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- [00:01]
Podcast Narrator/Host
This episode is brought to you by Google Chrome. You think you know a browser, but Gemini and Chrome? That's new. It can help you with practically anything on the web, like restoring a vintage motorcycle from a 50 page restoration block. Or finally, break down that long article you've had open for weeks. Gemini and Chrome is here for it, ready to make anything online make sense. There's no place like Chrome. Check responses set up required compatibility and availability various 18/.
- [00:29]
Narrator/Primary Storyteller
It's late June 1776. The City of Philadelphia roasts in an early summer heat wave. Temperatures hit 90 degrees. The air is thick and still. On the second floor of a narrow brick house, a young man is trying to cool down. Robert Hemmings cracks open a window. It doesn't do much good. If anything, the room seems hotter. Hemmings is 14 years old, African American, and from Virginia. The enslaved man, servant of a very prominent master, who right now is in the adjoining room, lost in thought. Robert pours a glass of water. He carries it next door. It's for his enslaver, Thomas Jefferson. Over the last couple of years, Jefferson has surged to prominence. A gifted writer, he's published compelling work in support of the American rebellion against the British government. Tall, thin and elegant, he sits at a table quietly examining papers in front of him. Robert places the glass and lingers for a moment. Several days ago, Jefferson was unexpectedly handed a big responsibility. His fellow members of the Second Continental Congress chose him as the man they want to write the colony's declaration of independence from Great Britain. Ever since, he's been wrestling with words. Finding the right way to end a relationship almost two centuries old is no easy task. Yet he's in no doubt about who's to blame for the breakup. Jefferson points the finger at King George iii. He denounces him as a tyrant, a cruel, calculating ogre who has driven colonists to this a permanent severance of the ties that bind Great Britain and America. Much of what he writes will be toned down or crossed out by his colleagues in Congress, but his preamble will remain. The text jumps out on the page as Jefferson reads it to himself. We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by the Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Fine words, stirring and inspirational words that will without question change the story of humankind. Yet right here in this house in Philadelphia, there's only one person able to assert his right to freedom. Robert Hemings leaves the room. There's no record of what he's thinking. His voice is silent in the pages of history all across America. Independence is on everybody's mind. Yet for some Americans, it's a lot closer than for others. I'm clark peters from the noizur podcast network. This is part four of founding an american dream. We finished our last episode. At the end of 1775, Boston is occupied by thousands of British soldiers and is besieged by George Washington's Continental Army. Conditions are bleak both inside and outside the city. In the depth of winter, Washington's men shiver with scant resources. It's impossible to see how the new general can win the war. Then, the unlikely capture of 60 tons of armaments revives American spirits. Washington now has something to weaken British resolve. But on New Year's Eve 1775, the Continental army experiences a huge blow. An expeditionary force is trounced in Quebec. The limits of the American military are are brutally revealed. The very next day, New Year's Day, 1776, British authorities launch an attack of their own. Way down south, off the coast of Norfolk, Virginia, a warship looms on the water. On board is the Royal Governor of Virginia, Lord Dunmore. Back in the summer, he fled his official residence, driven out by fear of the Virginia patriots agitating against him. Ever since, Dunmore's ship has been a beacon for those who want no part in the uprising. Masses of others sail, row and swim their way out to join him. Soon, a floating city forms in the chesapeake bay. On January 1st, as local patriot militias gain an ever tighter hold on Norfolk, Dunmore decides to hit back. Below deck on a ship in Dunmore's fleet, a crew of sailors are at work. They load charges of gunpowder into hulking cannon. They light their fuses and they start shelling the town. In every colony, 1776 is to be a year of escalating violence. Among Dunmore's band of refugees are numerous enslaved people escaping their Patriot masters. Knowing that the prospect of a slave uprising will put the fear of God into white Virginians, Dunmore has recently issued a proclamation. He promises freedom to all slaves who rise up and fight with the British. It's a purely cynical move. Until very recently, Dunmore had been committed to preserving the institution of slavery. But many enslaved people take the gamble. They hope the British Crown offers a chance of freedom. Within a month of the proclamation, 300 escaped slaves sign up to what Dunmore calls the Royal Ethiopian Regiment. Thousands more will risk their lives in order to seek freedom with the British Slavery. Both the institution and the concept is central to this conflict. In 1776. It is legal in every British colony. The flip side of the colonists dream of liberty is the nightmare of enslavement. Alan Taylor is professor emeritus at the University of Virginia.
- [08:48]
Historian/Expert Commentator
To protest that you don't want to be treated as a slave makes all the sense in the world. In a world in which there are slaves all around you, the only truly free people in the 18th century world, as understood by the British, including, including the Americans, is that you have to own enough property to employ yourself and your family. In Britain, less than a fifth of the people own their own farm. In the colonies, it's 2/3 to 3/4 own their own farm as one of the reasons why so many British people want to go to the colonies. In Virginia, 40% of the population is enslaved. In South Carolina, 2/3 of the population are enslaved Africans. Do the white people there say? Most of them do. They say there's my brother and he's enslaved. No, they say I'm going to defend my independence. And my independence might actually be advanced by keeping these other people in slavery working for me.
- [09:48]
Narrator/Primary Storyteller
In early 1776, Thomas Jefferson is surveying his plantation in Albemarle County, Virginia. Walking through his gardens, the winter flower beds offer little to catch the eye. But directly ahead of him is his mansion. He calls it Monticello. It's a work in progress and will continue to be for the next 33 years. In that time, more and more features will be added. Columns, domes, the clean lines of classical beauty. Orderly and refined. It captures in architectural form Jefferson's idea of himself and his place in the world. He's a lifelong member of wealthy white Virginian society, but he's also a man of the Enlightenment. He reads widely and thinks deeply about the human condition and the rights of the individual. At the moment, he's writing a short history of the American colonies. It's an extension of A summary view of the Rights of British America, a pamphlet of 1774 that made Jefferson a leading light for reform. That earlier work warned of a devilish conspiracy overseas of a deliberate and systematical plan of. Of reducing us to slavery. The king himself, writes Jefferson, seems intent on making Americans the absolute slaves of his sovereign will. He describes the abolition of domestic slavery as the great object of desire throughout the colonies. Slavery is always on his mind. Publicly, he insists he despises it. Privately, he depends upon it for his privileged lifestyle. During the course of his life, Thomas Jefferson will own more than 600 enslaved people. Monticello, his Enlightenment obsession, wouldn't exist without them. Jefferson grew up in a Slave owning family from childhood, his relationships with the people bound to him have been complex, sometimes confounding, and always wildly unequal. Calvin Jefferson and his son Julius are descendants of multiple people who were enslaved to Thomas Jefferson at Monticello. Among their ancestors is a man named Jupiter Evans.
- [12:33]
Calvin Jefferson
Jupiter was born the same year as Thomas Jefferson. The same year they grew up together. And there's some stories of how in their childhood they were playmates. And as they got to a certain age, everything changed. And it changed because one becomes the, quote, slaveholder, another one becomes the servant. And Jupiter, he had quite a few jobs with Thomas Jefferson. He started out as the manservant and he went with Thomas Jefferson everywhere.
- [13:05]
Narrator/Primary Storyteller
Jupiter Evans proves himself indispensable. He takes care of Jefferson's horses. He settles bills and collects debts. He carves elegant stone columns that still adorn Monticello more than 200 years later. Occasionally, some enslaved people are given tips and permitted to do short stints of paid work for those other than their master. Through this, they can earn small amounts of money. Perhaps this is the case with Jupiter Evans because remarkably, the records show that on at least one occasion, Evans actually loans cash to Jefferson. That's right. The slave lends money to his master, a very modest sum, enough to enable Jefferson to tip enslaved servants at other white people's homes. Jefferson also entrusts Evans with handling very important messages. In 1774, Evans delivers a summary view of the rights of British America, Jefferson's seminal work to patriot leaders in Virginia. Jupiter Evans descendant Calvin Jefferson, believes that his smart thinking ancestor probably made the most of the opportunity.
- [14:24]
Calvin Jefferson
I don't believe that Jupiter delivered it and came back to Monticello. I think he's down there listening to the debate. The enslaved people knew what was going on so they could listen to the conversations and report back to the community, the enslaved community. And I think that's what Jupiter did because more and more enslaved people during that period were trying to figure out on their own how to become free. That's why you had a lot of them going over to the British during the Revolutionary War. They wanted freedom. I have read stories of people rebelling against Thomas Jefferson and he ends up selling a couple of them down south because what did they want? They wanted their freedom.
- [15:07]
Narrator/Primary Storyteller
Evans relationship with Thomas Jefferson is extraordinary, but emblematic of the world in which they lived. Calvin's son Julius, you know the idea
- [15:19]
Julius Jefferson
that Jefferson loathed slavery. He didn't load what slavery yielded for him, which was profit, which was capital. I don't think Jefferson would have been able to survive without Jupiter as he came up, as he grew up to manhood. Clearly he had an influence on Jefferson. Clearly, Jefferson needed him. What if Jupiter could have had the same education and afforded the same privileges as Jefferson? What would Jupiter have been? Would he been a founding father? This is something that we overlook, the influence of the enslaved community on the founding of this country. And as we look at America 250, I don't hear a lot of people talking about those type of stories.
- [16:04]
Narrator/Primary Storyteller
It's February when a package arrives at Monticello. Inside, Jefferson finds a book, Common Sense, written by Thomas Paine, a recent immigrant to the colonies from England. In just 47 pages, Paine puts on paper things that hardly anyone, even Jefferson, has publicly expressed. That the 13 colonies have outgrown the mother country, that monarchy is an unjust system of government, that America must declare its independence. Published only a few weeks ago, and at first anonymously, the book is already a hit. The author himself will later boast that 120,000 copies were sold within the first three months. That's probably an exaggeration, but there's no doubt. At the start of 1776, common sense is causing a stir. Not everyone, however, is a fan. We last saw lawyer John Adams in episode two, forging friendships and alliances with delegates at the Continental Congress, including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. That's his natural habitat. Adams is a man of institutions. He believes in temperance and doing things the right way. Thomas Paine's explosive book brings him out in hives. Historian Jane Kaminsky is president and CEO of Thomas Jefferson's Monticello.
- [17:46]
Jane Kaminsky
The register of it, I think, is offensive to Adams, the populism of it. Adams stands for reason above passion. Paine is great at going for the gut and the jugular, speaking the language of the Bible to people who probably do not have another book in their home. And Adams is an incredibly covetous person, something that he recognizes in himself. Adams has been the great theorist of the imperial crisis and the growing schism with Britain, to the point that this relatively unknown former customs collector busts out with a bestseller that rivals the Bible. So there's that patented Adams envy. I can't believe this guy is the guy. I'm the guy.
- [18:36]
Narrator/Primary Storyteller
Nevertheless, the success of Common Sense indicates that a barrier has been breached. Direct criticism of the King is out in the open among ordinary people, as is the idea of America going it alone. And in the spring, there's an astounding military breakthrough. It's March 2, 1776. Late in the evening John Adams wife Abigail is is at home on the family farm in Braintree, Massachusetts. It's been two years since John and Abigail moved here. The tumult of Boston forced them to seek somewhere quieter. The farm is 10 miles from the city, far enough for them to feel their four children will be safe. Close enough to know the latest news. Sometimes they can see it unfolding. Last summer, Abigail stood outside with her 7 year old son, John Quincy, and watched the battle of Bunker Hill rage in the distance. Tonight, the house is still. The children are in bed. Abigail uses the calm of the evening to straighten things out. She runs this farm and the family practically single handed. There's always something to do. Cows to milk, supplies to purchase, repairs to be done. Children to love, educate and keep in line. The last few days, Abigail has had more on her mind than usual. Word has it that George Washington is about to try something new. Big. She's a knotted ball of nervous tension. When she's done for the day, she takes a candle to light her way to bed. Silence wraps around the house. Then, around midnight, the sound of war rips through the farm. In the distance, American artillery roars. This is what Massachusetts has been waiting for. As the cannons fire back and forth, Abigail does what she often does at times of stress. She picks up a pen and writes. This time it's a letter to John. The house shakes. She tells her husband, no sleep for me tonight. At intervals, the barrage continues until sunrise. In the relative calm of morning, a new day begins on Abigail's farm a few miles away. The siege of Boston is nearing its end. The bombardment that rattles the Adams home is in fact just a diversion. While the cannons roar, other armaments are covertly hauled into position onto nearby hills known as Dorchester Heights. Once accomplished, Dorchester Heights is a formidable fortification. The British are stunned. The rebels now have an immense tactical advantage on Dorchester Heights. They can place artillery guns trained right on the enemy. Just days later, on March 17, the British evacuate Boston. Eleven months after the battles of Lexington and Concord, American forces have chased the redcoats right out of Massachusetts. A belief that America can stand on its own two feet is spreading. Everywhere there's talk of new dawns, the possibility of a world reshaped. On March 31, Abigail Adams writes John another letter. Her words are as radical as anything being discussed in Congress. If kings can be dismissed, she says, maybe other kinds of men can be too.
- [23:14]
Abigail Adams (reading her letter)
I long to hear that you have declared an independency. And by the way, in the new code of laws, which I suppose it will Be necessary for you to make. I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation. That your sects are naturally tyrannical Is a truth so thoroughly established as to admit of no dispute. But such of you as wish to be happy willingly give up the harsh title of master for the more tender and endearing one of friend. Why then not put it out of the power of the vicious and the lawless to use us with cruelty and indignity with impunity? Men of sense in all ages abhor these customs which treat us only as the vassals of your sex. Regard us then as beings placed by Providence under your protection. And in imitation of the Supreme Being, make use of that power only for our happiness.
- [24:37]
Narrator/Primary Storyteller
The letter is a window into a remarkable marriage. It also puts a spin on a sentence that's about to change the world. That all men are created equal. Lindsay Chavinsky, Executive Director of the George Washington Presidential Library.
- [24:57]
Lindsay Chavinsky
Abigail Adams Remember the ladies letter is notable because it calls out the obvious in the declaration that all men are created equal. And yet it ignores women and ignores people of color. She was their financial manager. She took care of all of their finances and their investments. She managed their farm, she raised their children, made medical and educational decisions about them when her husband was abroad and unable to participate. And yet, in order to acquire new property or new land, she had to have one of her male relatives act on her behalf. Because she legally was not allowed to own land or property, even when she was advising them on what to do with their investments. Because she was better at it and smarter at it than they were. But I think what makes Abigail remarkable is that that letter is so totally ordinary for her. She was an incredible political thinker, a great intellect, a real astute student of the human existence. And could survey a room and understand exactly what was happening and why people were acting the way that they were.
- [26:02]
Narrator/Primary Storyteller
Events are developing fast in every colony. On April 12, the provincial government in North Carolina gives its representatives in Congress permission to advocate independence. Soon after, Rhode island takes even more radical action and declares its own independence. The pace of change is incredible. Perhaps only a year ago, the idea of a split from London seemed far fetched. Now it seems virtually inevitable. In spring, Thomas Jefferson exits the grand front door of Monticello and climbs into the back of a carriage. He's leaving the bubble of his plantation for bustling Philadelphia and the increasingly radical atmosphere of the Continental Congress. Jefferson takes up residence at Market Street. With him is his enslaved valet. But it's not Jupiter Evans. Evans recently married a woman also enslaved at Monticello. Unwilling to be parted from his wife, Evans requests that he no longer serve as traveling manservant. Jefferson exceeds. Evans now labors only on the plantation. Around the same time Jefferson's father in law dies, Jefferson inherits much of the estate. Among the property are 135 slaves. A number of them are his father in law's own children, conceived with his enslaved servant Elizabeth Hennings. So now, under Jefferson's control, are his wife's enslaved half siblings. One of them is Robert Hemmings. Aged 14, Robert steps into the shoes of Jupiter Evans. He becomes Thomas Jefferson's personal manservant. Over the years, Jefferson will go on to have at least six children with Robert's sister Sally, who was also, of course, the half sister of Jefferson's own wife. For Heming's family descendants, Calvin and Julius Jefferson. All this reveals the deeply strange and complex dynamics of Monticello. And it further underlines the injustices of what went on there.
- [28:33]
Julius Jefferson
These individuals were linked in a way that was very close and linked from birth to death in many instances. And so how do you say that? This is my wife's half brother and he's not intelligent. You can't say that. Jefferson was a great thinker, certainly a great writer, able to articulate his ideas and thoughts on paper to this country and throughout the world and not recognize the intellectual capacity of those who he enslaved. I'm not going to give him a pass.
- [29:07]
Narrator/Primary Storyteller
In his rented rooms in Philadelphia, Jefferson sits down to write. Not the Declaration of Independence at this stage, that's still a little way off. Instead, he works on a draft of a new constitution for Virginia. While Robert Hemings tends to his master's needs in the stifling heat, Jefferson writes his draft. It includes a gradual abolition of slavery. The draft also advocates the appropriation of unsettled land to the west of Virginia. Since the 1760s, this has been a key cause in Virginia and elsewhere. The American Revolution is about more than the injustice of taxation without representation. Professor Peter Castor of Washington University in St. Louis.
- [30:02]
Peter Castor
There are different roads to the Declaration of Independence in different places and for different reasons. People in north and south sign on for different reasons. People in east and west sign on for different reasons. And they do so because this language of freedom and independence resonates with them. In the 1760s, the British government had established a rule that there would be no white south settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains. And Native Americans governed pretty much all the land west of the Appalachian Mountains. They governed a lot of land east of the Appalachian Mountains. And I emphasize that they didn't just live there, they didn't just own the land, they governed it. But white settlers kept spilling over the Appalachian Mountains. Now, why do they do this? Because they believe in independence. And in 1765, 1770, 1775, independence was inseparable from land ownership, because if you own your own land, you own your own destiny. The problem facing them, especially in states like Virginia and Pennsylvania and New York, is that a lot of that land is already claimed and owned by others who won't sell or who sell at rates the settlers can't afford. So the settlers spill over the Appalachian Mountains, and the British government says, no, you can't go there. And so when revolutionaries on the eastern seaboard say this is a movement for independence, the settlers believe it. And when Native Americans say this is a war for independence, they believe it because it's about their independence. They knew from the get go that this movement threatened to strip them of their independence because they knew from very real experience that that's what Europeans did.
- [31:47]
Narrator/Primary Storyteller
For Native Americans, this conflict between white colonists and the mother country is existential. White settlers move into native lands by the thousands. Their impact on indigenous communities is ruinous.
- [32:05]
Historian/Expert Commentator
They're chopping down the trees. They're creating pastures, they're creating fields. They're introducing large numbers of domesticated livestock. They're destroying the water, wild animals. They're literally driving native peoples out of their villages. And some cases, they are killing native peoples to get them out of the way. So you don't want those people moving in. And British officialdom, when we get to the start of the revolution, says, you know, we're trying to hold these people back. And with your help, you help us in this war, we can do a lot more to keep these colonists staying east of the Appalachian Mountains. So most Native people say, okay, deal.
- [32:51]
Narrator/Primary Storyteller
It's April 4, 1776, in central London. A man walks through the gardens of Cavendish Square, one of the most elegant spots in the city. He's young, in his early 30s. Handsome, too, and around these parts, a celebrity. He approaches number 24, a grand building on the corner of the square. He knocks on the door. When it opens, a servant beckons him Inside and up the staircase. At the top of the stairs is a large room filled with natural light. All around are easels and canvases, rags, brushes and palettes smeared with oil paints. This is the studio of George Romney, the rising man of British portraiture. This address is a hangout for the rich, the famous and the fashionable. Romney paints all the most talked about people in town. That includes the young visitor standing in the doorway. Romney's latest subject goes by two names. In London, everyone calls him Joseph Brandt, but he's also known as Tyenden. A leader of the Mohawk people. His name translates as two Sticks fitting as he's undoubtedly a man of dualities. As a child, he learned his flawless English in a colonial school, the same place in which he converted to Christianity. As Joseph Brant, he now has deep connections with the British establishment. His sister, an important figure in her own right, has had eight children by the British Superintendent of Indian Affairs. Late last year, Brant sailed from New York to England. From the moment of his arrival, London high society fell for him head over heels. Now he's sitting for Romney. The artist busily arranges the studio. From a large chest, Romney retrieves various objects. All have been specially selected for today's session. Soon the subject is ready to be painted. He stands in a mixture of contemporary London fashions and Native American tradition. A billowing white shirt and a feathered headdress. Around his neck hangs a silver crucifix. In his right hand, he holds a tomahawk. It all perfectly reflects his complex identity. It also communicates his crucial objective for this trip to England. Beyond the parties with aristocrats and interviews with journalists, he's on a mission to woo the imperial government. This isn't unprecedented. Native Americans and Europeans have been allies in previous wars. But Brandt's trip is extra special. He's gained access to high ranking officials. A few weeks ago, he even secured an audience with the king. In exchange for Britain respecting his people's land rights, Brant pledges Mohawk support. They will give their all in the fight against George Washington's army. The British are eager to accept. They're delighted to have Mohawk warriors on their side. This portrait by Romney is to be a vivid symbol of the alliance. Joseph Brant and Ty and one and the same man, a proud Mohawk leader and a loyal British ally. As the light dies, Romney puts down his brush. Brandt takes off his ceremonial dress. Re emerging into the London evening, Brandt watches as a carriage rides by. When he's asked what impresses him most about the imperial capital, Brant, of course, says two things the refined ladies and the magnificent horses. Within a few weeks, Brandt sails home. The trip couldn't have gone better. But there's a long way to go for any native nation. Choosing sides in this white man's war is laden with risk. Back in America, the Pennsylvania State House is filling up. In a high ceilinged room, delegates from the thirteen colonies squeeze into wooden benches for another day of debate in Congress. Thomas Jefferson is here. John Adams, too, and so is Benjamin Franklin. Having spent most of the last two decades in London, the great sage is back in America. For the last several months, he's been a familiar face in Congress. Now 70, he's not quite the force of nature he once was. But the value of his presence can't be underestimated.
- [38:38]
Peter Castor
Franklin's greatest importance was to give the revolution a moral and intellectual weight that others couldn't bring. And that was of part partly because in 1775 and 1776, he was one of the most respected men in the British colonies. And if Franklin said there was something wrong with what the British government was doing, people could believe that Franklin embodied what a lot of colonists thought was possible in the colonies. He'd been born to very modest means, and he had retired in middle age because he had become so phenomenally wealthy through his own own business success, his own intelligence. So he brought all of that gravitas with him. And he also didn't hold political office, which was really important. He was surrounded by a lot of aspiring politicians, and I think people saw Franklin as having a certain kind of political neutrality which enabled them to support him and to support the movement that he was leading.
- [39:40]
Narrator/Primary Storyteller
In the first week of June, Congress reaches a crossroads. A resolution is put up for vote. It contends that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states. Before a vote is taken, a committee is established. Its job is to prepare a Declaration of Independence. Should Congress decide, that's the way to go. Jefferson, Franklin, and John Adams are named among its five members. Adams is convinced that Jefferson should be the one to draft the Declaration, in part because Jefferson's a Virginian. The New Englanders are always mindful of keeping the wealthy, influential Southerners front and center. But maybe there's something else, too. From their first meeting at Congress a few months back, Adams has been beguiled by Jefferson. The intense Bostonian and the languid Virginian are vastly different people, but they're clearly drawn to each other.
- [40:48]
Jane Kaminsky
When Adams and Jefferson meet, they form an incredible and enduring and vexing and fractious friendship from the very Beginning. And what Adams says early on about Jefferson, what he notices is his silence. You know, Jefferson is stately and silent. He hangs back. He's youthful, but not intemperate. He's overly temperate. And Adams is always just bleeding all over the floor. And he's struck by this Virginian who knows the value of hanging back. I think he's impressed by him. I think he's slightly envious. So I think he does see something distinct, distinctive in Jefferson. But that's not the sole reason why he delegates that authority to him. It's the importance of Virginia and the fact that Jefferson is the man standing at that moment
- [41:38]
Narrator/Primary Storyteller
on the second floor of his Philadelphia townhouse, Jefferson hunkers down to work. It's King George, not Parliament, whom Jefferson casts as the enemy. The king is accused of numerous offenses, including responsibility for allowing slavery to take root in the colonies. Jefferson's colleagues will edit that bit out. Congress is packed with slave owners. It's a hornet's nest they don't want to disturb. Jefferson's epic divorce decree has an unforgettable preamble. Soaring aspirational rhetoric about unalienable rights, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The document is written to be read aloud. There's every chance that Jefferson utters those words as he's writing them. If so, they might well have been heard by the only other person present, Robert Hemmings.
- [42:43]
Jane Kaminsky
He would have gotten the paper and the makings of the ink, maybe mixed the ink. He would have helped to keep the rooms clean. There's no portrait, there's no silhouette, there's no physical description. And yet his humanity was in that room, as was the system of enslavement. Certainly you could picture a scene of Jefferson pacing and turning over ideas in his head with Hemings invisible to history. But not to Jefferson there in the immediate background. So that even as he's drafting the most soaring statement of human equality, the most famous sentence in American history, one of the most famous sentences in the history of the west, he's doing so with a person in bondage at elbow's distance away.
- [43:37]
Narrator/Primary Storyteller
To the Hemings family descendants, Robert's absence from the historical record is a source of sorrow and frustration.
- [43:45]
Julius Jefferson
I would love to have been a fly on the wall just to hear what Robert may have been saying to himself about being in those very crucial moments of the founding of our country. Certainly I believe that my ancestors, who were this close to an individual who was inextricably linked to the founding of the country, I certainly believe that they took in the same ideas, they had the same thoughts. And I believe that Robert, being that close in these crucial moments, probably had ideas that could have really made this country even greater than what they thought they were making at the time. But we'll never know because Robert was never allowed to share his ideas, his thoughts. Our ancestors were enslaved. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness didn't exist.
- [44:41]
Narrator/Primary Storyteller
On July 2nd, John Adams is giddy with excitement. Today, Congress takes its vote on the resolution for independence. It passes resoundingly. Of the 13 colonies, 12 vote in favor. New York abstains, but will express its support just a few days later. There is no single new American nation. Instead, independence means a confederation of 13 republics bound together by a common cause. Adams is exultant. Not only have the colonies done something immense, they've done it by reasoned debate and completely by the book. The dry rectitude of it all makes a man like John Adams weak at the knees. Now he's the one writing impassioned letters to Abigail. He predicts that July 2nd will go down as the greatest day in American history. History. It will be celebrated, he writes, with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other from this time Forward close, only two days out. It is, of course, July 4th that becomes independence Day, the day when the Declaration is formally recognized by Congress. As such, Thomas Jefferson's name is eternally linked to the nation's birthday, a fact that John Adams will never get over.
- [46:27]
Historian/Expert Commentator
John Adams was a very able man. He's especially good at working in political bodies, in committees. He had made himself in the Continental Congress of early 1776, the essential man, the kind of guy who can take on a heavy workload and solve problems. And he is one of the prime movers to get Congress to vote on July 2 for independence. Adams just thought, declaration, yeah, it's nice, but July 2nd, and that has my fingerprints all over it, so people will remember me. Whereas this guy Jefferson was a younger politician and not very good at the business within Congress, not really interested in, want to go home to Virginia. So it also speaks to John Adams vanity and his prickliness that he wants credit. He wants more credit than people are willing to give to him, and they know this. So they just basically give him even less credit than he deserves. And that makes him madder. So that's kind of the story of John Adams political career.
- [47:37]
Narrator/Primary Storyteller
What's not up for debate is the impact of the Declaration of Independence on the people of the thirteen colonies. What began as a grievance with the faceless body of Parliament has been personalized. King George III now embodies tyranny. Americans now begin to call themselves American. Some, however, identify purely with their colony, all of which now, of course, are independent states. Those opposed to independence embrace the term Loyalist, but it's also used against them as a term of abuse by the patriots of the new United States of America. And all of this happens because the Declaration asks a direct question. Are you with us or against us?
- [48:31]
Historian/Expert Commentator
The Declaration of Independence creates an immediate sensation. It is, yes, galvanized for people who are prepared to be Patriots and to fight on. It's the King now. As well as proposals to create an independent country that is a confederation of republics. They now have a cause that's a lot more inspirational than they had before. But it's also polarizing because there are a fair number of Americans that were kind of wishy washy patriots who wanted to resist Parliament, but they think things have gotten out of hand. When you turn on the cake, I'm not on board with that. So it actually also increases the number of Loyalists. So the people who were in the middle, people who were trying to be neutral or were wavering or were soft in support on one side or the other, they're forced to take a harder stand in one camp or the other, was both galvanizing and polarizing.
- [49:35]
Narrator/Primary Storyteller
On the evening of July 9, a brigade of soldiers, soldiers in New York, gathers in the open air. They listen intently as the Declaration is read aloud. It's the kind of scene that takes place all over the colonies this summer. The men are energized by the rhetoric of freedom. Some make their way to the southern tip of Manhattan. They topple the statue of King George, the very act that began our series. George Washington is horrified by the wanton destruction yet again. He's offended by the crudeness of his rank and file. Washington has been in New York for three months. The city is different from Boston in many ways, not least because it's awash with Loyalists. But knowing exactly who they are and what they might be up to is difficult for Washington to discern. Mob justice rains down on suspected Loyalists. Some are tarred and feathered and paraded around town. As it turns out, there are enemies right under Washington's nose. A member of his personal guard is identified as being part of a plot to kidnap the general. He's hanged in front of a crowd of 20,000 people, a direct message to anyone thinking of betraying the Continental Army. The very next day, British ships are spotted sailing towards New York. The city falls into panic. An enormous fleet is on its way. Once again, the redcoats are coming. On July 12, 1776, a bracing wind blows through New York City. At the picturesque mansion that serves as his headquarters, George Washington prepares for the day ahead. From here, at the southern end of Manhattan, it would be difficult to tell that the city is at war. Situated amidst 26 acres of farmland with an uncluttered view over the Hudson river, it's a bucolic setting. But the air of serenity is misleading. For the last two weeks, New York has been fraught. British ships crowd the horizon and thousands of soldiers are clustered on Staten Island. Soon there will be more than 30,000 of them. Washington waits for the British to make their move. When they do, it'll be a test of New York's defenses and of Washington's mettle. Although he's been Commander in Chief for more than a year, he's still yet to engage in battle. Despite the anticipation, the British attack comes like a flash flood. In the bright light of the afternoon, five British ships make a sudden dart northwards up the Hudson river, right past Washington's windows. American guns fire from both banks. It seems they barely scratch the paintwork. Instead, the Royal Navy unleashes rounds after round of deafening bombardment. Watching from the shore, Washington is gravely alarmed. Not just by the power of British weaponry, but by the effect they have on his people. The sound of children shrieking rings in his ears. As for the soldiers, many of them seem literally petrified, frozen solid. Unable to fight back. For two traumatizing hours, the British zoom across the water. These ships aren't just vast, they're quick. Washington can't lay a glove on them. Eventually, as the afternoon grows old, the ships glide away. That evening, as New York smolders, another vast ship joins the armada. Across the bay, cheers rise up from the thousands of British soldiers around Staten Island. Washington knows exactly what this means. Aboard the new ship is Admiral Howe, the commander of the Royal Navy. A new phase of war is underway in a city surrounded by water. Washington and his under resourced, inexperienced band now face a huge army of battle ready soldiers and the world's most fearsome navy. The American dream of independence might be over before it's even begun. Next time on Founding Fathers, An American Dream. The British push forwards all guns blazing, causing enormous damage to American forces. Just when it seems Washington's army is on the brink of annihilation, a miraculous change in the weather allows for an audacious escape. Down. But not out, the Continental army finds ways to punch back On Christmas Day, a brave crossing of the freezing Delaware river shows Patriot soldiers are tougher than the enemy thinks. And meanwhile, Benjamin Franklin arrives in Paris on a diplomatic mission that could change everything. That's next time. You can listen to the next two episodes of Founding Fathers right now, without waiting and without ads by joining Noizr plus. Click the banner at the top of the feed or head to noiser.com subscriptions to find out more.