultural tours an...

David Nicandri joins us to discuss the possible discovery of the HMS Endeavour, Captain James Cook's famous research vessel. The ship was used by Cook on his first voyage of discovery to the Pacific Ocean between 1768 and 1771. Mentioned on this episode . Support the show by joining the  1776 Club  or by  donating  to the Thomas Jefferson Hour, Inc. You can learn more about Clay's cultural tours a...

Clay Jenkinson and Lindsay Chervinsky discuss James Monroe, America's fifth president. He is perhaps best remembered for issuing the Monroe Doctrine, a policy of opposing European colonialism in the Americas while asserting America's dominance in the western hemisphere. Over the course of his political career, Monroe served as a U.S. Senator, Secretary of State, governor of Virginia, and ambassado...

Jason Miyares became the 48th Attorney General of Virginia on January 15, 2022. Clay Jenkinson spoke with him shortly before he took office to discuss a number of subjects including Jefferson's philosophical importance to America, his own thoughts on public service, and the story of his mother's immigration to America in 1965.  Mentioned on this episode: @JasonMiyaresVA , Democracy in America by A...

Clay welcomes James L. Powell, author of Dead Pool: Lake Powell, Global Warming, and the Future of Water in the West . They discuss whether there will be enough water to sustain the great desert cities of of the American Southwest, and some citizens reluctance to accept scientific facts about global warming. Powell explains his alarm about the urgent threat saying that it will come not from the ri...

Clay Jenkinson is joined by Beth Hoffman, author of Bet the Farm: The Dollars and Sense of Growing Food in America . Hoffman and her husband left successful careers in San Francisco for a new life as farmers in Iowa. Mentioned on this episode: Bet the Farm: The Dollars and Sense of Growing Food in America , Beth Hoffman's blog , @BethFoodAg Support the show by joining the 1776 Club  or by  donatin...

Lindsay Chervinsky joins us to discuss the Marquis de Lafayette. Lafayette was only 19 years old when he arrived in America, and had no combat experience, and yet his service helped win the American Revolution. Inspired by the ideals of the American Revolution, and with the help of Jefferson, he wrote the Declaration of the Rights of Man which today remains enshrined in France's constitution. You...

Clay is joined by Darren Staloff, the author of Hamilton, Adams, Jefferson: The Politics of Enlightenment and the American Founding . In this incisive book, Staloff writes that America owes its guiding political traditions to three Founding Fathers whose lives embodied the collision of European enlightenment with the founding of America. You can order Clay's new book at  Amazon ,  Target ,  Barnes...

Patrick Henry is often referred to as "the voice of the Revolution." He played a vital role in helping to launch the Revolution and was a leading anti-federalist, but he and Jefferson found themselves in strong disagreement. This week, Clay speaks with John Ragosta, the author of Patrick Henry: Proclaiming a Revolution . You can order Clay's new book at  Amazon ,  Target ,  Barnes and Noble , or b...

Lindsay Chervinsky joins Clay Jenkinson this week for the next in a series of programs titled "Ten Things". The conversations center on historical figures from the founding era, and ten things you may or may not know about them.   This week: Ten Things about Abigail Adams. You can order Clay's new book at  Amazon ,  Target ,  Barnes and Noble , or by contacting your independent bookstore.  The Lan...

This week, a special conversation between the creator of the Thomas Jefferson Hour, Clay Jenkinson, and his daughter Catherine, home from England for the holidays. Among other things, they discuss Henry Laurens, an American Founding Father, a president of the Continental Congress and signatory to the Articles of Confederation who the British held prisoner in the Tower of London. You can order Clay...

We take a look back at the many conversations we had during this past year. We hear from President Jefferson on a number of subjects, including the events surrounding January 6th, President Jefferson's inauguration, Shays' Rebellion, and hear from Jefferson Hour contributors Lindsay Chervinsky, Pat Brodowski, Beau Wright, Brad Crisler and Joseph Ellis. You can order Clay's new book at  Amazon ,  T...