Listening to America

"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...

I confess that I did in fact think that more indictments were coming, perhaps even within the Trump family. I did think that Special Prosecutor Mueller would conclude that the Trump organization conspired with the Russians to influence the election. I was plainly wrong. We haven't seen the Mueller report yet. I expect that it will simultaneously confirm everyone's worst fears and yet in a technica...

"Having been among the early converts, in this part of the globe, to [the smallpox vaccine's] efficiency, I took an early part in recommending it to my countrymen." — Thomas Jefferson, 1806 Jefferson talks about his own smallpox inoculation, as well as John Adams' experience. Jefferson admired Dr. Edward Jenner, the physician and scientist who was a pioneer of smallpox vaccination. Smallpox killed...

"I would have liked to have had Canada. Twice, we invaded Canada during my lifetime, and failed on both occasions." — 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 our Cultural Tours & Retreats with Clay S. Jenkin...

"The French ... thought it was an assassination, a war crime, that Washington was a murderer." — Peter Stark We speak with Peter Stark, author of Young Washington: How Wilderness and War Forged America's Founding Father. We discuss George Washington's formative years and character traits, his travels into the Ohio country, and his relationship with lieutenant governor Robert Dinwiddie. We talk abo...

"This book reveals [Washington] as a man of emotion, raw emotion." — Clay S. Jenkinson In anticipation of our conversation next week with Peter Stark, the author of Young Washington, we speak with Jefferson about our first president. Jefferson also comments on the time change, and the importance of using available daylight. Find this episode, along with recommended reading,  on the blog . Support...

"I am a loyal, proud, cheerleading sort of North Dakotan." — Clay S. Jenkinson A listener in Texas admonishes Clay for offering to give up a North Dakota senate seat, and we take questions about the Fourteenth Amendment. Our constitutional discussions continue by reading additional correspondence from listeners. Find this episode, along with recommended reading,  on the blog . Support the show by...

"What would fix this country? Almost the number one thing would be: take money out of politics." — Clay S. Jenkinson We continue our current theme of constitutional discussions by reading and considering listener mail, including a number of specific suggestions for constitutional amendments. We also share a report from a listener who visited Monticello when Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner were ther...

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 our Cultural Tours & Retreats with Clay S. Jenkinson at  jeffersonhour.com/tours . Thomas Jefferson is interpreted by  Clay S. Jenkinson .

Jefferson answers questions about the Constitution, including topics like presidential pardon power, natural-born citizen requirements, and the constitutionality of signing statements. 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 our Cultural Tours & Retreat...

"Let me add that a bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth, general or particular, & what no just government should refuse or rest on inference." — Thomas Jefferson, 1787 President Jefferson answers a number of listener questions about the United States Constitution. We discuss the meaning of Article V, how much of the document is open to interpretation,...

We answer listener questions this week, and we identify a specific melon seed that Pat Brodowski, the head gardener at Monticello, mentioned on a past episode. We also discuss Clay's new ukulele. The most mail we received was about Robert Kagan's new book, The Jungle Grows Back , which Tom Friedman of The New York Times called "An incisive, elegantly written, new book about America's unique role i...

"nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than that these people are to be free." — Thomas Jefferson, 1821 Clay Jenkinson returns from his cultural retreat held at Lochsa Lodge in Idaho last week and reports in on this year's meetings. Also, perhaps prompted by the 50th anniversary of the famous Beatles "rooftop concert," we wander into a short conversation about pop music, and discus...

"were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter." — Thomas Jefferson, 1787 This week we discuss the importance of a free press with President Jefferson. On November 4, 1823 Thomas Jefferson wrote to Marquis de Lafayette that "the only security of all is in a free press. The...