Thomas Jefferson (1997–…): Season 1, Episode 1 - Episode #1.1 - full transcript
Man: THERE'S AN INTERESTING
STORY THAT TAKES PLACE
IN THE EIGHTEEN-TEENS.
THERE IS A CLERGYMAN WHO STOPS
AT FORD'S TAVERN IN VIRGINIA,
WHICH IS ON THE ROAD BETWEEN
MONTICELLO AND POPLAR FOREST...
AND HE ENCOUNTERS A MAN HE TERMS
"A RESPECTABLE STRANGER,"
AND HE ENGAGES IN
A CONVERSATION AT SOME LENGTH
WITH THIS STRANGER.
FIRST THEY TALK ABOUT
MECHANICAL OPERATIONS,
AND HE'S CERTAIN THAT THE MAN
IS AN ENGINEER OF SOME SORT.
THEN THEY MOVE ON
TO MATTERS OF AGRICULTURE,
AND HE THINKS THIS IS,
IN HIS WORDS, "A LARGE FARMER."
FINALLY
THEY TALK ABOUT RELIGION,
AND HE'S CERTAIN THAT THE MAN
IS A CLERGYMAN LIKE HIMSELF.
THE HOUR GETS LATE,
AND THEY GO TO BED,
AND THE NEXT MORNING, HE ARISES
AND SPEAKS WITH THE INNKEEPER
AND ASKS FOR THIS STRANGER
HE HAD SEEN THE NIGHT BEFORE,
AND HE DESCRIBES HIM,
AND THE INNKEEPER SAYS,
"WHY, DON'T YOU KNOW?
THAT WAS THOMAS JEFFERSON."
Man: HE IS THE GREATEST ENIGMA
AMONG MAJOR FIGURES
IN AMERICAN HISTORY.
I THINK WE'RE ATTRACTED TO HIM
IN PART BECAUSE OF HIS
MYSTERIOUS CHARACTER.
IF HE WERE A MONUMENT,
HE WOULD BE A SPHINX.
IF HE WERE A PAINTING,
HE WOULD BE THE MONA LIS.
IF HE WERE
A CHARACTER IN A PLAY,
IT WOULD BE HAMLET.
Narrator: HE WAS A FARMER,
A VIOLINIST,
A WRITER, A SURVEYOR,
A SCIENTIST,
A LOVER OF FINE WINES...
AND A RESTLESS ARCHITECT WHO
COULD NEVER QUITE BRING HIMSELF
TO FINISH HIS OWN HOUSE.
HE WAS A RELUCTANT POLITICIAN
WITH A VOICE SO SOFT
HE COULD BARELY MAKE HIMSELF
HEARD FROM THE PODIUM,
BUT HE HELPED TO FOUND
AMERICA'S FIRST POLITICAL PARTY.
HE DENOUNCED THE MORAL
BANKRUPTCY HE SAW IN EUROPE
BUT DELIGHTED
IN THE GILDED SALONS OF PARIS.
HE WAS A STATESMAN
WHO WAS TWICE ELECTED PRESIDENT
OF THE UNITED STATES
BUT DID NOT THINK HIS PRESIDENCY
WORTH LISTING AMONG THE
ACHIEVEMENTS ON HIS GRAVESTONE.
HE WAS A LIFELONG CHAMPION
OF SMALL GOVERNMENT
WHO TOOK IT UPON HIMSELF
TO MORE THAN DOUBLE
THE SIZE OF HIS COUNTRY.
HE ENDURED THE LOSS OF NEARLY
EVERYTHING HE HELD DEAR
BUT SOMEHOW NEVER LOST
HIS FAITH IN THE FUTURE.
HE DISTILLED A CENTURY
OF ENLIGHTENMENT THINKING
INTO ONE REMARKABLE SENTENCE
WHICH BEGAN...
"WE HOLD THESE TRUTHS
TO BE SELF-EVIDENT,
THAT ALL MEN
ARE CREATED EQUAL."
YET HE OWNED
MORE THAN 200 HUMAN BEINGS
AND NEVER SAW FIT TO FREE THEM.
"THOMAS JEFFERSON WAS
A SHADOW MAN," SAID JOHN ADAMS.
"HIS CHARACTER WAS
LIKE THE GREAT RIVERS
WHOSE BOTTOMS WE CANNOT SEE
AND MAKE NO NOISE."
HE REMAINED A PUZZLE
EVEN TO THOSE WHO THOUGHT
THEY KNEW HIM BEST,
EMBODIED CONTRADICTIONS
COMMON TO THE COUNTRY
WHOSE INDEPENDENCE
IT FELL TO HIM TO PROCLAIM
IN WORDS WHOSE PRECISE MEANING
AMERICANS HAVE DEBATED
EVER SINCE.
Man: HE GAVE US OUR CREED.
A LOT OF NATIONS EMERGE
FROM THE MISTS OF HISTORY,
AND THEIR BASIC IDENTITY
IS TRIBAL.
IT'S ROOTED IN GROUPS.
OURS IS ROOTED
IN A GREAT ASSENT,
AN ASSENT TO
CERTAIN PROPOSITIONS.
"WE ARE," AS LINCOLN SAID--
LINCOLN BEING
THE GREATEST STUDENT
OF JEFFERSON OF THEM ALL--
"WE ARE A NATION
DEDICATED TO A PROPOSITION.
JEFFERSON WROTE
THE PROPOSITION."
Man: HE IS THE CONCEIVING SPIRIT
OF THIS COUNTRY.
SOMEHOW, AT 33 YEARS OLD,
HERE HE WAS, AND HE COULD WRITE
THE DECLARATION,
AND THEY KNEW IT.
THEY SOMEHOW KNEW
THAT HERE WAS A PERSON
WHO COULDN'T SPEAK VERY WELL,
BUT THEY KNEW HE COULD WRITE,
AND THEY ASSIGNED HIM THAT TASK,
AND HE ACCEPTED IT.
Man: JEFFERSON IS
IMPORTANT BECAUSE HE WROTE
IN IMPERISHABLE LANGUAGE
SOME OF THE MOST IMPORTANT
TRUTHS ABOUT CULTURE AND
ABOUT FREEDOM AND CIVILIZATION.
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
HAS BEEN QUOTED BACK AT TYRANTS
BY EVERY INSURGENCY MOVEMENT
SINCE THOMAS JEFFERSON.
SO WE HAVE TO KNOW
ABOUT JEFFERSON
BECAUSE HE'S THE MAN
WHO FOUND THE LANGUAGE
TO EXPRESS THE GREATEST
ASPIRATIONS THAT HUMANITY HAS.
Man: HE SAID THE RIGHT WORDS
AT THE RIGHT TIME,
AND THEY WERE NEVER FORGOTTEN.
JEFFERSON IS AMERICAN SCRIPTURE.
YOU MUST HAVE HIM
ON YOUR SIDE
IF YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE
A GOVERNMENT BASED UPON
THE PEOPLE.
Man: UNFORTUNATELY AND
TRAGICALLY, I WOULD SAY THAT,
IN A SENSE, THOMAS JEFFERSON
PERSONIFIES THE UNITED STATES
AND ITS HISTORY.
HE WAS A MAN WHO CLAIMED,
YOU SEE,
TO BE A MAN
OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT.
HE WAS A SCIENTIST, A HUMANIST.
HE KNEW WHAT HE WAS SAYING
WHEN HE SAID,
"ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL,"
AND IT SIMPLY
CAN'T BE RECONCILED WITH
THE INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY.
Jenkinson: WHEN YOU
START TO EXPLORE THE LIFE
AND ACHIEVEMENT OF JEFFERSON,
YOU FIND THAT THERE
IS A GAP BETWEEN HIS VISION
AND THE BEAUTIFUL ARTICULATION
OF THAT VISION ON THE ONE HAND
AND THEN HIS ACTUAL ACHIEVEMENT
AS A HUMAN BEING ON THE OTHER.
WAS HE A CONTEMPTIBLE HYPOCRITE,
AS SOME BELIEVE?
OR WERE THERE SIMPLY
INCONSISTENCIES BETWEEN
HIS LIFE AND HIS VISION,
AS OTHERS LIKE TO BELIEVE?
OR IS THERE SOME WAY
OF UNDERSTANDING THIS
WHICH PRESERVES
THE INTEGRITY OF JEFFERSON?
HOW CAN WE SEE THROUGH THESE
PARADOXES AND INCONSISTENCIES
AND EVEN HYPOCRISIES
AND GET AT THE MAN?
[CRICKETS CHIRPING]
Man: EVERY HUMAN BEING
MUST BE VIEWED ACCORDING
TO WHAT IT IS GOOD FOR...
FOR NONE OF US--NO, NOT ONE--
IS PERFECT.
AND WERE WE TO LOVE
NONE WHO HAD IMPERFECTIONS,
THIS WORLD WOULD BE
A DESERT FOR OUR LOVE.
THOMAS JEFFERSON.
Narrator: HE WAS BORN
IN ALBEMARLE COUNTY ON THE EDGE
OF THE VIRGINIA WILDERNESS
ON APRIL 13, 1743.
HIS EARLIEST MEMORY WAS
OF BEING CARRIED ON A PILLOW
AT THE AGE OF 2
BY ONE OF HIS FATHER'S SLAVES.
HIS MOTHER, JANE RANDOLPH,
WAS AN ARISTOCRAT,
A MEMBER OF ONE OF VIRGINIA'S
MOST PROMINENT FAMILIES.
BUT HIS FATHER, PETER JEFFERSON,
WAS A SELF-MADE MAN,
INDUSTRIOUS
AND FIERCELY INDEPENDENT.
HE TOLD HIS SON
STORIES OF THE FRONTIER,
INTRODUCED HIM TO INDIANS,
TOOK HIM WALKING
IN THE DEEP, UNCHARTED WOODS
THAT STRETCHED AWAY
BEYOND THE WESTERN HORIZON,
GAVE HIM A LOVE OF LIBERTY.
BY THE TIME HE WAS 6, JEFFERSON
WAS PORING THROUGH THE BOOKS
IN HIS FATHER'S LIBRARY.
SOON HE HAD MASTERED
GREEK AND LATIN
AND TAUGHT HIMSELF THE VIOLIN.
BUT IN AUGUST 1757,
WHEN HE WAS JUST 14,
HIS FATHER DIED SUDDENLY.
Thomas Jefferson:
WHEN I RECOLLECT THAT
AT 14 YEARS OF AGE
THE WHOLE CARE
AND DIRECTION OF MYSELF
WAS THROWN ON MYSELF ENTIRELY
WITHOUT A RELATIVE OR FRIEND
QUALIFIED TO ADVISE
OR GUIDE ME
AND RECOLLECT THE VARIOUS SORTS
OF BAD COMPANY WITH WHICH
I ASSOCIATED FROM TIME TO TIME,
I'M ASTONISHED THAT I DID NOT
TURN OFF WITH SOME OF THEM
AND BECOME AS WORTHLESS
TO SOCIETY AS THEY WERE.
Narrator: A YEAR
AFTER HIS FATHER'S DEATH,
JEFFERSON WAS SENT AWAY
TO A ONE-ROOM SCHOOLHOUSE
TO ACQUIRE THE KIND
OF CLASSICAL EDUCATION
HIS FATHER
HAD THOUGHT ESSENTIAL.
THERE HE MET A YOUNG MAN
NAMED DABNEY CARR
WHO SOON BECAME
HIS CLOSEST FRIEND.
ON WEEKENDS, THE TWO RODE
THEIR HORSES TO THE TOP OF WHAT
THEY CALLED TOM'S MOUNTAIN
ON HIS FATHER'S LAND
OVERLOOKING THE TINY VILLAGE
OF CHARLOTTESVILLE.
THEY WOULD STUDY TOGETHER
IN THE SHADE OF A GREAT
OAK TREE THEY BOTH LOVED,
AND JEFFERSON BEGAN
TO TALK OF SOMEDAY
BUILDING A HOME THERE.
THE TWO BOYS PROMISED
THAT IF ONE SHOULD DIE
BEFORE THE OTHER,
THE ONE WHO STILL LIVED WOULD
BURY HIS FRIEND ON THE MOUNTAIN.
AT 16, JEFFERSON, ATTENDED
BY HIS PERSONAL SLAVE, JUPITER,
WENT ON TO THE COLLEGE
OF WILLIAM AND MARY
AT WILLIAMSBURG,
THE COLONIAL CAPITAL
OF VIRGINIA.
AT FIRST,
JEFFERSON WAS OVERWHELMED
BY THE ATTRACTIONS OF THE TOWN.
Thomas Jefferson:
FROM THE CIRCUMSTANCES
OF MY POSITION,
I WAS OFTEN THROWN INTO
THE SOCIETY OF HORSE RACERS,
CARD PLAYERS, FOX HUNTERS,
SCIENTIFIC
AND PROFESSIONAL MEN,
AND OF DIGNIFIED MEN,
AND MANY A TIME I ASKED MYSELF
WHICH OF THESE KINDS OF
REPUTATIONS SHOULD I PREFER:
THAT OF A HORSE JOCKEY,
A FOX HUNTER, AN ORATOR,
OR THE HONEST ADVOCATE
OF MY COUNTRY'S RIGHTS?
Woman: HE WENT TO THE HORSE
RACES AND TO THE BALLS,
AND HE DANCED,
AND HE WAS INVOLVED
WITH A LOT OF THE GIRLS,
AND HE HAD A GOOD TIME.
WHEN HE WENT HOME THAT SUMMER,
HE REALIZED HOW MUCH TIME
HE HAD WASTED,
AND THEN DABNEY CARR WENT BACK
WITH HIM, AND AT THAT POINT,
HE RESOLVED THAT HE WOULD STUDY.
Narrator: NOW HE STOOD
APART IN HIS DEVOTION
TO HIS SCHOOLWORK.
"I WAS A HARD STUDENT
UNTIL I ENTERED THE BUSINESS
OF LIFE," HE REMEMBERED.
HE WAS SAID TO BE AT HIS BOOKS
15 HOURS OUT OF EVERY 24.
JEFFERSON'S SHY CHARM
AND UNUSUAL SERIOUSNESS
PROMPTED ONE OF HIS PROFESSORS
TO INTRODUCE HIM
TO GEORGE WYTHE,
THE COLONY'S LEADING ATTORNEY,
WHO AGREED TO TAKE JEFFERSON ON
AND TO TEACH HIM THE LAW.
"HE WAS MY SECOND FATHER,"
JEFFERSON WROTE LATER.
"MY FAITHFUL
AND BELOVED MENTOR."
AND WYTHE, FOR HIS PART,
PROUDLY SHOWED OFF
HIS PRIZED STUDENT
TO THE MEN WHO RULED VIRGINIA.
Bober: BY THIS TIME,
IT WAS THE BRILLIANCE
AND OPEN-MINDEDNESS
OF THIS YOUNG THOMAS JEFFERSON
THAT INSPIRED THE GOVERNOR
TO INVITE HIM TO THE PALACE
ONCE A WEEK FOR DINNER,
CONVERSATION, AND MUSIC.
AT THAT TABLE,
THIS YOUNG BOY WAS EXPOSED TO
THE THOUGHT CURRENTS IN EUROPE,
WHAT WAS THEN CALLED
THE ENLIGHTENMENT...
AND LATER ON, HE SAID
THAT HE REALIZED THAT
THAT DINING ROOM TABLE
WAS TRULY HIS UNIVERSITY.
Burstein:
IN WILLIAMSBURG, AS A STUDENT,
JEFFERSON WAS SOAKING UP
ALL THE LEARNING HE COULD GET.
THE ENLIGHTENMENT
FOR THOMAS JEFFERSON
WAS A SPIRIT
OF INTELLECTUAL OPTIMISM.
THE ENLIGHTENMENT THINKERS SAW
THE GOOD IN THE HUMAN SPIRIT,
AND JEFFERSON WAS
MOST INTOXICATED BY THE IDEA
THAT HUMAN BEINGS
POSSESSED THE POTENTIAL
TO DO REMARKABLE GOOD
AND THAT A GOVERNMENT
COULD BE CREATED
WHICH WOULD TAP
INTO THIS SPIRIT,
TAP INTO THIS IMPULSE
TO DO GOOD.
Narrator: JEFFERSON EVENTUALLY
EARNED HIS LIVING AT THE LAW,
BUT POLITICS BEGAN TO TAKE
MORE AND MORE OF HIS TIME.
AS HE TRAVELED
THROUGHOUT THE COLONY,
HIS CHESS SET AND VIOLIN
IN HIS SADDLE BAGS,
HE SAW THAT HIS WORLD
WAS VERY LITTLE LIKE THE WORLD
THE ENLIGHTENMENT PHILOSOPHERS
HAD ENVISIONED.
JOHN LOCKE, FRANCIS BACON,
AND ISAAC NEWTON
PREACHED
A FREEDOM OF THE MIND,
BUT IN THE BRITISH COLONIES,
EACH CITIZEN WAS EXPECTED
TO OBEY WITHOUT COMPLAINT
THE DICTATES
OF A FAR-OFF PARLIAMENT.
AT 27, JEFFERSON MOVED
TO THE HILL
WHICH HE AND DABNEY CARR
HAD NAMED TOM'S MOUNTAIN
WHEN THEY WERE BOYS.
HE RENAMED IT MONTICELLO,
ITALIAN FOR "LITTLE MOUNTAIN,"
AND BEGAN
TO BUILD HIMSELF A HOUSE.
Thomas Jefferson: I HAVE
LATELY REMOVED TO THE MOUNTAIN.
I HAVE HERE BUT ONE ROOM
WHICH SERVES ME FOR PARLOR
AND KITCHEN AND HALL.
I MAY ADD FOR BEDCHAMBER
AND STUDY, TOO.
I HAVE HOPES, HOWEVER,
OF GETTING MORE ELBOW ROOM
THIS SUMMER.
Narrator: HE FIRST BUILT
A MODEST BRICK COTTAGE
BUT SOON BEGAN TO DRAW UP
FAR MORE AMBITIOUS PLANS.
THEY WERE BASED
ON THE WORKS OF THE ITALIAN
RENAISSANCE MASTER PALLADIO
AND INSPIRED
BY THE CLASSICAL FORMS
OF ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME.
NO DETAIL WOULD ESCAPE
HIS IMAGINATION.
EARLY IN 1771, JEFFERSON BEGAN
TO COURT MARTHA WAYLES SKELTON,
THE YOUNG WIDOW
OF A FELLOW LAWYER.
NO PORTRAIT OF HER
HAS EVER BEEN FOUND,
BUT SHE WAS SAID TO BE
BEAUTIFUL, GRACEFUL,
FOND OF MUSIC.
HE CALLED HER PATTY.
THEY WERE MARRIED
AT HER FATHER'S HOUSE
ON NEW YEAR'S DAY, 1772.
SHE WAS 23. HE WAS 28.
2 WEEKS LATER, THE NEWLYWEDS
RODE THROUGH THE SNOW TO START
THEIR NEW LIFE TOGETHER
AT MONTICELLO.
THE COTTAGE WAS COLD AND DARK,
AND MARTHA WAS SAID
TO HAVE SHIVERED AT
THE HORRIBLE DREARINESS
OF SUCH A HOUSE.
BUT JEFFERSON RUMMAGED AROUND
AND FOUND A HALF BOTTLE OF WINE
BEHIND SOME BOOKS ON A SHELF,
AND THEY STARTED
THEIR MARRIED LIFE TOGETHER
IN A TINY 18-BY-18-FOOT COTTAGE
CLINGING TO THE EDGE
OF HIS MOUNTAIN.
Thomas Jefferson:
IN EVERY SCHEME OF HAPPINESS,
SHE IS PLACED
IN THE FOREGROUND OF THE PICTURE
AS THE PRINCIPAL FIGURE.
TAKE THAT AWAY,
AND IT IS NO PICTURE FOR ME.
Narrator: THEIR FIRST CHILD,
MARTHA, WHOM THEY CALLED PATSY,
WAS BORN AT MONTICELLO
THE FOLLOWING FALL.
THE INTERESTING THING
ABOUT THOMAS JEFFERSON'S LIFE
IS THAT THIS MAN WHO
COMES DOWN TO US IN HISTORY
AS THE EMBODIMENT
OF AMERICAN OPTIMISM,
THE PROMISE OF A BRIGHT FUTURE
FOR THIS THEN-YOUNG COUNTRY--
IN HIS OWN LIFE, HE WAS BOUND
TO LOSE EVERYTHING HE LOVED.
Narrator: IN MAY OF 1773,
JEFFERSON'S FRIEND DABNEY CARR
DIED OF BILIOUS FEVER.
TRUE TO HIS WORD, JEFFERSON SAW
TO IT THAT HE WAS LAID TO REST
AT MONTICELLO.
AS HE WOULD ALL HIS LIFE,
HE SOUGHT ESCAPE FROM SADNESS
IN THE CERTAINTY OF NUMBERS
AND MAKING LISTS.
HE DULLED HIS GRIEF BY
CALCULATING THE LENGTH OF TIME
IT WOULD TAKE FOR HIS SLAVES
TO PREPARE THE GRAVEYARD
FOR HIS FRIEND'S COFFIN.
Thomas Jefferson:
2 HANDS GRUBBED THE GRAVEYARD
80 FEET SQUARE--
1/7 OF AN ACRE--
IN 3 1/2 HOURS...
SO THAT ONE WOULD HAVE DONE IT
IN 7 HOURS
AND WOULD GRUB AN ACRE
IN 49 HOURS...
EQUALING 4 DAYS.
Narrator: 2 WEEKS LATER,
MARTHA'S FATHER DIED,
LEAVING JEFFERSON CRUSHING DEBTS
TO BRITISH CREDITORS,
THOUSANDS OF ACRES OF LAND,
AND 135 MORE SLAVES.
Man: MR. JEFFERSON WAS
A TALL, STRAIGHT-BODIED MAN
AS EVER YOU SEE,
RIGHT SQUARE-SHOULDERED.
NARY A MAN IN THIS TOWN WALKED
SO STRAIGHT AS MY OLD MASTER.
NEAT A BUILT MAN
AS EVER WAS SEEN IN VIRGINIA,
I RECKON, OR ANY PLACE.
A STRAIGHT-UP MAN...
LONG FACE, HIGH NOSE.
ISAAC.
Narrator: JEFFERSON SOLD OFF
MOST OF THE LAND HE INHERITED,
BUT HE KEPT THE SLAVES,
INCLUDING A WOMAN SAID TO BE HIS
LATE FATHER-IN-LAW'S MISTRESS--
BETTY HEMINGS--
AND THE 2 SMALL CHILDREN
SHE HAD BORNE HIM,
JAMES AND SALLY.
THOMAS JEFFERSON WAS NOW
THE SECOND-LARGEST SLAVEHOLDER
IN ALBEMARLE COUNTY,
AND HE SET HIS SLAVES TO WORK
BUILDING HIS ESTATE.
Isaac: MONTICELLO HOUSE
WAS PULLED DOWN IN PART
AND BUILT UP AGAIN
SOME 6 OR 7 TIMES.
THEY WAS 40 YEARS AT WORK
UPON THAT HOUSE
BEFORE MR. JEFFERSON
STOPPED BUILDING.
Narrator: OVER THE YEARS,
HE WOULD COMPLETELY
REDESIGN MONTICELLO,
BUT IT WOULD ALWAYS BE
BOTH HOME AND SAFE HAVEN
FROM THE POLITICAL STORMS THAT
SOON BEGAN TO BREAK AROUND HIM.
Man, British accent:
THE COLONISTS OF VIRGINIA
ARE HAUGHTY AND JEALOUS
OF THEIR LIBERTIES,
IMPATIENT OF RESTRAINT,
AND CAN SCARCELY BEAR
THE THOUGHT OF BEING CONTROLLED
BY A FOREIGN POWER.
ANDREW BURNABY.
Narrator: IN 1765, BRITAIN
HAD PASSED THE STAMP ACT,
WHICH IMPOSED ON AMERICAN
COLONISTS A SPECIAL TAX
ON PRINTED MATTER.
MANY VIRGINIANS,
JEFFERSON INCLUDED,
WERE INCENSED THAT A DISTANT
PARLIAMENT COULD, WITHOUT
SO MUCH AS CONSULTING THEM,
DEMAND MONEY
FROM THEIR POCKETS.
PROTESTS ERUPTED
FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE TO GEORGIA.
Burstein: THERE CAME A TIME WHEN
ENGLISH LIBERTY NO LONGER FELT
THE SAME AS IT HAD.
BY THE 1760s AND 1770s, THERE
WAS SOMETHING NEW IN THE AIR.
THEY FELT THAT
THEY WERE BEING ENSLAVED.
THEY USED THE TERM ENSLAVEMENT
TO DESCRIBE WHAT PARLIAMENT
WAS INFLICTING UPON
THESE PEOPLE WHO HAD GROWN UP
WITH A CERTAIN VIEW
OF ENGLISH LIBERTY,
AND IF ENGLISH LIBERTY
COULD NO LONGER BE PRESERVED,
THEN WHAT WAS THEIR RECOURSE?
Narrator: IN 1769,
THE VIRGINIA HOUSE OF BURGESSES
PASSED A RESOLUTION
PLEDGING TO BOYCOTT BRITISH
GOODS RATHER THAN PAY A NEW TAX.
THE FIRST MAN TO SIGN
WAS THE RICHEST MAN
IN THE COLONY,
A TALL, AUSTERE VETERAN OF
THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR,
GEORGE WASHINGTON.
THOMAS JEFFERSON,
THE NEWEST MEMBER
OF THE HOUSE OF BURGESSES,
WAS THE 16th TO SIGN,
AND OVER THE COMING YEARS,
AS PATRIOTIC FEELINGS
CONTINUED TO RISE,
SO DID HIS INFLUENCE.
THE SHY AND BOOKISH
STUDENT OF PHILOSOPHY
WAS BECOMING
A REVOLUTIONARY.
WHEN MASSACHUSETTS PATRIOTS
DEFIED THE CROWN
BY DUMPING TEA
INTO BOSTON HARBOR,
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT TRIED TO
STARVE THE CITY INTO SUBMISSION
WITH ITS WARSHIPS.
JEFFERSON HELPED PERSUADE
HIS FELLOW BURGESSES
TO DECLARE A DAY
OF PRAYER AND FASTING
TO SHOW VIRGINIA'S SOLIDARITY
WITH THE PEOPLE OF BOSTON.
ITS EFFECT, HE SAID, "WAS LIKE
A SHOCK OF ELECTRICITY."
IN 1774, AS THE COLONIES
PREPARED FOR THE FIRST TIME TO
MEET TOGETHER IN PHILADELPHIA,
AT WHAT THEY CALLED
A CONTINENTAL CONGRESS,
JEFFERSON WROTE
A SUMMARY VIEW OF THE RIGHTS
OF BRITISH AMERICA.
HE BOLDLY ARGUED
THAT SINCE THE ASSOCIATION
BETWEEN CROWN AND COLONIES
WAS PURELY VOLUNTARY,
PARLIAMENT HAD NO INHERENT
AUTHORITY OVER AMERICANS.
Thomas Jefferson:
ARE AMERICANS TO LIVE
AT THE IMPERIOUS BREATH
OF A BODY OF MEN
WHOM THEY NEVER SAW,
IN WHOM THEY NEVER CONFIDED,
AND OVER WHOM THEY HAVE
NO POWERS OF PUNISHMENT
OR REMOVAL?
SINGLE ACTS OF TYRANNY
MAY BE ASCRIBED
TO THE ACCIDENTAL OPINION
OF A DAY;
BUT A SERIES
OF OPPRESSIONS...
TOO PLAINLY PROVE
A DELIBERATE, SYSTEMATICAL PLAN
OF REDUCING US TO SLAVERY.
THE GOD WHO GAVE US LIFE GAVE US
LIBERTY AT THE SAME TIME.
THE HAND OF FORCE MAY DESTROY
BUT CANNOT DISJOIN THEM.
Narrator: JEFFERSON'S ESSAY
WAS WIDELY READ IN BOTH
ENGLAND AND AMERICA,
AND HE WAS AWARE
OF THE TRADITIONAL PENALTY PAID
BY THOSE WHOM THE CROWN
CONSIDERED TRAITORS.
Andrew Burnaby: YOU ARE TO BE
HANGED BY THE NECK,
BUT NOT UNTIL YOU ARE DEAD;
FOR WHILE
YOU ARE STILL LIVING,
YOUR BODIES
ARE TO BE TAKEN DOWN,
YOUR BOWELS TORN OUT
AND BURNED BEFORE YOUR FACES,
YOUR HEADS THEN CUT OFF,
AND YOUR BODIES DIVIDED
INTO 4 QUARTERS...
TO BE THEN
AT THE KING'S DISPOSAL;
AND MAY THE ALMIGHTY GOD
HAVE MERCY ON YOUR SOULS.
Narrator: ON JUNE 11, 1775,
JEFFERSON SET OUT
FROM MONTICELLO
FOR PHILADELPHIA.
HE HAD BEEN CHOSEN AS A DELEGATE
TO THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS.
BY THEN, AMERICANS HAD
FOUGHT BRITISH SOLDIERS
AT LEXINGTON AND CONCORD,
AND GEORGE WASHINGTON
HAD LEFT PHILADELPHIA
AND WAS ON HIS WAY TO TAKE
COMMAND OF THE REBEL FORCES.
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
HAD BEGUN.
Man: PHILADELPHIA,
JUNE 22, 1775.
YESTERDAY
THE FAMOUS MR. JEFFERSON,
A DELEGATE FROM VIRGINIA,
ARRIVED.
HE LOOKS LIKE A VERY SENSIBLE,
SPIRITED, FINE FELLOW,
AND BY THE PAMPHLET
WHICH HE WROTE LAST SUMMER,
HE CERTAINLY IS ONE.
SAMUEL WARD.
Narrator: IN 1775, KINGS STILL
RULED IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND,
A CZARINA IN ST. PETERSBURG,
A SULTAN IN CONSTANTINOPLE,
A DIVINELY INVESTED EMPEROR
IN PEKING,
AND A SHOGUN IN JAPAN.
BUT IN JUNE 1775,
A SMALL GROUP OF MERCHANTS,
PLANTERS, AND LAWYERS
MET IN PHILADELPHIA
TO SEE WHETHER THEY
MIGHT GOVERN THEMSELVES.
THOMAS JEFFERSON OF VIRGINIA
RENTED HIMSELF A ROOM
AND BEGAN TO CIRCULATE
AMONG THE OTHER DELEGATES:
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
OF PENNSYLVANIA,
ROBERT LIVINGSTON
OF NEW YORK,
ROGER SHERMAN
OF CONNECTICUT,
AND A SHORT,
OPINIONATED DELEGATE FROM
MASSACHUSETTS--JOHN ADAMS--
WHO WOULD BECOME
JEFFERSON'S FRIEND...
THEN HIS ENEMY...
AND THEN HIS FRIEND AGAIN.
ADAMS WAS AS VOLUBLE
AS JEFFERSON WAS RETICENT,
BUT HE TOOK TO
THE YOUNG VIRGINIAN RIGHT AWAY
AND THOUGHT HIM
"TOUGH AS A LIGNUM KNOT."
Man: DURING THE WHOLE TIME
I SAT WITH HIM IN CONGRESS,
I NEVER HEARD HIM UTTER
3 SENTENCES TOGETHER.
THOUGH A SILENT MEMBER
OF CONGRESS,
HE WAS SO PROMPT, FRANK,
EXPLICIT, AND DECISIVE
UPON COMMITTEES
THAT HE SOON
SEIZED UPON MY HEART.
JOHN ADAMS.
Jenkinson:
JEFFERSON IS 33 YEARS OLD.
HE'S ONE OF THE YOUNGEST MEMBERS
OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS
OF THE UNITED STATES.
HE'S A PROVINCIAL
FROM VIRGINIA.
HE HAS SCARCELY EVER
BEEN OUT OF HIS HOME STATE.
HE IS A SHY MAN.
HE HAS PERHAPS A SLIGHT
SPEECH IMPEDIMENT,
AND HE HAS A HIGH-PITCHED
AND WEAK VOICE
AND IS NOT GIVEN TO ASSERTING
HIMSELF IN ANY WAY.
HE'S CONSIDERED
A BRILLIANT COMMITTEE MAN,
BUT HE HAS NO PRESENCE
IN THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS.
HE'S NOT COMFORTABLE
TALKING IN PUBLIC.
HE'S NOT A GREAT ORATOR.
IN FACT HE'S, EVEN AS A LAWYER,
NOT VERY GOOD AT MAKING
ORAL PRESENTATIONS TO JURIES.
HE'S MUCH MORE COMFORTABLE
CRAFTING LANGUAGE IN PRIVATE
WHERE HE HAS CONTROL.
Narrator: OVER THE NEXT 2 YEARS,
JEFFERSON WOULD SERVE QUIETLY
ON 34 DIFFERENT COMMITTEES.
HE WAS A MASTER
AT DRAFTING LEGISLATION,
HAD WHAT ADAMS CALLED "A HAPPY
TALENT OF COMPOSITION,"
AND IMPRESSED EVERYONE
WITH HIS HARD WORK...
BUT HE WAS PRIVATELY SUFFERING.
Thomas Jefferson:
I HAVE NEVER RECEIVED
THE SCRIP OF A PEN
FROM ANY MORTAL IN VIRGINIA
SINCE I LEFT IT,
NOR BEEN ABLE BY ANY
INQUIRIES I COULD MAKE
TO HEAR OF MY FAMILY.
THE SUSPENSE UNDER WHICH I AM
IS TOO TERRIBLE TO BE ENDURED.
IF ANYTHING HAS HAPPENED,
FOR GOD'S SAKE, LET ME KNOW IT.
Narrator: IN SEPTEMBER 1775,
HIS SECOND DAUGHTER JANE
HAD DIED AT 17 MONTHS,
LEAVING HIS WIFE SO FRAIL
AND GRIEF-STRICKEN
THAT SHE COULD NOT EVEN
WRITE TO HIM.
Bober: HE WAS LIVING
IN A 3-MILE-AN-HOUR WORLD.
IT WOULD HAVE TAKEN HIM
BETTER THAN A WEEK
TO TRAVEL THE DISTANCE
FROM PHILADELPHIA TO VIRGINIA.
AND SO OF NECESSITY,
MARTHA WAS ALONE A GREAT DEAL
OF THE TIME AND SUFFERED.
SHE OFTEN WENT INTO STATES OF
DEPRESSION BECAUSE SHE WANTED
HIM WITH HER,
AND OF COURSE BECAUSE SHE WAS
LOSING THESE "DEAR PLEDGES,"
AS JEFFERSON CALLED THEM,
ONE AFTER THE OTHER.
Narrator: ON MARCH 31, 1776,
JEFFERSON'S OWN MOTHER DIED.
MIGRAINE HEADACHES PARALYZED HIM
FOR WEEKS.
Thomas Jefferson:
PERFECT HAPPINESS, I BELIEVE,
WAS NEVER INTENDED
BY THE DEITY
TO BE THE LOT OF ANY ONE
OF HIS CREATURES IN THIS WORLD.
THE MOST FORTUNATE OF US
FREQUENTLY MEET WITH CALAMITIES
WHICH MAY GREATLY AFFLICT US,
AND TO FORTIFY OUR MINDS
AGAINST THE ATTACKS
OF THESE MISFORTUNES
SHOULD BE ONE OF THE PRINCIPAL
STUDIES AND ENDEAVORS
OF OUR LIVES.
[BELL RINGING]
Narrator: ON JUNE 7, 1776,
RICHARD HENRY LEE OF VIRGINIA
INTRODUCED A RESOLUTION
THAT DECLARED THAT
"THESE UNITED COLONIES ARE,
AND OF RIGHT OUGHT TO BE,
FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES."
CONGRESS SCHEDULED A VOTE ON
LEE'S RESOLUTION FOR EARLY JULY,
HOPING IT WOULD CONVINCE FRANCE
TO JOIN THEIR STRUGGLE
AGAINST ENGLAND,
THE MIGHTIEST POWER ON EARTH.
THEY ESTABLISHED A COMMITTEE
TO DRAFT A DECLARATION
OF INDEPENDENCE,
TO WHICH ALL 13 COLONIES
COULD SUBSCRIBE.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN WAS ASKED
TO WRITE THE FIRST DRAFT
AND REFUSED.
HE MADE IT A POLICY,
HE SAID,
NOT TO WRITE DOCUMENTS SUBJECT
TO EDITING BY OTHERS.
JEFFERSON AND ADAMS
WERE ASSIGNED THE TASK.
Jenkinson: BOTH JEFFERSON
AND ADAMS WERE COMMITTED
TO A REPUBLIC,
BUT THEY HAD
VERY DIFFERENT STYLES.
JEFFERSON WAS BLAND AND CAREFUL
AND APHORISTIC AND HIGH-FLOWN.
HIS RHETORIC ALWAYS SOARED
TOWARDS ASPIRATION
AND TO HUMAN DIGNITY.
ADAMS WAS EARTHY AND ANECDOTAL
AND PUGNACIOUS.
JEFFERSON SAYS,
"I THINK YOU OUGHT TO DO IT,"
AND ADAMS SAYS, "NO.
3 REASONS YOU MUST DO IT:
"FIRST, YOU ARE A VIRGINIAN,
AND A VIRGINIAN MUST BE AT
THE HEAD OF THIS BUSINESS;
"SECOND, I, JOHN ADAMS,
AM DISLIKED AND OBNOXIOUS,
"AND IF I WRITE IT,
IT WILL LACK CREDIBILITY;
AND THIRD, YOU ARE 10 TIMES
BETTER A WRITER THAN I AM."
Thomas Jefferson:
NOT TO FIND OUT NEW PRINCIPLES
OR NEW ARGUMENTS
NEVER BEFORE THOUGHT OF,
NOT MERELY TO SAY THINGS WHICH
HAD NEVER BEEN SAID BEFORE,
BUT TO PLACE BEFORE MANKIND
A COMMON SENSE OF THE SUBJECT
IN TERMS SO PLAIN AND FIRM
AS TO COMMAND THEIR ASSENT
AND TO JUSTIFY OURSELVES
IN THE INDEPENDENT STAND
WE ARE COMPELLED TO TAKE.
Narrator:
ALONE IN A RENTED ROOM,
JEFFERSON WENT TO WORK.
Bober: I WOULD LOVE TO BE THERE
WHEN HE WAS WRITING
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
HE WAS IN A LITTLE HOUSE
ON MARKET STREET,
WRITING ON THIS WONDERFUL DESK.
HIS SERVANT BOB HEMINGS
WAS WITH HIM.
HE WOULD SERVE HIM TEA
WHILE HE WAS WORKING.
HE WOULD PLAY HIS VIOLIN
PERIODICALLY...
AND HE WOULD WRITE
WITHOUT ANY NOTES.
I WOULD LOVE
TO SEE HIM STRUGGLING
FOR EXACTLY THE RIGHT WORD,
THE RIGHT PHRASE,
TRYING TO MATCH THE SOUND
AND THE SENSE
OF EACH OF THE WORDS,
THE CADENCES,
THINKING THROUGH THE IDEAS
THAT HE'D BEEN STUDYING
OF JOHN LOCKE, OF MONTESQUIEU,
ALL THE READING THAT HE HAD DONE
OVER THE YEARS.
AND AS HE STRUGGLED
OVER EACH WORD,
WRITING, CROSSING OUT,
"INTERLINING" AS HE SAID...
AND THEN,
AS A PAGE GOT TOO MESSY,
COPYING IT "FAIR."
Narrator: IT TOOK HIM
ONLY A FEW DAYS.
THE DOCUMENT, HE SAID,
WAS SIMPLY INTENDED
TO BE AN EXPRESSION
OF THE AMERICAN MIND.
Vidal: HE WAS ABLE,
SOMEHOW, TO PICK UP ON
ALL THE WAVES OF THOUGHT
THAT WERE GOING THROUGH
FROM PARIS TO LONDON,
FROM THE COFFEEHOUSES
TO BOSTON,
AND ALL THESE IDEAS
WERE COMING IN AND COMING IN.
WHAT IS A GOOD COUNTRY?
WHAT IS A GOOD WAY TO LIVE?
WHAT IS A REPUBLIC?
SHOULD WE HAVE A REPUBLIC?
WHAT IS A MONARCHY?
WHAT IS A COLONIST?
WHAT ARE THE RELATIONS
BETWEEN MASTER AND SLAVE,
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
OWNER AND, UH, THE OWNED?
AND HE TOOK ALL OF THIS
AND, IN 2 OR 3 SENTENCES,
HURLED IT AT THE WORLD,
AND IT STILL GOES ROUND.
IT STILL INSPIRES,
AND IT IS STILL THE ESSENCE
OF WHATEVER SPIRIT WE STILL HAVE
AND THAT WE ONCE HAD, INDEED.
Thomas Jefferson: WHEN
IN THE COURSE OF HUMAN EVENTS
IT BECOMES NECESSARY
FOR ONE PEOPLE TO DISSOLVE
THE POLITICAL BANDS
WHICH HAVE CONNECTED THEM
WITH ANOTHER
AND TO ASSUME AMONG
THE POWERS OF THE EARTH
THE SEPARATE AND EQUAL STATION
TO WHICH THE LAWS OF NATURE
AND OF NATURE'S GOD
ENTITLE THEM,
A DECENT RESPECT
TO THE OPINIONS OF MANKIND
REQUIRES THAT THEY SHOULD
DECLARE THE CAUSES WHICH
IMPEL THEM TO THE SEPARATION.
WE HOLD THESE TRUTHS
TO BE SELF-EVIDENT...
THAT ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL;
THAT THEY ARE ENDOWED
BY THEIR CREATOR
WITH CERTAIN
INALIENABLE RIGHTS...
THAT AMONG THESE ARE
LIFE, LIBERTY,
AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS.
Ellis: THOSE ARE
THE CLOSEST THINGS
TO THE MAGIC WORDS
OF AMERICAN HISTORY.
THOSE ARE THE WORDS
THAT ALL AMERICANS
AT SOME VERY, VERY IMPORTANT
LEVEL BELIEVE IN.
THEY ARE THE ESSENTIAL WORDS
OF THE AMERICAN CREED,
AND PART OF JEFFERSON'S GENIUS
WAS TO ARTICULATE
AT A SUFFICIENTLY
ABSTRACT LEVEL
THESE PRINCIPLES, THESE TRUTHS
THAT WE ALL WANT TO BELIEVE IN.
THE LEVEL IS
SUFFICIENTLY ABSTRACT
SO THAT WE DON'T HAVE TO NOTICE
THAT THESE TRUTHS ARE,
AT SOME LEVEL, UNATTAINABLE,
AND AT ANOTHER LEVEL,
MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE.
PERFECT FREEDOM DOESN'T LEAD
TO PERFECT EQUALITY.
IT USUALLY LEADS TO INEQUALITY.
BUT JEFFERSON'S GENIUS
IS TO ASSERT THEM AT
A LEVEL OF ABSTRACTION
WHERE THEY HAVE A KIND OF
RHAPSODIC INSPIRATIONAL QUALITY.
AND WE ALL AGREE NOT TO NOTICE,
NOT TO NOTICE THAT
THEY ARE UNATTAINABLE
AND NOT TO NOTICE
THAT THEY ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE
OR CONTRADICTORY.
THEY ARE IN SOME SENSE
NICE REPRESENTATIONS OF
JEFFERSON'S PERSONALITY--
WISHING TO BE ABOVE
IT ALL AND CONCEALING
THE CONTRADICTIONS.
Narrator: ON JULY 2,
CONGRESS UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED
THE CENTRAL CLAUSE OF
JEFFERSON'S DECLARATION
PROCLAIMING
AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE.
Thomas Jefferson:
AND FOR THE SUPPORT
OF THIS DECLARATION,
WE MUTUALLY PLEDGE TO EACH OTHER
OUR LIVES, OUR FORTUNES,
AND OUR SACRED HONOR.
Narrator: 2 DAYS LATER,
JULY 4, 1776,
12 OF THE 13 STATES APPROVED
THE ENTIRE DOCUMENT.
NEW YORK WOULD TAKE A FEW MORE
DAYS TO MAKE UP ITS MIND.
IT WAS READ ON THE STREETS
OF PHILADELPHIA.
John Adams: IT WILL BE
THE MOST MEMORABLE EPOCHA
IN THE HISTORY OF AMERICA.
I AM APT TO BELIEVE
THAT IT WILL BE CELEBRATED
BY SUCCEEDING GENERATIONS
AS THE GREAT
ANNIVERSARY FESTIVAL.
IT OUGHT TO BE COMMEMORATED
AS THE DAY OF DELIVERANCE
BY SOLEMN ACTS OF DEVOTION
TO GOD ALMIGHTY.
IT OUGHT TO BE SOLEMNIZED
WITH POMP AND PARADE,
WITH SHOWS, GAMES, SPORTS,
GUNS, BELLS, BONFIRES,
AND ILLUMINATIONS
FROM ONE END OF THIS CONTINENT
TO THE OTHER
FROM THIS TIME FORWARD
FOREVERMORE.
JOHN ADAMS.
[FIREWORKS]
Will: WE HAVE A CIVIL RELIGION
IN THIS COUNTRY,
AND HE PROVIDED A CATECHISM.
I MEAN, EVERY RELIGION
OUGHT TO HAVE A CATECHISM:
HERE ARE WHAT WE BELIEVE.
WANT TO BE AN AMERICAN?
HERE'S WHAT YOU WILL BELIEVE.
NO ONE KNOWS
HOW YOU BECOME FRENCH.
NO ONE KNOWS WHERE GERMANY
COMES FROM.
IT SORT OF EMERGES
FROM THE MISTS.
WE KNOW WHEN WE STARTED.
WE KNOW THE AFTERNOON--
JULY 4, 1776--
AND WE KNOW HOW TO BECOME
AN AMERICAN.
YOU COME HERE, AND YOU ASSENT.
THEN YOU'RE AN AMERICAN,
JUST AS AMERICAN AS ANYBODY
WHOSE FAMILY HAS BEEN HERE
FOR 10 GENERATIONS.
YOU'RE IN. YOU'RE IT.
THAT'S WHAT AN AMERICAN IS.
Man: HE SAID THAT
"HERE IN THIS PLACE,
"THE HAPPINESS OF THE HUMAN RACE
MAY ADVANCE TO AN INDEFINITE,
THOUGH NOT
TO AN INFINITE DEGREE."
HE EXPRESSED HIS OPTIMISM
AND YET HIS REFUSAL TO BE
A UTOPIAN,
AND I THINK THAT WHAT
DISTINGUISHES OUR KIND
OF SOCIETY
AND THE JEFFERSONIAN VIEW
OF OUR SOCIETY FROM OTHERS
IS THAT IT IS NOT IDEOLOGICAL.
IT'S NOT STUCK IN THE PRISON
OF SOME DOGMA,
BUT RATHER IS CONSTANTLY
RESPONDING TO THE CHANGES
IN THE WORLD,
AND JEFFERSON WAS THE APOSTLE
OF THAT EXPERIENCE.
Cox: WHEN YOU STOP
AND THINK TO YOURSELF,
DO YOU REALLY BELIEVE ALL MEN
ARE CREATED EQUAL--
OR ALL PEOPLE, LET US SAY,
ARE CREATED EQUAL--
YOU HAVE TROUBLE BELIEVING IT,
BUT YOU DON'T EVER WISH
IT HADN'T BEEN WRITTEN.
IF THE EQUALITY CLAUSE WILL
TROUBLE US A THOUSAND YEARS,
AS FROST SAID,
IF IT'LL TROUBLE US, THEN
THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS
WILL MYSTIFY US FOREVER,
AND I LIKE THE TROUBLE,
AND I LIKE THE MYSTERY.
Narrator: JEFFERSON'S
OWN FEELINGS ABOUT THAT
MOMENTOUS DAY ARE UNKNOWN.
HE NOTED IN HIS ACCOUNT BOOK
ONLY THAT THE TEMPERATURE
AT 6 A.M. WAS 68 DEGREES
AND ROSE TO 76
BEFORE FALLING AGAIN
AND THAT HE BOUGHT
7 PAIRS OF GLOVES TO TAKE
BACK TO MONTICELLO.
Bober: AT THE TIME THAT
JEFFERSON WAS IN PHILADELPHIA
WRITING THE DECLARATION,
MARTHA WAS AT HOME IN VIRGINIA
SUFFERING FROM THE RECENT LOSS
OF A BABY.
THEY LOST A SON.
THEY LOST ANOTHER DAUGHTER.
AND IT WAS AT THAT TIME THAT
JEFFERSON WROTE TO JOHN PAGE
THAT, "IT IS WITH GREAT
DIFFICULTY, GREAT PAIN
THAT I CAN STAY HERE."
Narrator: HE WAS
FRANTIC TO SEE HER.
HE WAS, HE TOLD A FRIEND,
"UNDER A SACRED OBLIGATION
TO GO HOME."
IT WOULD BE MANY YEARS
BEFORE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE KNEW
THAT THOMAS JEFFERSON
HAD WRITTEN
THE MOST IMPORTANT DOCUMENT
IN THEIR HISTORY.
♪♪ O LORD, TRAVELED SO FAR ♪♪
♪♪ O LORD,
TRAVELED SO FAR ♪♪
♪♪ YES, INDEED,
I'M TRAVELING HOME ♪♪
♪♪ YES, INDEED,
I'M TRAVELING HOME ♪♪
♪♪ O LORD, TRAVELED SO FAR ♪♪
Franklin: I THOUGHT
THEY WERE BEAUTIFUL WORDS.
WHEN I FIRST HEARD THEM,
I WAS THINKING OF WHAT
ASSURANCES THEY GAVE ME...
THAT I WAS EQUAL TO OTHERS
AND THAT NO ONE COULD
TAKE THAT AWAY FROM ME.
IT...IT REINFORCED WHAT
I WAS BEING TOLD AT HOME:
THAT NO MAN ANYWHERE
WAS ANY BETTER THAN I WAS.
Narrator: IN 1776,
WHEN THOMAS JEFFERSON'S
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
PROCLAIMED THAT ALL MEN
WERE CREATED EQUAL,
539,000 AMERICANS,
1/5 OF THE POPULATION,
WERE OWNED BY OTHER AMERICANS.
JEFFERSON HAD,
IN HIS FIRST DRAFT,
BLAMED THE ENGLISH KING
FOR ENCOURAGING AND SUSTAINING
THE SLAVE TRADE,
BUT ALL MENTION OF IT
WAS DROPPED FROM HIS TEXT
WHEN SLAVE-OWNING PATRIOTS
OBJECTED.
THE NEW NATION HAD SIMPLY
SIDESTEPPED THE ISSUE.
Jenkinson: WHEN JEFFERSON
WAS A YOUNG MAN,
HE SPOKE ABOUT EMANCIPATION,
AND HE DID, IN THE COURSE
OF HIS LIFE,
PROPOSE MORE THAN A DOZEN
PIECES OF LEGISLATION
THAT WOULD HAVE ENABLED
IMMEDIATE OR GRADUAL
EMANCIPATION
OF ALL OF THE SLAVES,
AT LEAST OF VIRGINIA.
NONE OF THOSE PROPOSALS
WAS ACCEPTED.
IN FACT, MOST OF THEM WERE
OVERWHELMINGLY DEFEATED
OR IGNORED,
AND FROM TIME TO TIME,
JEFFERSON WAS DENOUNCED FOR
HIS EMANCIPATIONIST VIEWS.
AND SO HE LEARNED
A LESSON.
HE REALIZED THAT
IF HE WENT TO THE WALL
AS AN ABSOLUTIST ON THE ISSUE
OF SLAVERY,
THAT HE WOULD LOSE HIS
CREDIBILITY ON OTHER FRONTS THAT
WERE EQUALLY IMPORTANT TO HIM.
AND SO, IN A SENSE,
FROM THE MIDDLE OF HIS LIFE,
HE BEGAN TO TEMPORIZE,
AND HE BEGAN TO TALK
ABOUT THE NEXT GENERATION,
AND HE POSTPONED SLAVERY
AS AMERICA POSTPONED
THE ISSUE OF SLAVERY.
AND JEFFERSON IS RIGHT
AT THE HEART OF THIS
NATIONAL PARADOX.
[CANNONFIRE]
[HORSES NEIGHING]
[MEN SHOUTING]
Narrator: AS OTHERS FOUGHT
THE REVOLUTION THAT JEFFERSON'S
ELOQUENCE HAD HELPED SPARK,
HE RETURNED TO VIRGINIA.
THERE, HE FOUGHT
ANOTHER, QUIETER REVOLUTION.
AS A MEMBER
OF THE NEW HOUSE OF DELEGATES,
HE WOULD HELP DRAFT 126 BILLS
AIMED AT OVERTURNING
ARISTOCRATIC RULE
AND SMOOTHING THE WAY
FOR INDIVIDUALS TO RISE
ON THE BASIS OF VIRTUE
AND ABILITY.
HE CALLED FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS,
STREAMLINED THE LEGAL SYSTEM,
AND OVERTURNED THE LAW WHICH
HAD FAVORED ELDEST SONS
IN INHERITING PROPERTY.
BUT HE WAS MOST PROUD
OF HIS BILL
FOR ESTABLISHING
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN VIRGINIA,
WHICH DECLARED THAT GOVERNMENT
HAD NO RIGHT TO FAVOR ANY FAITH.
THROUGHOUT AMERICA,
CITIZENS WERE TAXED
TO SUPPORT THE STATE'S
OFFICIAL CHURCH.
IN NEW ENGLAND, QUAKERS,
CATHOLICS, AND JEWS
WERE FORBIDDEN FROM HOLDING
ANY PUBLIC OFFICE,
AND IN JEFFERSON'S OWN VIRGINIA,
HERESY WAS A CAPITAL OFFENSE.
Thomas Jefferson:
OUR RULERS CAN HAVE AUTHORITY
OVER SUCH NATURAL RIGHTS ONLY
AS WE HAVE SUBMITTED TO THEM.
THE RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE
WE NEVER SUBMITTED,
WE COULD NOT SUBMIT.
I HAVE EVER
THOUGHT RELIGION A CONCERN
PURELY BETWEEN OUR GOD
AND OUR CONSCIENCES
FOR WHICH WE WERE ACCOUNTABLE
TO HIM AND NOT TO THE PRIESTS...
FOR IT IS IN OUR LIVES,
AND NOT FROM OUR WORDS,
THAT OUR RELIGION MUST BE READ.
BUT THIS DOES NOT SATISFY
THE PRIESTHOOD.
THEY MUST HAVE A POSITIVE,
A DECLARED ASSENT
TO ALL THEIR
INTERESTED ABSURDITIES.
MY OPINION IS THAT THERE WOULD
NEVER HAVE BEEN AN INFIDEL
IF THERE HAD NEVER BEEN
A PRIEST.
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
HAD NOT OCCURRED IN OUR CULTURE,
IN OUR WHOLE HISTORY.
IT HAD SIMPLY
NEVER OCCURRED BEFORE.
THE MOST REVOLUTIONARY THING
ABOUT THE REVOLUTION
AS IT WORKED OUT
INTO A NEW GOVERNMENT
WAS THAT ONE STEP:
THE SEPARATION
OF CHURCH AND STATE.
Ellis: IT ESSENTIALLY SAYS
THAT INSIDE EACH OF US--
INSIDE ME, INSIDE YOU--
THERE IS THIS KERNEL OR CORE
OF SOMETHING SACRED,
SOMETHING
THAT CANNOT BE VIOLATED,
SOMETHING THAT CANNOT BE
COERCED OR TAMPERED WITH
BY THE STATE, BY THE GOVERNMENT,
BY INSTITUTIONS OF ANY SORT,
AND THAT IS OUR ESSENCE,
AND...AND THAT ESSENCE
IS EXTREMELY POWERFUL.
IF WE CAN PROTECT THAT ESSENCE
AND ALLOW IT TO VOLUNTARILY
EXPRESS ITSELF INTO THE WORLD,
IT'S THE SINGLE MOST POWERFUL
FORCE IN HUMAN HISTORY.
Narrator:
JEFFERSON WROTE THE BILL,
BUT HE COULD NOT GET IT PASSED
IN THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES.
IT WOULD BE 10 YEARS BEFORE
VIRGINIA ACTUALLY ADOPTED IT,
AND IT WAS HIS FRIEND
AND CLOSEST POLITICAL
LIEUTENANT, JAMES MADISON,
WHO LED THE FIGHT
TO WIN FINAL PASSAGE.
Jenkinson:
TO UNDERSTAND JEFFERSON,
YOU NEED TO KNOW THAT HE WAS
A COLLECTOR OF PROTEGES.
HE COULD NEVER HAVE ACHIEVED
WHAT HE DID
WITHOUT ABLE-BODIED MEN
WHO YIELDED THEIR OWN
CHARACTERS TO HIS.
THEY SEEMED TO RECOGNIZE
THAT THERE WAS SOME TYPE
OF GREATNESS IN JEFFERSON
THAT SIMPLY DESERVED
THAT SUPPORT.
I THINK IT'S FAIR TO SAY
THAT MADISON WAS A GREAT MAN
WHO YIELDED HIMSELF
TO AN EVEN GREATER MAN.
[CANNONFIRE]
Narrator: IN 1779, JEFFERSON WAS
ELECTED WAR GOVERNOR
OF VIRGINIA.
HIS TENURE SOON PROVED
A NIGHTMARE.
HE WAS POWERLESS
TO HALT INFLATION,
HAD TROUBLE
RECRUITING MILITIAMEN,
FAILED TO RESPOND FAST ENOUGH
WHEN BRITISH TROOPS
INVADED VIRGINIA,
AND WAS FORCED TO ABANDON
THE NEW CAPITAL OF RICHMOND
TO THE ENEMY.
AND IN JUNE 1781,
ENEMY FORCES BRIEFLY OCCUPIED
MONTICELLO ITSELF.
Isaac: THE BRITISH
SEARCHED THE HOUSE
BUT DIDN'T DISTURB
NONE OF THE FURNITURE.
BUT THEY PLUNDERED
THE WINE CELLAR.
THE BOTTLES, THEY BROKE
THE NECKS OFF WITH THEIR SWORDS,
DRANK SOME,
THREW THE BALANCE AWAY.
THE BRITISH SAID THEY DIDN'T
WANT ANYBODY BUT THE GOVERNOR.
DIDN'T WANT TO HURT HIM.
ONLY WANTED TO PUT A PAIR
OF SILVER HANDCUFFS ON HIM.
Narrator: JEFFERSON
AND HIS FAMILY NARROWLY ESCAPED.
BUT SOME MEMBERS
OF THE LEGISLATURE NOW
ACCUSED HIM OF COWARDICE.
Man: A RESOLUTION WAS INTRODUCED
TO INVESTIGATE HIS CONDUCT,
AND IT WAS SUGGESTED
THAT HE WAS COWARDLY.
THE BRITISH TRIED TO CAPTURE HIM
AT MONTICELLO,
AND THERE'S NO QUESTION
ABOUT IT--
HE DIDN'T HANG AROUND
TO BE CAPTURED.
BUT I THINK THAT THAT'S
COMMON SENSE AND NOT COWARDICE.
Narrator: THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES
EVENTUALLY EXONERATED HIM,
BUT JEFFERSON,
NO LONGER GOVERNOR,
REMAINED AT MONTICELLO,
OUT OF PUBLIC LIFE.
"THE ACCUSATIONS," HE TOLD
HIS FRIEND JAMES MONROE,
"INFLICTED A WOUND ON MY SPIRIT
WHICH WILL ONLY BE CURED
BY THE ALL-HEALING GRAVE."
Jenkinson: JEFFERSON WAS
AN INCREDIBLY SENSITIVE MAN;
THIN-SKINNED, VULNERABLE,
FRAGILE IN CHARACTER.
HE DIDN'T REALLY HAVE
THE TEMPERAMENT TO BE
A POLITICAL FIGURE.
HIS GREATEST DESIRE
WAS HARMONY AND TO BE LOVED.
AND HE COULDN'T STAND
NOT TO BE LOVED.
Thomas Jefferson: I HAVE TAKEN
MY FINAL LEAVE OF POLITICS,
HAVE RETIRED TO MY FARM,
MY FAMILY, AND BOOKS...
FROM WHICH I THINK NOTHING WILL
EVER MORE SEPARATE ME.
Thomas Jefferson: MAY 20, 1782.
DEAR MR. MADISON,
MRS. JEFFERSON HAS ADDED
ANOTHER DAUGHTER TO OUR FAMILY.
SHE HAS EVER SINCE AND STILL
CONTINUES VERY DANGEROUSLY ILL.
Narrator: PATTY JEFFERSON
WAS DYING.
HIS WIFE HAD BORNE HIM
6 CHILDREN IN 10 YEARS
AND HAD ALREADY LOST 3 OF THEM.
SHE HAD FREQUENTLY BEEN ILL,
AND THE BIRTH OF THIS LAST
DAUGHTER, LUCY ELIZABETH,
HAD PROVED TOO MUCH.
Woman: AS A NURSE,
NO FEMALE EVER HAD
MORE TENDERNESS OR ANXIETY.
HE NURSED MY POOR MOTHER,
SITTING UP WITH HER
AND ADMINISTERING
HER MEDICINES AND DRINK.
FOR 4 MONTHS THAT SHE LINGERED,
HE WAS NEVER OUT OF CALLING.
PATSY JEFFERSON.
Burstein:
THOMAS AND PATTY JEFFERSON
HAD READ LAURENCE STERN'S
NOVEL TRISTRAM SHANDY.
THIS WAS A NOVEL ABOUT
THE WORKINGS OF THE HUMAN HEART,
AND AS PATTY JEFFERSON LAY DYING
IN SEPTEMBER OF 1782,
THE 2 JEFFERSONS SAT AT HER BED,
AND THEY WROTE OUT
TOGETHER THIS QUOTATION
FROM TRISTRAM SHANDY,
AND IT STARTED OUT IN
PATTY JEFFERSON'S HANDWRITING,
A LITTLE 4 x 4-INCH
PIECE OF PAPER,
AND ON THIS SCRIP OF PAPER,
PATTY JEFFERSON BEGAN,
"TIME WASTES TOO FAST..."
Patty Jefferson:
"TIME WASTES TOO FAST.
EVERY LETTER I TRACE TELLS ME
"WITH WHAT RAPIDITY
LIFE FOLLOWS MY PEN.
"THE DAYS AND HOURS OF IT
ARE FLYING OVER OUR HEADS
"LIKE CLOUDS OF A WINDY DAY...
NEVER TO RETURN MORE.
EVERYTHING PRESSES ON."
Burstein: AT THIS MOMENT,
ORCHESTRATING IT
AS A DEATHBED ADIEU
OF 2 LOVERS ABOUT TO PART,
JEFFERSON PICKS UP HIS OWN PEN
AND CONTINUES THE QUOTE.
"AND EVERY TIME I KISS THY HAND
TO BID ADIEU..."
Thomas Jefferson:
"AND EVERY TIME I KISS
THY HAND TO BID ADIEU,
"EVERY ABSENCE WHICH FOLLOWS IT
ARE PRELUDES
TO THAT ETERNAL SEPARATION
WHICH WE ARE SHORTLY TO MAKE."
Burstein: JEFFERSON KEPT
THIS LITTLE PIECE OF PAPER
IN THE MOST PRIVATE DRAWER
IN A SECRET COMPARTMENT OF
THE DRAWER BESIDE HIS BED,
AND IT WAS FOLDED AND UNFOLDED
COUNTLESS TIMES OVER THE YEARS,
AND IN IT WAS A LOCK
OF HIS LATE WIFE'S HAIR
AND A LOCK OF THE HAIR OF ONE
OF THEIR INFANT CHILDREN
WHO HAD DIED.
AND THIS WAS
THE REAL THOMAS JEFFERSON--
THE MAN OF SENTIMENT
WHO LOVED DEEPLY,
WHO FELT DEEPLY.
Man: MR. JEFFERSON SAT BY HER,
AND SHE GAVE HIM DIRECTIONS
ABOUT A GOOD MANY THINGS
THAT SHE WANTED DONE.
WHEN SHE CAME TO THE CHILDREN,
SHE WEPT, COULD NOT SPEAK
FOR SOME TIME.
FINALLY SHE TOLD HIM
SHE COULD NOT DIE HAPPY
IF SHE THOUGHT HER CHILDREN
WERE EVER TO HAVE A STEPMOTHER
BROUGHT IN OVER THEM.
HOLDING HER HAND IN HIS,
MR. JEFFERSON PROMISED HER
SOLEMNLY THAT HE WOULD
NEVER MARRY AGAIN...
AND HE NEVER DID.
EDMUND BACON, OVERSEER.
WHEN SHE FINALLY DID
CLOSE HER EYES,
HE FAINTED, AND HE WAS CARRIED
OUT OF THE ROOM INSENSIBLE.
Narrator: PATTY JEFFERSON DIED
ON SEPTEMBER 6, 1782.
FOR 3 WEEKS,
HE DID NOT LEAVE HIS ROOM.
Burstein: HE COULDN'T TALK.
FOR A MAN FOR WHOM CONTROL
WAS IMPORTANT,
THIS WAS THE ONE TIME
IN HIS LIFE WHEN HE
COMPLETELY LOST CONTROL.
IT WAS AT THIS TIME THAT A BOND
BEGAN TO FORM BETWEEN JEFFERSON
AND HIS DAUGHTER MARTHA,
WHO THEY CALLED PATSY,
AND PATSY WAS
THE ONLY ONE, APPARENTLY,
WHO COULD GET
THROUGH TO HIM.
Patsy Jefferson: HE WALKED
ALMOST INCESSANTLY
NIGHT AND DAY,
ONLY LYING DOWN WHEN NATURE
WAS COMPLETELY EXHAUSTED
ON A PALLET THAT HAD
BEEN BROUGHT IN DURING
HIS LONG FAINTING FIT.
WHEN AT LAST HE LEFT HIS ROOM,
HE RODE OUT,
AND FROM THAT TIME,
HE WAS INCESSANTLY ON HORSEBACK,
RAMBLING ABOUT THE MOUNTAIN
IN THE LEAST-FREQUENTED ROADS
AND JUST AS OFTEN
THROUGH THE WOODS.
IN THOSE MELANCHOLY RAMBLES,
I WAS HIS CONSTANT COMPANION,
A SOLITARY WITNESS TO MANY
A VIOLENT BURST OF GRIEF.
PATSY JEFFERSON.
Man, British accent:
NORTH AMERICA IS BECOME
A NEW PRIMARY PLANET
IN THE SYSTEM OF THE WORLD,
WHICH WHILE IT TAKES ITS
OWN COURSE, IN ITS OWN ORBIT,
MUST HAVE EFFECT ON THE ORBIT
OF EVERY OTHER PLANET
AND SHIFT THE COMMON CENTER
OF GRAVITY OF THE WHOLE
EUROPEAN WORLD.
IT IS EARTH-BORN,
AND LIKE A GIANT,
READY TO RUN ITS COURSE.
THOMAS POWNALL.
Narrator: IN 1784, THE YEAR
AFTER AMERICA OFFICIALLY
WON HER INDEPENDENCE,
THOMAS JEFFERSON'S
NOTES ON THE STATE
OF VIRGINIA WENT TO PRES.
IT WAS THE ONLY BOOK
HE WOULD EVER WRITE.
IN IT, HE SPELLED OUT HIS VISION
OF AN AMERICAN FUTURE--
AN AGRARIAN PARADISE IN WHICH
POWER WOULD REST WITH THOSE
WHO WORKED THE LAND.
HIS TREATISE WAS A WIDE-RANGING
DISCOURSE ON POLITICS,
ECONOMICS, AGRICULTURE,
COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURING...
AND A RINGING DEFENSE
OF THE REGION
HE CALLED HIS "COUNTRY"
AGAINST CRITICISM
BY SOME FOREIGN OBSERVERS
WHO BELITTLED EVERYTHING
IN AMERICA,
FROM THE SIZE OF HER ANIMALS
TO THE INTELLIGENCE
OF HER LEADERS.
IN HIS BOOK, HE ALSO WRESTLED
WITH THE QUESTION OF RACE.
Thomas Jefferson: I ADVANCE IT,
THEREFORE, AS A SUSPICION ONLY
THAT THE BLACKS,
WHETHER ORIGINALLY
A DISTINCT RACE
OR MADE DISTINCT
BY TIME AND CIRCUMSTANCES,
ARE INFERIOR TO THE WHITES
IN THE ENDOWMENTS BOTH
OF BODY AND MIND.
THIS UNFORTUNATE DIFFERENCE
OF COLOR AND PERHAPS OF FACULTY
IS A POWERFUL OBSTACLE
TO THE EMANCIPATION
OF THESE PEOPLE.
HE SAYS THAT BLACKS ARE NOT
AS SMART AS WHITES,
THAT THEY HAVE NO SKILLS
IN POETRY AND MUSIC.
HE SAYS THAT THEY CAN
NEVER ACCOMPLISH WHAT
WHITES CAN ACCOMPLISH.
HE COMPARES ROMAN SLAVES
TO BLACK SLAVES
AND SAYS ROMAN SLAVES DID
ALL THESE WONDERFUL THINGS,
BUT THAT'S BECAUSE
THEY WERE WHITE.
Thomas Jefferson: BESIDES THOSE
OF COLOR, FIGURE, AND HAIR,
THERE ARE OTHER PHYSICAL
DISTINCTIONS PROVING
A DIFFERENCE OF RACE.
THEY HAVE LESS HAIR
ON THEIR FACE AND BODY.
THEY SECRETE LESS
BY THE KIDNEYS AND MORE
BY THE GLANDS OF THE SKIN,
WHICH GIVES THEM A VERY STRONG
AND DISAGREEABLE ODOR.
WE DON'T LIKE IT.
IT DOESN'T MAKE US HAPPY
TO THINK THAT THE MAN
WHO IS HERALDED FOR HIS LOVE
OF EQUALITY AND LIBERTY...
WHO BELIEVED
IN THE PROMISE OF AMERICA
PERHAPS MORE THAN
ANY OF HIS GENERATION,
THAT WITHIN
JEFFERSONIAN OPTIMISM,
THERE COULD EXIST
THIS DARK SIDE.
Franklin: JEFFERSON
KNEW WHAT HE WAS DOING,
AND THE TRANSGRESSIONS
THAT HE COMMITTED WERE
TRANSGRESSIONS OF THE MIND,
AS WELL AS THE HEART,
AND THAT MAKES IT
LESS EASY TO UNDERSTAND
HOW A MAN OF SUCH GIGANTIC
INTELLECTUAL POWERS AND SO FORTH
COULD FRITTER AWAY
HIS TIME SPECULATING
ABOUT HOW BLACKS SMELL
OR HOW THEY REASON
AND THAT SORT OF THING.
Isaac: MR. JEFFERSON BOW
TO EVERYBODY HE MEET.
TALKED WITH HIS ARMS FOLDED.
GAVE THE BOYS IN THE NAIL
FACTORY A POUND OF MEAT A WEEK,
A DOZEN HERRING, A QUART
OF MOLASSES, AND A PECK OF MEAL.
GIVE THEM THAT WORK THE BEST
A SUIT OF RED OR BLUE.
ENCOURAGED THEM MIGHTILY.
ISAAC.
Narrator: THE COMFORTABLE LIFE
JEFFERSON LED AT MONTICELLO,
LIKE THE LIVES LED
BY ALL HIS FELLOW PLANTERS,
DEPENDED ENTIRELY
ON THE LABOR OF SLAVES.
THEY BUILT AND REBUILT
HIS GREAT HOUSE,
TENDED HIS GARDENS,
COOKED HIS FOOD,
WAITED AT HIS TABLE,
DREW HIS BATH.
HE CONSIDERED HIMSELF
A GOOD SLAVEHOLDER.
HE TREATED THE MEN AND WOMEN
AND CHILDREN HE CALLED
"MY PEOPLE" AND "MY FAMILY"
COURTEOUSLY FOR THE MOST PART,
AND HE ORDERED
HIS OVERSEER NOT TO WHIP THEM,
EXCEPT IN EXTREMITIES,
PREFERRING TO RELY
UPON WHAT HE CALLED
"THE STIMULUS OF CHARACTER"
TO MAKE THEM WORK,
BUT HE ALSO HIRED HIS SLAVES OUT
TO NEIGHBORING PLANTERS
AND BOUGHT AND SOLD THEM FREELY,
"BEING CAREFUL,"
AS HE SAID,
"TO KEEP
THE TRANSACTIONS PRIVATE
"BECAUSE I DO NOT,
WHILE IN PUBLIC LIFE,
"LIKE TO HAVE MY NAME ANNEXED
IN THE PUBLIC PAPERS
TO THE SALE OF SLAVE PROPERTY."
Ellis: WHAT IS GOING ON
INSIDE HIS HEAD
AS HE WALKS AMONG
THESE AFRICAN AMERICANS
AND THINKS ABOUT THEIR FUTURE
AND THE FUTURE OF THE NATION?
IT IS A MYSTERY.
IT IS A MYSTERY.
AND HOW CAN WE GET
THOSE DIFFERENT PERSONA
INSIDE THOMAS JEFFERSON
TO TALK BACK TO US TOGETHER?
Burstein: THE FACT
THAT THOMAS JEFFERSON
DIDN'T LOSE MUCH SLEEP
OVER THE SLAVERY ISSUE
REFLECTS, IN PART,
HIS OTHER CONCERNS,
THAT HE WAS ABLE TO
RATIONALIZE THAT THIS
WAS ONE OF THOSE THINGS
HE WOULDN'T
BE ABLE TO ACCOMPLISH.
HE WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO CHANGE
THE WAY SOUTHERNERS FELT
ABOUT THEIR ECONOMIC SYSTEM.
BUT THAT HE DIDN'T
DO MORE...
THAT HE DIDN'T WRITE
MORE VIGOROUSLY IN
OPPOSITION TO SLAVERY...
THAT HE FELT THAT BLACKS
WERE BY NATURE INFERIOR...
THERE'S NO ANSWER FOR THAT.
Finkleman:
ONE OF THE DEFENSES
OF JEFFERSON IS ALWAYS,
"WELL, HE WAS JUST
A VIRGINIA PLANTER,
"AND WE CAN'T EXPECT
ANYTHING ELSE FROM HIM.
HE'S JUST LIKE HIS NEIGHBORS."
I THINK THE POINT TO BE MADE
IS THAT HE WAS NOT JUST LIKE
HIS NEIGHBORS.
WE DON'T BUILD MONUMENTS
TO PEOPLE WHO ARE JUST
LIKE THEIR NEIGHBORS.
WE DON'T PUT THEM ON THE NICKEL.
WE DON'T MAKE THEM ICONS.
JEFFERSON WAS
A VERY SPECIAL MAN,
AND WE CAN
EXPECT MORE FROM HIM...
AND SO WE COMPARE HIM
TO THE BEST OF HIS GENERATION.
WE COMPARE HIM TO WASHINGTON,
WHO FREED HIS SLAVES,
TO HIS COUSIN
JOHN RANDOLPH OF ROANOKE,
WHO FREED HIS SLAVES,
TO HIS NEIGHBOR EDWARD COLES,
TO THE THOUSANDS
OF INDIVIDUAL SMALL VIRGINIANS
WHO FREED THEIR SLAVES.
THE FREE BLACK POPULATION
IN VIRGINIA GROWS
FROM 2,000 TO OVER 30,000
IN A SPACE
OF ABOUT 30 YEARS.
A LOT OF VIRGINIANS
ARE FREEING THEIR SLAVES.
WHERE'S
THE MASTER OF MONTICELLO?
WHY ISN'T HE THERE?
Thomas Jefferson:
THE WHOLE COMMERCE
BETWEEN MASTER AND SLAVE
IS A PERPETUAL EXERCISE OF
THE MOST BOISTEROUS PASSIONS...
THE MOST UNREMITTING DESPOTISM
ON THE ONE PART
AND DEGRADING SUBMISSIONS
ON THE OTHER.
INDEED, I TREMBLE FOR MY COUNTRY
WHEN I REFLECT THAT GOD IS JUST:
THAT HIS JUSTICE
CANNOT SLEEP FOREVER.
THOMAS JEFFERSON.
Jenkinson:
IN NOTES ON VIRGINIA,
IN A REALLY
INTERESTING PASSAGE, HE SAYS,
"THE MAN MUST BE A PRODIGY
WHOSE MANNERS AND MORALS
ARE NOT CORRUPTED
BY THIS INSTITUTION."
AND JEFFERSON SAW THAT ONCE
YOU'RE IN THAT INSTITUTION,
IT WILL DRAG YOU DOWN
MORALLY,
AND YOU CANNOT--YOU CANNOT
ESCAPE THESE DILEMMAS.
Franklin:
I AM A FORGIVING MAN,
THEREFORE I FORGIVE HIM
FOR WHAT HE DID,
BUT I REMEMBER THAT WHAT
HE DID WAS A TRANSGRESSION
AGAINST MANKIND.
Patsy Jefferson:
WE HAD A LOVELY PASSAGE
IN A BEAUTIFUL NEW SHIP
THAT HAD MADE
ONLY ONE VOYAGE BEFORE.
THERE WERE ONLY 6 PASSENGERS,
ALL OF WHOM PAPA KNEW,
AND A FINE SUNSHINE
ALL THE WAY, WITH THE SEA
AS CALM AS A RIVER.
PATSY JEFFERSON.
Narrator: IN THE SPRING OF 1784,
THOMAS JEFFERSON
AND HIS ELDEST DAUGHTER PATSY
SAILED FOR EUROPE.
HIS 2 OTHER SURVIVING GIRLS,
POLLY AND THE BABY LUCY,
WERE LEFT IN THE CARE
OF RELATIVES.
JEFFERSON HAD BEEN NAMED
TO REPRESENT
THE NEW UNITED STATES
IN FRANCE.
THEIR ARRIVAL WAS NOT
AUSPICIOUS.
THE MAN CARRYING THEIR BAGGAGE
CHEATED THEM.
CROWDS GATHERED TO STARE
AT JAMES HEMINGS,
THEIR BLACK MANSERVANT.
NO ONE UNDERSTOOD JEFFERSON'S
BOOKISH FRENCH.
AT FIRST,
JEFFERSON DISLIKED PARIS.
HE WAS SHOCKED BY THE HIGH PRICE
OF EVERYTHING,
DISAPPROVED OF THE EMPHASIS
PARISIANS PUT ON FASHION,
AND WAS APPALLED AT HOW
THE POOR LIVED.
Burstein: JEFFERSON WAS
IN FRANCE IN THE SALON CULTURE
ON THE EVE
OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
HE WAS WITNESSING
A KIND OF STIRRING
THAT WAS REMINISCENT
OF AMERICA IN THE 1770s,
AND SO HE WAS, OF COURSE,
SOUGHT AFTER BY MANY
OF THE NOTABLES OF EUROPE
TO GIVE HIS PERCEPTION
OF THESE POLITICAL DOINGS.
Thomas Jefferson: I WAS
MUCH AN ENEMY TO MONARCHY
BEFORE I CAME TO EUROPE.
I AM 10,000 TIMES MORE SO
SINCE I HAVE SEEN WHAT THEY ARE.
UNDER PRETENSE OF GOVERNING,
THEY HAVE DIVIDED THEIR NATIONS
INTO 2 CLASSES:
WOLVES AND SHEEP.
EXPERIENCE DECLARES THAT MAN
IS THE ONLY ANIMAL
WHICH DEVOURS
HIS OWN KIND,
FOR I CAN APPLY NO MILDER TERM
TO THE GOVERNMENTS OF EUROPE...
AND TO THE GENERAL PREY
OF THE RICH ON THE POOR.
Narrator: JEFFERSON MAY HAVE
SCORNED THE MONARCHIES
OF THE OLD WORLD,
BUT HE WAS SOON
SCOURING THE CONTINENT
FOR ANYTHING HE THOUGHT
MIGHT IMPROVE LIFE IN THE NEW--
A PORTABLE COPYING DEVICE,
PHOSPHORETIC MATCHES,
APRICOTS,
WINE GRAPES, OLIVE TREES,
AND A DEVICE TO MAKE PASTA.
HE HAUNTED BOOKSTORES AND SENT
A SET OF ENCYCLOPEDIAS TO HIS
FRIEND JAMES MADISON
BECAUSE HE THOUGHT THEY WOULD BE
USEFUL IN WRITING A CONSTITUTION
FOR THE UNITED STATES.
AND HE WOULD SOON PLUNGE HIMSELF
$4,000 FURTHER IN DEBT
STRIVING TO HOLD UP HIS END
IN THE ELEGANT PARISIAN SOCIETY
THAT BOTH DISGUSTED
AND DREW HIM.
Jenkinson: JEFFERSON WAS
A PROVINCIAL FROM AMERICA.
HE CALLED HIMSELF A SAVAGE
FROM THE WOODS OF AMERICA,
AND SUDDENLY HE WAS LOWERED,
AS IF FROM A HOT-AIR BALLOON,
INTO THE GLITTERING WORLD
OF LATE ARISTOCRATIC FRANCE,
AND IT OVERWHELMED HIM.
HE WAS INTOXICATED
BY ITS BEAUTY AND ITS DECADENCE
AND ITS INTRIGUE,
ITS FLIRTATION,
ITS ARCHITECTURE, ITS MUSIC,
ITS DANCE, ITS LITERATURE,
ITS SCIENCE.
HE KNEW HE SHOULDN'T LOVE IT,
BUT HE WAS OVERWHELMED BY IT,
AND IT WAS AN AWAKENING
FOR JEFFERSON.
Thomas Jefferson:
SO, ASK THE TRAVELED
INHABITANT OF ANY NATION,
IN WHAT COUNTRY ON EARTH
WOULD YOU RATHER LIVE?
CERTAINLY IN MY OWN, WHERE ARE
ALL MY FRIENDS, MY RELATIONS,
AND THE EARLIEST
AND SWEETEST AFFECTIONS
AND RECOLLECTIONS OF MY LIFE.
WHICH WOULD BE
YOUR SECOND CHOICE?
FRANCE.
Narrator:
AND HE CHARMED THE CITY.
HE HOSTED LAVISH DINNERS,
WAS PRESENTED AT THE COURT
OF LOUIS XVI,
AND WAS A FAVORITE
IN DIPLOMATIC CIRCLES...
ALL THE WHILE NEGOTIATING
COMPLICATED COMMERCIAL TREATIES
MEANT TO RELIEVE
AMERICA'S TRADE DEFICIT AND KEEP
THE HIGH SEAS SAFE FROM PIRATES.
BUT ON JANUARY 26, 1785,
JEFFERSON LEARNED OF STILL
ANOTHER DEATH IN THE FAMILY.
HIS YOUNGEST DAUGHTER,
3-YEAR-OLD LUCY ELIZABETH,
HAD DIED BACK IN VIRGINIA.
ONLY 2 OF HIS 6 CHILDREN
NOW SURVIVED--
PATSY, WHOM HE HAD PLACED
IN A FRENCH CONVENT SCHOOL,
AND 6-YEAR-OLD POLLY,
STILL IN THE CARE
OF RELATIVES IN VIRGINIA.
HE COULD NOT BEAR THE THOUGHT
OF BEING APART FROM HER
ANY LONGER.
Girl: DEAR PAPA,
I HOPE YOU WILL SEND ME A DOLL.
I AM VERY SORRY THAT
YOU HAVE SENT FOR ME.
I DON'T WANT TO GO TO FRANCE.
I HAD RATHER STAY
WITH AUNT EPPES.
YOUR MOST HAPPY
AND DUTIFUL DAUGHTER,
POLLY JEFFERSON.
Thomas Jefferson:
MY DEAR POLLY,
I WISH SO MUCH TO SEE YOU
THAT I HAVE DESIRED YOUR UNCLE
AND AUNT TO SEND YOU TO ME.
YOUR SISTER AND MYSELF
CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT YOU,
AND AFTER A WHILE, WE WILL
CARRY YOU BACK AGAIN TO SEE
YOUR FRIENDS IN VIRGINIA.
ADIEU, MY DEAR CHILD.
YOURS AFFECTIONATELY,
THOMAS JEFFERSON.
Narrator: IT WOULD TAKE
NEARLY 2 YEARS
BEFORE THE LITTLE GIRL
WHO BARELY REMEMBERED
HER FATHER ARRIVED.
SHE WAS ACCOMPANIED ABOARD SHIP
BY ONE OF JEFFERSON'S SLAVES--
14-YEAR-OLD SALLY HEMINGS.
IN 1786, AS FRANCE EDGED CLOSER
TO REVOLUTION,
JEFFERSON WAS INTRODUCED
TO A BEAUTIFUL, GRACEFUL
27-YEAR-OLD ARTIST FROM ENGLAND
NAMED MARIA COSWAY.
HE WAS 43 YEARS OLD
AND SUDDENLY IN LOVE.
Bober: JEFFERSON MET
MARIA COSWAY AT A TIME IN PARIS
WHEN HE WAS PERHAPS
MOST SUSCEPTIBLE TO
A ROMANTIC ATTACHMENT.
HE WAS A LONELY WIDOWER.
MARTHA HAD BEEN GONE
4 1/2 YEARS,
AND HE MET THE BEAUTIFUL
AND TALENTED MARIA COSWAY,
AND SHE LITERALLY SWEPT HIM
OFF HIS FEET.
Jenkinson: SHE WAS BLOND,
PETITE, LEARNED IN LANGUAGES,
ADEPT IN MUSIC,
A CONVERSATIONALIST, A FLIRT,
AND SOMEHOW JEFFERSON
WAS SWEPT INTO HER ORBIT,
AND HE BECAME INTOXICATED
FOR THE LAST TIME IN HIS LIFE.
AND SHE WAS MARRIED,
AND MARIA WAS A DEVOUT CATHOLIC,
SO THAT JEFFERSON HAD
TO HAVE REALIZED THAT
THIS RELATIONSHIP
COULD GO NOWHERE,
BUT HE FELL
DEEPLY IN LOVE WITH HER,
AND THEY HAD A BEAUTIFUL,
BEAUTIFUL MONTH TOGETHER
WITH WHAT HE CALLED
"THEIR CHARMING COTERIE."
Narrator: THEY VISITED
ONE ANOTHER'S HOMES,
WALKED ALONG THE SEINE,
TOOK LONG CARRIAGE RIDES
TOGETHER THROUGH
THE FRENCH COUNTRYSIDE.
Burstein: THEY WENT
TO A PLAY TOGETHER.
THEY PICNICKED TOGETHER.
SOMETHING WAS
COMING BACK TO HIM,
SOMETHING THAT MARIA COSWAY
INSPIRED IN HIM.
Jenkinson: BUT IT PRODUCED
A CRISIS FOR JEFFERSON.
HE HAD, SINCE THE DEATH
OF HIS WIFE,
LIVED PRIMARILY IN THE HEAD,
AND SUDDENLY THE HEART
CAME STREAMING OUT
WITH AN URGENCY
THAT HE WAS SURPRISED BY.
SO WHEN SHE LEFT, HE WROTE
A DIALOGUE ATTEMPTING
TO MAKE SENSE OF THIS.
Thomas Jefferson: MADAM,
SEATED BY MY FIRESIDE,
SOLITARY AND SAD,
THE FOLLOWING DIALOGUE
TOOK PLACE BETWEEN
MY HEAD AND MY HEART...
HEAD: WELL, FRIEND, YOU SEEM
TO BE IN A PRETTY TRIM.
HEART: I AM INDEED THE MOST
WRETCHED OF ALL EARTHLY BEINGS,
OVERWHELMED BY GRIEF.
HEAD: THIS IS ONE
OF THE SCRAPES INTO WHICH
YOU ARE EVER LEADING US.
YOU MUST LEARN TO LOOK FORWARD
BEFORE YOU TAKE A STEP WHICH MAY
INTEREST OUR PEACE.
HEART: LET THE GLOOMY MONK,
SEQUESTERED FROM THE WORLD,
SEEK UNSOCIAL PLEASURES
IN THE BOTTOM OF HIS CELL.
HAD THEY EVER FELT THE SOLID
PLEASURE OF ONE GENEROUS SPASM
OF THE HEART,
THEY WOULD EXCHANGE FOR IT
ALL THE FRIGID SPECULATIONS
OF THEIR LIVES.
HEAD: DO NOT BITE
AT THE BAIT OF PLEASURE
TILL YOU KNOW THERE IS
NO HOOK BENEATH IT.
THE ART OF LIFE
IS THE ART OF AVOIDING PAIN.
HEART: LEAVE ME TO DECIDE
WHEN AND WHERE FRIENDSHIPS
ARE TO BE CONTRACTED.
WE HAVE NO ROSE
WITHOUT ITS THORN,
NO PLEASURE WITHOUT ALLOY.
HEAD: THOSE WHICH
DEPEND ON OURSELVES
ARE THE ONLY PLEASURES
A WISE MAN WILL COUNT ON,
FOR NOTHING IS OURS WHICH
ANOTHER MAY DEPRIVE US OF.
Jenkinson: AFTER MRS. COSWAY
RETURNED TO ENGLAND,
JEFFERSON REASSERTED THE HEAD,
AND, I THINK, LIVED IN THE HEAD
FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE.
I THINK THE EMOTIONAL LIFE,
THE LIFE OF HUMAN COMMITMENT,
HAD BEEN SO FULL OF GRIEF
FOR JEFFERSON
WITH RESPECT TO HIS WIFE,
HIS CHILDREN, HIS BEST FRIEND,
THAT HE FINALLY FELT THAT
HUMAN RELATIONS WERE TOO PAINFUL
AND THAT IT WAS SIMPLY BETTER TO
LIVE IN A WORLD OF ABSTRACTION
AND IDEAS AND ARCHITECTURE
AND NOT IN A WORLD
OF THE FLESH.
WELL, I THINK THE HEAD
ABSORBED THE HEART,
AND PERHAPS IT'S HIS
GREAT RESONANCE TODAY
THAT ALONG
WITH A FIRST-RATE CORTEX,
THE HEART IS BEATING
WITHIN HIS MIND.
Thomas Jefferson:
WAS EVER SUCH A PRIZE WON
WITH SO LITTLE INNOCENT BLOOD?
RATHER THAN IT SHOULD HAVE
FAILED, I WOULD HAVE SEEN
HALF THE EARTH DESOLATED.
WERE THERE BUT AN ADAM
AND AN EVE LEFT IN EVERY COUNTRY
AND LEFT FREE, IT WOULD BE
BETTER THAN IT NOW IS.
Narrator: IN THE SUMMER OF 1789,
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION BEGAN,
AND WHEN THE PEOPLE
OF PARIS FINALLY ROSE UP
AGAINST THEIR KING
AND THE CITY STREETS
RAN WITH BLOOD--
EVENTS WHICH HORRIFIED
MUCH OF AMERICA--
JEFFERSON WOULD REMAIN TRUE
TO THE REVOLUTIONARY SPIRIT.
AND WHEN JEFFERSON HEARD
THAT POOR MASSACHUSETTS FARMERS
HAD TAKEN UP ARMS
AGAINST THEIR CREDITORS,
FRIGHTENING HIS OLD FRIEND
JOHN ADAMS,
HE SIDED WITH THE REBELS.
Thomas Jefferson: GOD FORBID
WE SHOULD EVER BE 20 YEARS
WITHOUT SUCH A REBELLION.
WHAT COUNTRY CAN PRESERVE
ITS LIBERTIES
IF THEIR RULERS ARE NOT
WARNED FROM TIME TO TIME
THAT THEIR PEOPLE PRESERVE
THE SPIRIT OF RESISTANCE?
LET THEM TAKE ARMS.
WHAT SIGNIFY A FEW LIVES LOST
IN A CENTURY OR TWO?
THE TREE OF LIBERTY MUST BE
REFRESHED FROM TIME TO TIME
WITH THE BLOOD OF PATRIOTS
AND TYRANTS.
IT IS ITS NATURAL MANURE.
Narrator: IN OCTOBER 1789,
AS THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
INTENSIFIED,
JEFFERSON, HIS 2 DAUGHTERS,
AND THEIR SLAVES
SAILED AT LAST FOR HOME.
HE TOOK WITH HIM
38 BOXES OF BOOKS,
HAMPERS OF WINE, STATUARY,
AND FOOD UNOBTAINABLE
IN AMERICA: PARMESAN CHEESE,
RAISINS, AND MACARONI.
86 MORE CRATES WOULD FOLLOW
ON ANOTHER SHIP.
AS USUAL, HE HAD SPENT
BEYOND HIS MEANS.
Patsy Jefferson:
WE REACHED MONTICELLO
ON THE 23rd OF DECEMBER.
THE NEGROES COLLECTED IN CROWDS
AROUND OUR CARRIAGE
AND ALMOST DREW IT UP
THE MOUNTAIN BY HAND.
THEN THE DOOR
OF THE CARRIAGE WAS OPENED.
THEY RECEIVED HIM IN THEIR ARMS
AND BORE HIM TO THE HOUSE.
IT SEEMED IMPOSSIBLE TO SATISFY
THEIR ANXIETY TO TOUCH AND KISS
THE VERY EARTH WHICH BORE HIM.
PATSY JEFFERSON.
Narrator:
THE MASTER OF MONTICELLO
HAD BEEN LOOKING FORWARD
TO PUTTING HIS AFFAIRS IN ORDER,
THEN RETURNING TO PARIS,
BUT ON THE ROAD FROM NORFOLK,
HE HAD ALREADY BEEN
HANDED AN URGENT LETTER
FROM GEORGE WASHINGTON.
THE COUNTRY HE HAD
HELPED CREATE WAS
CALLING ON HIM AGAIN.
STORY THAT TAKES PLACE
IN THE EIGHTEEN-TEENS.
THERE IS A CLERGYMAN WHO STOPS
AT FORD'S TAVERN IN VIRGINIA,
WHICH IS ON THE ROAD BETWEEN
MONTICELLO AND POPLAR FOREST...
AND HE ENCOUNTERS A MAN HE TERMS
"A RESPECTABLE STRANGER,"
AND HE ENGAGES IN
A CONVERSATION AT SOME LENGTH
WITH THIS STRANGER.
FIRST THEY TALK ABOUT
MECHANICAL OPERATIONS,
AND HE'S CERTAIN THAT THE MAN
IS AN ENGINEER OF SOME SORT.
THEN THEY MOVE ON
TO MATTERS OF AGRICULTURE,
AND HE THINKS THIS IS,
IN HIS WORDS, "A LARGE FARMER."
FINALLY
THEY TALK ABOUT RELIGION,
AND HE'S CERTAIN THAT THE MAN
IS A CLERGYMAN LIKE HIMSELF.
THE HOUR GETS LATE,
AND THEY GO TO BED,
AND THE NEXT MORNING, HE ARISES
AND SPEAKS WITH THE INNKEEPER
AND ASKS FOR THIS STRANGER
HE HAD SEEN THE NIGHT BEFORE,
AND HE DESCRIBES HIM,
AND THE INNKEEPER SAYS,
"WHY, DON'T YOU KNOW?
THAT WAS THOMAS JEFFERSON."
Man: HE IS THE GREATEST ENIGMA
AMONG MAJOR FIGURES
IN AMERICAN HISTORY.
I THINK WE'RE ATTRACTED TO HIM
IN PART BECAUSE OF HIS
MYSTERIOUS CHARACTER.
IF HE WERE A MONUMENT,
HE WOULD BE A SPHINX.
IF HE WERE A PAINTING,
HE WOULD BE THE MONA LIS.
IF HE WERE
A CHARACTER IN A PLAY,
IT WOULD BE HAMLET.
Narrator: HE WAS A FARMER,
A VIOLINIST,
A WRITER, A SURVEYOR,
A SCIENTIST,
A LOVER OF FINE WINES...
AND A RESTLESS ARCHITECT WHO
COULD NEVER QUITE BRING HIMSELF
TO FINISH HIS OWN HOUSE.
HE WAS A RELUCTANT POLITICIAN
WITH A VOICE SO SOFT
HE COULD BARELY MAKE HIMSELF
HEARD FROM THE PODIUM,
BUT HE HELPED TO FOUND
AMERICA'S FIRST POLITICAL PARTY.
HE DENOUNCED THE MORAL
BANKRUPTCY HE SAW IN EUROPE
BUT DELIGHTED
IN THE GILDED SALONS OF PARIS.
HE WAS A STATESMAN
WHO WAS TWICE ELECTED PRESIDENT
OF THE UNITED STATES
BUT DID NOT THINK HIS PRESIDENCY
WORTH LISTING AMONG THE
ACHIEVEMENTS ON HIS GRAVESTONE.
HE WAS A LIFELONG CHAMPION
OF SMALL GOVERNMENT
WHO TOOK IT UPON HIMSELF
TO MORE THAN DOUBLE
THE SIZE OF HIS COUNTRY.
HE ENDURED THE LOSS OF NEARLY
EVERYTHING HE HELD DEAR
BUT SOMEHOW NEVER LOST
HIS FAITH IN THE FUTURE.
HE DISTILLED A CENTURY
OF ENLIGHTENMENT THINKING
INTO ONE REMARKABLE SENTENCE
WHICH BEGAN...
"WE HOLD THESE TRUTHS
TO BE SELF-EVIDENT,
THAT ALL MEN
ARE CREATED EQUAL."
YET HE OWNED
MORE THAN 200 HUMAN BEINGS
AND NEVER SAW FIT TO FREE THEM.
"THOMAS JEFFERSON WAS
A SHADOW MAN," SAID JOHN ADAMS.
"HIS CHARACTER WAS
LIKE THE GREAT RIVERS
WHOSE BOTTOMS WE CANNOT SEE
AND MAKE NO NOISE."
HE REMAINED A PUZZLE
EVEN TO THOSE WHO THOUGHT
THEY KNEW HIM BEST,
EMBODIED CONTRADICTIONS
COMMON TO THE COUNTRY
WHOSE INDEPENDENCE
IT FELL TO HIM TO PROCLAIM
IN WORDS WHOSE PRECISE MEANING
AMERICANS HAVE DEBATED
EVER SINCE.
Man: HE GAVE US OUR CREED.
A LOT OF NATIONS EMERGE
FROM THE MISTS OF HISTORY,
AND THEIR BASIC IDENTITY
IS TRIBAL.
IT'S ROOTED IN GROUPS.
OURS IS ROOTED
IN A GREAT ASSENT,
AN ASSENT TO
CERTAIN PROPOSITIONS.
"WE ARE," AS LINCOLN SAID--
LINCOLN BEING
THE GREATEST STUDENT
OF JEFFERSON OF THEM ALL--
"WE ARE A NATION
DEDICATED TO A PROPOSITION.
JEFFERSON WROTE
THE PROPOSITION."
Man: HE IS THE CONCEIVING SPIRIT
OF THIS COUNTRY.
SOMEHOW, AT 33 YEARS OLD,
HERE HE WAS, AND HE COULD WRITE
THE DECLARATION,
AND THEY KNEW IT.
THEY SOMEHOW KNEW
THAT HERE WAS A PERSON
WHO COULDN'T SPEAK VERY WELL,
BUT THEY KNEW HE COULD WRITE,
AND THEY ASSIGNED HIM THAT TASK,
AND HE ACCEPTED IT.
Man: JEFFERSON IS
IMPORTANT BECAUSE HE WROTE
IN IMPERISHABLE LANGUAGE
SOME OF THE MOST IMPORTANT
TRUTHS ABOUT CULTURE AND
ABOUT FREEDOM AND CIVILIZATION.
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
HAS BEEN QUOTED BACK AT TYRANTS
BY EVERY INSURGENCY MOVEMENT
SINCE THOMAS JEFFERSON.
SO WE HAVE TO KNOW
ABOUT JEFFERSON
BECAUSE HE'S THE MAN
WHO FOUND THE LANGUAGE
TO EXPRESS THE GREATEST
ASPIRATIONS THAT HUMANITY HAS.
Man: HE SAID THE RIGHT WORDS
AT THE RIGHT TIME,
AND THEY WERE NEVER FORGOTTEN.
JEFFERSON IS AMERICAN SCRIPTURE.
YOU MUST HAVE HIM
ON YOUR SIDE
IF YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE
A GOVERNMENT BASED UPON
THE PEOPLE.
Man: UNFORTUNATELY AND
TRAGICALLY, I WOULD SAY THAT,
IN A SENSE, THOMAS JEFFERSON
PERSONIFIES THE UNITED STATES
AND ITS HISTORY.
HE WAS A MAN WHO CLAIMED,
YOU SEE,
TO BE A MAN
OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT.
HE WAS A SCIENTIST, A HUMANIST.
HE KNEW WHAT HE WAS SAYING
WHEN HE SAID,
"ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL,"
AND IT SIMPLY
CAN'T BE RECONCILED WITH
THE INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY.
Jenkinson: WHEN YOU
START TO EXPLORE THE LIFE
AND ACHIEVEMENT OF JEFFERSON,
YOU FIND THAT THERE
IS A GAP BETWEEN HIS VISION
AND THE BEAUTIFUL ARTICULATION
OF THAT VISION ON THE ONE HAND
AND THEN HIS ACTUAL ACHIEVEMENT
AS A HUMAN BEING ON THE OTHER.
WAS HE A CONTEMPTIBLE HYPOCRITE,
AS SOME BELIEVE?
OR WERE THERE SIMPLY
INCONSISTENCIES BETWEEN
HIS LIFE AND HIS VISION,
AS OTHERS LIKE TO BELIEVE?
OR IS THERE SOME WAY
OF UNDERSTANDING THIS
WHICH PRESERVES
THE INTEGRITY OF JEFFERSON?
HOW CAN WE SEE THROUGH THESE
PARADOXES AND INCONSISTENCIES
AND EVEN HYPOCRISIES
AND GET AT THE MAN?
[CRICKETS CHIRPING]
Man: EVERY HUMAN BEING
MUST BE VIEWED ACCORDING
TO WHAT IT IS GOOD FOR...
FOR NONE OF US--NO, NOT ONE--
IS PERFECT.
AND WERE WE TO LOVE
NONE WHO HAD IMPERFECTIONS,
THIS WORLD WOULD BE
A DESERT FOR OUR LOVE.
THOMAS JEFFERSON.
Narrator: HE WAS BORN
IN ALBEMARLE COUNTY ON THE EDGE
OF THE VIRGINIA WILDERNESS
ON APRIL 13, 1743.
HIS EARLIEST MEMORY WAS
OF BEING CARRIED ON A PILLOW
AT THE AGE OF 2
BY ONE OF HIS FATHER'S SLAVES.
HIS MOTHER, JANE RANDOLPH,
WAS AN ARISTOCRAT,
A MEMBER OF ONE OF VIRGINIA'S
MOST PROMINENT FAMILIES.
BUT HIS FATHER, PETER JEFFERSON,
WAS A SELF-MADE MAN,
INDUSTRIOUS
AND FIERCELY INDEPENDENT.
HE TOLD HIS SON
STORIES OF THE FRONTIER,
INTRODUCED HIM TO INDIANS,
TOOK HIM WALKING
IN THE DEEP, UNCHARTED WOODS
THAT STRETCHED AWAY
BEYOND THE WESTERN HORIZON,
GAVE HIM A LOVE OF LIBERTY.
BY THE TIME HE WAS 6, JEFFERSON
WAS PORING THROUGH THE BOOKS
IN HIS FATHER'S LIBRARY.
SOON HE HAD MASTERED
GREEK AND LATIN
AND TAUGHT HIMSELF THE VIOLIN.
BUT IN AUGUST 1757,
WHEN HE WAS JUST 14,
HIS FATHER DIED SUDDENLY.
Thomas Jefferson:
WHEN I RECOLLECT THAT
AT 14 YEARS OF AGE
THE WHOLE CARE
AND DIRECTION OF MYSELF
WAS THROWN ON MYSELF ENTIRELY
WITHOUT A RELATIVE OR FRIEND
QUALIFIED TO ADVISE
OR GUIDE ME
AND RECOLLECT THE VARIOUS SORTS
OF BAD COMPANY WITH WHICH
I ASSOCIATED FROM TIME TO TIME,
I'M ASTONISHED THAT I DID NOT
TURN OFF WITH SOME OF THEM
AND BECOME AS WORTHLESS
TO SOCIETY AS THEY WERE.
Narrator: A YEAR
AFTER HIS FATHER'S DEATH,
JEFFERSON WAS SENT AWAY
TO A ONE-ROOM SCHOOLHOUSE
TO ACQUIRE THE KIND
OF CLASSICAL EDUCATION
HIS FATHER
HAD THOUGHT ESSENTIAL.
THERE HE MET A YOUNG MAN
NAMED DABNEY CARR
WHO SOON BECAME
HIS CLOSEST FRIEND.
ON WEEKENDS, THE TWO RODE
THEIR HORSES TO THE TOP OF WHAT
THEY CALLED TOM'S MOUNTAIN
ON HIS FATHER'S LAND
OVERLOOKING THE TINY VILLAGE
OF CHARLOTTESVILLE.
THEY WOULD STUDY TOGETHER
IN THE SHADE OF A GREAT
OAK TREE THEY BOTH LOVED,
AND JEFFERSON BEGAN
TO TALK OF SOMEDAY
BUILDING A HOME THERE.
THE TWO BOYS PROMISED
THAT IF ONE SHOULD DIE
BEFORE THE OTHER,
THE ONE WHO STILL LIVED WOULD
BURY HIS FRIEND ON THE MOUNTAIN.
AT 16, JEFFERSON, ATTENDED
BY HIS PERSONAL SLAVE, JUPITER,
WENT ON TO THE COLLEGE
OF WILLIAM AND MARY
AT WILLIAMSBURG,
THE COLONIAL CAPITAL
OF VIRGINIA.
AT FIRST,
JEFFERSON WAS OVERWHELMED
BY THE ATTRACTIONS OF THE TOWN.
Thomas Jefferson:
FROM THE CIRCUMSTANCES
OF MY POSITION,
I WAS OFTEN THROWN INTO
THE SOCIETY OF HORSE RACERS,
CARD PLAYERS, FOX HUNTERS,
SCIENTIFIC
AND PROFESSIONAL MEN,
AND OF DIGNIFIED MEN,
AND MANY A TIME I ASKED MYSELF
WHICH OF THESE KINDS OF
REPUTATIONS SHOULD I PREFER:
THAT OF A HORSE JOCKEY,
A FOX HUNTER, AN ORATOR,
OR THE HONEST ADVOCATE
OF MY COUNTRY'S RIGHTS?
Woman: HE WENT TO THE HORSE
RACES AND TO THE BALLS,
AND HE DANCED,
AND HE WAS INVOLVED
WITH A LOT OF THE GIRLS,
AND HE HAD A GOOD TIME.
WHEN HE WENT HOME THAT SUMMER,
HE REALIZED HOW MUCH TIME
HE HAD WASTED,
AND THEN DABNEY CARR WENT BACK
WITH HIM, AND AT THAT POINT,
HE RESOLVED THAT HE WOULD STUDY.
Narrator: NOW HE STOOD
APART IN HIS DEVOTION
TO HIS SCHOOLWORK.
"I WAS A HARD STUDENT
UNTIL I ENTERED THE BUSINESS
OF LIFE," HE REMEMBERED.
HE WAS SAID TO BE AT HIS BOOKS
15 HOURS OUT OF EVERY 24.
JEFFERSON'S SHY CHARM
AND UNUSUAL SERIOUSNESS
PROMPTED ONE OF HIS PROFESSORS
TO INTRODUCE HIM
TO GEORGE WYTHE,
THE COLONY'S LEADING ATTORNEY,
WHO AGREED TO TAKE JEFFERSON ON
AND TO TEACH HIM THE LAW.
"HE WAS MY SECOND FATHER,"
JEFFERSON WROTE LATER.
"MY FAITHFUL
AND BELOVED MENTOR."
AND WYTHE, FOR HIS PART,
PROUDLY SHOWED OFF
HIS PRIZED STUDENT
TO THE MEN WHO RULED VIRGINIA.
Bober: BY THIS TIME,
IT WAS THE BRILLIANCE
AND OPEN-MINDEDNESS
OF THIS YOUNG THOMAS JEFFERSON
THAT INSPIRED THE GOVERNOR
TO INVITE HIM TO THE PALACE
ONCE A WEEK FOR DINNER,
CONVERSATION, AND MUSIC.
AT THAT TABLE,
THIS YOUNG BOY WAS EXPOSED TO
THE THOUGHT CURRENTS IN EUROPE,
WHAT WAS THEN CALLED
THE ENLIGHTENMENT...
AND LATER ON, HE SAID
THAT HE REALIZED THAT
THAT DINING ROOM TABLE
WAS TRULY HIS UNIVERSITY.
Burstein:
IN WILLIAMSBURG, AS A STUDENT,
JEFFERSON WAS SOAKING UP
ALL THE LEARNING HE COULD GET.
THE ENLIGHTENMENT
FOR THOMAS JEFFERSON
WAS A SPIRIT
OF INTELLECTUAL OPTIMISM.
THE ENLIGHTENMENT THINKERS SAW
THE GOOD IN THE HUMAN SPIRIT,
AND JEFFERSON WAS
MOST INTOXICATED BY THE IDEA
THAT HUMAN BEINGS
POSSESSED THE POTENTIAL
TO DO REMARKABLE GOOD
AND THAT A GOVERNMENT
COULD BE CREATED
WHICH WOULD TAP
INTO THIS SPIRIT,
TAP INTO THIS IMPULSE
TO DO GOOD.
Narrator: JEFFERSON EVENTUALLY
EARNED HIS LIVING AT THE LAW,
BUT POLITICS BEGAN TO TAKE
MORE AND MORE OF HIS TIME.
AS HE TRAVELED
THROUGHOUT THE COLONY,
HIS CHESS SET AND VIOLIN
IN HIS SADDLE BAGS,
HE SAW THAT HIS WORLD
WAS VERY LITTLE LIKE THE WORLD
THE ENLIGHTENMENT PHILOSOPHERS
HAD ENVISIONED.
JOHN LOCKE, FRANCIS BACON,
AND ISAAC NEWTON
PREACHED
A FREEDOM OF THE MIND,
BUT IN THE BRITISH COLONIES,
EACH CITIZEN WAS EXPECTED
TO OBEY WITHOUT COMPLAINT
THE DICTATES
OF A FAR-OFF PARLIAMENT.
AT 27, JEFFERSON MOVED
TO THE HILL
WHICH HE AND DABNEY CARR
HAD NAMED TOM'S MOUNTAIN
WHEN THEY WERE BOYS.
HE RENAMED IT MONTICELLO,
ITALIAN FOR "LITTLE MOUNTAIN,"
AND BEGAN
TO BUILD HIMSELF A HOUSE.
Thomas Jefferson: I HAVE
LATELY REMOVED TO THE MOUNTAIN.
I HAVE HERE BUT ONE ROOM
WHICH SERVES ME FOR PARLOR
AND KITCHEN AND HALL.
I MAY ADD FOR BEDCHAMBER
AND STUDY, TOO.
I HAVE HOPES, HOWEVER,
OF GETTING MORE ELBOW ROOM
THIS SUMMER.
Narrator: HE FIRST BUILT
A MODEST BRICK COTTAGE
BUT SOON BEGAN TO DRAW UP
FAR MORE AMBITIOUS PLANS.
THEY WERE BASED
ON THE WORKS OF THE ITALIAN
RENAISSANCE MASTER PALLADIO
AND INSPIRED
BY THE CLASSICAL FORMS
OF ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME.
NO DETAIL WOULD ESCAPE
HIS IMAGINATION.
EARLY IN 1771, JEFFERSON BEGAN
TO COURT MARTHA WAYLES SKELTON,
THE YOUNG WIDOW
OF A FELLOW LAWYER.
NO PORTRAIT OF HER
HAS EVER BEEN FOUND,
BUT SHE WAS SAID TO BE
BEAUTIFUL, GRACEFUL,
FOND OF MUSIC.
HE CALLED HER PATTY.
THEY WERE MARRIED
AT HER FATHER'S HOUSE
ON NEW YEAR'S DAY, 1772.
SHE WAS 23. HE WAS 28.
2 WEEKS LATER, THE NEWLYWEDS
RODE THROUGH THE SNOW TO START
THEIR NEW LIFE TOGETHER
AT MONTICELLO.
THE COTTAGE WAS COLD AND DARK,
AND MARTHA WAS SAID
TO HAVE SHIVERED AT
THE HORRIBLE DREARINESS
OF SUCH A HOUSE.
BUT JEFFERSON RUMMAGED AROUND
AND FOUND A HALF BOTTLE OF WINE
BEHIND SOME BOOKS ON A SHELF,
AND THEY STARTED
THEIR MARRIED LIFE TOGETHER
IN A TINY 18-BY-18-FOOT COTTAGE
CLINGING TO THE EDGE
OF HIS MOUNTAIN.
Thomas Jefferson:
IN EVERY SCHEME OF HAPPINESS,
SHE IS PLACED
IN THE FOREGROUND OF THE PICTURE
AS THE PRINCIPAL FIGURE.
TAKE THAT AWAY,
AND IT IS NO PICTURE FOR ME.
Narrator: THEIR FIRST CHILD,
MARTHA, WHOM THEY CALLED PATSY,
WAS BORN AT MONTICELLO
THE FOLLOWING FALL.
THE INTERESTING THING
ABOUT THOMAS JEFFERSON'S LIFE
IS THAT THIS MAN WHO
COMES DOWN TO US IN HISTORY
AS THE EMBODIMENT
OF AMERICAN OPTIMISM,
THE PROMISE OF A BRIGHT FUTURE
FOR THIS THEN-YOUNG COUNTRY--
IN HIS OWN LIFE, HE WAS BOUND
TO LOSE EVERYTHING HE LOVED.
Narrator: IN MAY OF 1773,
JEFFERSON'S FRIEND DABNEY CARR
DIED OF BILIOUS FEVER.
TRUE TO HIS WORD, JEFFERSON SAW
TO IT THAT HE WAS LAID TO REST
AT MONTICELLO.
AS HE WOULD ALL HIS LIFE,
HE SOUGHT ESCAPE FROM SADNESS
IN THE CERTAINTY OF NUMBERS
AND MAKING LISTS.
HE DULLED HIS GRIEF BY
CALCULATING THE LENGTH OF TIME
IT WOULD TAKE FOR HIS SLAVES
TO PREPARE THE GRAVEYARD
FOR HIS FRIEND'S COFFIN.
Thomas Jefferson:
2 HANDS GRUBBED THE GRAVEYARD
80 FEET SQUARE--
1/7 OF AN ACRE--
IN 3 1/2 HOURS...
SO THAT ONE WOULD HAVE DONE IT
IN 7 HOURS
AND WOULD GRUB AN ACRE
IN 49 HOURS...
EQUALING 4 DAYS.
Narrator: 2 WEEKS LATER,
MARTHA'S FATHER DIED,
LEAVING JEFFERSON CRUSHING DEBTS
TO BRITISH CREDITORS,
THOUSANDS OF ACRES OF LAND,
AND 135 MORE SLAVES.
Man: MR. JEFFERSON WAS
A TALL, STRAIGHT-BODIED MAN
AS EVER YOU SEE,
RIGHT SQUARE-SHOULDERED.
NARY A MAN IN THIS TOWN WALKED
SO STRAIGHT AS MY OLD MASTER.
NEAT A BUILT MAN
AS EVER WAS SEEN IN VIRGINIA,
I RECKON, OR ANY PLACE.
A STRAIGHT-UP MAN...
LONG FACE, HIGH NOSE.
ISAAC.
Narrator: JEFFERSON SOLD OFF
MOST OF THE LAND HE INHERITED,
BUT HE KEPT THE SLAVES,
INCLUDING A WOMAN SAID TO BE HIS
LATE FATHER-IN-LAW'S MISTRESS--
BETTY HEMINGS--
AND THE 2 SMALL CHILDREN
SHE HAD BORNE HIM,
JAMES AND SALLY.
THOMAS JEFFERSON WAS NOW
THE SECOND-LARGEST SLAVEHOLDER
IN ALBEMARLE COUNTY,
AND HE SET HIS SLAVES TO WORK
BUILDING HIS ESTATE.
Isaac: MONTICELLO HOUSE
WAS PULLED DOWN IN PART
AND BUILT UP AGAIN
SOME 6 OR 7 TIMES.
THEY WAS 40 YEARS AT WORK
UPON THAT HOUSE
BEFORE MR. JEFFERSON
STOPPED BUILDING.
Narrator: OVER THE YEARS,
HE WOULD COMPLETELY
REDESIGN MONTICELLO,
BUT IT WOULD ALWAYS BE
BOTH HOME AND SAFE HAVEN
FROM THE POLITICAL STORMS THAT
SOON BEGAN TO BREAK AROUND HIM.
Man, British accent:
THE COLONISTS OF VIRGINIA
ARE HAUGHTY AND JEALOUS
OF THEIR LIBERTIES,
IMPATIENT OF RESTRAINT,
AND CAN SCARCELY BEAR
THE THOUGHT OF BEING CONTROLLED
BY A FOREIGN POWER.
ANDREW BURNABY.
Narrator: IN 1765, BRITAIN
HAD PASSED THE STAMP ACT,
WHICH IMPOSED ON AMERICAN
COLONISTS A SPECIAL TAX
ON PRINTED MATTER.
MANY VIRGINIANS,
JEFFERSON INCLUDED,
WERE INCENSED THAT A DISTANT
PARLIAMENT COULD, WITHOUT
SO MUCH AS CONSULTING THEM,
DEMAND MONEY
FROM THEIR POCKETS.
PROTESTS ERUPTED
FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE TO GEORGIA.
Burstein: THERE CAME A TIME WHEN
ENGLISH LIBERTY NO LONGER FELT
THE SAME AS IT HAD.
BY THE 1760s AND 1770s, THERE
WAS SOMETHING NEW IN THE AIR.
THEY FELT THAT
THEY WERE BEING ENSLAVED.
THEY USED THE TERM ENSLAVEMENT
TO DESCRIBE WHAT PARLIAMENT
WAS INFLICTING UPON
THESE PEOPLE WHO HAD GROWN UP
WITH A CERTAIN VIEW
OF ENGLISH LIBERTY,
AND IF ENGLISH LIBERTY
COULD NO LONGER BE PRESERVED,
THEN WHAT WAS THEIR RECOURSE?
Narrator: IN 1769,
THE VIRGINIA HOUSE OF BURGESSES
PASSED A RESOLUTION
PLEDGING TO BOYCOTT BRITISH
GOODS RATHER THAN PAY A NEW TAX.
THE FIRST MAN TO SIGN
WAS THE RICHEST MAN
IN THE COLONY,
A TALL, AUSTERE VETERAN OF
THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR,
GEORGE WASHINGTON.
THOMAS JEFFERSON,
THE NEWEST MEMBER
OF THE HOUSE OF BURGESSES,
WAS THE 16th TO SIGN,
AND OVER THE COMING YEARS,
AS PATRIOTIC FEELINGS
CONTINUED TO RISE,
SO DID HIS INFLUENCE.
THE SHY AND BOOKISH
STUDENT OF PHILOSOPHY
WAS BECOMING
A REVOLUTIONARY.
WHEN MASSACHUSETTS PATRIOTS
DEFIED THE CROWN
BY DUMPING TEA
INTO BOSTON HARBOR,
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT TRIED TO
STARVE THE CITY INTO SUBMISSION
WITH ITS WARSHIPS.
JEFFERSON HELPED PERSUADE
HIS FELLOW BURGESSES
TO DECLARE A DAY
OF PRAYER AND FASTING
TO SHOW VIRGINIA'S SOLIDARITY
WITH THE PEOPLE OF BOSTON.
ITS EFFECT, HE SAID, "WAS LIKE
A SHOCK OF ELECTRICITY."
IN 1774, AS THE COLONIES
PREPARED FOR THE FIRST TIME TO
MEET TOGETHER IN PHILADELPHIA,
AT WHAT THEY CALLED
A CONTINENTAL CONGRESS,
JEFFERSON WROTE
A SUMMARY VIEW OF THE RIGHTS
OF BRITISH AMERICA.
HE BOLDLY ARGUED
THAT SINCE THE ASSOCIATION
BETWEEN CROWN AND COLONIES
WAS PURELY VOLUNTARY,
PARLIAMENT HAD NO INHERENT
AUTHORITY OVER AMERICANS.
Thomas Jefferson:
ARE AMERICANS TO LIVE
AT THE IMPERIOUS BREATH
OF A BODY OF MEN
WHOM THEY NEVER SAW,
IN WHOM THEY NEVER CONFIDED,
AND OVER WHOM THEY HAVE
NO POWERS OF PUNISHMENT
OR REMOVAL?
SINGLE ACTS OF TYRANNY
MAY BE ASCRIBED
TO THE ACCIDENTAL OPINION
OF A DAY;
BUT A SERIES
OF OPPRESSIONS...
TOO PLAINLY PROVE
A DELIBERATE, SYSTEMATICAL PLAN
OF REDUCING US TO SLAVERY.
THE GOD WHO GAVE US LIFE GAVE US
LIBERTY AT THE SAME TIME.
THE HAND OF FORCE MAY DESTROY
BUT CANNOT DISJOIN THEM.
Narrator: JEFFERSON'S ESSAY
WAS WIDELY READ IN BOTH
ENGLAND AND AMERICA,
AND HE WAS AWARE
OF THE TRADITIONAL PENALTY PAID
BY THOSE WHOM THE CROWN
CONSIDERED TRAITORS.
Andrew Burnaby: YOU ARE TO BE
HANGED BY THE NECK,
BUT NOT UNTIL YOU ARE DEAD;
FOR WHILE
YOU ARE STILL LIVING,
YOUR BODIES
ARE TO BE TAKEN DOWN,
YOUR BOWELS TORN OUT
AND BURNED BEFORE YOUR FACES,
YOUR HEADS THEN CUT OFF,
AND YOUR BODIES DIVIDED
INTO 4 QUARTERS...
TO BE THEN
AT THE KING'S DISPOSAL;
AND MAY THE ALMIGHTY GOD
HAVE MERCY ON YOUR SOULS.
Narrator: ON JUNE 11, 1775,
JEFFERSON SET OUT
FROM MONTICELLO
FOR PHILADELPHIA.
HE HAD BEEN CHOSEN AS A DELEGATE
TO THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS.
BY THEN, AMERICANS HAD
FOUGHT BRITISH SOLDIERS
AT LEXINGTON AND CONCORD,
AND GEORGE WASHINGTON
HAD LEFT PHILADELPHIA
AND WAS ON HIS WAY TO TAKE
COMMAND OF THE REBEL FORCES.
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
HAD BEGUN.
Man: PHILADELPHIA,
JUNE 22, 1775.
YESTERDAY
THE FAMOUS MR. JEFFERSON,
A DELEGATE FROM VIRGINIA,
ARRIVED.
HE LOOKS LIKE A VERY SENSIBLE,
SPIRITED, FINE FELLOW,
AND BY THE PAMPHLET
WHICH HE WROTE LAST SUMMER,
HE CERTAINLY IS ONE.
SAMUEL WARD.
Narrator: IN 1775, KINGS STILL
RULED IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND,
A CZARINA IN ST. PETERSBURG,
A SULTAN IN CONSTANTINOPLE,
A DIVINELY INVESTED EMPEROR
IN PEKING,
AND A SHOGUN IN JAPAN.
BUT IN JUNE 1775,
A SMALL GROUP OF MERCHANTS,
PLANTERS, AND LAWYERS
MET IN PHILADELPHIA
TO SEE WHETHER THEY
MIGHT GOVERN THEMSELVES.
THOMAS JEFFERSON OF VIRGINIA
RENTED HIMSELF A ROOM
AND BEGAN TO CIRCULATE
AMONG THE OTHER DELEGATES:
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
OF PENNSYLVANIA,
ROBERT LIVINGSTON
OF NEW YORK,
ROGER SHERMAN
OF CONNECTICUT,
AND A SHORT,
OPINIONATED DELEGATE FROM
MASSACHUSETTS--JOHN ADAMS--
WHO WOULD BECOME
JEFFERSON'S FRIEND...
THEN HIS ENEMY...
AND THEN HIS FRIEND AGAIN.
ADAMS WAS AS VOLUBLE
AS JEFFERSON WAS RETICENT,
BUT HE TOOK TO
THE YOUNG VIRGINIAN RIGHT AWAY
AND THOUGHT HIM
"TOUGH AS A LIGNUM KNOT."
Man: DURING THE WHOLE TIME
I SAT WITH HIM IN CONGRESS,
I NEVER HEARD HIM UTTER
3 SENTENCES TOGETHER.
THOUGH A SILENT MEMBER
OF CONGRESS,
HE WAS SO PROMPT, FRANK,
EXPLICIT, AND DECISIVE
UPON COMMITTEES
THAT HE SOON
SEIZED UPON MY HEART.
JOHN ADAMS.
Jenkinson:
JEFFERSON IS 33 YEARS OLD.
HE'S ONE OF THE YOUNGEST MEMBERS
OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS
OF THE UNITED STATES.
HE'S A PROVINCIAL
FROM VIRGINIA.
HE HAS SCARCELY EVER
BEEN OUT OF HIS HOME STATE.
HE IS A SHY MAN.
HE HAS PERHAPS A SLIGHT
SPEECH IMPEDIMENT,
AND HE HAS A HIGH-PITCHED
AND WEAK VOICE
AND IS NOT GIVEN TO ASSERTING
HIMSELF IN ANY WAY.
HE'S CONSIDERED
A BRILLIANT COMMITTEE MAN,
BUT HE HAS NO PRESENCE
IN THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS.
HE'S NOT COMFORTABLE
TALKING IN PUBLIC.
HE'S NOT A GREAT ORATOR.
IN FACT HE'S, EVEN AS A LAWYER,
NOT VERY GOOD AT MAKING
ORAL PRESENTATIONS TO JURIES.
HE'S MUCH MORE COMFORTABLE
CRAFTING LANGUAGE IN PRIVATE
WHERE HE HAS CONTROL.
Narrator: OVER THE NEXT 2 YEARS,
JEFFERSON WOULD SERVE QUIETLY
ON 34 DIFFERENT COMMITTEES.
HE WAS A MASTER
AT DRAFTING LEGISLATION,
HAD WHAT ADAMS CALLED "A HAPPY
TALENT OF COMPOSITION,"
AND IMPRESSED EVERYONE
WITH HIS HARD WORK...
BUT HE WAS PRIVATELY SUFFERING.
Thomas Jefferson:
I HAVE NEVER RECEIVED
THE SCRIP OF A PEN
FROM ANY MORTAL IN VIRGINIA
SINCE I LEFT IT,
NOR BEEN ABLE BY ANY
INQUIRIES I COULD MAKE
TO HEAR OF MY FAMILY.
THE SUSPENSE UNDER WHICH I AM
IS TOO TERRIBLE TO BE ENDURED.
IF ANYTHING HAS HAPPENED,
FOR GOD'S SAKE, LET ME KNOW IT.
Narrator: IN SEPTEMBER 1775,
HIS SECOND DAUGHTER JANE
HAD DIED AT 17 MONTHS,
LEAVING HIS WIFE SO FRAIL
AND GRIEF-STRICKEN
THAT SHE COULD NOT EVEN
WRITE TO HIM.
Bober: HE WAS LIVING
IN A 3-MILE-AN-HOUR WORLD.
IT WOULD HAVE TAKEN HIM
BETTER THAN A WEEK
TO TRAVEL THE DISTANCE
FROM PHILADELPHIA TO VIRGINIA.
AND SO OF NECESSITY,
MARTHA WAS ALONE A GREAT DEAL
OF THE TIME AND SUFFERED.
SHE OFTEN WENT INTO STATES OF
DEPRESSION BECAUSE SHE WANTED
HIM WITH HER,
AND OF COURSE BECAUSE SHE WAS
LOSING THESE "DEAR PLEDGES,"
AS JEFFERSON CALLED THEM,
ONE AFTER THE OTHER.
Narrator: ON MARCH 31, 1776,
JEFFERSON'S OWN MOTHER DIED.
MIGRAINE HEADACHES PARALYZED HIM
FOR WEEKS.
Thomas Jefferson:
PERFECT HAPPINESS, I BELIEVE,
WAS NEVER INTENDED
BY THE DEITY
TO BE THE LOT OF ANY ONE
OF HIS CREATURES IN THIS WORLD.
THE MOST FORTUNATE OF US
FREQUENTLY MEET WITH CALAMITIES
WHICH MAY GREATLY AFFLICT US,
AND TO FORTIFY OUR MINDS
AGAINST THE ATTACKS
OF THESE MISFORTUNES
SHOULD BE ONE OF THE PRINCIPAL
STUDIES AND ENDEAVORS
OF OUR LIVES.
[BELL RINGING]
Narrator: ON JUNE 7, 1776,
RICHARD HENRY LEE OF VIRGINIA
INTRODUCED A RESOLUTION
THAT DECLARED THAT
"THESE UNITED COLONIES ARE,
AND OF RIGHT OUGHT TO BE,
FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES."
CONGRESS SCHEDULED A VOTE ON
LEE'S RESOLUTION FOR EARLY JULY,
HOPING IT WOULD CONVINCE FRANCE
TO JOIN THEIR STRUGGLE
AGAINST ENGLAND,
THE MIGHTIEST POWER ON EARTH.
THEY ESTABLISHED A COMMITTEE
TO DRAFT A DECLARATION
OF INDEPENDENCE,
TO WHICH ALL 13 COLONIES
COULD SUBSCRIBE.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN WAS ASKED
TO WRITE THE FIRST DRAFT
AND REFUSED.
HE MADE IT A POLICY,
HE SAID,
NOT TO WRITE DOCUMENTS SUBJECT
TO EDITING BY OTHERS.
JEFFERSON AND ADAMS
WERE ASSIGNED THE TASK.
Jenkinson: BOTH JEFFERSON
AND ADAMS WERE COMMITTED
TO A REPUBLIC,
BUT THEY HAD
VERY DIFFERENT STYLES.
JEFFERSON WAS BLAND AND CAREFUL
AND APHORISTIC AND HIGH-FLOWN.
HIS RHETORIC ALWAYS SOARED
TOWARDS ASPIRATION
AND TO HUMAN DIGNITY.
ADAMS WAS EARTHY AND ANECDOTAL
AND PUGNACIOUS.
JEFFERSON SAYS,
"I THINK YOU OUGHT TO DO IT,"
AND ADAMS SAYS, "NO.
3 REASONS YOU MUST DO IT:
"FIRST, YOU ARE A VIRGINIAN,
AND A VIRGINIAN MUST BE AT
THE HEAD OF THIS BUSINESS;
"SECOND, I, JOHN ADAMS,
AM DISLIKED AND OBNOXIOUS,
"AND IF I WRITE IT,
IT WILL LACK CREDIBILITY;
AND THIRD, YOU ARE 10 TIMES
BETTER A WRITER THAN I AM."
Thomas Jefferson:
NOT TO FIND OUT NEW PRINCIPLES
OR NEW ARGUMENTS
NEVER BEFORE THOUGHT OF,
NOT MERELY TO SAY THINGS WHICH
HAD NEVER BEEN SAID BEFORE,
BUT TO PLACE BEFORE MANKIND
A COMMON SENSE OF THE SUBJECT
IN TERMS SO PLAIN AND FIRM
AS TO COMMAND THEIR ASSENT
AND TO JUSTIFY OURSELVES
IN THE INDEPENDENT STAND
WE ARE COMPELLED TO TAKE.
Narrator:
ALONE IN A RENTED ROOM,
JEFFERSON WENT TO WORK.
Bober: I WOULD LOVE TO BE THERE
WHEN HE WAS WRITING
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
HE WAS IN A LITTLE HOUSE
ON MARKET STREET,
WRITING ON THIS WONDERFUL DESK.
HIS SERVANT BOB HEMINGS
WAS WITH HIM.
HE WOULD SERVE HIM TEA
WHILE HE WAS WORKING.
HE WOULD PLAY HIS VIOLIN
PERIODICALLY...
AND HE WOULD WRITE
WITHOUT ANY NOTES.
I WOULD LOVE
TO SEE HIM STRUGGLING
FOR EXACTLY THE RIGHT WORD,
THE RIGHT PHRASE,
TRYING TO MATCH THE SOUND
AND THE SENSE
OF EACH OF THE WORDS,
THE CADENCES,
THINKING THROUGH THE IDEAS
THAT HE'D BEEN STUDYING
OF JOHN LOCKE, OF MONTESQUIEU,
ALL THE READING THAT HE HAD DONE
OVER THE YEARS.
AND AS HE STRUGGLED
OVER EACH WORD,
WRITING, CROSSING OUT,
"INTERLINING" AS HE SAID...
AND THEN,
AS A PAGE GOT TOO MESSY,
COPYING IT "FAIR."
Narrator: IT TOOK HIM
ONLY A FEW DAYS.
THE DOCUMENT, HE SAID,
WAS SIMPLY INTENDED
TO BE AN EXPRESSION
OF THE AMERICAN MIND.
Vidal: HE WAS ABLE,
SOMEHOW, TO PICK UP ON
ALL THE WAVES OF THOUGHT
THAT WERE GOING THROUGH
FROM PARIS TO LONDON,
FROM THE COFFEEHOUSES
TO BOSTON,
AND ALL THESE IDEAS
WERE COMING IN AND COMING IN.
WHAT IS A GOOD COUNTRY?
WHAT IS A GOOD WAY TO LIVE?
WHAT IS A REPUBLIC?
SHOULD WE HAVE A REPUBLIC?
WHAT IS A MONARCHY?
WHAT IS A COLONIST?
WHAT ARE THE RELATIONS
BETWEEN MASTER AND SLAVE,
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
OWNER AND, UH, THE OWNED?
AND HE TOOK ALL OF THIS
AND, IN 2 OR 3 SENTENCES,
HURLED IT AT THE WORLD,
AND IT STILL GOES ROUND.
IT STILL INSPIRES,
AND IT IS STILL THE ESSENCE
OF WHATEVER SPIRIT WE STILL HAVE
AND THAT WE ONCE HAD, INDEED.
Thomas Jefferson: WHEN
IN THE COURSE OF HUMAN EVENTS
IT BECOMES NECESSARY
FOR ONE PEOPLE TO DISSOLVE
THE POLITICAL BANDS
WHICH HAVE CONNECTED THEM
WITH ANOTHER
AND TO ASSUME AMONG
THE POWERS OF THE EARTH
THE SEPARATE AND EQUAL STATION
TO WHICH THE LAWS OF NATURE
AND OF NATURE'S GOD
ENTITLE THEM,
A DECENT RESPECT
TO THE OPINIONS OF MANKIND
REQUIRES THAT THEY SHOULD
DECLARE THE CAUSES WHICH
IMPEL THEM TO THE SEPARATION.
WE HOLD THESE TRUTHS
TO BE SELF-EVIDENT...
THAT ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL;
THAT THEY ARE ENDOWED
BY THEIR CREATOR
WITH CERTAIN
INALIENABLE RIGHTS...
THAT AMONG THESE ARE
LIFE, LIBERTY,
AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS.
Ellis: THOSE ARE
THE CLOSEST THINGS
TO THE MAGIC WORDS
OF AMERICAN HISTORY.
THOSE ARE THE WORDS
THAT ALL AMERICANS
AT SOME VERY, VERY IMPORTANT
LEVEL BELIEVE IN.
THEY ARE THE ESSENTIAL WORDS
OF THE AMERICAN CREED,
AND PART OF JEFFERSON'S GENIUS
WAS TO ARTICULATE
AT A SUFFICIENTLY
ABSTRACT LEVEL
THESE PRINCIPLES, THESE TRUTHS
THAT WE ALL WANT TO BELIEVE IN.
THE LEVEL IS
SUFFICIENTLY ABSTRACT
SO THAT WE DON'T HAVE TO NOTICE
THAT THESE TRUTHS ARE,
AT SOME LEVEL, UNATTAINABLE,
AND AT ANOTHER LEVEL,
MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE.
PERFECT FREEDOM DOESN'T LEAD
TO PERFECT EQUALITY.
IT USUALLY LEADS TO INEQUALITY.
BUT JEFFERSON'S GENIUS
IS TO ASSERT THEM AT
A LEVEL OF ABSTRACTION
WHERE THEY HAVE A KIND OF
RHAPSODIC INSPIRATIONAL QUALITY.
AND WE ALL AGREE NOT TO NOTICE,
NOT TO NOTICE THAT
THEY ARE UNATTAINABLE
AND NOT TO NOTICE
THAT THEY ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE
OR CONTRADICTORY.
THEY ARE IN SOME SENSE
NICE REPRESENTATIONS OF
JEFFERSON'S PERSONALITY--
WISHING TO BE ABOVE
IT ALL AND CONCEALING
THE CONTRADICTIONS.
Narrator: ON JULY 2,
CONGRESS UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED
THE CENTRAL CLAUSE OF
JEFFERSON'S DECLARATION
PROCLAIMING
AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE.
Thomas Jefferson:
AND FOR THE SUPPORT
OF THIS DECLARATION,
WE MUTUALLY PLEDGE TO EACH OTHER
OUR LIVES, OUR FORTUNES,
AND OUR SACRED HONOR.
Narrator: 2 DAYS LATER,
JULY 4, 1776,
12 OF THE 13 STATES APPROVED
THE ENTIRE DOCUMENT.
NEW YORK WOULD TAKE A FEW MORE
DAYS TO MAKE UP ITS MIND.
IT WAS READ ON THE STREETS
OF PHILADELPHIA.
John Adams: IT WILL BE
THE MOST MEMORABLE EPOCHA
IN THE HISTORY OF AMERICA.
I AM APT TO BELIEVE
THAT IT WILL BE CELEBRATED
BY SUCCEEDING GENERATIONS
AS THE GREAT
ANNIVERSARY FESTIVAL.
IT OUGHT TO BE COMMEMORATED
AS THE DAY OF DELIVERANCE
BY SOLEMN ACTS OF DEVOTION
TO GOD ALMIGHTY.
IT OUGHT TO BE SOLEMNIZED
WITH POMP AND PARADE,
WITH SHOWS, GAMES, SPORTS,
GUNS, BELLS, BONFIRES,
AND ILLUMINATIONS
FROM ONE END OF THIS CONTINENT
TO THE OTHER
FROM THIS TIME FORWARD
FOREVERMORE.
JOHN ADAMS.
[FIREWORKS]
Will: WE HAVE A CIVIL RELIGION
IN THIS COUNTRY,
AND HE PROVIDED A CATECHISM.
I MEAN, EVERY RELIGION
OUGHT TO HAVE A CATECHISM:
HERE ARE WHAT WE BELIEVE.
WANT TO BE AN AMERICAN?
HERE'S WHAT YOU WILL BELIEVE.
NO ONE KNOWS
HOW YOU BECOME FRENCH.
NO ONE KNOWS WHERE GERMANY
COMES FROM.
IT SORT OF EMERGES
FROM THE MISTS.
WE KNOW WHEN WE STARTED.
WE KNOW THE AFTERNOON--
JULY 4, 1776--
AND WE KNOW HOW TO BECOME
AN AMERICAN.
YOU COME HERE, AND YOU ASSENT.
THEN YOU'RE AN AMERICAN,
JUST AS AMERICAN AS ANYBODY
WHOSE FAMILY HAS BEEN HERE
FOR 10 GENERATIONS.
YOU'RE IN. YOU'RE IT.
THAT'S WHAT AN AMERICAN IS.
Man: HE SAID THAT
"HERE IN THIS PLACE,
"THE HAPPINESS OF THE HUMAN RACE
MAY ADVANCE TO AN INDEFINITE,
THOUGH NOT
TO AN INFINITE DEGREE."
HE EXPRESSED HIS OPTIMISM
AND YET HIS REFUSAL TO BE
A UTOPIAN,
AND I THINK THAT WHAT
DISTINGUISHES OUR KIND
OF SOCIETY
AND THE JEFFERSONIAN VIEW
OF OUR SOCIETY FROM OTHERS
IS THAT IT IS NOT IDEOLOGICAL.
IT'S NOT STUCK IN THE PRISON
OF SOME DOGMA,
BUT RATHER IS CONSTANTLY
RESPONDING TO THE CHANGES
IN THE WORLD,
AND JEFFERSON WAS THE APOSTLE
OF THAT EXPERIENCE.
Cox: WHEN YOU STOP
AND THINK TO YOURSELF,
DO YOU REALLY BELIEVE ALL MEN
ARE CREATED EQUAL--
OR ALL PEOPLE, LET US SAY,
ARE CREATED EQUAL--
YOU HAVE TROUBLE BELIEVING IT,
BUT YOU DON'T EVER WISH
IT HADN'T BEEN WRITTEN.
IF THE EQUALITY CLAUSE WILL
TROUBLE US A THOUSAND YEARS,
AS FROST SAID,
IF IT'LL TROUBLE US, THEN
THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS
WILL MYSTIFY US FOREVER,
AND I LIKE THE TROUBLE,
AND I LIKE THE MYSTERY.
Narrator: JEFFERSON'S
OWN FEELINGS ABOUT THAT
MOMENTOUS DAY ARE UNKNOWN.
HE NOTED IN HIS ACCOUNT BOOK
ONLY THAT THE TEMPERATURE
AT 6 A.M. WAS 68 DEGREES
AND ROSE TO 76
BEFORE FALLING AGAIN
AND THAT HE BOUGHT
7 PAIRS OF GLOVES TO TAKE
BACK TO MONTICELLO.
Bober: AT THE TIME THAT
JEFFERSON WAS IN PHILADELPHIA
WRITING THE DECLARATION,
MARTHA WAS AT HOME IN VIRGINIA
SUFFERING FROM THE RECENT LOSS
OF A BABY.
THEY LOST A SON.
THEY LOST ANOTHER DAUGHTER.
AND IT WAS AT THAT TIME THAT
JEFFERSON WROTE TO JOHN PAGE
THAT, "IT IS WITH GREAT
DIFFICULTY, GREAT PAIN
THAT I CAN STAY HERE."
Narrator: HE WAS
FRANTIC TO SEE HER.
HE WAS, HE TOLD A FRIEND,
"UNDER A SACRED OBLIGATION
TO GO HOME."
IT WOULD BE MANY YEARS
BEFORE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE KNEW
THAT THOMAS JEFFERSON
HAD WRITTEN
THE MOST IMPORTANT DOCUMENT
IN THEIR HISTORY.
♪♪ O LORD, TRAVELED SO FAR ♪♪
♪♪ O LORD,
TRAVELED SO FAR ♪♪
♪♪ YES, INDEED,
I'M TRAVELING HOME ♪♪
♪♪ YES, INDEED,
I'M TRAVELING HOME ♪♪
♪♪ O LORD, TRAVELED SO FAR ♪♪
Franklin: I THOUGHT
THEY WERE BEAUTIFUL WORDS.
WHEN I FIRST HEARD THEM,
I WAS THINKING OF WHAT
ASSURANCES THEY GAVE ME...
THAT I WAS EQUAL TO OTHERS
AND THAT NO ONE COULD
TAKE THAT AWAY FROM ME.
IT...IT REINFORCED WHAT
I WAS BEING TOLD AT HOME:
THAT NO MAN ANYWHERE
WAS ANY BETTER THAN I WAS.
Narrator: IN 1776,
WHEN THOMAS JEFFERSON'S
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
PROCLAIMED THAT ALL MEN
WERE CREATED EQUAL,
539,000 AMERICANS,
1/5 OF THE POPULATION,
WERE OWNED BY OTHER AMERICANS.
JEFFERSON HAD,
IN HIS FIRST DRAFT,
BLAMED THE ENGLISH KING
FOR ENCOURAGING AND SUSTAINING
THE SLAVE TRADE,
BUT ALL MENTION OF IT
WAS DROPPED FROM HIS TEXT
WHEN SLAVE-OWNING PATRIOTS
OBJECTED.
THE NEW NATION HAD SIMPLY
SIDESTEPPED THE ISSUE.
Jenkinson: WHEN JEFFERSON
WAS A YOUNG MAN,
HE SPOKE ABOUT EMANCIPATION,
AND HE DID, IN THE COURSE
OF HIS LIFE,
PROPOSE MORE THAN A DOZEN
PIECES OF LEGISLATION
THAT WOULD HAVE ENABLED
IMMEDIATE OR GRADUAL
EMANCIPATION
OF ALL OF THE SLAVES,
AT LEAST OF VIRGINIA.
NONE OF THOSE PROPOSALS
WAS ACCEPTED.
IN FACT, MOST OF THEM WERE
OVERWHELMINGLY DEFEATED
OR IGNORED,
AND FROM TIME TO TIME,
JEFFERSON WAS DENOUNCED FOR
HIS EMANCIPATIONIST VIEWS.
AND SO HE LEARNED
A LESSON.
HE REALIZED THAT
IF HE WENT TO THE WALL
AS AN ABSOLUTIST ON THE ISSUE
OF SLAVERY,
THAT HE WOULD LOSE HIS
CREDIBILITY ON OTHER FRONTS THAT
WERE EQUALLY IMPORTANT TO HIM.
AND SO, IN A SENSE,
FROM THE MIDDLE OF HIS LIFE,
HE BEGAN TO TEMPORIZE,
AND HE BEGAN TO TALK
ABOUT THE NEXT GENERATION,
AND HE POSTPONED SLAVERY
AS AMERICA POSTPONED
THE ISSUE OF SLAVERY.
AND JEFFERSON IS RIGHT
AT THE HEART OF THIS
NATIONAL PARADOX.
[CANNONFIRE]
[HORSES NEIGHING]
[MEN SHOUTING]
Narrator: AS OTHERS FOUGHT
THE REVOLUTION THAT JEFFERSON'S
ELOQUENCE HAD HELPED SPARK,
HE RETURNED TO VIRGINIA.
THERE, HE FOUGHT
ANOTHER, QUIETER REVOLUTION.
AS A MEMBER
OF THE NEW HOUSE OF DELEGATES,
HE WOULD HELP DRAFT 126 BILLS
AIMED AT OVERTURNING
ARISTOCRATIC RULE
AND SMOOTHING THE WAY
FOR INDIVIDUALS TO RISE
ON THE BASIS OF VIRTUE
AND ABILITY.
HE CALLED FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS,
STREAMLINED THE LEGAL SYSTEM,
AND OVERTURNED THE LAW WHICH
HAD FAVORED ELDEST SONS
IN INHERITING PROPERTY.
BUT HE WAS MOST PROUD
OF HIS BILL
FOR ESTABLISHING
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN VIRGINIA,
WHICH DECLARED THAT GOVERNMENT
HAD NO RIGHT TO FAVOR ANY FAITH.
THROUGHOUT AMERICA,
CITIZENS WERE TAXED
TO SUPPORT THE STATE'S
OFFICIAL CHURCH.
IN NEW ENGLAND, QUAKERS,
CATHOLICS, AND JEWS
WERE FORBIDDEN FROM HOLDING
ANY PUBLIC OFFICE,
AND IN JEFFERSON'S OWN VIRGINIA,
HERESY WAS A CAPITAL OFFENSE.
Thomas Jefferson:
OUR RULERS CAN HAVE AUTHORITY
OVER SUCH NATURAL RIGHTS ONLY
AS WE HAVE SUBMITTED TO THEM.
THE RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE
WE NEVER SUBMITTED,
WE COULD NOT SUBMIT.
I HAVE EVER
THOUGHT RELIGION A CONCERN
PURELY BETWEEN OUR GOD
AND OUR CONSCIENCES
FOR WHICH WE WERE ACCOUNTABLE
TO HIM AND NOT TO THE PRIESTS...
FOR IT IS IN OUR LIVES,
AND NOT FROM OUR WORDS,
THAT OUR RELIGION MUST BE READ.
BUT THIS DOES NOT SATISFY
THE PRIESTHOOD.
THEY MUST HAVE A POSITIVE,
A DECLARED ASSENT
TO ALL THEIR
INTERESTED ABSURDITIES.
MY OPINION IS THAT THERE WOULD
NEVER HAVE BEEN AN INFIDEL
IF THERE HAD NEVER BEEN
A PRIEST.
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
HAD NOT OCCURRED IN OUR CULTURE,
IN OUR WHOLE HISTORY.
IT HAD SIMPLY
NEVER OCCURRED BEFORE.
THE MOST REVOLUTIONARY THING
ABOUT THE REVOLUTION
AS IT WORKED OUT
INTO A NEW GOVERNMENT
WAS THAT ONE STEP:
THE SEPARATION
OF CHURCH AND STATE.
Ellis: IT ESSENTIALLY SAYS
THAT INSIDE EACH OF US--
INSIDE ME, INSIDE YOU--
THERE IS THIS KERNEL OR CORE
OF SOMETHING SACRED,
SOMETHING
THAT CANNOT BE VIOLATED,
SOMETHING THAT CANNOT BE
COERCED OR TAMPERED WITH
BY THE STATE, BY THE GOVERNMENT,
BY INSTITUTIONS OF ANY SORT,
AND THAT IS OUR ESSENCE,
AND...AND THAT ESSENCE
IS EXTREMELY POWERFUL.
IF WE CAN PROTECT THAT ESSENCE
AND ALLOW IT TO VOLUNTARILY
EXPRESS ITSELF INTO THE WORLD,
IT'S THE SINGLE MOST POWERFUL
FORCE IN HUMAN HISTORY.
Narrator:
JEFFERSON WROTE THE BILL,
BUT HE COULD NOT GET IT PASSED
IN THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES.
IT WOULD BE 10 YEARS BEFORE
VIRGINIA ACTUALLY ADOPTED IT,
AND IT WAS HIS FRIEND
AND CLOSEST POLITICAL
LIEUTENANT, JAMES MADISON,
WHO LED THE FIGHT
TO WIN FINAL PASSAGE.
Jenkinson:
TO UNDERSTAND JEFFERSON,
YOU NEED TO KNOW THAT HE WAS
A COLLECTOR OF PROTEGES.
HE COULD NEVER HAVE ACHIEVED
WHAT HE DID
WITHOUT ABLE-BODIED MEN
WHO YIELDED THEIR OWN
CHARACTERS TO HIS.
THEY SEEMED TO RECOGNIZE
THAT THERE WAS SOME TYPE
OF GREATNESS IN JEFFERSON
THAT SIMPLY DESERVED
THAT SUPPORT.
I THINK IT'S FAIR TO SAY
THAT MADISON WAS A GREAT MAN
WHO YIELDED HIMSELF
TO AN EVEN GREATER MAN.
[CANNONFIRE]
Narrator: IN 1779, JEFFERSON WAS
ELECTED WAR GOVERNOR
OF VIRGINIA.
HIS TENURE SOON PROVED
A NIGHTMARE.
HE WAS POWERLESS
TO HALT INFLATION,
HAD TROUBLE
RECRUITING MILITIAMEN,
FAILED TO RESPOND FAST ENOUGH
WHEN BRITISH TROOPS
INVADED VIRGINIA,
AND WAS FORCED TO ABANDON
THE NEW CAPITAL OF RICHMOND
TO THE ENEMY.
AND IN JUNE 1781,
ENEMY FORCES BRIEFLY OCCUPIED
MONTICELLO ITSELF.
Isaac: THE BRITISH
SEARCHED THE HOUSE
BUT DIDN'T DISTURB
NONE OF THE FURNITURE.
BUT THEY PLUNDERED
THE WINE CELLAR.
THE BOTTLES, THEY BROKE
THE NECKS OFF WITH THEIR SWORDS,
DRANK SOME,
THREW THE BALANCE AWAY.
THE BRITISH SAID THEY DIDN'T
WANT ANYBODY BUT THE GOVERNOR.
DIDN'T WANT TO HURT HIM.
ONLY WANTED TO PUT A PAIR
OF SILVER HANDCUFFS ON HIM.
Narrator: JEFFERSON
AND HIS FAMILY NARROWLY ESCAPED.
BUT SOME MEMBERS
OF THE LEGISLATURE NOW
ACCUSED HIM OF COWARDICE.
Man: A RESOLUTION WAS INTRODUCED
TO INVESTIGATE HIS CONDUCT,
AND IT WAS SUGGESTED
THAT HE WAS COWARDLY.
THE BRITISH TRIED TO CAPTURE HIM
AT MONTICELLO,
AND THERE'S NO QUESTION
ABOUT IT--
HE DIDN'T HANG AROUND
TO BE CAPTURED.
BUT I THINK THAT THAT'S
COMMON SENSE AND NOT COWARDICE.
Narrator: THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES
EVENTUALLY EXONERATED HIM,
BUT JEFFERSON,
NO LONGER GOVERNOR,
REMAINED AT MONTICELLO,
OUT OF PUBLIC LIFE.
"THE ACCUSATIONS," HE TOLD
HIS FRIEND JAMES MONROE,
"INFLICTED A WOUND ON MY SPIRIT
WHICH WILL ONLY BE CURED
BY THE ALL-HEALING GRAVE."
Jenkinson: JEFFERSON WAS
AN INCREDIBLY SENSITIVE MAN;
THIN-SKINNED, VULNERABLE,
FRAGILE IN CHARACTER.
HE DIDN'T REALLY HAVE
THE TEMPERAMENT TO BE
A POLITICAL FIGURE.
HIS GREATEST DESIRE
WAS HARMONY AND TO BE LOVED.
AND HE COULDN'T STAND
NOT TO BE LOVED.
Thomas Jefferson: I HAVE TAKEN
MY FINAL LEAVE OF POLITICS,
HAVE RETIRED TO MY FARM,
MY FAMILY, AND BOOKS...
FROM WHICH I THINK NOTHING WILL
EVER MORE SEPARATE ME.
Thomas Jefferson: MAY 20, 1782.
DEAR MR. MADISON,
MRS. JEFFERSON HAS ADDED
ANOTHER DAUGHTER TO OUR FAMILY.
SHE HAS EVER SINCE AND STILL
CONTINUES VERY DANGEROUSLY ILL.
Narrator: PATTY JEFFERSON
WAS DYING.
HIS WIFE HAD BORNE HIM
6 CHILDREN IN 10 YEARS
AND HAD ALREADY LOST 3 OF THEM.
SHE HAD FREQUENTLY BEEN ILL,
AND THE BIRTH OF THIS LAST
DAUGHTER, LUCY ELIZABETH,
HAD PROVED TOO MUCH.
Woman: AS A NURSE,
NO FEMALE EVER HAD
MORE TENDERNESS OR ANXIETY.
HE NURSED MY POOR MOTHER,
SITTING UP WITH HER
AND ADMINISTERING
HER MEDICINES AND DRINK.
FOR 4 MONTHS THAT SHE LINGERED,
HE WAS NEVER OUT OF CALLING.
PATSY JEFFERSON.
Burstein:
THOMAS AND PATTY JEFFERSON
HAD READ LAURENCE STERN'S
NOVEL TRISTRAM SHANDY.
THIS WAS A NOVEL ABOUT
THE WORKINGS OF THE HUMAN HEART,
AND AS PATTY JEFFERSON LAY DYING
IN SEPTEMBER OF 1782,
THE 2 JEFFERSONS SAT AT HER BED,
AND THEY WROTE OUT
TOGETHER THIS QUOTATION
FROM TRISTRAM SHANDY,
AND IT STARTED OUT IN
PATTY JEFFERSON'S HANDWRITING,
A LITTLE 4 x 4-INCH
PIECE OF PAPER,
AND ON THIS SCRIP OF PAPER,
PATTY JEFFERSON BEGAN,
"TIME WASTES TOO FAST..."
Patty Jefferson:
"TIME WASTES TOO FAST.
EVERY LETTER I TRACE TELLS ME
"WITH WHAT RAPIDITY
LIFE FOLLOWS MY PEN.
"THE DAYS AND HOURS OF IT
ARE FLYING OVER OUR HEADS
"LIKE CLOUDS OF A WINDY DAY...
NEVER TO RETURN MORE.
EVERYTHING PRESSES ON."
Burstein: AT THIS MOMENT,
ORCHESTRATING IT
AS A DEATHBED ADIEU
OF 2 LOVERS ABOUT TO PART,
JEFFERSON PICKS UP HIS OWN PEN
AND CONTINUES THE QUOTE.
"AND EVERY TIME I KISS THY HAND
TO BID ADIEU..."
Thomas Jefferson:
"AND EVERY TIME I KISS
THY HAND TO BID ADIEU,
"EVERY ABSENCE WHICH FOLLOWS IT
ARE PRELUDES
TO THAT ETERNAL SEPARATION
WHICH WE ARE SHORTLY TO MAKE."
Burstein: JEFFERSON KEPT
THIS LITTLE PIECE OF PAPER
IN THE MOST PRIVATE DRAWER
IN A SECRET COMPARTMENT OF
THE DRAWER BESIDE HIS BED,
AND IT WAS FOLDED AND UNFOLDED
COUNTLESS TIMES OVER THE YEARS,
AND IN IT WAS A LOCK
OF HIS LATE WIFE'S HAIR
AND A LOCK OF THE HAIR OF ONE
OF THEIR INFANT CHILDREN
WHO HAD DIED.
AND THIS WAS
THE REAL THOMAS JEFFERSON--
THE MAN OF SENTIMENT
WHO LOVED DEEPLY,
WHO FELT DEEPLY.
Man: MR. JEFFERSON SAT BY HER,
AND SHE GAVE HIM DIRECTIONS
ABOUT A GOOD MANY THINGS
THAT SHE WANTED DONE.
WHEN SHE CAME TO THE CHILDREN,
SHE WEPT, COULD NOT SPEAK
FOR SOME TIME.
FINALLY SHE TOLD HIM
SHE COULD NOT DIE HAPPY
IF SHE THOUGHT HER CHILDREN
WERE EVER TO HAVE A STEPMOTHER
BROUGHT IN OVER THEM.
HOLDING HER HAND IN HIS,
MR. JEFFERSON PROMISED HER
SOLEMNLY THAT HE WOULD
NEVER MARRY AGAIN...
AND HE NEVER DID.
EDMUND BACON, OVERSEER.
WHEN SHE FINALLY DID
CLOSE HER EYES,
HE FAINTED, AND HE WAS CARRIED
OUT OF THE ROOM INSENSIBLE.
Narrator: PATTY JEFFERSON DIED
ON SEPTEMBER 6, 1782.
FOR 3 WEEKS,
HE DID NOT LEAVE HIS ROOM.
Burstein: HE COULDN'T TALK.
FOR A MAN FOR WHOM CONTROL
WAS IMPORTANT,
THIS WAS THE ONE TIME
IN HIS LIFE WHEN HE
COMPLETELY LOST CONTROL.
IT WAS AT THIS TIME THAT A BOND
BEGAN TO FORM BETWEEN JEFFERSON
AND HIS DAUGHTER MARTHA,
WHO THEY CALLED PATSY,
AND PATSY WAS
THE ONLY ONE, APPARENTLY,
WHO COULD GET
THROUGH TO HIM.
Patsy Jefferson: HE WALKED
ALMOST INCESSANTLY
NIGHT AND DAY,
ONLY LYING DOWN WHEN NATURE
WAS COMPLETELY EXHAUSTED
ON A PALLET THAT HAD
BEEN BROUGHT IN DURING
HIS LONG FAINTING FIT.
WHEN AT LAST HE LEFT HIS ROOM,
HE RODE OUT,
AND FROM THAT TIME,
HE WAS INCESSANTLY ON HORSEBACK,
RAMBLING ABOUT THE MOUNTAIN
IN THE LEAST-FREQUENTED ROADS
AND JUST AS OFTEN
THROUGH THE WOODS.
IN THOSE MELANCHOLY RAMBLES,
I WAS HIS CONSTANT COMPANION,
A SOLITARY WITNESS TO MANY
A VIOLENT BURST OF GRIEF.
PATSY JEFFERSON.
Man, British accent:
NORTH AMERICA IS BECOME
A NEW PRIMARY PLANET
IN THE SYSTEM OF THE WORLD,
WHICH WHILE IT TAKES ITS
OWN COURSE, IN ITS OWN ORBIT,
MUST HAVE EFFECT ON THE ORBIT
OF EVERY OTHER PLANET
AND SHIFT THE COMMON CENTER
OF GRAVITY OF THE WHOLE
EUROPEAN WORLD.
IT IS EARTH-BORN,
AND LIKE A GIANT,
READY TO RUN ITS COURSE.
THOMAS POWNALL.
Narrator: IN 1784, THE YEAR
AFTER AMERICA OFFICIALLY
WON HER INDEPENDENCE,
THOMAS JEFFERSON'S
NOTES ON THE STATE
OF VIRGINIA WENT TO PRES.
IT WAS THE ONLY BOOK
HE WOULD EVER WRITE.
IN IT, HE SPELLED OUT HIS VISION
OF AN AMERICAN FUTURE--
AN AGRARIAN PARADISE IN WHICH
POWER WOULD REST WITH THOSE
WHO WORKED THE LAND.
HIS TREATISE WAS A WIDE-RANGING
DISCOURSE ON POLITICS,
ECONOMICS, AGRICULTURE,
COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURING...
AND A RINGING DEFENSE
OF THE REGION
HE CALLED HIS "COUNTRY"
AGAINST CRITICISM
BY SOME FOREIGN OBSERVERS
WHO BELITTLED EVERYTHING
IN AMERICA,
FROM THE SIZE OF HER ANIMALS
TO THE INTELLIGENCE
OF HER LEADERS.
IN HIS BOOK, HE ALSO WRESTLED
WITH THE QUESTION OF RACE.
Thomas Jefferson: I ADVANCE IT,
THEREFORE, AS A SUSPICION ONLY
THAT THE BLACKS,
WHETHER ORIGINALLY
A DISTINCT RACE
OR MADE DISTINCT
BY TIME AND CIRCUMSTANCES,
ARE INFERIOR TO THE WHITES
IN THE ENDOWMENTS BOTH
OF BODY AND MIND.
THIS UNFORTUNATE DIFFERENCE
OF COLOR AND PERHAPS OF FACULTY
IS A POWERFUL OBSTACLE
TO THE EMANCIPATION
OF THESE PEOPLE.
HE SAYS THAT BLACKS ARE NOT
AS SMART AS WHITES,
THAT THEY HAVE NO SKILLS
IN POETRY AND MUSIC.
HE SAYS THAT THEY CAN
NEVER ACCOMPLISH WHAT
WHITES CAN ACCOMPLISH.
HE COMPARES ROMAN SLAVES
TO BLACK SLAVES
AND SAYS ROMAN SLAVES DID
ALL THESE WONDERFUL THINGS,
BUT THAT'S BECAUSE
THEY WERE WHITE.
Thomas Jefferson: BESIDES THOSE
OF COLOR, FIGURE, AND HAIR,
THERE ARE OTHER PHYSICAL
DISTINCTIONS PROVING
A DIFFERENCE OF RACE.
THEY HAVE LESS HAIR
ON THEIR FACE AND BODY.
THEY SECRETE LESS
BY THE KIDNEYS AND MORE
BY THE GLANDS OF THE SKIN,
WHICH GIVES THEM A VERY STRONG
AND DISAGREEABLE ODOR.
WE DON'T LIKE IT.
IT DOESN'T MAKE US HAPPY
TO THINK THAT THE MAN
WHO IS HERALDED FOR HIS LOVE
OF EQUALITY AND LIBERTY...
WHO BELIEVED
IN THE PROMISE OF AMERICA
PERHAPS MORE THAN
ANY OF HIS GENERATION,
THAT WITHIN
JEFFERSONIAN OPTIMISM,
THERE COULD EXIST
THIS DARK SIDE.
Franklin: JEFFERSON
KNEW WHAT HE WAS DOING,
AND THE TRANSGRESSIONS
THAT HE COMMITTED WERE
TRANSGRESSIONS OF THE MIND,
AS WELL AS THE HEART,
AND THAT MAKES IT
LESS EASY TO UNDERSTAND
HOW A MAN OF SUCH GIGANTIC
INTELLECTUAL POWERS AND SO FORTH
COULD FRITTER AWAY
HIS TIME SPECULATING
ABOUT HOW BLACKS SMELL
OR HOW THEY REASON
AND THAT SORT OF THING.
Isaac: MR. JEFFERSON BOW
TO EVERYBODY HE MEET.
TALKED WITH HIS ARMS FOLDED.
GAVE THE BOYS IN THE NAIL
FACTORY A POUND OF MEAT A WEEK,
A DOZEN HERRING, A QUART
OF MOLASSES, AND A PECK OF MEAL.
GIVE THEM THAT WORK THE BEST
A SUIT OF RED OR BLUE.
ENCOURAGED THEM MIGHTILY.
ISAAC.
Narrator: THE COMFORTABLE LIFE
JEFFERSON LED AT MONTICELLO,
LIKE THE LIVES LED
BY ALL HIS FELLOW PLANTERS,
DEPENDED ENTIRELY
ON THE LABOR OF SLAVES.
THEY BUILT AND REBUILT
HIS GREAT HOUSE,
TENDED HIS GARDENS,
COOKED HIS FOOD,
WAITED AT HIS TABLE,
DREW HIS BATH.
HE CONSIDERED HIMSELF
A GOOD SLAVEHOLDER.
HE TREATED THE MEN AND WOMEN
AND CHILDREN HE CALLED
"MY PEOPLE" AND "MY FAMILY"
COURTEOUSLY FOR THE MOST PART,
AND HE ORDERED
HIS OVERSEER NOT TO WHIP THEM,
EXCEPT IN EXTREMITIES,
PREFERRING TO RELY
UPON WHAT HE CALLED
"THE STIMULUS OF CHARACTER"
TO MAKE THEM WORK,
BUT HE ALSO HIRED HIS SLAVES OUT
TO NEIGHBORING PLANTERS
AND BOUGHT AND SOLD THEM FREELY,
"BEING CAREFUL,"
AS HE SAID,
"TO KEEP
THE TRANSACTIONS PRIVATE
"BECAUSE I DO NOT,
WHILE IN PUBLIC LIFE,
"LIKE TO HAVE MY NAME ANNEXED
IN THE PUBLIC PAPERS
TO THE SALE OF SLAVE PROPERTY."
Ellis: WHAT IS GOING ON
INSIDE HIS HEAD
AS HE WALKS AMONG
THESE AFRICAN AMERICANS
AND THINKS ABOUT THEIR FUTURE
AND THE FUTURE OF THE NATION?
IT IS A MYSTERY.
IT IS A MYSTERY.
AND HOW CAN WE GET
THOSE DIFFERENT PERSONA
INSIDE THOMAS JEFFERSON
TO TALK BACK TO US TOGETHER?
Burstein: THE FACT
THAT THOMAS JEFFERSON
DIDN'T LOSE MUCH SLEEP
OVER THE SLAVERY ISSUE
REFLECTS, IN PART,
HIS OTHER CONCERNS,
THAT HE WAS ABLE TO
RATIONALIZE THAT THIS
WAS ONE OF THOSE THINGS
HE WOULDN'T
BE ABLE TO ACCOMPLISH.
HE WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO CHANGE
THE WAY SOUTHERNERS FELT
ABOUT THEIR ECONOMIC SYSTEM.
BUT THAT HE DIDN'T
DO MORE...
THAT HE DIDN'T WRITE
MORE VIGOROUSLY IN
OPPOSITION TO SLAVERY...
THAT HE FELT THAT BLACKS
WERE BY NATURE INFERIOR...
THERE'S NO ANSWER FOR THAT.
Finkleman:
ONE OF THE DEFENSES
OF JEFFERSON IS ALWAYS,
"WELL, HE WAS JUST
A VIRGINIA PLANTER,
"AND WE CAN'T EXPECT
ANYTHING ELSE FROM HIM.
HE'S JUST LIKE HIS NEIGHBORS."
I THINK THE POINT TO BE MADE
IS THAT HE WAS NOT JUST LIKE
HIS NEIGHBORS.
WE DON'T BUILD MONUMENTS
TO PEOPLE WHO ARE JUST
LIKE THEIR NEIGHBORS.
WE DON'T PUT THEM ON THE NICKEL.
WE DON'T MAKE THEM ICONS.
JEFFERSON WAS
A VERY SPECIAL MAN,
AND WE CAN
EXPECT MORE FROM HIM...
AND SO WE COMPARE HIM
TO THE BEST OF HIS GENERATION.
WE COMPARE HIM TO WASHINGTON,
WHO FREED HIS SLAVES,
TO HIS COUSIN
JOHN RANDOLPH OF ROANOKE,
WHO FREED HIS SLAVES,
TO HIS NEIGHBOR EDWARD COLES,
TO THE THOUSANDS
OF INDIVIDUAL SMALL VIRGINIANS
WHO FREED THEIR SLAVES.
THE FREE BLACK POPULATION
IN VIRGINIA GROWS
FROM 2,000 TO OVER 30,000
IN A SPACE
OF ABOUT 30 YEARS.
A LOT OF VIRGINIANS
ARE FREEING THEIR SLAVES.
WHERE'S
THE MASTER OF MONTICELLO?
WHY ISN'T HE THERE?
Thomas Jefferson:
THE WHOLE COMMERCE
BETWEEN MASTER AND SLAVE
IS A PERPETUAL EXERCISE OF
THE MOST BOISTEROUS PASSIONS...
THE MOST UNREMITTING DESPOTISM
ON THE ONE PART
AND DEGRADING SUBMISSIONS
ON THE OTHER.
INDEED, I TREMBLE FOR MY COUNTRY
WHEN I REFLECT THAT GOD IS JUST:
THAT HIS JUSTICE
CANNOT SLEEP FOREVER.
THOMAS JEFFERSON.
Jenkinson:
IN NOTES ON VIRGINIA,
IN A REALLY
INTERESTING PASSAGE, HE SAYS,
"THE MAN MUST BE A PRODIGY
WHOSE MANNERS AND MORALS
ARE NOT CORRUPTED
BY THIS INSTITUTION."
AND JEFFERSON SAW THAT ONCE
YOU'RE IN THAT INSTITUTION,
IT WILL DRAG YOU DOWN
MORALLY,
AND YOU CANNOT--YOU CANNOT
ESCAPE THESE DILEMMAS.
Franklin:
I AM A FORGIVING MAN,
THEREFORE I FORGIVE HIM
FOR WHAT HE DID,
BUT I REMEMBER THAT WHAT
HE DID WAS A TRANSGRESSION
AGAINST MANKIND.
Patsy Jefferson:
WE HAD A LOVELY PASSAGE
IN A BEAUTIFUL NEW SHIP
THAT HAD MADE
ONLY ONE VOYAGE BEFORE.
THERE WERE ONLY 6 PASSENGERS,
ALL OF WHOM PAPA KNEW,
AND A FINE SUNSHINE
ALL THE WAY, WITH THE SEA
AS CALM AS A RIVER.
PATSY JEFFERSON.
Narrator: IN THE SPRING OF 1784,
THOMAS JEFFERSON
AND HIS ELDEST DAUGHTER PATSY
SAILED FOR EUROPE.
HIS 2 OTHER SURVIVING GIRLS,
POLLY AND THE BABY LUCY,
WERE LEFT IN THE CARE
OF RELATIVES.
JEFFERSON HAD BEEN NAMED
TO REPRESENT
THE NEW UNITED STATES
IN FRANCE.
THEIR ARRIVAL WAS NOT
AUSPICIOUS.
THE MAN CARRYING THEIR BAGGAGE
CHEATED THEM.
CROWDS GATHERED TO STARE
AT JAMES HEMINGS,
THEIR BLACK MANSERVANT.
NO ONE UNDERSTOOD JEFFERSON'S
BOOKISH FRENCH.
AT FIRST,
JEFFERSON DISLIKED PARIS.
HE WAS SHOCKED BY THE HIGH PRICE
OF EVERYTHING,
DISAPPROVED OF THE EMPHASIS
PARISIANS PUT ON FASHION,
AND WAS APPALLED AT HOW
THE POOR LIVED.
Burstein: JEFFERSON WAS
IN FRANCE IN THE SALON CULTURE
ON THE EVE
OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
HE WAS WITNESSING
A KIND OF STIRRING
THAT WAS REMINISCENT
OF AMERICA IN THE 1770s,
AND SO HE WAS, OF COURSE,
SOUGHT AFTER BY MANY
OF THE NOTABLES OF EUROPE
TO GIVE HIS PERCEPTION
OF THESE POLITICAL DOINGS.
Thomas Jefferson: I WAS
MUCH AN ENEMY TO MONARCHY
BEFORE I CAME TO EUROPE.
I AM 10,000 TIMES MORE SO
SINCE I HAVE SEEN WHAT THEY ARE.
UNDER PRETENSE OF GOVERNING,
THEY HAVE DIVIDED THEIR NATIONS
INTO 2 CLASSES:
WOLVES AND SHEEP.
EXPERIENCE DECLARES THAT MAN
IS THE ONLY ANIMAL
WHICH DEVOURS
HIS OWN KIND,
FOR I CAN APPLY NO MILDER TERM
TO THE GOVERNMENTS OF EUROPE...
AND TO THE GENERAL PREY
OF THE RICH ON THE POOR.
Narrator: JEFFERSON MAY HAVE
SCORNED THE MONARCHIES
OF THE OLD WORLD,
BUT HE WAS SOON
SCOURING THE CONTINENT
FOR ANYTHING HE THOUGHT
MIGHT IMPROVE LIFE IN THE NEW--
A PORTABLE COPYING DEVICE,
PHOSPHORETIC MATCHES,
APRICOTS,
WINE GRAPES, OLIVE TREES,
AND A DEVICE TO MAKE PASTA.
HE HAUNTED BOOKSTORES AND SENT
A SET OF ENCYCLOPEDIAS TO HIS
FRIEND JAMES MADISON
BECAUSE HE THOUGHT THEY WOULD BE
USEFUL IN WRITING A CONSTITUTION
FOR THE UNITED STATES.
AND HE WOULD SOON PLUNGE HIMSELF
$4,000 FURTHER IN DEBT
STRIVING TO HOLD UP HIS END
IN THE ELEGANT PARISIAN SOCIETY
THAT BOTH DISGUSTED
AND DREW HIM.
Jenkinson: JEFFERSON WAS
A PROVINCIAL FROM AMERICA.
HE CALLED HIMSELF A SAVAGE
FROM THE WOODS OF AMERICA,
AND SUDDENLY HE WAS LOWERED,
AS IF FROM A HOT-AIR BALLOON,
INTO THE GLITTERING WORLD
OF LATE ARISTOCRATIC FRANCE,
AND IT OVERWHELMED HIM.
HE WAS INTOXICATED
BY ITS BEAUTY AND ITS DECADENCE
AND ITS INTRIGUE,
ITS FLIRTATION,
ITS ARCHITECTURE, ITS MUSIC,
ITS DANCE, ITS LITERATURE,
ITS SCIENCE.
HE KNEW HE SHOULDN'T LOVE IT,
BUT HE WAS OVERWHELMED BY IT,
AND IT WAS AN AWAKENING
FOR JEFFERSON.
Thomas Jefferson:
SO, ASK THE TRAVELED
INHABITANT OF ANY NATION,
IN WHAT COUNTRY ON EARTH
WOULD YOU RATHER LIVE?
CERTAINLY IN MY OWN, WHERE ARE
ALL MY FRIENDS, MY RELATIONS,
AND THE EARLIEST
AND SWEETEST AFFECTIONS
AND RECOLLECTIONS OF MY LIFE.
WHICH WOULD BE
YOUR SECOND CHOICE?
FRANCE.
Narrator:
AND HE CHARMED THE CITY.
HE HOSTED LAVISH DINNERS,
WAS PRESENTED AT THE COURT
OF LOUIS XVI,
AND WAS A FAVORITE
IN DIPLOMATIC CIRCLES...
ALL THE WHILE NEGOTIATING
COMPLICATED COMMERCIAL TREATIES
MEANT TO RELIEVE
AMERICA'S TRADE DEFICIT AND KEEP
THE HIGH SEAS SAFE FROM PIRATES.
BUT ON JANUARY 26, 1785,
JEFFERSON LEARNED OF STILL
ANOTHER DEATH IN THE FAMILY.
HIS YOUNGEST DAUGHTER,
3-YEAR-OLD LUCY ELIZABETH,
HAD DIED BACK IN VIRGINIA.
ONLY 2 OF HIS 6 CHILDREN
NOW SURVIVED--
PATSY, WHOM HE HAD PLACED
IN A FRENCH CONVENT SCHOOL,
AND 6-YEAR-OLD POLLY,
STILL IN THE CARE
OF RELATIVES IN VIRGINIA.
HE COULD NOT BEAR THE THOUGHT
OF BEING APART FROM HER
ANY LONGER.
Girl: DEAR PAPA,
I HOPE YOU WILL SEND ME A DOLL.
I AM VERY SORRY THAT
YOU HAVE SENT FOR ME.
I DON'T WANT TO GO TO FRANCE.
I HAD RATHER STAY
WITH AUNT EPPES.
YOUR MOST HAPPY
AND DUTIFUL DAUGHTER,
POLLY JEFFERSON.
Thomas Jefferson:
MY DEAR POLLY,
I WISH SO MUCH TO SEE YOU
THAT I HAVE DESIRED YOUR UNCLE
AND AUNT TO SEND YOU TO ME.
YOUR SISTER AND MYSELF
CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT YOU,
AND AFTER A WHILE, WE WILL
CARRY YOU BACK AGAIN TO SEE
YOUR FRIENDS IN VIRGINIA.
ADIEU, MY DEAR CHILD.
YOURS AFFECTIONATELY,
THOMAS JEFFERSON.
Narrator: IT WOULD TAKE
NEARLY 2 YEARS
BEFORE THE LITTLE GIRL
WHO BARELY REMEMBERED
HER FATHER ARRIVED.
SHE WAS ACCOMPANIED ABOARD SHIP
BY ONE OF JEFFERSON'S SLAVES--
14-YEAR-OLD SALLY HEMINGS.
IN 1786, AS FRANCE EDGED CLOSER
TO REVOLUTION,
JEFFERSON WAS INTRODUCED
TO A BEAUTIFUL, GRACEFUL
27-YEAR-OLD ARTIST FROM ENGLAND
NAMED MARIA COSWAY.
HE WAS 43 YEARS OLD
AND SUDDENLY IN LOVE.
Bober: JEFFERSON MET
MARIA COSWAY AT A TIME IN PARIS
WHEN HE WAS PERHAPS
MOST SUSCEPTIBLE TO
A ROMANTIC ATTACHMENT.
HE WAS A LONELY WIDOWER.
MARTHA HAD BEEN GONE
4 1/2 YEARS,
AND HE MET THE BEAUTIFUL
AND TALENTED MARIA COSWAY,
AND SHE LITERALLY SWEPT HIM
OFF HIS FEET.
Jenkinson: SHE WAS BLOND,
PETITE, LEARNED IN LANGUAGES,
ADEPT IN MUSIC,
A CONVERSATIONALIST, A FLIRT,
AND SOMEHOW JEFFERSON
WAS SWEPT INTO HER ORBIT,
AND HE BECAME INTOXICATED
FOR THE LAST TIME IN HIS LIFE.
AND SHE WAS MARRIED,
AND MARIA WAS A DEVOUT CATHOLIC,
SO THAT JEFFERSON HAD
TO HAVE REALIZED THAT
THIS RELATIONSHIP
COULD GO NOWHERE,
BUT HE FELL
DEEPLY IN LOVE WITH HER,
AND THEY HAD A BEAUTIFUL,
BEAUTIFUL MONTH TOGETHER
WITH WHAT HE CALLED
"THEIR CHARMING COTERIE."
Narrator: THEY VISITED
ONE ANOTHER'S HOMES,
WALKED ALONG THE SEINE,
TOOK LONG CARRIAGE RIDES
TOGETHER THROUGH
THE FRENCH COUNTRYSIDE.
Burstein: THEY WENT
TO A PLAY TOGETHER.
THEY PICNICKED TOGETHER.
SOMETHING WAS
COMING BACK TO HIM,
SOMETHING THAT MARIA COSWAY
INSPIRED IN HIM.
Jenkinson: BUT IT PRODUCED
A CRISIS FOR JEFFERSON.
HE HAD, SINCE THE DEATH
OF HIS WIFE,
LIVED PRIMARILY IN THE HEAD,
AND SUDDENLY THE HEART
CAME STREAMING OUT
WITH AN URGENCY
THAT HE WAS SURPRISED BY.
SO WHEN SHE LEFT, HE WROTE
A DIALOGUE ATTEMPTING
TO MAKE SENSE OF THIS.
Thomas Jefferson: MADAM,
SEATED BY MY FIRESIDE,
SOLITARY AND SAD,
THE FOLLOWING DIALOGUE
TOOK PLACE BETWEEN
MY HEAD AND MY HEART...
HEAD: WELL, FRIEND, YOU SEEM
TO BE IN A PRETTY TRIM.
HEART: I AM INDEED THE MOST
WRETCHED OF ALL EARTHLY BEINGS,
OVERWHELMED BY GRIEF.
HEAD: THIS IS ONE
OF THE SCRAPES INTO WHICH
YOU ARE EVER LEADING US.
YOU MUST LEARN TO LOOK FORWARD
BEFORE YOU TAKE A STEP WHICH MAY
INTEREST OUR PEACE.
HEART: LET THE GLOOMY MONK,
SEQUESTERED FROM THE WORLD,
SEEK UNSOCIAL PLEASURES
IN THE BOTTOM OF HIS CELL.
HAD THEY EVER FELT THE SOLID
PLEASURE OF ONE GENEROUS SPASM
OF THE HEART,
THEY WOULD EXCHANGE FOR IT
ALL THE FRIGID SPECULATIONS
OF THEIR LIVES.
HEAD: DO NOT BITE
AT THE BAIT OF PLEASURE
TILL YOU KNOW THERE IS
NO HOOK BENEATH IT.
THE ART OF LIFE
IS THE ART OF AVOIDING PAIN.
HEART: LEAVE ME TO DECIDE
WHEN AND WHERE FRIENDSHIPS
ARE TO BE CONTRACTED.
WE HAVE NO ROSE
WITHOUT ITS THORN,
NO PLEASURE WITHOUT ALLOY.
HEAD: THOSE WHICH
DEPEND ON OURSELVES
ARE THE ONLY PLEASURES
A WISE MAN WILL COUNT ON,
FOR NOTHING IS OURS WHICH
ANOTHER MAY DEPRIVE US OF.
Jenkinson: AFTER MRS. COSWAY
RETURNED TO ENGLAND,
JEFFERSON REASSERTED THE HEAD,
AND, I THINK, LIVED IN THE HEAD
FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE.
I THINK THE EMOTIONAL LIFE,
THE LIFE OF HUMAN COMMITMENT,
HAD BEEN SO FULL OF GRIEF
FOR JEFFERSON
WITH RESPECT TO HIS WIFE,
HIS CHILDREN, HIS BEST FRIEND,
THAT HE FINALLY FELT THAT
HUMAN RELATIONS WERE TOO PAINFUL
AND THAT IT WAS SIMPLY BETTER TO
LIVE IN A WORLD OF ABSTRACTION
AND IDEAS AND ARCHITECTURE
AND NOT IN A WORLD
OF THE FLESH.
WELL, I THINK THE HEAD
ABSORBED THE HEART,
AND PERHAPS IT'S HIS
GREAT RESONANCE TODAY
THAT ALONG
WITH A FIRST-RATE CORTEX,
THE HEART IS BEATING
WITHIN HIS MIND.
Thomas Jefferson:
WAS EVER SUCH A PRIZE WON
WITH SO LITTLE INNOCENT BLOOD?
RATHER THAN IT SHOULD HAVE
FAILED, I WOULD HAVE SEEN
HALF THE EARTH DESOLATED.
WERE THERE BUT AN ADAM
AND AN EVE LEFT IN EVERY COUNTRY
AND LEFT FREE, IT WOULD BE
BETTER THAN IT NOW IS.
Narrator: IN THE SUMMER OF 1789,
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION BEGAN,
AND WHEN THE PEOPLE
OF PARIS FINALLY ROSE UP
AGAINST THEIR KING
AND THE CITY STREETS
RAN WITH BLOOD--
EVENTS WHICH HORRIFIED
MUCH OF AMERICA--
JEFFERSON WOULD REMAIN TRUE
TO THE REVOLUTIONARY SPIRIT.
AND WHEN JEFFERSON HEARD
THAT POOR MASSACHUSETTS FARMERS
HAD TAKEN UP ARMS
AGAINST THEIR CREDITORS,
FRIGHTENING HIS OLD FRIEND
JOHN ADAMS,
HE SIDED WITH THE REBELS.
Thomas Jefferson: GOD FORBID
WE SHOULD EVER BE 20 YEARS
WITHOUT SUCH A REBELLION.
WHAT COUNTRY CAN PRESERVE
ITS LIBERTIES
IF THEIR RULERS ARE NOT
WARNED FROM TIME TO TIME
THAT THEIR PEOPLE PRESERVE
THE SPIRIT OF RESISTANCE?
LET THEM TAKE ARMS.
WHAT SIGNIFY A FEW LIVES LOST
IN A CENTURY OR TWO?
THE TREE OF LIBERTY MUST BE
REFRESHED FROM TIME TO TIME
WITH THE BLOOD OF PATRIOTS
AND TYRANTS.
IT IS ITS NATURAL MANURE.
Narrator: IN OCTOBER 1789,
AS THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
INTENSIFIED,
JEFFERSON, HIS 2 DAUGHTERS,
AND THEIR SLAVES
SAILED AT LAST FOR HOME.
HE TOOK WITH HIM
38 BOXES OF BOOKS,
HAMPERS OF WINE, STATUARY,
AND FOOD UNOBTAINABLE
IN AMERICA: PARMESAN CHEESE,
RAISINS, AND MACARONI.
86 MORE CRATES WOULD FOLLOW
ON ANOTHER SHIP.
AS USUAL, HE HAD SPENT
BEYOND HIS MEANS.
Patsy Jefferson:
WE REACHED MONTICELLO
ON THE 23rd OF DECEMBER.
THE NEGROES COLLECTED IN CROWDS
AROUND OUR CARRIAGE
AND ALMOST DREW IT UP
THE MOUNTAIN BY HAND.
THEN THE DOOR
OF THE CARRIAGE WAS OPENED.
THEY RECEIVED HIM IN THEIR ARMS
AND BORE HIM TO THE HOUSE.
IT SEEMED IMPOSSIBLE TO SATISFY
THEIR ANXIETY TO TOUCH AND KISS
THE VERY EARTH WHICH BORE HIM.
PATSY JEFFERSON.
Narrator:
THE MASTER OF MONTICELLO
HAD BEEN LOOKING FORWARD
TO PUTTING HIS AFFAIRS IN ORDER,
THEN RETURNING TO PARIS,
BUT ON THE ROAD FROM NORFOLK,
HE HAD ALREADY BEEN
HANDED AN URGENT LETTER
FROM GEORGE WASHINGTON.
THE COUNTRY HE HAD
HELPED CREATE WAS
CALLING ON HIM AGAIN.