Another show from the Thomas Jefferson Hour archives. Recorded in July of 2004, the program is a discussion between Presidents Adams and Jefferson. President Adams is portrayed by former Jefferson Hour host William Chrystal.
"The problem is that there are states out there that will not subscribe to basic codes of decency & civility."
"When the world of civil powers suddenly faces the world of barbarism, there's no negotiating. You have to be willing to stand up to them with military force and if you're not, you can't survive in the world."
Further Reading
- Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates: The Forgotten War That Changed American History by Brian Kilmeade & Don Yeager (2015).
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.
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.
This week in an interesting debate match, Clay Jenkinson and Joseph Ellis argue over who is the “Indispensable Man” of the American Revolution. Ellis argues for George Washington, while Jenkinson says it has to be Jefferson. A very wise listener suggests that they are both wrong: it’s Benjamin Franklin.
Our annual Independence Day show, one of only two holidays that Jefferson celebrated. We are joined by Joseph Ellis who shares some perspective on the day, and shares his insights including John Adam’s belief that Independence Day would always be celebrated on July 2nd, and a discussion of a very significant paragraph Jefferson wrote for the Declaration of Independence that congress edited out.