Lindsay Chervinsky joins us to discuss the Marquis de Lafayette. Lafayette was only 19 years old when he arrived in America, and had no combat experience, and yet his service helped win the American Revolution. Inspired by the ideals of the American Revolution, and with the help of Jefferson, he wrote the Declaration of the Rights of Man which today remains enshrined in France’s constitution.
#1341 Dinner with Jefferson
"I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend."
— Thomas Jefferson, 1800
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 from New Hampshire was meeting Jefferson at a dinner when “a tall high boned man” entered the room wearing “an old brown coat, red waistcoat, old corduroy small clothes, much soiled—woolen hose—& slippers without heels.” He added, “I thought this man was a servant; but was surprised by the announcement it was the President.”
#1337 The Vaunted Scene
“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.