“Voting usually took place on a weekend. There would be alcohol, food, kites, balloons, some fireworks — it was a festive, county fair day.”
Tune in to your local public radio or join the 1776 Club to hear this episode of What Would Thomas Jefferson Do?
We answer listener questions in response to episode #1277 Gerrymandering, and then turn to a discussion about an important discovery of an 1805 Lewis & Clark related map. It was found after being stored for 200 years in a French archive. The map and its background story appear in this month’s issue of We Proceeded On, published by the Lewis & Clark Trail Heritage Foundation.
"I would never have descended to endorse or repudiate any candidate anywhere in a state."
— Thomas Jefferson, as portrayed by Clay S. Jenkinson
"I think that's what Jefferson's attitude was: 'I'd rather not, but I'm probably the best person to do it.'"
— Clay
We return to our Jefferson 101 series this week with an episode about Jefferson’s road to the White House. Over the past few months, we've carried Jefferson from his birth in Virginia in 1743 right up to the brink of the time when he became the third president of the United States. We take for granted how our elections work. Back then, they didn't really have a blueprint: no conventions, no caucuses, no primaries, no debates. It was an informal system and we try to sort out how a reluctant person like Jefferson winds up being the president.
We speak with President Thomas Jefferson this week about the unexpected emergence of the two-party political system during his time.