“If the three federal branches can’t stop themselves from doing appalling things, a fourth entity exists, and that’s the states.”
We discuss the Kentucky Resolutions of 1798, states' rights, and the need for checks and balances within the federal government.
Clay Jenkinson’s "Shakespeare the Magic of the Word" will premiere in Norfolk, VA, Friday, September 22 at 8 PM. You can purchase tickets at the TCC Roper Performing Arts Center one hour before the show, in advance by calling: 757-822-1450 or order online.
Further Reading
- Yale Law School, the Avalon Project: The Barbary Treaties 1786-1816 (Treaty of Peace and Friendship, Signed at Tripoli November 4, 1796); "the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion".
Time to Roll Up the Garden Hoses
The Jefferson Watch
Well, summer’s ending. I was in a big box store the other day and there were hordes of moms and kids buying school supplies. That and the first preseason professional football games of the season are the invariable signs. I’m always startled by how they creep up on me every year.
Read this week's Jefferson Watch essay, "Time to Roll Up the Garden Hoses."
What Would Jefferson Do?
“Friends must protect us from ourselves.”
Tune in to your local public radio or join the 1776 Club to hear this episode of What Would Thomas Jefferson Do?
This week, Clay Jenkinson discusses Jefferson’s first inaugural address with regular guest Lindsay Chervinsky. The speech, inaudibly delivered on March 4, 1801, is regarded as one of the top five in American history.
This week, Clay Jenkinson interviews frequent guest Beau Breslin of Skidmore College about the most famous decision in Supreme Court history.
Professor Beau Breslin of Skidmore College returns to the Thomas Jefferson Hour to talk about important passages that were edited out of key American documents of the Founding Era, including the famous anti-slavery passage of the Declaration of Independence.
This week's episode of the Thomas Jefferson Hour was recorded live at Radford University in Radford, Virginia in February 2023.