Listening to America

"He was iconic in the world's idea of what a nation could possibly be, and what an enlightened leader could possibly be." — Clay S. Jenkinson portraying Thomas Jefferson This week features another episode in the Jefferson Hour book club. We discuss Humboldt and Jefferson: A Transatlantic Friendship of the Enlightenment by Sandra Rebok, which explores the relationship between two fascinating person...

In this week's episode, President Thomas Jefferson answers listener questions, as does Thomas Jefferson Hour creator Clay S. Jenkinson. Subjects discussed include where the name "United States of America" comes from, the poet Phillis Wheatley and slavery in the Northwest Territory. Find this episode, along with recommended reading,  on the blog . Support the show by joining the  1776 Club  or by ...

Clay Jenkinson has returned from his annual Lewis and Clark trip in Montana and Idaho, and he gives us a report on the 2019 tour. Clay also offers a list of eight items Lewis and Clark would have certainly wished for on their journey, could they have had them. Find this episode, along with recommended reading,  on the blog . Support the show by joining the  1776 Club  or by  donating  to the Thoma...

This week, Clay takes a deeper look at Jefferson and religion. Jefferson considered the teachings of Jesus as having "the most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man," but he felt that the pure teachings of Jesus were inaccurately appropriated by some of the early followers of Jesus which led to a Bible that had both "diamonds" of wisdom and the "dung" of ancient...

On August 20th, 1814, Thomas Jefferson received a letter from Miles King expressing King's concerns for Jefferson's eternal soul. King wrote, "And now permit me to ask dear Sir, are you not an old man well stricken in years, and laden with the highest honors that a grateful country can bestow? But what will these avail you in a dying hour?" We speak with President Jefferson this week about that le...

We discuss the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo moon landing and then are joined by two special guests. Jeff Huss of the Huss and Dalton Guitar Company in Staunton, Virginia talks about a very special project: the Jefferson Edition 00-SP Custom guitar which is crafted in part with wood from Monticello. Later in the program, Monticello's head gardener Pat Brodowski tells us about the trees the wood c...

"Jefferson comes off as a Machiavellian figure in this book, as not all together reliable and not always truthful in his epic fight against Hamilton." — Clay S. Jenkinson This week, we present another installment in the Jefferson Hour Book Club and discuss Alexander Hamilton by author Ron Chernow. Find this episode, along with recommended reading,  on the blog . Support the show by joining the  17...

"Mayor Pete of South Bend is saying that he would welcome certain erasures of Jefferson from our public discourse." — Clay S. Jenkinson Clay has returned from his recent travels and his search for America, and he updates us on that trip. We answer listener mail, including responses to the recent show, #1344 Baked In. Find this episode, along with recommended reading,  on the blog . Support the sho...

For our annual Jefferson Hour 4th of July show, we speak with President Jefferson (as portrayed by humanities scholar Clay S. Jenkinson) about the founding ideals of America and his participation in the writing of the Declaration of Independence. Find this episode, along with recommended reading,  on the blog . Support the show by joining the  1776 Club  or by  donating  to the Thomas Jefferson Ho...

"It is a necessary evil, and the more we rein it in, the happier and freer we shall be." — Clay S. Jenkinson portraying Thomas Jefferson Find this episode, along with recommended reading,  on the blog . 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 & retreats at  jeffersonhour.com/tours . Check out our...

This week we speak with humanities scholar Clay S. Jenkinson about how rigid people's political thoughts have become during our time, George Will's observations on citizen's expectations of government and what a contemporary Jeffersonian political party might stand for. Find this episode, along with recommended reading,  on the blog . Support the show by joining the  1776 Club  or by  donating  to...

"Every individual [is] led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention." — Adam Smith Find this episode, along with recommended reading,  on the blog . 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 & retreats at  jeffersonhour.com/tours . Check out our  new merch . You can...

"He's never happier than when he can recommend a course of reading to somebody else." — Clay S. Jenkinson President Jefferson tells us what books he might recommend to juvenile readers, and it turns out to be a fairly limited list. He does, however, recommend Don Quixote, Gulliver's Travels and Robinson Crusoe. Find this episode, along with recommended reading,  on the blog . Support the show by j...

"I refused to honor the subpoena but I did voluntarily supply some of the documents." — Clay S. Jenkinson portraying Thomas Jefferson Find this episode, along with recommended reading,  on the blog . 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 & retreats at  jeffersonhour.com/tours . Check out our  n...

"He was drest, or rather undrest, with an old brown coat, red waistcoat, old corduroy small clothes, much soiled-woolen hose-and slippers without heels." — William Plumer, 1802 This week we talk about Thomas Jefferson's talent for political theater, and the ways he used this talent to reinforce the public perception of his firm beliefs in republicanism and guard against what he saw as a threat of...

Clay calls in to talk with David about his travels. Follow along as Clay searches for America on his Steinbeck-inspired journey across the country. Clay's travelogue and photographs, as well as 1776 Club exclusive audio dispatches, will be continuously updated at jeffersonhour.com/america  and you can also get updates on our Facebook .

"I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend." — Thomas Jefferson, 1800 Get the mug here. This week, we ask President Jefferson about his famous dinner parties and their extensive menus. It was important to Jefferson to not appear too regal, and the dinner parties were kept somewhat casual. In 1802, a Federalist senator...

We speak with President Jefferson this week about death and suicide, specifically about the deaths of Meriwether Lewis, James Hemmings and Alexander Hamilton. After the death of his wife in 1782, Jefferson wrote, "All my plans of comfort and happiness reversed by a single event and nothing answering in prospect before me but a gloom un-brightened with one cheerful expectation. This miserable kind...

"Those forty books made a difference in his life, because he grew up in a house where there were books and book culture." — Clay S. Jenkinson This week on The Thomas Jefferson Hour, we answer listener questions including a query from a listener in Ireland asking about Jefferson's thoughts on the Irish rebellion and constitution, Jefferson's involvement in providing alcohol to troops, suggestions f...

"But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." — Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia We discuss Jefferson's only published book, Notes on the State of Virginia . Jefferson completed his first draft of the book in 1781 and first published it anonymously in Paris in 1785. It is widely considered the most...

"Behold me at length on the vaunted scene of Europe! […] I find the general fate of humanity here, most deplorable. The truth of Voltaire's observation, offers itself perpetually, that every man here must be either the hammer or the anvil." — Thomas Jefferson, 1785 We speak with President Jefferson about his time spent in France.  Find this episode, along with recommended reading,  on the blog . S...

"It's such a gift. Every day." — Pat Brodowski We speak with two of our favorite Jefferson Hour correspondents: Pat Brodowski, the head gardener at Monticello, and Beau Wright, a frequent contributor to the show and a city council member of Lynchburg, VA. Find this episode, along with recommended reading,  on the blog . Support the show by joining the  1776 Club  or by  donating  to the Thomas Jef...

"You feel the wonderment of nature at its finest … it's a deep, deep, deep cultural memory of the miracle of the seed." — Clay S. Jenkinson We answer listener mail about John Wesley Powell, David Thompson, Daniel Flores, Jefferson's theft of upland rice while he was in Italy, and suggestions for educating young people.  Find this episode, along with recommended reading,  on the blog . Support the...

"He and Jefferson talked about everything." — Stephen Fried Benjamin Rush was a physician, politician, social reformer, humanitarian, educator, and a signer of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. Rush was a leader of the American Enlightenment and an enthusiastic supporter of the American Revolution. Born the son of a Philadelphia blacksmith, Rush touched virtually every page in the story of the...

"I don't think, from my point of view, you can think that the Constitution is sacred." — Clay S. Jenkinson We discuss Akhil Reed Amar's The Constitution Today , a selection for the Book Club , which contains essays written by Amar over the past two decades. Amar gives us a road map for thinking constitutionally about today's America. Find this episode, along with recommended reading,  on the blog...