(Mrs. Pittman crashes)
- [Mrs. Pittman] Mr. Jefferson.
- Yes.
- [Mrs. Pittman] There
are several people here
who wish an audience, sir.
Are you available?
- I am indeed.
Good day friends, good day citizens
of these new United States of America,
good day friends from the Republic
and friends from this
commonwealth of Virginia.
Wherein I now sit in
this great cosmopolitan
and fair city of Williamsburg,
the city in which I
have lived for the past
20 years of my life.
Coming here in the winter of '59 and '60.
Mr. Jefferson made his way to this city
to attend a college, the old
Royal College of King William
and his wife Mary.
I attended that institution.
I have a--
Well, I must say I attended
that institution for two years,
I received no degree and then
moved back in with my mother,
which I hear is now an American tradition.
You're welcome for starting
that one and those of you
living under that
circumstance I assure you
there is still the flicker
of candle before you.
That there is still that
candle burning in the darkness.
Press ever on, friends.
You find yourself in that
situation, who knows,
you might even become president some day.
I wish to take questions from you.
But before I do I have certain
understanding that you have
some questions upon this
nation, upon this commonwealth,
upon we, these citizens of
these new United States,
about what is it that it
means to be a citizen.
What is it that is the
state of this commonwealth?
What is it that is the
state of this union?
Equally, you might have
questions upon my circumstance,
my upbringing, my domestic life.
You might have questions
upon me as governor
of this commonwealth of Virginia.
Equally, I would be
very happy, I assure you
to entertain questions upon
archeology, architecture,
language, music, that is
natural philosophy, science,
botany, zoology, chemistry,
astronomy, anatomy.
It matters not to me,
friends, whether it be
government theory,
philosophy or philosophers,
there is not a blade of grass
that grows uninteresting to me.
Now, that being said, I apologize.
I apologize for my lack of
skill at extemporaneous speech.
It has been said of me
that I cannot string
three sentences together, that
I have a bit of a stutter,
to which I say true. (chuckles)
These jokes are mostly for myself.
Nonetheless, friends, if
you have not heard the news
there is greatness upon us and
that is victory at Yorktown.
Equally, there is darkness upon my person.
I have left the high executive
office of governorship
of this great commonwealth
under unhappy circumstances.
I have been put on trial
by my friends, by my peers
and now I find myself the happiest station
that man can find,
that is a citizen, just as you.
A citizen under this Republic.
And now we stand united, e pluribus unum,
coming out of this crystalline
structure of government,
out of many structures,
many creeds, many colors,
many varieties of mankind put
through the crystal structure
of government and then
pushed out of the other end
through this government as one, united.
That is where we find ourselves.
The hope is that we might
remain united, friends.
Though there will be
division amongst our number,
though yes indeed there
will be a divisive nature
amongst mankind that wishes
to tear this nation asunder
and even, rest assured
there are men still living
on this continent who wish
to see monarchy spread,
who wish to see monarchy
in our new government.
These are the very same men
who lived under the tyranny
of monarchy and yet wish
to see that tyrannical seed
spread upon this country.
Disallow them.
Assure them in the unity and
beautiful nature of mankind,
multitudinous is its nature,
that might be this new government.
That the most beautiful and
most surest form of government
is spread in the hands of the people,
of you, of we, the people.
That this government,
tumultuous in its nature,
is the best government
man has yet created.
Now that being said, I wish
to turn the conversation
properly over to you.
In proper parliamentary procedure
I have presented a motion,
that motion being seconded.
Thank you for your vote.
And then voted upon.
Thank you for your vote, again.
And then, shall we say,
it is in the affirmative,
in the majority.
Congratulations, you majority.
You now have the run of the room.
This conversation is now
yours and I am yours,
no longer as governor of
this commonwealth of Virginia
in this year of 1781
but rather sit with you
shoulder to shoulder, united.
I have my woman here, Mrs. Pittman
and she has been delightful
in her acquiescence
towards relay me your
questions, your curiosities.
There is nothing that
is taboo under the sun.
Bring them to me, friends, and we shall,
through the mutual conversation
of delight delve ever deeper
into the collective
well of human knowledge.
Mrs. Pittman, are there
curiosities already perambulating
through the sphere?
- [Mrs. Pittman] Yes, Mr. Jefferson.
In fact, the first one is you, I believe,
mentioned you were put on trial recently.
Somebody is wondering if you
could perhaps say more on that.
- You wish me to delve
into my own darkness
of being put on trial.
- [Mrs. Pittman] Well,
in fact, Elizabeth asks,
"Isn't true that you fled Richmond
"and left your wife and children there?"
- Well, Elizabeth, I
apologize for these rumors
that have been spread about this colony,
state, I apologize.
Old habits, you know.
I grew up a loyalist, I grew up a subject
and now we find ourselves
with these old habits
being dashed away upon
the rocks of newness.
I did not leave my family behind.
As I recall, I was standing
on my little mountain June 3rd
this year of 1781 when we were overrun.
We were overrun by the British
who have since, of course,
overrun Virginia since
their victory at Yorktown.
You know, when I was
governor at my first term,
I have since served two terms,
when I was governor of my first
term Washington, I believe,
wrote to me and inquired as to whether
the Virginia Line of men
might be better served
serving with the Continental Line.
I saw great logos in his argument
and so sent the Virginia Line away.
(chuckles) Would that I had
known then what I know now.
Our Virginia Line being sent away,
well then, left Virginia unguarded.
And wouldn't you know, when
Virginia was unguarded,
Virginia was invaded under
my term as your governor.
We have it to understand
that their object one was to,
and I quote, "Disrupt government."
Our capital has since been
removed from Williamsburg,
this fair city, to Richmond Town.
And their object being
to disrupt government
their object was Richmond Town,
where we had removed our state government.
Those troops then occupying Richmond Town,
I recalled government to my
home, to Charlottesville.
Wherein those very same
troops continued, pursuing,
harassing, haranguing us.
My home was overrun.
You know, when I recalled
government to my home
at Charlottesville, my home Monticello,
on, as I recall, June 28th,
do you know how many delegates
showed up on June 28th?
Aside from me, as the governor, of course.
One.
One man showed up when our
government was recalled.
Finally on June 3rd, June
2nd, we had a quorum.
Now, my term was to be ended on June 2nd,
my term as governor.
I'd made it known to the men
who were present, finally,
at that quorum at my home Monticello,
my home at Charlottesville,
I made it known
that I was not to stand a third term,
which is allowable by our
Virginia constitution.
You can stand three
consecutive one-year terms
before you are so disallowed
by our term limits,
as Mr. Henry was.
I'd made it known that I was
not to seek a third term.
But it was a Friday and I
know not how your men of state
stand but our statesmen, our politicians
commonly do not wish
to work on the weekend.
And so they pushed the
thing until June 4th
and wouldn't you know on June
4th, my home was invaded.
There came a man riding up the
mountain, Jack Jouett Junior.
He rode 40 miles in one night
to warn us that they were
coming, that we must separate.
I was standing in the garden.
I have a thousand foot long
garden there are Monticello.
I wanted a 2,000 foot long
garden but my wife says
there must be an end to things
so there's a compromise for you.
I was standing there tending to my kale
and Jack Jouett Junior came
up, riding up with scratches
upon his face, scars that
he still carries to this day
and warned us that the
British were coming.
I roused the delegates that were there,
offered them breakfast.
I am a Virginian.
Some wine.
I am a Virginian.
And then issued them forth.
And then I sent my family away
down the south side of the mountain
to a neighboring plantation
for their own safety.
So did I leave them behind?
Absolutely not.
I was the last man remaining,
aside from my people,
there are the hill, my
little mountain Monticello,
when they finally came riding up.
I watched my fields burn,
my livestock slaughtered
what they did not carry off.
But my family was away, first
and foremost, before me.
I thank you, Elizabeth, for your question.
I hope that we can squash these rumors
that ride like fire upon
tinder of our minds.
Let me tell you, that is
the God's honest truth
of the matter.
- [Mrs. Pittman] Abba, speaking
of wine, Mr. Jefferson,
they ask, "Can you tell us
"some of your favorite wine types?
"Do you prefer red, white or sparkling?"
- You wish to know about wine.
What a delightful topic
upon these dark ages.
A light that is before us.
I always keep hope, you
know at the bow of the ship
and fear at the stern, and I assure you
that you cannot keep hope
at the bow without a
nice glass of Madeira.
That is the wine of my
choice, the wine of my youth.
Madeira, of course, taking
its title from the island
upon which that wine is
grown, the island of Madeira,
very creatively named, off
of the coast of Portugal.
I greatly enjoy Madeira
and spend a great amount
of my monies upon Madeira.
My palate has not yet
expanded, you understand,
expanded to the great
wines that might be found
upon the vaunted scene of Europe.
These albarinos, these
margaux and bordeaux,
we shall have to wait a few years.
But for now, my heart
as it is in Virginia,
my palate is upon Madeira.
I recommend it.
Stock your stores, friends.
Madeira.
- [Mrs. Pittman] Speaking
of wine and other hobbies,
Carla has asked other than reading,
what is your favorite hobby?
- My favorite hobby other than reading.
Well, I'm never a day off my horse.
I say as much, I find horseback
riding the most agreeable
form of exercise.
My horses I spend a
great deal of money upon.
They are not pets, to
me, they are my friends
and as such I treat them.
MY friends I ride, as I
said, every single day.
In fact, I have spent
a great deal of money
upon the Fearnought here in Virginia.
The Fearnought as a series
of thoroughbreds upon which,
if you have access, you
might find that spending
a bit of coin access to those.
My newest and most agreeable
horse, his name is Caractacus.
Caractacus is my greatest
horse upon this moment
and I ride him everyday.
I should equally say that
I always carry my musket
or at least my brace pistols with me.
I say that I never miss a
bird from less than 30 yards
with my Turkish pistols so
perhaps horseback riding
and then a close second
is shooting at the fowl
upon this country with
my pistols. (chuckles)
- [Mrs. Pittman] Thank you, Mr. Jefferson.
Several people have
inquired after your health,
including Holly who asks,
"Considering the health
issues facing us right now,
"was there a time in your
life where something similar
"occurred and if so,
how was that handled?"
- Well, my health is quite fine,
if you mean my physical health.
My internal landscaped
has been somewhat dashed
as of recently by this
trial put on by my friends.
But nonetheless,
inoculation, I suspect, is
what you're speaking of.
Rest assured, friends, there
is nothing to be feared
from inoculation.
This sickness that has grown among mankind
for many, many centuries might
be by the sciences of mankind
and man's understanding
upon this world cured.
Man might become immune, just
as man does through knowledge
of being immune by the
mistakes made generations prior
so might man become immune to
the illnesses and sicknesses.
I was inoculated in
Philadelphia, as I recall.
I had just passed the bar, I
had just become an attorney
and I went to Philadelphia
where I was inoculated,
laid up for several weeks, you understand.
Inoculation does take
some time for your person
to become accustomed to.
My inoculation being in
Philadelphia stayed there
for several weeks and
then myself becoming cured
of that disease.
Now I have continued my
inoculation practices to my family
and, of course, to my people.
My people, that is my slaves,
those who situate themselves around me.
There was nothing to be feared from truth,
from honest reasoned
truth, fact, and science.
And science has proved
that inoculation to be
the best move forward towards mankind
creating a better security for
their own persons in society.
Have I answered the question?
I hope so.
- [Mrs. Pittman] I think you have.
Charlotte, who is 10
years old, wants to ask,
"What were your biggest challenges
"when writing the
Declaration of Independence?"
- The Declaration of Independence
and challenges therein.
Well, first and foremost I should say
that it's not easy to become a traitor.
It's not easy to decide that the country
under which you lived
is no longer a country
under which you wish to live.
To look at your government and say
not only can we do better,
not only should we do better,
but I will take it under
my own arms, my own person,
to take up arms against my own country.
To even shed blood.
You know in 1776 when I had
the unhappy circumstance
to author that document, you
realize I was tearing down
the entire government under
which I lived my entire life,
under which my parents
lived their entire lives,
my grandparents and their
parents before them.
It's not an easy or light decision,
which is why I make statement
in that same Declaration
that governments should not be changed
for light and transient causes.
But when you exist under a government
that has so long enforced tyranny over you
and has for so long
removed rights from you,
then mankind has no choice but
to either alter the systems
of government under which we live
or to abolish it and create
a new system of government.
That's the unhappy circumstance
that we found ourselves in '76.
But let me point you to this,
the radical nature of '76
isn't that we declared independence.
The radical and audacious
nature of '76 isn't that even
that we took the crown
off of one man's head.
The radical nature of 1776 is
that after taking the crown
off of one man's head, we
then turned right round
and placed that crown upon all men.
We had all of us, all of us,
existed under a government
where one man wore a crown.
One.
By divine right, by blood right
and we were now instituting a new system
that truly allowed all men
to have access to natural
rights of government.
My document was mine.
I wrote it solely.
I wrote several drafts which you may read,
if you have access to Doctor Google.
Equally, that draft was sent
to my committee of five men
Doctor Franklin, Sherman,
Livingston, Adams,
myself, of course.
They made minor alterations.
I said, "We hold these truths
to be sacred and undeniable."
Doctor Franklin, I believe it was,
who suggested self-evident.
I don't know, I suppose it will stick.
Then we submitted out of
our committee of five men
to the committee of a whole.
That document was presented
on June 28th of '76.
They chose to table the
issue and then take a vote
for we cannot adopt a
document of independence
if we have not first
voted for independence.
So the vote was to be
had and the vote was,
and let's not forget as to your point,
the first vote for independence
was split, seven to six.
Seven for, six against.
We were divided even
in the summer of 1776.
The vote finally for independence
was taken on July the 2nd,
which is our nation's birthday,
our nation's natal day,
as John Adams said, should
be remembered ad infinitum
with parade and firework.
So I hope that you, every single year,
celebrate July the 2nd
as our nation's birthday.
After we voted for independence,
then finally after two days
of batter and back and
forth Congress emasculated
my document and it became
theirs, it became ours,
our nation's document, this
Declaration of Independence,
in which included an anti-slavery
clause, was taken out.
This anti-slavery clause being
taken out by South Carolina
and Georgia.
Now this is our document and
that document was finally,
of course, agreed upon, the
ratified version, on July 4.
- [Mrs. Pittman] To go
backwards a little bit,
Mr. Jefferson, several
people have asked about
the beginning of your
understanding of the law
and particular about your
law professor, Mr. Wythe.
In fact, Alice has asked,
"Was Mr. Wythe a hard law professor?"
And someone else has asked
why you did not finish
your time at William and Marry.
- Who was it that asked
about my time with law?
- Alice.
- Alice.
I thank you, Alice.
I hope that you have some
curiosity upon government theory,
upon law, lex scripta
and codified government
as it moves forward and
always will through time.
I hesitate to say your curiosity should,
well, remain nothing more than that
as there are no allowances
for women to become attorneys
but there's nothing to bar you from,
well, having a curiosity about the bar
but you will never pass, you understand.
Mr. Wythe is--
He's a resident of the
city of Williamsburg.
He is my mentor, he is my friend
and in fact, I say as much
he is my mentor in my youth
and my friend throughout my entire life.
Mr. Wythe is Virginia's
preeminent attorney
and he took it upon me
to find his answer in the affirmative.
He did not need to take
me on as a student.
There is only two ways truly a man
may become an attorney in my time.
That's either you can
leave this continent,
you can go to an inn of
court, I-N-N of court.
You can go to London if you
wish to understand the language
or Edinburgh is you wish to
not understand the language
or you can take the exam here.
You can study with a well-respected,
well- established attorney.
I chose Mr. Wythe and Mr. Wythe chose me.
And I studied under him for three years.
Sometimes that study took
place here in Williamsburg
and occasionally, in the
last year specifically,
a great deal of that study
took place at my home.
He gave me a great books to
read, Blackstone, of course,
Cook, of course, as well as
philosophizers upon our time,
ancient in their nature and
more current in their creation
from Jean-Jacques Rousseau
to Aristotle to Montesquieu
to John Locke, of course.
In his "Second Treatise of
Government", John Locke says
that all men are born free and equal.
Those studies of those men and
those philosophies took place
here in Williamsburg under
Mr. George Wythe who was,
strangely enough, a signer
of that Declaration of
America's Independence.
There is a great circle, a
great progression of thought
wherein one generation
passes the torch to the next
and that generation catching
from the one prior passes it
to the next and the next and the next,
on from Aristotle to Jean-Jacques Rousseau
to Mr. George Wythe to me and now to you.
You are now the bearers of this torch.
Just as I studied under Wythe,
so might you take our
philosophies and bring them forth
in your time.
There is nothing different, Alice.
Man has been doing the same thing.
So long as man can read,
so long as man is educated
we might carry that torch and we might,
in this new Republic, outlast the Romans.
Wouldn't that be nice?
I like that.
- [Mrs. Pittman] Mr. Jefferson, Jessica,
as well as several other people have asked
about your wife and children.
- Yes.
- [Mrs. Pittman] She has said
that she'S not learned much
about your wife and children
and would you be willing to
enlighten us about your personal life?
- My personal life as it
pertains to my wife is quite
a domestic question but
I understand, Jessica,
that me being a public
figure might have my personal
and domestic life exposed to
the whim and understanding
of the public.
I married my wife in 1772.
She was married prior to me, you know.
Her first husband was Bathurst Skelton.
He died quite suddenly of an--
Well, there was a sudden
instance that took his life
and caused him to shed his
mortal coil upon this earth.
And she became a widow and
I was her father's attorney.
When her husband died, I
began calling on her father,
as his attorney, a bit more frequently.
Just purely out of understanding
from client to attorney,
you understand and well,
wouldn't you know it
that in those conversations,
well, a relationship began.
As I recall, there was one moment
when she was still in mourning,
she was in her year of annus
luctus, a year of mourning
and there came a moment when
I was calling on her father
for purely attorney privileges
and there was the light
touch of a pianoforte
wafting the second street
and second-story window
and my horse perked up its
ears and trotted right over.
I had no say in the matter, none.
It was the wisest choice
my horse ever made.
I knocked upon the door
and inquired as to whether
the widow Skelton might be
amenable to me accompanying her.
Me with my violin, my
pochette, a violin which is
a small violin, it sits
in the crook of your arm,
just that big.
Can you imagine a
smaller device that holds
all of the world's music?
Anyway, we played "The
Flowers of Edinburgh"
and then we wanted to
marry in '71 but her child
by her first marriage
past away and so we chose
to push the wedding off.
We said we'd push it off
until some time in '72.
And so on January 1 of '72, we married.
We could not stay apart.
We married at her father's plantation
among a terrible snowstorm and
then we spent our honeymoon
also at her father's plantation,
which was a true delight.
A true, true delight.
I recommend that for anyone
who is becoming married
to spend your entire
honeymoon at your in-laws.
It's a real pleasure.
And then we had our first
child the next year, Martha.
You know when my Martha
discovered that she was with child
we had the question which
is, "What do we name her?"
If it is a girl, what do we name her?
If it a boy?
She said, "If it is a
boy, we should name her
"after your father Peter Jefferson."
And I said, "That's fine and
good but what if it is a girl?"
And she said, "We should
name her after you, Martha."
And she said Virginia
has too many Marthas.
So fine, we'll name her
after my sister Martha.
And so the next year, Martha,
Martha, and I celebrated
our first Christmastide at Monticello.
Since I've had several
children with my wife Martha,
childbirth is not easy upon
her and we lose a great number
but we are hoping to carry our progeny
into the next generation.
And someday we'll have more
grandchildren than John Adams.
Hypothetically.
Have I answered your question?
- Mr. Jefferson.
- Yes.
- [Mrs. Pittman] We are approaching
the end of your availability
but we have so many questions coming in.
I was wondering if you would
be able to rapid-fire answer
some of our questions?
First question.
- Yes, let us say
30 seconds each.
Very good.
- Yes, first question
from Kimberly, "Do you have
pets and do you like cats?"
- Do I have pets, Kimberly,
and do I like cats?
Well, there are some mousers at Monticello
and they do what mousers do.
My pets, I have a deer park at Monticello
and if you come, Kimberly, you might,
as is common to my
custom, if I have you over
we can have a fine dinner
and then I'll put some corn
in your hand and you can
reach it over the fence
into my deer park and feed
them out of your hand.
Equally, and lastly, I
have some mockingbirds
that are my dear friends and as you know,
mockingbirds have a great
fluency with notes and tones
and I have attempted, my favorite
mockingbird is named Dick,
and I have attempted to
teach Dick how to speak Greek
and Latin.
- Jenny--
- It's not gone well.
- [Mrs. Pittman] I can imagine.
Jenny-Lynn asks, "What
is your favorite flower?"
- My favorite flower, Jenny-Lynn.
Well, I like all flowers
but I suppose any flower,
Jenny-Lynn, thank you, is
the flower that produces
the best fruit.
I say that the best gift
that may be introduced
to any country is the
introduction of a new plant.
Now I have encouraged a
many new plants to come in,
including rice and peas
and beans, kale even.
So any flower, in my opinion,
that produces the proper fruit
which may be produced with
the greatest efficiency
upon the sustenance of mankind,
well that is a flower worth
producing, reproducing
and spreading about
this entire new country.
Thank you, Jenny-Lynn.
- [Mrs. Pittman] Jordie asks,
"What tavern is your favorite
"in Williamsburg?"
- What tavern is my
favorite in Williamsburg?
Any tavern that is open.
Next question.
- [Mrs. Pittman] Kaylin wants to know
if you love mac and cheese
like her cousin Kurt does.
- Kaylin
wants to know if I like mac and cheese.
- [Mrs. Pittman] Yes, macaroni and cheese.
- Oh, macaroni.
Oh, macaroni is a type of--
I understand.
I've never been to France.
I've never been to another country,
unless you count
Massachusetts, and most men do.
So I suspect that I might
attend the vaunted scenes
of Europe at some point and
might introduce to this country
some type of macaroni,
which is their terminology
for a noodle.
And a noodle being formed into
this type might be produced
upon some cheese upon which
might be placed, I recommend,
into some mold.
A mold gelatinous in its nature
and place it in your center
so that you might discover with
your friends, your patrons,
and those sitting around
you whether the thing
is a solid or a liquid.
It shakes, you know.
So put your mac and cheese into a mold,
gelatinous in its nature.
That's what I recommend.
What else?
- [Mrs. Pittman] Macie
asks, "How old were you
"when you became governor?"
- How old was I, Macie,
when I became governor?
Well, a gentleman never tells his age
and I would not dare tell
mine upon this strange stage
we find ourself today.
I will certainly say this.
I was born in the year 1743.
1743.
April, in fact of 1743
and I was elected governor
in June of 1779, so
I'll let you do the math
and well, you need something to do while
you're whiling away
your hours at your home.
- [Mrs. Pittman] Barbara
asks, "What is your favorite
"Christmas tradition?"
- My favorite Christmas tradition
is meeting with my family.
Christmastide is--
I'm a man of state and
commonly that pulls me away
from my home eight months out of the year.
And eight months out of
the year I find myself away
from my wife, away from my children,
away from my beautiful home,
that mountain topped treat at Monticello.
My favorite aspect of Christmas is that
I have no state business
to attend to but my family.
I can truly spend at least
12 days of Christmastide
with them, solely with them,
and occasionally pull myself
away from my wife and children
to write a few letters.
I cannot help but writing and
I cannot help but reading.
- [Mrs. Pittman] Ellie,
age six, and Ben, age four,
have asked, "How long
have you played the violin
"and which music do you
enjoy listening to?"
- Ellie and Ben, upon
the violin and music,
I enjoy Corelli, I enjoy
Abel, I enjoy Handel.
If you would know these
names, these are great names
that take their place upon
my music stand at home.
I began learning violin
at a very young age.
I was the fortunate
son of a gentry family,
which means the gentry
family had some money.
And I being the eldest
son of a gentry family,
it's understood of me that
I would receive a great
amalgamation of education
included of which
is horseback riding, dancing,
of course, languages, music,
and understanding of ancient
philosophies and grammar,
et cetera.
Music, I say, is the passion of my soul.
I hope it will be the passion
of yours going forward.
I continue to play my violin.
In fact, I played my violin
in between writing drafts
of the Declaration of
America's Independence.
My violin was my
instrument of inspiration.
- [Mrs. Pittman] Several people
have asked, Mr. Jefferson,
do you know George Washington
and his beautiful wife Martha?
- Do I know George
Washington and his what?
- [Mrs. Pittman] Beautiful wife Martha.
- Is she--
I'm sorry, I couldn't hear that.
- [Mrs. Pittman] Another Martha.
- Another Martha.
His wife Martha.
- Washington.
- Ah, yes.
I have met with Washington, of course.
I was elected, of
course, in the year 1769,
here in Williamsburg and
Washington already being a member
of the House of Burgesses,
we have served together since 1769.
We served together at
the Continental Congress
and I cannot say that
I know his wife Martha
but I have, of course, understood
that he has been married.
And I understand that she is
a delightful, lovely woman
of some, perhaps polite conversation
and I hope and have no
doubt that the four of us,
that is my wife Martha,
George and his wife Martha
will have a lifelong communal
friendship of happiness.
There will never ever be
a moment of distinction
between our two families.
We shall ever remain
united as we were in 1776
all the way through until
the rest of our lives.
- [Mrs. Pittman] I have no
doubt about it, Mr. Jefferson.
- I'm certain.
- [Mrs. Pittman] We
have one last question.
And please don't feel like
you have to be rapid on this.
Bethany has asked, "Can you
elaborate on why you believe
"history is perhaps one of
the most important subjects
"to study?"
Bethany, you have it and
that is that history, I say,
is the most important subject
that there is to study.
There are multitudinous
subjects which man might find
great curiosity, great interest
and might improve mankind at large.
We've equally spoken of
philosophy and the sciences
and specifically as it pertains to anatomy
and mankind's inoculation.
But the point of history is this,
if you, Bethany, were to
walk into a lending library
and open up, perhaps
you were in Philadelphia
and you entered into Doctor
Franklin's lending library
and you were to walk
into the history section
and you were to open up a book of history
and you were to blow off the
dust and open its creaky pages
and read them and you might say,
"My God, what ancient tired old mistakes."
And then you would close that
book and you would reshelve it
in the correct position, Bethany,
and then you would step
out of that lending library
into terra incognita
and you would learn from those mistakes.
You would understand
them so as to not repeat
the same mistakes made generations prior.
You would step out into terra incognita
and then you would make new mistakes.
Man is imperfect.
I say it this way, man
cannot create a government
that is better than mankind itself.
It's impossible.
The government that you create,
Bethany, will be imperfect
as the government that
we created was imperfect.
We are man, we are flawed
but the hope is that by studying history
we might understand the
mistakes made generations prior
and not repeat them in future generations.
Now, here's the thing, Bethany.
Some day your mistake, should
this Republic last so long,
your mistakes (chuckles)
will be written about
by the flicker of candle.
There will be men who
will look at your life
and they will say this was a
mistake and that was a mistake
and this might be exonerated.
And someday, your mistakes will be bound
in leather tome volumes
and they will be bound
in lending libraries
and someday your children
and grandchildren
might someday enter into
those lending libraries
and walk down the history section
and they will pick up a
volume and they will open it,
its pages creaking and they will say,
"My God, Bethany, what
ancient tired old mistakes."
You will be
faulty as our government is faulty.
But the hope is, with an
understanding of history,
with an understanding
of reading and writing,
that our future generation
might learn from these mistakes.
If you see that your government
is repeating the same mistakes
made generations prior
this means one of two things.
Either one, man is not reading history
or two, more dangerously,
man is reading history
and then choosing willfully
to remain ignorant
of the lessons contained therein.
You might as well not even open up a book
in the first place.
History is a manual for
mankind to be better.
In our government, we
allow for change over time
which means you will get
the government you want,
not the government we created.
And if you wish the government you want,
you must understand the
mistakes made generations prior.
This is my ardent drum that I shall beat
for the rest of my life
and that is education.
Education is the key to this
entire experiment working.
And if you achieve an
education, if you can read
and you do read history,
then we shall, together,
outlast the Romans, Bethany.
Shall we?
I believe we can.
Is that it?
- [Mrs. Pittman] I believe you have
another appointment, sir.
- I have another appointment.
- [Mrs. Pittman] Your
wife needs you at home.
- Oh, my wife always needs me.
Very good.
Well then, friends, allow
me to say thank you.
Thank you for this
delightful conversation,
a mutual confab that we
have delved ever deeper
into the collective
well of human knowledge.
I hope that you shall join us again.
In these strange time,
we shall no doubt be meeting you here.
Here in the city of Williamsburg
but most importantly here,
right upon this face, this
screen that you see before you.
We shall meet you where the people are
and together we shall move ever forward,
we shall bear this torch from
one generation to the next.
Friends, stay in touch and if you would,
perhaps if you have some, I know not,
electronic form of communication
and I suspect that you do
as we are now communicating
at this moment, might you subscribe to us
that way we can continue to
communicate in every form
that we might deem possible.
I have no idea what I'm talking
about but the word subscribe
keeps appearing in my mind
so please click the button,
subscribe, send us your information
and we can continue to supply information.
A beautiful delight upon
this fledgling country
moving forward to your beautiful persons
as now citizens of these new
United States of America.
Thank you, friends.
Signing off, Thomas Jefferson.
(Mrs. Pittman thuds)
