1 00:00:02,089 --> 00:00:04,526 We hold these truths to be self-evident, 2 00:00:04,656 --> 00:00:08,182 that all men are created equal. 3 00:00:08,269 --> 00:00:09,966 Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. 4 00:00:11,446 --> 00:00:13,100 That they are endowed by their creator 5 00:00:13,274 --> 00:00:16,233 with certain unalienable rights. 6 00:00:16,320 --> 00:00:18,105 That's so powerful that it keeps reconstructing 7 00:00:18,279 --> 00:00:20,281 the country down the line. 8 00:00:20,368 --> 00:00:23,110 That among these are life, liberty, 9 00:00:23,327 --> 00:00:24,067 and the pursuit of happiness. 10 00:00:26,678 --> 00:00:28,202 Jefferson is the very icon of democracy. 11 00:00:31,944 --> 00:00:34,730 Over two centuries later, people are quoting 12 00:00:34,904 --> 00:00:36,775 what Thomas Jefferson wrote in that room. 13 00:00:38,255 --> 00:00:39,126 That's power. 14 00:00:41,215 --> 00:00:43,521 Jefferson also served as a diplomat. 15 00:00:43,652 --> 00:00:44,044 He was the third president. 16 00:00:46,481 --> 00:00:47,917 He was interested in religion 17 00:00:48,048 --> 00:00:50,093 and the separation of church and state. 18 00:00:50,267 --> 00:00:53,270 He loves luxury, food, wine. 19 00:00:53,401 --> 00:00:56,447 But this is why he gets accusations of hypocrisy. 20 00:00:58,536 --> 00:01:02,714 When it comes for his romantic ideals of liberty and freedom, 21 00:01:02,801 --> 00:01:05,587 they are authentic, but they are at great odds 22 00:01:05,674 --> 00:01:07,371 with how he lives his life. 23 00:01:07,545 --> 00:01:10,113 Jefferson owned close to 700 people in his lifetime. 24 00:01:12,507 --> 00:01:14,552 And there's Sally Hemings. 25 00:01:16,293 --> 00:01:17,425 An enslaved woman-- 26 00:01:17,773 --> 00:01:20,819 she was involved with Thomas Jefferson sexually 27 00:01:20,993 --> 00:01:22,256 at a very young age. 28 00:01:26,477 --> 00:01:28,958 And so, we have to reckon 29 00:01:29,132 --> 00:01:31,134 the apostle of liberty, Jefferson, 30 00:01:31,308 --> 00:01:33,789 with the Jefferson... 31 00:01:33,963 --> 00:01:36,096 whose legacy makes us uncomfortable. 32 00:01:39,664 --> 00:01:41,362 We worry that if Jefferson was impure, 33 00:01:41,449 --> 00:01:42,928 then our ideals are impure. 34 00:01:43,059 --> 00:01:46,236 We worry that if Jefferson was wrong, 35 00:01:46,367 --> 00:01:47,933 our nation is wrong. 36 00:01:49,109 --> 00:01:51,023 But if the founding fathers 37 00:01:51,154 --> 00:01:54,201 are the standard by which we judge leadership, 38 00:01:54,331 --> 00:01:57,378 then we need to understand who they really were, 39 00:01:57,508 --> 00:01:58,292 the good and the bad. 40 00:02:01,382 --> 00:02:03,688 Self-righteousness in retrospect is easy, 41 00:02:03,819 --> 00:02:05,255 also cheap. 42 00:02:05,386 --> 00:02:07,083 The moral utility of history 43 00:02:07,257 --> 00:02:12,218 is not to look down on the past condescendingly 44 00:02:12,219 --> 00:02:14,264 or look up at it adoringly but to try to look it in the eye. 45 00:02:16,484 --> 00:02:20,836 If we want to understand who we've been 46 00:02:20,923 --> 00:02:23,969 and who we are and who we want to be, 47 00:02:24,144 --> 00:02:27,234 it begins with an honest conversation 48 00:02:27,408 --> 00:02:30,846 about Thomas Jefferson. 49 00:02:30,933 --> 00:02:33,109 All that stuff that really infuriates you 50 00:02:33,283 --> 00:02:34,545 is inextricably entangled, 51 00:02:34,676 --> 00:02:37,853 even worse, it is the same stuff as the good stuff! 52 00:02:39,768 --> 00:02:41,639 We have to teach him as a full story. 53 00:02:43,424 --> 00:02:45,556 We have to teach the duality of his legacy 54 00:02:45,687 --> 00:02:47,341 in ways that would help us envision a better future. 55 00:03:00,136 --> 00:03:02,878 In 1743, 56 00:03:03,008 --> 00:03:04,401 the United States does not exist. 57 00:03:04,488 --> 00:03:07,056 For more than 100 years, 58 00:03:07,230 --> 00:03:10,059 settlers have forged new ways of life 59 00:03:10,233 --> 00:03:13,671 in 13 separate colonies under British rule. 60 00:03:17,327 --> 00:03:19,938 Colonists trade and farm in service of the crown... 61 00:03:21,723 --> 00:03:24,073 As they navigate the challenges of living 62 00:03:24,247 --> 00:03:24,378 in uncharted terrain. 63 00:03:28,425 --> 00:03:31,994 Jefferson's born in 1743. 64 00:03:32,081 --> 00:03:33,213 He was born into a world 65 00:03:33,474 --> 00:03:34,953 that would be completely unrecognizable to us. 66 00:03:37,521 --> 00:03:39,784 There are these 13 British colonies. 67 00:03:39,915 --> 00:03:43,092 But the rest of the continent, it's Indigenous. 68 00:03:43,266 --> 00:03:44,746 There are cities-- 69 00:03:44,833 --> 00:03:47,531 Boston, Charleston, Philadelphia, New York. 70 00:03:47,618 --> 00:03:50,230 But the vast majority of Americans 71 00:03:50,447 --> 00:03:52,754 are living in more rural, agrarian communities. 72 00:03:52,884 --> 00:03:54,843 It is a farming-based society. 73 00:03:54,973 --> 00:03:57,324 All of the colonies only has two million people. 74 00:03:59,630 --> 00:04:02,894 These 13 British colonies 75 00:04:03,112 --> 00:04:05,506 don't interact that much with each other. 76 00:04:05,636 --> 00:04:07,334 They're all oriented 77 00:04:07,421 --> 00:04:08,770 back across the water towards Britain. 78 00:04:08,987 --> 00:04:12,382 It's a bit like all the buses run into the center of town. 79 00:04:12,513 --> 00:04:14,776 They don't run from neighborhood to neighborhood. 80 00:04:14,863 --> 00:04:16,386 Well, all the buses are running to London. 81 00:04:20,608 --> 00:04:22,218 By the 18th century, when Jefferson comes along, 82 00:04:22,436 --> 00:04:24,568 Virginia is 83 00:04:24,742 --> 00:04:26,788 a tobacco-growing province. 84 00:04:29,399 --> 00:04:31,445 Tobacco is very lucrative. 85 00:04:31,619 --> 00:04:34,274 And so, of these 13 British colonies, 86 00:04:34,361 --> 00:04:37,146 the largest, most populous, wealthiest is Virginia. 87 00:04:39,714 --> 00:04:42,673 There are great families, particularly in Virginia, 88 00:04:42,847 --> 00:04:44,500 and these families are famous, 89 00:04:44,501 --> 00:04:46,198 and they have land, and they have power. 90 00:04:46,286 --> 00:04:48,549 And even Washington 91 00:04:48,679 --> 00:04:51,159 is not considered from a first family of Virginia, 92 00:04:51,160 --> 00:04:52,292 but Jefferson is. 93 00:04:56,644 --> 00:05:00,169 Thomas Jefferson is born at Shadwell plantation 94 00:05:00,300 --> 00:05:02,476 on April 13, 1743 95 00:05:02,606 --> 00:05:05,435 to Peter and Jane Jefferson... 96 00:05:07,785 --> 00:05:09,483 Two of the most prominent names 97 00:05:09,657 --> 00:05:12,181 in the most prominent British colony. 98 00:05:14,009 --> 00:05:17,969 His father was surveyor and a plantation owner. 99 00:05:18,143 --> 00:05:21,059 Surveying in colonial Virginia 100 00:05:21,190 --> 00:05:23,279 meant access to land, 101 00:05:23,453 --> 00:05:24,585 which meant potential income 102 00:05:24,715 --> 00:05:27,370 as that land was developed. 103 00:05:27,544 --> 00:05:29,067 And Peter Jefferson 104 00:05:29,241 --> 00:05:31,200 holds almost the highest government office 105 00:05:31,331 --> 00:05:33,376 that anyone in Virginia can hold. 106 00:05:33,550 --> 00:05:35,857 He's well connected in terms of business, 107 00:05:35,944 --> 00:05:38,512 in terms of social affiliations, 108 00:05:38,729 --> 00:05:40,209 and he marries into one 109 00:05:40,383 --> 00:05:41,341 of the most powerful families in Virginia-- 110 00:05:41,558 --> 00:05:43,865 the Randolph family-- 111 00:05:44,039 --> 00:05:45,475 a household of wealth, of privilege. 112 00:05:48,260 --> 00:05:50,871 Thomas Jefferson spends his childhood 113 00:05:50,872 --> 00:05:55,180 exploring the vast grounds of the Shadwell plantation. 114 00:05:55,311 --> 00:05:58,619 He develops a great love for literature, music, and nature. 115 00:05:58,793 --> 00:06:01,665 He liked to be outside. 116 00:06:01,752 --> 00:06:05,234 He talked romantically about his best friend, Dabney Carr. 117 00:06:05,321 --> 00:06:07,367 They would hike on the hills around Shadwell, 118 00:06:07,497 --> 00:06:09,238 sit under trees. 119 00:06:09,325 --> 00:06:11,283 They had a deal with each other that whoever died first 120 00:06:11,371 --> 00:06:13,285 would bury the other one under their favorite oak tree 121 00:06:13,373 --> 00:06:16,463 on what becomes Monticello Mountain. 122 00:06:16,637 --> 00:06:20,249 Jefferson almost never talks about his feelings. 123 00:06:20,380 --> 00:06:23,557 There's something cool, even cold, about Jefferson. 124 00:06:23,687 --> 00:06:25,907 You can't really get that close to him. 125 00:06:27,822 --> 00:06:29,476 But friendship was a very important thing to Jefferson 126 00:06:29,606 --> 00:06:31,869 throughout his life. 127 00:06:34,219 --> 00:06:37,266 He is clearly extremely smart. 128 00:06:38,746 --> 00:06:40,530 He gets a great education growing up. 129 00:06:40,617 --> 00:06:42,663 He reads everything. 130 00:06:42,750 --> 00:06:45,491 He can read or write a number of different languages. 131 00:06:45,492 --> 00:06:47,929 He can speak French fluently. 132 00:06:49,713 --> 00:06:52,499 They ordered the finest clothing from England. 133 00:06:52,629 --> 00:06:55,371 He played the violin. 134 00:06:55,458 --> 00:06:58,243 It was a very genteel kind of situation for him. 135 00:07:00,028 --> 00:07:02,334 Shadwell, it is a house that is set up 136 00:07:02,465 --> 00:07:06,338 to enable this elite family 137 00:07:06,513 --> 00:07:08,602 to perform in the way that an elite family performs. 138 00:07:11,779 --> 00:07:13,084 The Jeffersons had a dining room 139 00:07:13,171 --> 00:07:14,825 that could seat 20 people for dinner. 140 00:07:14,912 --> 00:07:17,480 So there's potential there for entertaining. 141 00:07:20,657 --> 00:07:22,442 As the oldest son, 142 00:07:22,529 --> 00:07:24,661 Thomas carries a lot of responsibility 143 00:07:24,835 --> 00:07:26,358 in the Jefferson household. 144 00:07:26,446 --> 00:07:29,361 Despite his shy nature, he is often thrust 145 00:07:29,536 --> 00:07:32,930 into conversations about philosophy and politics 146 00:07:33,017 --> 00:07:35,193 with his father's influential friends. 147 00:07:37,369 --> 00:07:40,329 But Shadwell is also the plantation 148 00:07:40,416 --> 00:07:43,332 that housed the largest number of enslaved African Americans 149 00:07:43,506 --> 00:07:44,551 in colonial Albemarle County. 150 00:07:47,902 --> 00:07:51,383 The white people on the plantation are outnumbered 151 00:07:51,558 --> 00:07:54,169 by about six to one by enslaved African Americans. 152 00:07:56,214 --> 00:07:59,957 His first memory is of being held by a slave on horseback 153 00:08:00,131 --> 00:08:02,351 on a pillow. 154 00:08:02,482 --> 00:08:04,440 Each of the Jefferson children, 155 00:08:04,614 --> 00:08:06,311 one brother and six sisters, 156 00:08:06,398 --> 00:08:09,401 were assigned at birth an enslaved person 157 00:08:09,532 --> 00:08:11,665 who was their same sex and roughly their same age 158 00:08:11,795 --> 00:08:13,797 who was going to live with them their entire lives, 159 00:08:13,928 --> 00:08:14,798 which means in the Jefferson household, 160 00:08:15,016 --> 00:08:17,540 two-year-olds own other two-year-olds. 161 00:08:20,587 --> 00:08:22,850 A man named Jupiter Evans is born in 1743, 162 00:08:22,980 --> 00:08:25,635 the same year as Thomas Jefferson. 163 00:08:25,809 --> 00:08:29,421 And Jupiter's mother, Sal, was the wet nurse 164 00:08:29,639 --> 00:08:31,075 to the Jefferson children. 165 00:08:31,206 --> 00:08:34,470 So they have this intimate relationship 166 00:08:34,644 --> 00:08:36,864 from the moment they're born, and they grow up together. 167 00:08:40,476 --> 00:08:42,652 All of the things that come along with figuring out 168 00:08:42,739 --> 00:08:45,002 who you are as a person are wrapped up 169 00:08:45,133 --> 00:08:48,658 in learning to be either the master of enslaved people 170 00:08:48,789 --> 00:08:49,703 or someone who serves them. 171 00:08:53,141 --> 00:08:55,752 He had all of the things that would have given him 172 00:08:55,883 --> 00:08:57,537 an advantage during that time period. 173 00:08:59,626 --> 00:09:02,280 He was literally the person who was the master, 174 00:09:02,411 --> 00:09:03,804 and that's the term they would have used. 175 00:09:03,891 --> 00:09:05,632 I know we use "enslaver" now. 176 00:09:05,762 --> 00:09:08,722 But I think this conveys his sense of himself, 177 00:09:08,852 --> 00:09:13,030 the master of people, of human beings. 178 00:09:16,120 --> 00:09:19,297 And so there you get the seeds of the contradictions 179 00:09:19,471 --> 00:09:20,472 of Thomas Jefferson. 180 00:09:21,996 --> 00:09:26,217 He is a wealthy populist. 181 00:09:26,391 --> 00:09:28,524 He becomes passionate about freedom, 182 00:09:28,611 --> 00:09:30,787 but slavery, it's what he's always known. 183 00:09:30,918 --> 00:09:33,747 Jefferson is raised in a society 184 00:09:33,877 --> 00:09:35,836 built on enslaved labor. 185 00:09:36,010 --> 00:09:39,317 However, he will spend the next decade of his life 186 00:09:39,448 --> 00:09:42,233 constructing radical views about liberty 187 00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:45,106 and stoking the flames of revolution. 188 00:09:52,766 --> 00:09:54,985 Growing up, Thomas Jefferson is taught 189 00:09:55,116 --> 00:09:57,118 by the finest tutors in Virginia. 190 00:09:57,292 --> 00:10:00,774 But despite the experts at his disposal, 191 00:10:00,861 --> 00:10:03,167 there is no greater influence on young Thomas 192 00:10:03,385 --> 00:10:04,778 than his father, Peter. 193 00:10:07,650 --> 00:10:08,608 There is a story 194 00:10:08,956 --> 00:10:11,393 that when Thomas Jefferson was a young boy, 195 00:10:11,523 --> 00:10:14,744 three enslaved individuals at Shadwell plantation 196 00:10:14,875 --> 00:10:18,748 were instructed to go out and pull down a wooden shed. 197 00:10:18,922 --> 00:10:21,055 And try as they might, they were unable to do that. 198 00:10:21,229 --> 00:10:25,929 And Peter Jefferson, in this somewhat mythical idea 199 00:10:26,103 --> 00:10:28,149 of the great Sansom, 200 00:10:28,236 --> 00:10:31,326 single-handedly pulls the shed down and away. 201 00:10:33,545 --> 00:10:36,026 He tells his grandchildren that his father 202 00:10:36,157 --> 00:10:38,159 would go off for weeks in the back woods 203 00:10:38,289 --> 00:10:38,986 and fend off wild animals. 204 00:10:41,858 --> 00:10:44,556 So Peter Jefferson is painted by Jefferson 205 00:10:44,731 --> 00:10:47,472 as this great explorer that has superhuman 206 00:10:47,647 --> 00:10:48,952 or hyper-masculine strength. 207 00:10:52,086 --> 00:10:54,436 I believe that Thomas Jefferson's admiration 208 00:10:54,523 --> 00:10:56,873 for his father was amplified 209 00:10:56,960 --> 00:10:59,920 because Jefferson only knew his father for a very short time. 210 00:11:02,226 --> 00:11:04,054 He passes away when Thomas Jefferson 211 00:11:04,228 --> 00:11:04,838 is only 14 years old. 212 00:11:07,884 --> 00:11:09,059 It's a momentous event in his life. 213 00:11:12,106 --> 00:11:15,195 Many years later, of the death of his father, he says, 214 00:11:15,196 --> 00:11:17,633 "The whole care and direction of myself 215 00:11:17,720 --> 00:11:20,157 "was thrown on myself entirely 216 00:11:20,331 --> 00:11:22,203 "without relative or friend 217 00:11:22,333 --> 00:11:24,901 qualified to advise or guide me." 218 00:11:26,903 --> 00:11:29,079 Jefferson inherits his father's estate 219 00:11:29,166 --> 00:11:29,993 at the age of 14. 220 00:11:36,652 --> 00:11:39,089 For the next two years, Jefferson works 221 00:11:39,263 --> 00:11:41,613 with his father's executors on the farm ledgers 222 00:11:41,788 --> 00:11:44,007 and becomes the patriarch to his mother, 223 00:11:44,094 --> 00:11:44,878 sisters, and younger brother. 224 00:11:49,883 --> 00:11:52,668 But at 16, he persuades the executors 225 00:11:52,842 --> 00:11:55,932 to grant him a look at life beyond the hills of Shadwell. 226 00:12:01,198 --> 00:12:04,985 So, in the winter of 1760, 227 00:12:05,115 --> 00:12:08,640 young Thomas Jefferson, only 16 years old, 228 00:12:08,728 --> 00:12:11,643 travels 120 miles to the east to Williamsburg. 229 00:12:14,342 --> 00:12:17,737 He enrolls in the College of William and Mary. 230 00:12:17,867 --> 00:12:20,261 William and Mary is the second-oldest institution 231 00:12:20,348 --> 00:12:22,132 of higher education in the colonies. 232 00:12:22,219 --> 00:12:23,612 Harvard was first. 233 00:12:25,396 --> 00:12:27,877 And Jefferson's friends say 234 00:12:28,051 --> 00:12:29,923 that he was hard to tear from his studies. 235 00:12:32,664 --> 00:12:35,624 But he does take part in the social landscape 236 00:12:35,711 --> 00:12:35,972 of Williamsburg. 237 00:12:41,412 --> 00:12:42,196 There was drink. 238 00:12:42,370 --> 00:12:45,112 There were dances 239 00:12:45,199 --> 00:12:49,072 with music and conversations about books, 240 00:12:49,246 --> 00:12:52,684 taverns and pubs and libraries. 241 00:12:54,686 --> 00:12:58,516 Williamsburg is a cultural mecca for him in these years. 242 00:13:00,736 --> 00:13:02,999 He has access to some of the most well connected 243 00:13:03,217 --> 00:13:05,654 and brightest minds available in the colonies. 244 00:13:07,525 --> 00:13:10,659 Williamsburg was also the colonial capital. 245 00:13:10,833 --> 00:13:13,096 You have professors and lawyers 246 00:13:13,270 --> 00:13:15,228 and judges and legislators 247 00:13:15,229 --> 00:13:18,275 who were cultured people. 248 00:13:18,406 --> 00:13:22,540 And for a young man of great appetite and great ambition, 249 00:13:22,714 --> 00:13:26,196 it was exactly the right place to be. 250 00:13:26,370 --> 00:13:28,111 And in Williamsburg, 251 00:13:28,285 --> 00:13:30,897 Jefferson has the good fortune to fall under the tutelage 252 00:13:31,027 --> 00:13:32,768 of Dr. William Small. 253 00:13:32,855 --> 00:13:35,597 There's the man. 254 00:13:35,727 --> 00:13:37,991 Though Jefferson is quiet and rarely speaks up 255 00:13:38,208 --> 00:13:39,949 in classroom debates, 256 00:13:40,080 --> 00:13:42,734 his eloquent writing catches Small's attention. 257 00:13:44,127 --> 00:13:45,737 Jefferson writes of William Small 258 00:13:45,912 --> 00:13:48,740 that he had gentlemanly and correct manners, 259 00:13:48,828 --> 00:13:52,701 an enlarged and liberal mind, 260 00:13:52,875 --> 00:13:55,311 and a happy talent of communication. 261 00:13:55,312 --> 00:13:57,358 "Perhaps more than any other, 262 00:13:57,532 --> 00:14:00,056 he fixed my destinies." 263 00:14:02,276 --> 00:14:04,191 William Small is a proponent of the Enlightenment. 264 00:14:07,107 --> 00:14:09,413 The Enlightenment is an intellectual movement 265 00:14:09,500 --> 00:14:13,983 that took hold in Europe in the late 17th century. 266 00:14:14,157 --> 00:14:17,595 Scientists and philosophers spread ideas about freedom, 267 00:14:17,726 --> 00:14:20,076 equality, and the pursuit of knowledge 268 00:14:20,163 --> 00:14:22,774 through reason and logic instead of religion. 269 00:14:24,689 --> 00:14:27,823 William Small teaches him how to make observations 270 00:14:27,910 --> 00:14:31,435 and make hypotheses about the world. 271 00:14:31,566 --> 00:14:34,656 William Small is the one who introduces Jefferson 272 00:14:34,743 --> 00:14:36,658 to the writings of John Locke 273 00:14:36,745 --> 00:14:40,270 and Francis Bacon and Isaac Newton. 274 00:14:40,444 --> 00:14:43,447 These are people whose writings shaped cultures 275 00:14:43,665 --> 00:14:46,102 and shaped world empires. 276 00:14:46,233 --> 00:14:48,975 And Jefferson gets not only a reverence 277 00:14:49,105 --> 00:14:50,672 for the Enlightenment 278 00:14:50,802 --> 00:14:53,544 and for a kind of rationalistic approach to the world, 279 00:14:53,631 --> 00:14:55,416 but he also gets a taste of their style. 280 00:14:55,546 --> 00:14:58,853 The people that he reads when he's a very young man 281 00:14:58,854 --> 00:15:02,423 really change the course of everything in his life. 282 00:15:02,597 --> 00:15:03,903 If he has a Holy Trinity, 283 00:15:04,077 --> 00:15:05,600 it's not Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 284 00:15:05,730 --> 00:15:07,602 It's Locke, Newton, Bacon. 285 00:15:09,734 --> 00:15:12,172 The Enlightenment is his gospel. 286 00:15:17,003 --> 00:15:19,179 William Small gave him those tools 287 00:15:19,266 --> 00:15:23,096 for thinking about the place of man in society. 288 00:15:23,183 --> 00:15:25,446 And because he impressed his professor so much 289 00:15:25,620 --> 00:15:28,971 and also because of his family connections, 290 00:15:29,102 --> 00:15:31,669 he is invited to attend dinners 291 00:15:31,843 --> 00:15:33,845 at the governor's palace with William Small, 292 00:15:34,020 --> 00:15:36,935 Governor Francis Fauquier, and George Wythe, 293 00:15:36,936 --> 00:15:40,243 who will later be Jefferson's mentor in law. 294 00:15:40,461 --> 00:15:43,594 And Jefferson described these dinners 295 00:15:43,681 --> 00:15:45,770 as a little piece of paradise. 296 00:15:45,901 --> 00:15:50,079 A small table of people sharing good food and big ideas 297 00:15:50,253 --> 00:15:51,253 is happiness to him. 298 00:15:55,302 --> 00:15:57,434 The room was warmed with one fireplace crackling 299 00:15:57,565 --> 00:16:02,439 through the evening, with the table set by candlelight. 300 00:16:02,570 --> 00:16:04,572 Wine is flowing. 301 00:16:04,789 --> 00:16:06,182 They're eating oysters and ham 302 00:16:06,313 --> 00:16:09,229 and some of the best foods available in Virginia. 303 00:16:09,359 --> 00:16:13,929 They ate French cuisine and French wine. 304 00:16:14,060 --> 00:16:16,976 Remember, everything had to come through England. 305 00:16:17,106 --> 00:16:21,154 So to be able to sample an elegant bottle of Bordeaux 306 00:16:21,328 --> 00:16:23,678 was quite the privilege and opportunity. 307 00:16:26,202 --> 00:16:29,379 20 years old, he's a kid, whose abilities 308 00:16:29,553 --> 00:16:31,555 have been recognized by these older men 309 00:16:31,686 --> 00:16:33,775 who bring him into their world. 310 00:16:33,949 --> 00:16:36,386 And he talks about that kind of school of sociability 311 00:16:36,473 --> 00:16:38,127 that he went through. 312 00:16:38,301 --> 00:16:40,216 And this will serve him very well decades later. 313 00:16:42,088 --> 00:16:45,091 And over dinner, people debated freedom 314 00:16:45,178 --> 00:16:47,180 and enlightenment thinkers and American identity. 315 00:16:50,444 --> 00:16:52,315 Everybody's talking about liberty and freedom. 316 00:16:52,489 --> 00:16:55,013 But one doesn't discuss Jefferson 317 00:16:55,014 --> 00:16:56,537 if one doesn't have an appetite 318 00:16:56,711 --> 00:16:57,798 for a certain level of irony. 319 00:16:57,799 --> 00:16:59,931 Let's not forget, of course, 320 00:17:00,062 --> 00:17:02,456 enslaved people will be in the room serving them. 321 00:17:07,765 --> 00:17:10,594 White Virginians start questioning and debating 322 00:17:10,725 --> 00:17:13,596 freedom as it applied to tyranny. 323 00:17:13,597 --> 00:17:14,511 But the economy and the culture 324 00:17:14,685 --> 00:17:17,601 has been created around slavery. 325 00:17:17,775 --> 00:17:20,169 It is a society rife with contradictions, 326 00:17:20,256 --> 00:17:21,997 and Jefferson embodies all of that. 327 00:17:33,574 --> 00:17:36,403 In 1769, Jefferson's political life 328 00:17:36,577 --> 00:17:37,969 begins when he is elected 329 00:17:38,144 --> 00:17:39,406 to the Virginia House of Burgesses. 330 00:17:41,582 --> 00:17:42,409 He is just 26. 331 00:17:44,672 --> 00:17:46,674 The House of Burgesses 332 00:17:46,761 --> 00:17:48,762 is the state legislature of the time. 333 00:17:48,763 --> 00:17:50,504 Being elected to the House of Burgesses has as much 334 00:17:50,678 --> 00:17:53,072 a sense of obligation as opportunity to it. 335 00:17:53,246 --> 00:17:56,640 It's what you did if you owned land and you were of society. 336 00:17:58,642 --> 00:18:03,430 It's almost an entitlement that Jefferson and his friends 337 00:18:03,604 --> 00:18:04,257 are going to step into these roles. 338 00:18:07,129 --> 00:18:08,652 It's like, if you are wealthy today, 339 00:18:08,826 --> 00:18:09,566 you're on the boards of museums 340 00:18:09,784 --> 00:18:12,178 and of arts organizations. 341 00:18:12,308 --> 00:18:13,266 That's how you have political and social power. 342 00:18:15,659 --> 00:18:18,009 The Virginia of this period 343 00:18:18,097 --> 00:18:22,101 was being reshaped in many ways. 344 00:18:24,494 --> 00:18:26,453 The Seven Years' War, the French and Indian War 345 00:18:26,540 --> 00:18:28,281 had ended, but British troops were staying. 346 00:18:29,717 --> 00:18:31,806 Royal authority, 347 00:18:31,893 --> 00:18:33,547 which had ceded the power 348 00:18:33,677 --> 00:18:36,419 to pursue land titles, 349 00:18:36,593 --> 00:18:38,987 had taken that power back. 350 00:18:41,337 --> 00:18:43,992 And the kinds of men that Jefferson would have been with 351 00:18:44,166 --> 00:18:46,255 would have been affected by that. 352 00:18:46,342 --> 00:18:48,388 And so there's an entire redefinition, 353 00:18:48,518 --> 00:18:50,564 an entire reordering 354 00:18:50,651 --> 00:18:54,133 of what it meant to be a colonist 355 00:18:54,307 --> 00:18:57,875 in exactly the years that Jefferson is in Williamsburg. 356 00:19:00,661 --> 00:19:02,271 And Jefferson distinguishes himself 357 00:19:02,402 --> 00:19:03,924 in the House of Burgesses by being a radical, 358 00:19:03,925 --> 00:19:05,840 rejecting the idea of British authority 359 00:19:05,927 --> 00:19:08,538 and passionately railing against the British Empire, 360 00:19:08,712 --> 00:19:10,975 because to Jefferson, 361 00:19:11,062 --> 00:19:13,413 given the distance of the Atlantic Ocean, 362 00:19:13,500 --> 00:19:16,024 the distance of the king, inevitably, at this point, 363 00:19:16,111 --> 00:19:17,591 the British Crown seems incredibly out of touch 364 00:19:17,765 --> 00:19:19,027 in the colonies. 365 00:19:19,245 --> 00:19:21,421 And the sentimental attachments that some 366 00:19:21,508 --> 00:19:24,859 of the older generation had begin to wipe away. 367 00:19:26,600 --> 00:19:28,471 You start to get that resentment start to itch, 368 00:19:28,645 --> 00:19:31,082 start to eat in those debates. 369 00:19:32,693 --> 00:19:33,650 He was experiencing the debates 370 00:19:33,824 --> 00:19:36,523 as they unfolded, 371 00:19:36,697 --> 00:19:38,699 beginning to be devoted to the ideal 372 00:19:38,873 --> 00:19:41,310 of liberty in that argument. 373 00:19:41,484 --> 00:19:44,748 But he wasn't a leading indicator 374 00:19:44,835 --> 00:19:48,099 of revolutionary sentiment until a little bit later. 375 00:19:48,230 --> 00:19:50,711 He's enormously intellectually confident, 376 00:19:50,841 --> 00:19:53,453 very passionate, but insecure 377 00:19:53,627 --> 00:19:55,585 when it comes to actually speaking in public. 378 00:19:55,759 --> 00:19:57,718 He is a weak speaker. 379 00:19:57,892 --> 00:20:01,112 He is shy. He is soft-spoken. 380 00:20:01,287 --> 00:20:02,723 Some people say he has a nasal voice. 381 00:20:05,465 --> 00:20:07,554 He'd been quiet, but Jefferson made it clear 382 00:20:07,684 --> 00:20:11,297 that he believed in progress. 383 00:20:11,384 --> 00:20:14,343 He's very much interested in Enlightenment values 384 00:20:14,517 --> 00:20:18,173 and thinking that he could bring those to Virginia. 385 00:20:18,260 --> 00:20:22,221 He is motivated by the desire to want to shape his society. 386 00:20:23,831 --> 00:20:25,354 In a part of Jefferson's biography, 387 00:20:25,572 --> 00:20:28,618 he even mentions that when he was in the House of Burgesses, 388 00:20:28,792 --> 00:20:31,230 he and another member 389 00:20:31,447 --> 00:20:33,928 wanted to have a plan of emancipation. 390 00:20:35,669 --> 00:20:37,192 In his autobiography, 391 00:20:37,279 --> 00:20:39,672 which he wrote 52 years later, 392 00:20:39,673 --> 00:20:42,632 Jefferson states that in 1769, he and his cousin 393 00:20:42,806 --> 00:20:47,376 proposed a bill that would shift control of emancipation 394 00:20:47,550 --> 00:20:51,424 from the general court over to slave owners themselves. 395 00:20:51,598 --> 00:20:52,729 But he says the House of Burgesses 396 00:20:52,947 --> 00:20:55,428 kills the bill immediately. 397 00:20:57,343 --> 00:21:00,259 He says once he saw how people responded 398 00:21:00,389 --> 00:21:05,133 to plans for emancipation, basically shut them down... 399 00:21:05,220 --> 00:21:05,829 he left it alone. 400 00:21:05,960 --> 00:21:08,571 The weird thing is, 401 00:21:08,745 --> 00:21:11,095 there is no other evidence 402 00:21:11,270 --> 00:21:13,228 other than Jefferson saying this, 403 00:21:13,402 --> 00:21:16,144 that such a bill was ever proposed. 404 00:21:20,017 --> 00:21:21,671 The records of the House of Burgesses 405 00:21:21,758 --> 00:21:23,717 don't reflect this. 406 00:21:23,804 --> 00:21:25,632 Now, it could be that the records are simply incomplete. 407 00:21:25,762 --> 00:21:28,590 Having said that, other historians 408 00:21:28,591 --> 00:21:30,680 have made a pretty strong case that this didn't happen 409 00:21:30,811 --> 00:21:33,640 and that he's making it up in his autobiography. 410 00:21:36,033 --> 00:21:38,253 So then we have to ask ourselves, 411 00:21:38,384 --> 00:21:40,124 why is he saying this when he's compiling 412 00:21:40,211 --> 00:21:43,214 his autobiography 50 years later? 413 00:21:43,345 --> 00:21:44,999 When we think about autobiographies, 414 00:21:45,086 --> 00:21:47,567 people are constructing a version of their past. 415 00:21:47,741 --> 00:21:50,352 And he wants to create a narrative to show 416 00:21:50,526 --> 00:21:51,701 that both he and the United States 417 00:21:51,788 --> 00:21:54,138 were troubled by slavery 418 00:21:54,313 --> 00:21:55,836 and sought to do something about slavery 419 00:21:55,966 --> 00:21:57,968 as a problem from the very beginning... 420 00:21:58,795 --> 00:22:01,015 True or not. 421 00:22:07,543 --> 00:22:08,805 While the truth of these statements 422 00:22:08,979 --> 00:22:10,503 will never be known, 423 00:22:10,633 --> 00:22:13,636 it is clear that young Jefferson embraces his role 424 00:22:13,810 --> 00:22:16,596 in the House of Burgesses. 425 00:22:16,770 --> 00:22:18,293 As he learns to navigate 426 00:22:18,467 --> 00:22:19,947 the politics of Virginia government, 427 00:22:20,121 --> 00:22:25,561 he takes on the social aspects of the job as well. 428 00:22:25,648 --> 00:22:27,911 When the House of Burgesses is in session, 429 00:22:27,998 --> 00:22:30,740 the city of Williamsburg becomes a social event. 430 00:22:32,438 --> 00:22:33,830 It's the beginning of his engagement with 431 00:22:34,004 --> 00:22:38,705 and entrée to that kind of world of urban sophistication, 432 00:22:38,792 --> 00:22:39,619 which he claimed throughout his life to disdain, 433 00:22:39,749 --> 00:22:42,012 but he actually liked. 434 00:22:42,099 --> 00:22:44,406 The balls around political programs 435 00:22:44,580 --> 00:22:46,713 are part of how elite Virginians reinforce 436 00:22:46,843 --> 00:22:48,541 their bonds with each other. 437 00:22:51,718 --> 00:22:54,590 But when Jefferson is young, he is anxious. 438 00:22:56,984 --> 00:22:58,986 And he's just uncomfortable around women. 439 00:22:59,160 --> 00:23:03,947 We are able to read in letters of his early loves 440 00:23:04,078 --> 00:23:06,297 and, in particular, one Rebecca Burwell. 441 00:23:08,822 --> 00:23:11,390 She evidently has quite a number of suitors. 442 00:23:11,607 --> 00:23:13,392 Jefferson thinks, quite proudly, 443 00:23:13,609 --> 00:23:15,045 that he's prominent in that lineup. 444 00:23:16,830 --> 00:23:19,659 So Thomas Jefferson decides that it is time 445 00:23:19,746 --> 00:23:21,965 that he will formally propose. 446 00:23:22,096 --> 00:23:24,228 Remember, it was a different kind of world. 447 00:23:24,403 --> 00:23:27,928 They didn't date in the way we think of dating people. 448 00:23:28,102 --> 00:23:29,277 If you are involved with people, 449 00:23:29,495 --> 00:23:31,584 at some point you expected to be married to them. 450 00:23:34,630 --> 00:23:37,198 He stayed up the entire night composing 451 00:23:37,285 --> 00:23:39,853 and memorizing this proposal. 452 00:23:39,940 --> 00:23:43,465 The next evening, he would find himself in a holiday soiree 453 00:23:43,683 --> 00:23:43,857 and dance. 454 00:23:47,295 --> 00:23:49,819 On the floor with his fair Rebecca, 455 00:23:49,906 --> 00:23:50,690 he begins his proposal. 456 00:23:53,649 --> 00:23:55,782 And he says... 457 00:23:55,912 --> 00:23:58,654 the words fall out in a great disarray. 458 00:24:00,961 --> 00:24:05,182 He can remember one or two sentences that he memorized. 459 00:24:05,400 --> 00:24:08,751 And then, suddenly, not only had everyone left the floor, 460 00:24:08,925 --> 00:24:11,145 but so had his fair Rebecca. 461 00:24:16,150 --> 00:24:20,763 And he said, the day never saw a more miserable creature 462 00:24:20,981 --> 00:24:22,809 when the sun rose that next morning. 463 00:24:26,116 --> 00:24:28,336 So, evidently, he blew it. 464 00:24:30,164 --> 00:24:31,948 I mean, he's not good with women, 465 00:24:32,079 --> 00:24:33,559 at least in his early days. 466 00:24:33,646 --> 00:24:35,648 I mean, he's awkward. 467 00:24:35,822 --> 00:24:37,693 But he's in his early 20s. 468 00:24:37,867 --> 00:24:40,261 And I don't know how many heterosexual men 469 00:24:40,435 --> 00:24:42,829 in their early 20s are necessarily smooth with women. 470 00:24:45,832 --> 00:24:48,573 Slowly, Jefferson becomes more comfortable 471 00:24:48,574 --> 00:24:49,966 in the ways of romance, 472 00:24:50,053 --> 00:24:53,187 just in time to meet a young woman 473 00:24:53,274 --> 00:24:54,884 from a wealthier family than his own. 474 00:24:55,058 --> 00:24:59,802 Now at 27 years old, Jefferson believes the future 475 00:25:00,020 --> 00:25:02,849 he yearns for is possible. 476 00:25:11,031 --> 00:25:13,990 By 1770, Thomas Jefferson has established himself 477 00:25:14,121 --> 00:25:16,036 as a respected lawmaker 478 00:25:16,166 --> 00:25:17,819 in the Virginia House of Burgesses. 479 00:25:19,082 --> 00:25:21,824 He has also begun to clear land 480 00:25:21,955 --> 00:25:24,826 and develop his own estate on Monticello Mountain, 481 00:25:24,827 --> 00:25:27,656 about five miles from the Shadwell plantation 482 00:25:27,787 --> 00:25:29,440 where he grew up. 483 00:25:29,615 --> 00:25:33,444 His plans for Monticello are grand. 484 00:25:33,532 --> 00:25:34,881 And Jefferson is eager for someone to share it with. 485 00:25:37,710 --> 00:25:40,843 But at 27 years old, he has gained a reputation 486 00:25:41,061 --> 00:25:43,150 as a consummate bachelor, 487 00:25:43,237 --> 00:25:45,326 having spent most of his 20s 488 00:25:45,456 --> 00:25:48,634 pursuing unavailable women, including the daughter 489 00:25:48,851 --> 00:25:51,375 of a powerful colleague. 490 00:25:51,462 --> 00:25:53,203 John Wayles, an English immigrant, 491 00:25:53,377 --> 00:25:55,030 who has done very well for himself 492 00:25:55,031 --> 00:25:58,034 and amassed quite an acreage. 493 00:25:58,208 --> 00:26:01,124 He's a planter and a lawyer 494 00:26:01,211 --> 00:26:03,344 and a slave trader. 495 00:26:03,562 --> 00:26:06,652 Jefferson was a lawyer, and John Wayles was a lawyer. 496 00:26:06,739 --> 00:26:10,612 There's references to him going to John Wayles's home. 497 00:26:10,786 --> 00:26:14,007 So it was from their business associations 498 00:26:14,224 --> 00:26:16,487 that Jefferson met Martha. 499 00:26:18,881 --> 00:26:22,015 Martha Wayles is the eldest of the four daughters. 500 00:26:22,189 --> 00:26:26,497 She's sought after by many a male in Williamsburg. 501 00:26:26,628 --> 00:26:29,152 But in 1766, Jefferson loses out 502 00:26:29,239 --> 00:26:32,155 to a man named Bathurst Skelton. 503 00:26:32,286 --> 00:26:34,288 Great names in the 18th century. 504 00:26:35,463 --> 00:26:38,640 But Skelton dies in 1768. 505 00:26:38,727 --> 00:26:42,296 And in 1770, Jefferson takes a second shot. 506 00:26:44,167 --> 00:26:46,822 Martha Wayles-Skelton was a very attractive widow 507 00:26:46,953 --> 00:26:48,781 because she was young and she was wealthy. 508 00:26:53,699 --> 00:26:55,744 Jefferson is riding down the Duke of Gloucester Street 509 00:26:55,918 --> 00:26:58,138 in Williamsburg when he hears the melody of a spinet 510 00:26:58,312 --> 00:27:00,053 coming out of a parlor window. 511 00:27:02,751 --> 00:27:04,927 Jefferson runs up onto the porch, 512 00:27:05,014 --> 00:27:06,015 and there through the window, 513 00:27:06,233 --> 00:27:07,060 he sees the form of the Widow Skelton 514 00:27:07,147 --> 00:27:09,366 seated at the spinet. 515 00:27:12,021 --> 00:27:13,066 Well, he quickly goes to his horse satchel 516 00:27:13,153 --> 00:27:16,460 and gets his miniature violin. 517 00:27:18,637 --> 00:27:19,986 Jefferson knocks on the door. 518 00:27:22,031 --> 00:27:24,381 And the Widow Skelton and he have a musicale 519 00:27:24,512 --> 00:27:26,862 for, oh, maybe an hour or so. 520 00:27:33,521 --> 00:27:36,393 And it's clear that she has accepted his courtship. 521 00:27:38,526 --> 00:27:40,180 And then they're playing this duet, 522 00:27:40,354 --> 00:27:42,704 and another suitor comes to the house 523 00:27:42,878 --> 00:27:45,228 and hears them playing, 524 00:27:45,402 --> 00:27:48,492 and then just turns and leaves. 525 00:27:48,623 --> 00:27:50,538 And he says, we're too late. 526 00:27:50,712 --> 00:27:52,409 Jefferson's gotten here before us. 527 00:28:00,113 --> 00:28:02,855 On January 1, 1772... 528 00:28:05,379 --> 00:28:08,077 Jefferson and Martha Wayles-Skelton 529 00:28:08,208 --> 00:28:12,212 marry on her father's farm in Charles City County, Virginia. 530 00:28:12,386 --> 00:28:14,431 After the celebration, 531 00:28:14,518 --> 00:28:16,042 they head to Jefferson's burgeoning plantation. 532 00:28:18,827 --> 00:28:20,655 They start out for Monticello, 533 00:28:20,786 --> 00:28:23,136 which would be about maybe a four-day ride 534 00:28:23,223 --> 00:28:25,007 in regular weather. 535 00:28:25,225 --> 00:28:27,706 Well, within a day or two, they're caught in a snowstorm. 536 00:28:30,621 --> 00:28:32,667 This is the largest blizzard yet recorded 537 00:28:32,841 --> 00:28:35,104 in Virginia history. 538 00:28:35,278 --> 00:28:37,585 They have to abandon the carriage, 539 00:28:37,803 --> 00:28:38,934 make the rest of the way on horseback. 540 00:28:41,850 --> 00:28:44,505 But then, eventually, through the snow, 541 00:28:44,679 --> 00:28:46,115 they come to that cottage, 542 00:28:46,246 --> 00:28:49,684 which is just one small building 543 00:28:49,858 --> 00:28:51,642 that has a kitchen 544 00:28:51,773 --> 00:28:55,342 and just a single chamber above stairs 545 00:28:55,429 --> 00:28:57,648 on the oldest part of Monticello. 546 00:29:00,434 --> 00:29:02,001 It's near midnight. 547 00:29:02,305 --> 00:29:05,482 He brings his bride over the threshold of his hermitage. 548 00:29:07,528 --> 00:29:10,400 He goes to make a fire. 549 00:29:10,531 --> 00:29:12,185 Mrs. Jefferson busies herself among some of the books 550 00:29:12,315 --> 00:29:14,709 he has on the shelves. 551 00:29:16,276 --> 00:29:18,452 They say she discovers a bottle of wine. 552 00:29:20,149 --> 00:29:22,543 And that is where they begin their family. 553 00:29:30,290 --> 00:29:32,335 For the first year 554 00:29:32,509 --> 00:29:34,381 of Jefferson and Martha's marriage, 555 00:29:34,555 --> 00:29:36,600 the couple lives quietly 556 00:29:36,731 --> 00:29:38,341 in the modest honeymoon cottage 557 00:29:38,515 --> 00:29:40,343 at the top of Monticello Mountain 558 00:29:40,430 --> 00:29:44,608 as work continues on the rest of the property. 559 00:29:44,739 --> 00:29:49,048 They welcome a daughter, and Jefferson practices law, 560 00:29:49,135 --> 00:29:51,050 specializing in land cases. 561 00:29:53,052 --> 00:29:55,054 And then her father, John Wayles, died. 562 00:29:57,273 --> 00:30:00,189 When John Wayles dies, Jefferson inherits 563 00:30:00,320 --> 00:30:04,019 about 11,000 acres and 135 people-- 564 00:30:04,106 --> 00:30:06,021 enslaved people, including the Hemings family. 565 00:30:10,373 --> 00:30:13,942 Like many planters, 566 00:30:14,116 --> 00:30:16,902 John Wayles has two families. 567 00:30:17,032 --> 00:30:21,950 He has children by his recognized wife, who died, 568 00:30:22,081 --> 00:30:25,040 but he also has family by a woman he enslaved, 569 00:30:25,214 --> 00:30:26,085 Betty Hemings. 570 00:30:28,043 --> 00:30:32,004 Unfortunately, this is not unusual in colonial Virginia. 571 00:30:34,136 --> 00:30:38,184 When Betty Hemings arrives at Monticello in 1774, 572 00:30:38,358 --> 00:30:41,230 she brings her 12 children with her, 573 00:30:41,317 --> 00:30:44,016 6 of whom are thought to be fathered by John Wayles. 574 00:30:47,454 --> 00:30:48,977 Jefferson never says, 575 00:30:49,151 --> 00:30:51,023 I know that these are John Wayles's kids, 576 00:30:51,110 --> 00:30:52,372 but his treatment of them indicates 577 00:30:52,807 --> 00:30:56,767 that they are a group apart from other enslaved people. 578 00:31:01,207 --> 00:31:04,687 Many women whose fathers or brothers 579 00:31:04,688 --> 00:31:06,603 had children with enslaved women, 580 00:31:06,690 --> 00:31:09,215 were very hostile towards them and would sell them. 581 00:31:09,389 --> 00:31:12,653 Martha does the opposite. 582 00:31:12,783 --> 00:31:16,091 She installs the Hemingses in the household 583 00:31:16,178 --> 00:31:18,179 as favored servants. 584 00:31:20,966 --> 00:31:24,012 The men are the ones who get to travel 585 00:31:24,143 --> 00:31:26,536 and hire out their own time and keep their money. 586 00:31:26,754 --> 00:31:28,277 They're not supposed to do that. 587 00:31:28,451 --> 00:31:30,932 That was actually against the law during that time period. 588 00:31:31,063 --> 00:31:33,326 The women did not go to the fields. 589 00:31:33,413 --> 00:31:36,024 They cooked. They sewed. 590 00:31:36,198 --> 00:31:37,460 They did the kinds of things 591 00:31:37,634 --> 00:31:38,244 that white farming women would do. 592 00:31:41,203 --> 00:31:43,771 Betty Hemings is an older woman by that point. 593 00:31:43,945 --> 00:31:46,948 She's given almost private quarters. 594 00:31:47,079 --> 00:31:50,604 And she's given the role at her house 595 00:31:50,734 --> 00:31:51,083 of running the preschool. 596 00:31:54,129 --> 00:31:55,261 Critta Hemings works as a nursemaid 597 00:31:55,435 --> 00:31:58,437 to Jefferson's daughters. 598 00:31:58,438 --> 00:32:01,223 James Hemings does joinery and makes furniture, 599 00:32:01,310 --> 00:32:04,531 including some pieces that are in the house today. 600 00:32:04,661 --> 00:32:07,316 And the other Hemings had access to skills, 601 00:32:07,403 --> 00:32:11,103 training for skills, and some degree of autonomy 602 00:32:11,233 --> 00:32:13,105 within the plantation system that sets them apart. 603 00:32:15,716 --> 00:32:17,022 They're allowed to do things that other people 604 00:32:17,109 --> 00:32:19,676 aren't allowed to do, But they're still enslaved. 605 00:32:21,548 --> 00:32:23,550 Jefferson comes across as a very benevolent person. 606 00:32:23,724 --> 00:32:28,598 In his writing, he recognizes slavery as a moral failing. 607 00:32:28,772 --> 00:32:29,991 He thinks this is something 608 00:32:30,165 --> 00:32:32,298 that will ultimately tear apart the Union, 609 00:32:32,472 --> 00:32:34,430 that is a threat to democracy. 610 00:32:34,561 --> 00:32:36,128 He understands that. 611 00:32:36,215 --> 00:32:38,565 But, also, he's complicit. He's a slaveholder. 612 00:32:44,136 --> 00:32:47,095 As Jefferson continues to expand his family and home 613 00:32:47,182 --> 00:32:48,879 in Virginia, 614 00:32:49,054 --> 00:32:50,577 the British continue their fight 615 00:32:50,794 --> 00:32:53,406 to defend their empire against France, 616 00:32:53,493 --> 00:32:55,538 the Netherlands, and Spain. 617 00:32:55,756 --> 00:32:59,499 Britain is involved in conflict around the world. 618 00:32:59,673 --> 00:33:01,848 And as a consequence of that, 619 00:33:01,849 --> 00:33:03,546 Britain has a substantial public debt 620 00:33:03,633 --> 00:33:06,071 that has to be paid. 621 00:33:06,158 --> 00:33:09,900 And it looks to the colonies for revenue. 622 00:33:12,077 --> 00:33:14,035 For years, Parliament has been taxing 623 00:33:14,122 --> 00:33:17,212 the American colonies and using the proceeds 624 00:33:17,299 --> 00:33:20,389 to fund military campaigns around the world. 625 00:33:20,520 --> 00:33:23,175 One of the most egregious taxes 626 00:33:23,349 --> 00:33:26,439 is the Stamp Act of 1765-- 627 00:33:26,526 --> 00:33:29,311 a direct tax on all printed materials, 628 00:33:29,485 --> 00:33:31,487 from newspapers to playing cards. 629 00:33:31,705 --> 00:33:34,142 The Stamp Act was the fourth 630 00:33:34,273 --> 00:33:37,319 in a series of taxes that infuriated the settlers, 631 00:33:37,493 --> 00:33:40,061 particularly Virginia's elite. 632 00:33:40,192 --> 00:33:42,585 In the years following these taxes, 633 00:33:42,759 --> 00:33:45,719 resentment amongst the colonists grows. 634 00:33:48,026 --> 00:33:50,593 We have to ask ourselves, why do these Virginia elites, 635 00:33:50,680 --> 00:33:52,639 why do wealthy people like Jefferson and Washington 636 00:33:52,813 --> 00:33:54,293 become revolutionaries? 637 00:33:54,380 --> 00:33:56,382 We expect the poor and the desperate 638 00:33:56,469 --> 00:33:57,339 to take up arms and become revolutionaries. 639 00:33:57,513 --> 00:33:58,253 Why do they do it? 640 00:34:00,995 --> 00:34:03,345 They do it because they believe that their authority 641 00:34:03,519 --> 00:34:05,391 is threatened by this British assertion of sovereignty 642 00:34:05,478 --> 00:34:07,654 over them. 643 00:34:07,741 --> 00:34:09,612 And so, the issue very quickly moves 644 00:34:09,699 --> 00:34:13,573 from one of raising revenue to one of political power 645 00:34:13,660 --> 00:34:15,183 and autonomy. 646 00:34:15,270 --> 00:34:16,315 And Virginians, 647 00:34:16,619 --> 00:34:18,621 especially elite Virginians like Jefferson, 648 00:34:18,795 --> 00:34:21,929 highly value their autonomy and their power. 649 00:34:23,583 --> 00:34:25,888 The Stamp Act would constitute an assault 650 00:34:25,889 --> 00:34:28,283 on the fundamental liberties of these people 651 00:34:28,370 --> 00:34:29,328 because American Patriots 652 00:34:29,502 --> 00:34:31,939 in the 1760s 653 00:34:32,026 --> 00:34:35,247 worried about recognizing their equal standing 654 00:34:35,421 --> 00:34:36,248 within the British Empire. 655 00:34:40,034 --> 00:34:43,037 The Sons of Liberty start as a particular group in Boston 656 00:34:43,124 --> 00:34:45,300 in response to the Stamp Act. 657 00:34:45,431 --> 00:34:47,389 And then in the late 1760s, early 1770s, 658 00:34:47,563 --> 00:34:50,131 the phrase Sons of Liberty 659 00:34:50,305 --> 00:34:53,439 will spread through the colonies. 660 00:34:53,613 --> 00:34:55,832 It's almost like a brand or a hashtag, right? 661 00:34:57,617 --> 00:35:01,142 Throughout the late 1760s and early 1770s, 662 00:35:01,316 --> 00:35:03,275 tension between Britain and the colonies 663 00:35:03,492 --> 00:35:05,103 continues to escalate 664 00:35:05,233 --> 00:35:08,410 and eventually erupts into violence. 665 00:35:08,584 --> 00:35:12,240 And then in 1773, 666 00:35:12,371 --> 00:35:13,285 to protest taxes on tea... 667 00:35:16,288 --> 00:35:19,029 The Sons of Liberty board a group of merchant vessels 668 00:35:19,247 --> 00:35:21,467 one night in Boston Harbor, seize the tea, 669 00:35:21,597 --> 00:35:22,642 and dump it into the harbor 670 00:35:22,772 --> 00:35:26,428 because the tea cannot be taxed 671 00:35:26,602 --> 00:35:28,996 if it is not loaded onto shore. 672 00:35:29,083 --> 00:35:31,999 But as soon as the tea is offloaded, 673 00:35:32,086 --> 00:35:36,134 then the colony is responsible for the taxes. 674 00:35:36,221 --> 00:35:38,440 The Boston Tea Party is an eruption 675 00:35:38,614 --> 00:35:41,965 of a long-slumbering resentment. 676 00:35:42,140 --> 00:35:44,620 It basically says, taxation without representation. 677 00:35:44,707 --> 00:35:47,014 We're being treated as a society 678 00:35:47,101 --> 00:35:50,757 that is being taken from and being given little. 679 00:35:50,887 --> 00:35:53,847 The white men who participated in the Tea Party 680 00:35:54,021 --> 00:35:56,676 dressed as Native Americans that night 681 00:35:56,850 --> 00:35:59,113 to be dramatic and to draw attention, 682 00:35:59,244 --> 00:36:01,071 to say, okay, maybe we are different. 683 00:36:01,246 --> 00:36:03,073 Maybe we are not British subjects. 684 00:36:03,291 --> 00:36:05,467 Maybe there's a new American citizen here 685 00:36:05,641 --> 00:36:06,512 that is no longer a subject. 686 00:36:09,384 --> 00:36:12,779 Then in 1774, to punish Boston, 687 00:36:12,953 --> 00:36:14,607 British Parliament passes a series of laws 688 00:36:14,737 --> 00:36:17,827 known in the colonies as the Intolerable Acts. 689 00:36:18,001 --> 00:36:22,049 These acts greatly curtail the independent governance 690 00:36:22,136 --> 00:36:23,529 of Massachusetts 691 00:36:23,703 --> 00:36:26,271 and stoke further resentment. 692 00:36:26,358 --> 00:36:29,187 Then the colonies begin to write to each other, 693 00:36:29,317 --> 00:36:31,580 saying, we are being treated unfairly. 694 00:36:31,711 --> 00:36:32,712 In what ways are you being treated unfairly? 695 00:36:33,191 --> 00:36:37,238 And are we going to band together to stand as one? 696 00:36:37,369 --> 00:36:38,761 Are we going to accept this as a single event, 697 00:36:38,935 --> 00:36:42,417 or are we going to see this as a long train of abuses? 698 00:36:45,768 --> 00:36:47,553 Jefferson becomes a powerful colonial voice, 699 00:36:47,683 --> 00:36:50,295 speaking out against Britain. 700 00:36:50,425 --> 00:36:53,036 In 1774, he writes, 701 00:36:53,211 --> 00:36:54,037 "We do declare that these, 702 00:36:54,255 --> 00:36:56,388 their natural and legal rights, 703 00:36:56,518 --> 00:36:59,173 "have in frequent instances been invaded by the Parliament 704 00:36:59,304 --> 00:37:01,175 "of Great Britain, 705 00:37:01,306 --> 00:37:03,830 "that all such assumptions of unlawful power are dangerous 706 00:37:03,960 --> 00:37:07,964 "to the rights of the British Empire in general 707 00:37:08,051 --> 00:37:09,401 and should be considered as its common cause." 708 00:37:12,012 --> 00:37:14,536 What had been small bursts of discontent 709 00:37:14,623 --> 00:37:18,584 began to take root as the seeds of revolution. 710 00:37:25,112 --> 00:37:27,157 As a response to the so-called Intolerable Acts 711 00:37:27,332 --> 00:37:29,203 of 1774... 712 00:37:30,813 --> 00:37:32,250 The 13 colonies 713 00:37:32,554 --> 00:37:35,557 that previously had little in common and little interaction 714 00:37:35,731 --> 00:37:37,429 begin banding together against British oppression. 715 00:37:40,170 --> 00:37:42,129 And Jefferson continues to write, 716 00:37:42,260 --> 00:37:43,391 railing against British tyranny. 717 00:37:46,046 --> 00:37:48,134 In Virginia, the House of Burgesses 718 00:37:48,135 --> 00:37:50,049 have received letters from their colleagues 719 00:37:50,050 --> 00:37:52,792 in Massachusetts explaining what happened. 720 00:37:52,922 --> 00:37:54,576 So the high-ranking members 721 00:37:54,663 --> 00:37:57,753 propose a day of fasting and prayer. 722 00:37:57,840 --> 00:38:00,974 And Jefferson and the Burgesses 723 00:38:01,104 --> 00:38:02,628 vote to support Massachusetts. 724 00:38:05,413 --> 00:38:07,285 They go up the street to the Raleigh Tavern 725 00:38:07,459 --> 00:38:10,288 and assemble and pass their agreement 726 00:38:10,462 --> 00:38:12,638 to have this day of fasting and prayer 727 00:38:12,725 --> 00:38:15,293 to demonstrate a gentle form of protest. 728 00:38:17,295 --> 00:38:20,341 It's a public statement of solidarity with Massachusetts. 729 00:38:23,997 --> 00:38:25,781 On the 1st of June, 730 00:38:25,868 --> 00:38:28,654 they are going to go to their churches, 731 00:38:28,828 --> 00:38:31,221 and they're going to pray 732 00:38:31,352 --> 00:38:34,049 for the people in Massachusetts. 733 00:38:34,050 --> 00:38:36,444 They're going to show their allegiance in that mark. 734 00:38:38,359 --> 00:38:42,058 It's basically saying, hey, we need to sacrifice. 735 00:38:42,189 --> 00:38:43,843 We need to make a political statement 736 00:38:44,017 --> 00:38:45,671 by fasting and praying. 737 00:38:47,760 --> 00:38:51,198 They are deciding upon a day of religious observation. 738 00:38:53,156 --> 00:38:57,160 But that can only be decided upon by the royal governor, 739 00:38:57,335 --> 00:38:59,641 because the royal governor is not only the representative 740 00:38:59,772 --> 00:39:01,687 of the Crown, he is the colonial representative 741 00:39:01,861 --> 00:39:03,515 of the Church of England. 742 00:39:03,732 --> 00:39:05,473 When he learns 743 00:39:05,647 --> 00:39:07,736 that the Burgesses gathered in the Raleigh Tavern, 744 00:39:07,823 --> 00:39:09,825 they've decided to do this amongst themselves, 745 00:39:09,999 --> 00:39:12,044 well, it's his prerogative 746 00:39:12,045 --> 00:39:14,395 to dissolve the House of Burgesses 747 00:39:14,482 --> 00:39:14,743 at his will. 748 00:39:18,138 --> 00:39:20,880 So there you have Jefferson and an elected body 749 00:39:21,054 --> 00:39:23,970 now officially in a state of rebellion. 750 00:39:24,144 --> 00:39:26,581 It's political activism. 751 00:39:26,668 --> 00:39:28,540 Jefferson's not just writing letters anymore. 752 00:39:32,021 --> 00:39:34,546 As discontent escalates, 753 00:39:34,676 --> 00:39:37,287 so does the British response. 754 00:39:39,115 --> 00:39:40,334 British troops are marching in New York. 755 00:39:40,552 --> 00:39:44,425 They're mustering threateningly in other places. 756 00:39:44,599 --> 00:39:47,907 The public gunpowder stores are seized 757 00:39:48,081 --> 00:39:51,301 in Massachusetts and Virginia. 758 00:39:51,432 --> 00:39:53,782 The gunpowder is supposed to be there 759 00:39:53,869 --> 00:39:57,133 so that if the royal governor calls up the militia 760 00:39:57,264 --> 00:39:58,787 to fight a war against Native Americans 761 00:39:58,874 --> 00:40:01,224 or a slave uprising, 762 00:40:01,311 --> 00:40:03,618 there is ammunition for public protection. 763 00:40:05,490 --> 00:40:07,927 But the royal governor seizes the powder, 764 00:40:08,101 --> 00:40:10,190 takes it to a ship waiting offshore. 765 00:40:12,366 --> 00:40:13,933 And so the royal governor is saying, 766 00:40:14,107 --> 00:40:16,501 I am not going to protect you anymore. 767 00:40:18,807 --> 00:40:21,331 You are the enemy now. 768 00:40:23,029 --> 00:40:26,249 And so, in 1774, there you have Thomas Jefferson 769 00:40:26,424 --> 00:40:27,947 in that group of former Burgesses 770 00:40:28,077 --> 00:40:29,601 gathered in the Raleigh Tavern. 771 00:40:32,995 --> 00:40:34,606 They're standing there arguing, debating, 772 00:40:34,693 --> 00:40:38,131 and bickering and trying to decide... 773 00:40:38,218 --> 00:40:41,743 are we really going to forget ourselves 774 00:40:41,830 --> 00:40:44,485 as Virginians and a sovereign colony 775 00:40:44,659 --> 00:40:45,791 and light the spark of revolution? 776 00:40:47,793 --> 00:40:50,143 Absolutely. 777 00:40:53,538 --> 00:40:54,756 Still to come on "Thomas Jefferson"... 778 00:40:57,933 --> 00:40:59,587 Now the hard work begins. 779 00:41:01,154 --> 00:41:02,721 They need to win the war. 780 00:41:05,027 --> 00:41:08,553 Thomas Jefferson is voted in as the governor 781 00:41:08,640 --> 00:41:11,817 when the war is making its way more directly to Virginia. 782 00:41:13,993 --> 00:41:15,951 The British dragoons seek the capture 783 00:41:16,038 --> 00:41:18,563 of the governor of Virginia. 784 00:41:18,650 --> 00:41:19,911 It's a chess match. 785 00:41:19,912 --> 00:41:22,001 Jefferson is the prize. 786 00:41:22,175 --> 00:41:24,656 And then Sally Hemings becomes 787 00:41:24,830 --> 00:41:27,180 the maid for his daughters. 788 00:41:28,964 --> 00:41:30,618 Jefferson's in his 40s. 789 00:41:30,749 --> 00:41:32,881 His wife has died. 790 00:41:33,012 --> 00:41:34,927 It's clear that Sally and Jefferson 791 00:41:35,014 --> 00:41:36,668 begin a sexual relationship. 792 00:41:39,105 --> 00:41:41,324 Historians were hostile to the story. 793 00:41:41,455 --> 00:41:44,414 They said, this is impossible. 794 00:41:44,502 --> 00:41:47,113 Jefferson would never do anything like this. 795 00:41:47,287 --> 00:41:50,072 But if you look at who is at Monticello at the time 796 00:41:50,159 --> 00:41:52,553 that Sally Hemings conceives all of her children, 797 00:41:52,684 --> 00:41:53,902 it's Thomas Jefferson. 798 00:41:57,863 --> 00:41:59,734 In 1801, Thomas Jefferson is the first president 799 00:41:59,908 --> 00:42:03,085 to be inaugurated in Washington, D.C. 800 00:42:03,172 --> 00:42:06,741 At the same moment, Napoleon's decided to sell Louisiana 801 00:42:06,915 --> 00:42:08,787 to the United States. 802 00:42:08,874 --> 00:42:10,919 The Louisiana Purchase is the biggest accomplishment 803 00:42:11,006 --> 00:42:12,965 of Jefferson's presidency. 804 00:42:13,052 --> 00:42:15,663 Jefferson's words, arguably, 805 00:42:15,837 --> 00:42:17,883 are the most powerful words 806 00:42:18,057 --> 00:42:20,146 ever originally rendered in English. 807 00:42:21,669 --> 00:42:23,105 The Declaration of Independence 808 00:42:23,279 --> 00:42:25,760 is an address to a candid world. 809 00:42:25,934 --> 00:42:28,937 It signals that the rebellious colonists 810 00:42:29,068 --> 00:42:30,765 are not going to reconcile with Britain. 811 00:42:30,939 --> 00:42:32,027 We're here. 812 00:42:32,114 --> 00:42:34,029 We are the United States of America. 813 00:42:34,116 --> 00:42:35,814 And we're not going anywhere.