Transcripts For CSPAN3 Ideals Of The Founding Fathers 201704

Because i said to david, is she coming to the lecture . And he said, i cant go anywhere without adult supervision. [laughter] rosalie is awesome, she is to david what Abigail Adams was to john adams. She is the fabulous [applause] she is the fabulous, indispensable life partner. She is not only beautiful inside and out, but she told me last night when she met David Mccullough she was only 17, and the first time they went to a coming out party together, they danced until 7 00 in the morning. Els said when she took her he off to sleep, she had to put them back on because her feet were bent in that shape. They care deeply about each other, and each others wellbeing, and they take advice from each other. She told me she often reads davids books to him because he would like to see where he could be boring. When you google David Mccullough , you will be blown away by the richness of his lifes productivity. I wont give you a list of everything, but all of you , google it. He has had the most extraordinary number of prizes, honors, and honorary degrees during his lifetime. He has received not one, but two of the coveted pulitzer prizes. But let me tell you a little bit about david. Now he has achieved success in every aspect of his life. He is not only a great historian, writer, and lecturer, he is a great husband and father, and grandfather. He is a great man and a good man. And you know, i think goodness counts in life. [applause] last week, we had a dear friend visiting us, who is blind. Gordon said to stanley and me that i listen to books on tape and rely on them. He said, i would rather listen to David Mccullough reading than anyone else. When i listen to the Wright Brothers, i thought no reader is as good as David Mccullough. Voice and ilifluous practiced that word. [laughter] regent at mount vernon, in we opened the 2006, exceptional orientation center, education center, and museum. There was only one man i wanted to deliver the keynote speech, and that was David Mccullough. I was beyond thrilled when he accepted, as was everyone at mount vernon. He delivered a memorable speech and it meant the world to me, and we were launched. That night at the ball, i watched david and rosalie dance, and i will tell you fred astaire and ginger rogers, move over. [laughter] dinner at hosted a mount vernon. Many american patriots were there. David and rosalie were there, and david stood up and said, ladies and gentlemen, this is hallowed ground. Just think of where we are sitting, and that we see a view across the potomac to maryland, and there are no highrises, no buildings, and no lights thanks to the Mount Vernons Ladies Association who have protected the view. It looks almost exactly as it looked in the 18th century. And then he said, this is where George Washington and martha entertained, hamilton, lafayette, adams, madison. He said we are sitting in the same place, and everybody stood up to toast. All of us were misty eyed and had goosebumps. I once asked david, is it true you do all of your typing on a typewriter, he said, absolutely. I write on a 1940 Royal Standard that i bought secondhand in 1965. I asked him why he never changed to a computer. Gay, i understand my typewriter and i dont understand computers. And also with a twinkle in his eye, he said i like to hear the ping at the end of a sentence. Rosalie told me wherever he goes, that typewriter is with him. And all he has ever had do is change the ribbon a few times. She also told me hes a great watercolorist. I did not know that. He is a painter. A painterld me she is too. , she said he will have an exhibit someday soon. After reading john adams, which david wrote at marthas vineyard, i said how do get your mind into the 18th century. He said i go out the back door after breakfast, leaving behind the 21st century. And i go to a small gate and a stone and i am in the 20th century. And then i walk through another gate in a stone fence, and i get to my cabin. From the 19th century, i open the door, and im in the 18th century. Every single book in the room is either an 18thcentury copy or about the 18th century. He said nobody is ever allowed to interrupt me ever except the people who are not as tall as the gate. He said they are not really coming to see me, they are coming to see that old typewriter. Excuse me. I always go home for lunch, he said, and then back to work. He said, but i am not ever working on a book, i am working inside the subject. The good news is that means they are still being read, and that is his books. When i asked him, what is your greatest accomplishment, he said, i dont know, but i am proud of the fact that all of my books are still in print. So all of his books are still being read. On april 18 this year, davids newest book, the american spirit will be coming out. , it is a collection of speeches and talks of the past 25 years. All of us in this audience are going to love it. It includes his talk at the 200 th celebration of congress, and th celebration of the white house. It also includes, he said, the hardest speech he ever had to give in his life, which was at the Memorial Service for our assassinated president , john kennedy, in dallas in pouring rain and cold. He said the United States Naval Academy course was singing battle hymn of the republic and everybody was sobbing, but that speech will be in the book. And also, a speech he did at lafayette college. Stanley and i went to hear that, i think it was 2007, it was all about the ties that bind about lafayette and frances relationship with the United States. It is a fabulous speech. Stanley and i were having lunch with david and rosalie in 2016 when i told him about my dream of having this series. He said, gay, thats a wonderful idea. His reaction was positive. He said go for it. He gave me lots of advice. But i had an idea and knew the speakers. And i had the most amazing positive support from chairman patrick henry, president david brenneman, and head of the education i think her title is president of education. We are here. Thank you all for coming. Give david a warm palm beach welcome. [applause] thank you. Thank you very much. Good morning and thank you very much. Thank you, dear, for all that you said and all that you have done for your country. Particularly, what you did for your country and the work you did year after year at mount vernon. There are very few sites in the world that hearken as much of what is important in our story as the people of mount vernon. I think she is also a perfect example of someone who understands that the only way to get something of consequence accomplished is to work together. Very little is ever accomplished unless it is a joint effort. Thank you very much. [applause] i also appreciate your reference to my mellifluous voice. You never know where problems can come from in life. One of them happened to me in boston two or three years ago when we had that horrific blizzard that followed another. We had a cumulative snowfall of nine feet. It was a disaster. Subways were not running. You could not use your card. You would try to get to the market to get provisions to survive the next last of snow. Rosalie and i made up a list. I went to the nearest supermarket to get everything on the list. I was doing fine. The whole place was a madhouse. It was like the russians were on the horizon or something. I had everything on the list except the cashews. You cannot survive without cashews. This fellow going by, i said excuse me could you tell me where i might find the cashews . He said follow me. We went around a few turns and he pointed it out. He went his way. 10 minutes later i was checking out at the cash register. He came up to me and said excuse me, that voice. You by any chance the narrator of the series on the civil war . I said yes, i was. He said i want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. When that series first came on the air, i was suffering terribly from insomnia. [laughter] he said i would hear you talk and go right out. [laughter] it is also a very great privilege for me to take a part in this series with so many other distinguished historians and friends. It is really a lineup. I wish i have been able to attend their lectures. I admire each and everyone, and i know each and everyone has fulfilled a void that needs filling in our understanding of our history and our story. I want to thank her and others for what they have said about rosalie. Rosalie and i have been married for 63 years. We have 19 grandchildren, five children. She is mission control. She is secretary of the treasury. She is chair of the ethics committee. She is the star i steer by. Lots of the great has said this. It is very helpful for anyone who wants to write something that has any value. To get someone to read it aloud to you because you hear things that you not necessarily see. You hear certain words being repeated more often than necessary. You hear certain sentence structure that gets tiresome. Most important you hear when you become boring. You want to cut back or trim it back. She has often read chapters three or four times over 50 years now. With my first book, the johnstown flood. She was reading the next last chapter of mornings on horseback. She suddenly stopped and said something is wrong that sentence. I said read it again. She read it again. I said nothing is wrong with that sentence. She said yes there is. This is not one of my better moments. I read it aloud. She said something is wrong. I said go on. The chapter was finished. The book was finished. We sent it to the publisher. It came out. It was reviewed, and it got a very nice review. Toward the end of the review, he said sometimes he does not write so well. Listen to this sentence. Rosalie, where are you, sweetheart . Stand up. [applause] i feel very strongly that education is one of the most important aspects of life. Not just in preparation to take part in life, but to appreciate and enjoy life. Education is one of the foundations of greatest importance to our old american way of life. One of the reasons the revolutionary hero, the war, will spirit of the revolution are so important, remain so important is because of the emphasis in that time, by those the civic people, on the importance of education. Jefferson said it perfectly. He said any nation that expects to the ignorant and free, expects what never was and what never will be. All of them, each and every one of them either was an example of the importance of education because he or she had education or because they did it themselves. George washington being a prime example. Abigail adams being another prime example of self educated people. John adams was in many ways, in his childhood and youth, living under the same circumstances as abraham lincoln. He grew up on a farm where they had no money come his mother was illiterate, his father could sign his name, maybe could read. They worked hard every day from childhood on. Because he got a scholarship to this Little College in cambridge called harvard, and as he said discovered books and read forever, he became the john adams who helped change the world. No question about it. When he was 80 years old, he was embarking on a 16 boeing history of france and french, which he had taught himself. He was on his way to become the representative in paris, and trying to get the french to help us win the revolutionary war. Knowing no french, he decided to teach himself. He taught himself on the way over on the ship. John adams read everything. He never went anywhere without a book. One of his most memorable lines to his son, john quincy, was you will never be alone with a poet in your pocket. He would carry a small volume of poetry in his pocket. The emphasis on education also included libraries. One of the most emblematic, Historic Sites in america in this respect is Carpenters Hall in philadelphia. Most people when they go to philadelphia walk right by Carpenters Hall, right next door to independence hall. It is an exquisite little building. Upstairs in that building was a library created by benjamin franklin. In many ways, it was a Public Library. Great trees from acorns grow. That is one of the lessons from our story. The whole population of our in 1776 was 2,500,000 people. 500,000 of those people were in slavery. We had no money. When we went to war, we had no money, no army, navy. We had no officers with extensive experience in the military. Only about one third of the country were for the revolution. We forget that. Many were against that. Others were waiting to see who won. Yet they persisted. I do not think we can know enough about the founders. We have to see them as human being. History is human. Human is the operative word. History is not about dates and memorizing quotations, it is about people. It is about human beings, and they are different from each other. They all have their thoughts, their feelings. None of them ever knew how it would turn out any more than we do. They talked about foresight. That is how history should be taught. I am not one who favors the view from the mountaintop, the wisest are the people who said they should have done this or that. Put yourself in their places and then try to judge what they did or did not do. I first started to write a dual biography of jefferson and adams. I thought this is an amazing story. It is in our class configuration, if youre thinking about structure. These two very different men, from very different parts of the country, totally different backgrounds, come together in philadelphia, help create with others this miraculous achievement, the declaration of independence, and then when the story begins to develop beyond that, they go in this direction to the point where they become enemies. At the very end, the makeup, they are out of power and become friends again. It is a wonderful story. Think about how it ends. If i were going to do a novel about adams and jefferson and said guess what, they are going to die on the same day and it will be the fourth of july. Of course not, that cannot happen in real life. Yet, that is exactly what happened in real life. I began reading about john adams. I knew very little. My first visit to a Historic Site was when i was 15 to charlottesville, to monticello. I came back thrilled to have seen that. There is nothing like taking your children or your grandchildren to a Historic Site to light the fire of interest in our story of the nation as a people. It works. Does not have to be monticello or gettysburg. It could be all sorts of things. Pardon me . Mount vernon. Monticello is the first place i went, the first i ever visited. When i went to monticello, things changed. When i started to read about adams, i thought what an amazing story. When i began to get inside of jeffersons life, there were roadblocks everywhere. You cannot get very far in the personal life. Jefferson destroyed every letter his wife ever wrote to him. He destroyed every letter he wrote to her. He would write friends of theirs, who might have received a letter from his wife, saying if you have any letters from my wife, i would love to have them. Then he would destroy them. Why he did that, we will never know. We dont even know what she looks like. The contrast with abigail items is phenomenal. The more i read about her, the more i am impressed. You cannot understand him without understanding her. An example of the first seven president of the United States, john adams was the only one who never owned a slave. Out of principle, not because he cannot afford one. Abigails feelings were even more strongly voiced than his. The next president to not own a slave was john quincy adams, his son. Talk about influence. Talk about setting an example. Talk about not being inconsistent. This was of the utmost importance. Among many of the new englanders who fought in the revolutionary war, who did not believe in slavery, who were strongly against slavery i am working on a book now on the settlement of the northwest territory, the territory ceded by britain after the revolution. Again, john adams succeeded in getting britain to cede all this territory northwest of the ohio river. A wilderness empire as large as the 13 colonies, as large as all of france. There was no settlement there. This revolutionary war era for that bill through the northwest ordinance, through the congress before we even had a constant tension stop because of their feelings on slavery, they convinced the congress, before we had a constitution, that there would be no slavery in the northwest territory. Immensely important and influential. It meant that only had to do if youre black, was to cross the ohio river and you are free. The underground railroad came into existence. That ideal was perpetrated and made effective by a group of people, who are convinced that this had to be done. And they would not give up. If there is a lesson to be learned from the revolutionary war times, it is that they would not give up. They persevered. They were willing to accept the failures or flaws in others with whom they were working in order to accomplish this noble achievement. They did. They succeeded. The empirical method of approaching problems is a very strong american characteristic. You figure out what is going wrong, why you are not come youre not accomplishing something and then you correct that and keep going until you do it. This is very different from the method were taught where there is a specific way things are supposed to be handled and you do that until things are done. A vivid example of why our system has worked in others do not is the building of the pana mocon now. Canal. Ding of the panama the french engineers were the greatest engineers in the world at the time. You had to do everything a certain way. Our engineers came along where the french failed because they failed to see what the real problem was and failed to correct it. Many of our people had never been to engineering schools. They worked on railroads in bridges. They saw that if something is not working, you make an adjustment and try again. That is what was happening in the revolutionary war with our people. Period after the war is too little understood. We had one of the worst depressions in the history of the country. Soldiers were being paid in worthless script. The government had no money. It had the land. Among the other things beyond there will be no slavery, there will be public support for public education. Hence, the state universities. We should never take this for granted. We think about our Abigail Adams<\/a> was to john adams. She is the fabulous [applause] she is the fabulous, indispensable life partner. She is not only beautiful inside and out, but she told me last night when she met David Mccullough<\/a> she was only 17, and the first time they went to a coming out party together, they danced until 7 00 in the morning. Els said when she took her he off to sleep, she had to put them back on because her feet were bent in that shape. They care deeply about each other, and each others wellbeing, and they take advice from each other. She told me she often reads davids books to him because he would like to see where he could be boring. When you google David Mccullough<\/a> , you will be blown away by the richness of his lifes productivity. I wont give you a list of everything, but all of you , google it. He has had the most extraordinary number of prizes, honors, and honorary degrees during his lifetime. He has received not one, but two of the coveted pulitzer prizes. But let me tell you a little bit about david. Now he has achieved success in every aspect of his life. He is not only a great historian, writer, and lecturer, he is a great husband and father, and grandfather. He is a great man and a good man. And you know, i think goodness counts in life. [applause] last week, we had a dear friend visiting us, who is blind. Gordon said to stanley and me that i listen to books on tape and rely on them. He said, i would rather listen to David Mccullough<\/a> reading than anyone else. When i listen to the Wright Brothers<\/a>, i thought no reader is as good as David Mccullough<\/a>. Voice and ilifluous practiced that word. [laughter] regent at mount vernon, in we opened the 2006, exceptional orientation center, education center, and museum. There was only one man i wanted to deliver the keynote speech, and that was David Mccullough<\/a>. I was beyond thrilled when he accepted, as was everyone at mount vernon. He delivered a memorable speech and it meant the world to me, and we were launched. That night at the ball, i watched david and rosalie dance, and i will tell you fred astaire and ginger rogers, move over. [laughter] dinner at hosted a mount vernon. Many american patriots were there. David and rosalie were there, and david stood up and said, ladies and gentlemen, this is hallowed ground. Just think of where we are sitting, and that we see a view across the potomac to maryland, and there are no highrises, no buildings, and no lights thanks to the Mount Vernons<\/a> Ladies Association<\/a> who have protected the view. It looks almost exactly as it looked in the 18th century. And then he said, this is where George Washington<\/a> and martha entertained, hamilton, lafayette, adams, madison. He said we are sitting in the same place, and everybody stood up to toast. All of us were misty eyed and had goosebumps. I once asked david, is it true you do all of your typing on a typewriter, he said, absolutely. I write on a 1940 Royal Standard<\/a> that i bought secondhand in 1965. I asked him why he never changed to a computer. Gay, i understand my typewriter and i dont understand computers. And also with a twinkle in his eye, he said i like to hear the ping at the end of a sentence. Rosalie told me wherever he goes, that typewriter is with him. And all he has ever had do is change the ribbon a few times. She also told me hes a great watercolorist. I did not know that. He is a painter. A painterld me she is too. , she said he will have an exhibit someday soon. After reading john adams, which david wrote at marthas vineyard, i said how do get your mind into the 18th century. He said i go out the back door after breakfast, leaving behind the 21st century. And i go to a small gate and a stone and i am in the 20th century. And then i walk through another gate in a stone fence, and i get to my cabin. From the 19th century, i open the door, and im in the 18th century. Every single book in the room is either an 18thcentury copy or about the 18th century. He said nobody is ever allowed to interrupt me ever except the people who are not as tall as the gate. He said they are not really coming to see me, they are coming to see that old typewriter. Excuse me. I always go home for lunch, he said, and then back to work. He said, but i am not ever working on a book, i am working inside the subject. The good news is that means they are still being read, and that is his books. When i asked him, what is your greatest accomplishment, he said, i dont know, but i am proud of the fact that all of my books are still in print. So all of his books are still being read. On april 18 this year, davids newest book, the american spirit will be coming out. , it is a collection of speeches and talks of the past 25 years. All of us in this audience are going to love it. It includes his talk at the 200 th celebration of congress, and th celebration of the white house. It also includes, he said, the hardest speech he ever had to give in his life, which was at the Memorial Service<\/a> for our assassinated president , john kennedy, in dallas in pouring rain and cold. He said the United States<\/a> Naval Academy<\/a> course was singing battle hymn of the republic and everybody was sobbing, but that speech will be in the book. And also, a speech he did at lafayette college. Stanley and i went to hear that, i think it was 2007, it was all about the ties that bind about lafayette and frances relationship with the United States<\/a>. It is a fabulous speech. Stanley and i were having lunch with david and rosalie in 2016 when i told him about my dream of having this series. He said, gay, thats a wonderful idea. His reaction was positive. He said go for it. He gave me lots of advice. But i had an idea and knew the speakers. And i had the most amazing positive support from chairman patrick henry, president david brenneman, and head of the education i think her title is president of education. We are here. Thank you all for coming. Give david a warm palm beach welcome. [applause] thank you. Thank you very much. Good morning and thank you very much. Thank you, dear, for all that you said and all that you have done for your country. Particularly, what you did for your country and the work you did year after year at mount vernon. There are very few sites in the world that hearken as much of what is important in our story as the people of mount vernon. I think she is also a perfect example of someone who understands that the only way to get something of consequence accomplished is to work together. Very little is ever accomplished unless it is a joint effort. Thank you very much. [applause] i also appreciate your reference to my mellifluous voice. You never know where problems can come from in life. One of them happened to me in boston two or three years ago when we had that horrific blizzard that followed another. We had a cumulative snowfall of nine feet. It was a disaster. Subways were not running. You could not use your card. You would try to get to the market to get provisions to survive the next last of snow. Rosalie and i made up a list. I went to the nearest supermarket to get everything on the list. I was doing fine. The whole place was a madhouse. It was like the russians were on the horizon or something. I had everything on the list except the cashews. You cannot survive without cashews. This fellow going by, i said excuse me could you tell me where i might find the cashews . He said follow me. We went around a few turns and he pointed it out. He went his way. 10 minutes later i was checking out at the cash register. He came up to me and said excuse me, that voice. You by any chance the narrator of the series on the civil war . I said yes, i was. He said i want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. When that series first came on the air, i was suffering terribly from insomnia. [laughter] he said i would hear you talk and go right out. [laughter] it is also a very great privilege for me to take a part in this series with so many other distinguished historians and friends. It is really a lineup. I wish i have been able to attend their lectures. I admire each and everyone, and i know each and everyone has fulfilled a void that needs filling in our understanding of our history and our story. I want to thank her and others for what they have said about rosalie. Rosalie and i have been married for 63 years. We have 19 grandchildren, five children. She is mission control. She is secretary of the treasury. She is chair of the ethics committee. She is the star i steer by. Lots of the great has said this. It is very helpful for anyone who wants to write something that has any value. To get someone to read it aloud to you because you hear things that you not necessarily see. You hear certain words being repeated more often than necessary. You hear certain sentence structure that gets tiresome. Most important you hear when you become boring. You want to cut back or trim it back. She has often read chapters three or four times over 50 years now. With my first book, the johnstown flood. She was reading the next last chapter of mornings on horseback. She suddenly stopped and said something is wrong that sentence. I said read it again. She read it again. I said nothing is wrong with that sentence. She said yes there is. This is not one of my better moments. I read it aloud. She said something is wrong. I said go on. The chapter was finished. The book was finished. We sent it to the publisher. It came out. It was reviewed, and it got a very nice review. Toward the end of the review, he said sometimes he does not write so well. Listen to this sentence. Rosalie, where are you, sweetheart . Stand up. [applause] i feel very strongly that education is one of the most important aspects of life. Not just in preparation to take part in life, but to appreciate and enjoy life. Education is one of the foundations of greatest importance to our old american way of life. One of the reasons the revolutionary hero, the war, will spirit of the revolution are so important, remain so important is because of the emphasis in that time, by those the civic people, on the importance of education. Jefferson said it perfectly. He said any nation that expects to the ignorant and free, expects what never was and what never will be. All of them, each and every one of them either was an example of the importance of education because he or she had education or because they did it themselves. George washington being a prime example. Abigail adams being another prime example of self educated people. John adams was in many ways, in his childhood and youth, living under the same circumstances as abraham lincoln. He grew up on a farm where they had no money come his mother was illiterate, his father could sign his name, maybe could read. They worked hard every day from childhood on. Because he got a scholarship to this Little College<\/a> in cambridge called harvard, and as he said discovered books and read forever, he became the john adams who helped change the world. No question about it. When he was 80 years old, he was embarking on a 16 boeing history of france and french, which he had taught himself. He was on his way to become the representative in paris, and trying to get the french to help us win the revolutionary war. Knowing no french, he decided to teach himself. He taught himself on the way over on the ship. John adams read everything. He never went anywhere without a book. One of his most memorable lines to his son, john quincy, was you will never be alone with a poet in your pocket. He would carry a small volume of poetry in his pocket. The emphasis on education also included libraries. One of the most emblematic, Historic Sites<\/a> in america in this respect is Carpenters Hall<\/a> in philadelphia. Most people when they go to philadelphia walk right by Carpenters Hall<\/a>, right next door to independence hall. It is an exquisite little building. Upstairs in that building was a library created by benjamin franklin. In many ways, it was a Public Library<\/a>. Great trees from acorns grow. That is one of the lessons from our story. The whole population of our in 1776 was 2,500,000 people. 500,000 of those people were in slavery. We had no money. When we went to war, we had no money, no army, navy. We had no officers with extensive experience in the military. Only about one third of the country were for the revolution. We forget that. Many were against that. Others were waiting to see who won. Yet they persisted. I do not think we can know enough about the founders. We have to see them as human being. History is human. Human is the operative word. History is not about dates and memorizing quotations, it is about people. It is about human beings, and they are different from each other. They all have their thoughts, their feelings. None of them ever knew how it would turn out any more than we do. They talked about foresight. That is how history should be taught. I am not one who favors the view from the mountaintop, the wisest are the people who said they should have done this or that. Put yourself in their places and then try to judge what they did or did not do. I first started to write a dual biography of jefferson and adams. I thought this is an amazing story. It is in our class configuration, if youre thinking about structure. These two very different men, from very different parts of the country, totally different backgrounds, come together in philadelphia, help create with others this miraculous achievement, the declaration of independence, and then when the story begins to develop beyond that, they go in this direction to the point where they become enemies. At the very end, the makeup, they are out of power and become friends again. It is a wonderful story. Think about how it ends. If i were going to do a novel about adams and jefferson and said guess what, they are going to die on the same day and it will be the fourth of july. Of course not, that cannot happen in real life. Yet, that is exactly what happened in real life. I began reading about john adams. I knew very little. My first visit to a Historic Site<\/a> was when i was 15 to charlottesville, to monticello. I came back thrilled to have seen that. There is nothing like taking your children or your grandchildren to a Historic Site<\/a> to light the fire of interest in our story of the nation as a people. It works. Does not have to be monticello or gettysburg. It could be all sorts of things. Pardon me . Mount vernon. Monticello is the first place i went, the first i ever visited. When i went to monticello, things changed. When i started to read about adams, i thought what an amazing story. When i began to get inside of jeffersons life, there were roadblocks everywhere. You cannot get very far in the personal life. Jefferson destroyed every letter his wife ever wrote to him. He destroyed every letter he wrote to her. He would write friends of theirs, who might have received a letter from his wife, saying if you have any letters from my wife, i would love to have them. Then he would destroy them. Why he did that, we will never know. We dont even know what she looks like. The contrast with abigail items is phenomenal. The more i read about her, the more i am impressed. You cannot understand him without understanding her. An example of the first seven president of the United States<\/a>, john adams was the only one who never owned a slave. Out of principle, not because he cannot afford one. Abigails feelings were even more strongly voiced than his. The next president to not own a slave was john quincy adams, his son. Talk about influence. Talk about setting an example. Talk about not being inconsistent. This was of the utmost importance. Among many of the new englanders who fought in the revolutionary war, who did not believe in slavery, who were strongly against slavery i am working on a book now on the settlement of the northwest territory, the territory ceded by britain after the revolution. Again, john adams succeeded in getting britain to cede all this territory northwest of the ohio river. A wilderness empire as large as the 13 colonies, as large as all of france. There was no settlement there. This revolutionary war era for that bill through the northwest ordinance, through the congress before we even had a constant tension stop because of their feelings on slavery, they convinced the congress, before we had a constitution, that there would be no slavery in the northwest territory. Immensely important and influential. It meant that only had to do if youre black, was to cross the ohio river and you are free. The underground railroad came into existence. That ideal was perpetrated and made effective by a group of people, who are convinced that this had to be done. And they would not give up. If there is a lesson to be learned from the revolutionary war times, it is that they would not give up. They persevered. They were willing to accept the failures or flaws in others with whom they were working in order to accomplish this noble achievement. They did. They succeeded. The empirical method of approaching problems is a very strong american characteristic. You figure out what is going wrong, why you are not come youre not accomplishing something and then you correct that and keep going until you do it. This is very different from the method were taught where there is a specific way things are supposed to be handled and you do that until things are done. A vivid example of why our system has worked in others do not is the building of the pana mocon now. Canal. Ding of the panama the french engineers were the greatest engineers in the world at the time. You had to do everything a certain way. Our engineers came along where the french failed because they failed to see what the real problem was and failed to correct it. Many of our people had never been to engineering schools. They worked on railroads in bridges. They saw that if something is not working, you make an adjustment and try again. That is what was happening in the revolutionary war with our people. Period after the war is too little understood. We had one of the worst depressions in the history of the country. Soldiers were being paid in worthless script. The government had no money. It had the land. Among the other things beyond there will be no slavery, there will be public support for public education. Hence, the state universities. We should never take this for granted. We think about our Public Library<\/a> system, no other country has anything like it. Imagine, you can go into any Public Library<\/a> in this country in theory or in fact and get a complete education for free. You do not have to pay anything. When you think of the importance of books in the development of minds, we should not just read what they wrote, but what they read. What they read had a huge impact. When of my favorite examples of all, i was reading one of john adams letters to abigail. Things were looking very dark. There was not a chance we were going to succeed. He said we may not need in this struggle. We may not achieve success in this struggle, but we can deserve it. I thought, well we do not think that way anymore. What a man. What a mind. Months later, i was reading some letters George Washington<\/a> root and there was the same line. We may not achieve success, but we can deserve it. I thought, they are quoting somebody. The 18th century, you did not use quotation marks. It was very hard to know. I got down bartletts familiar quotations. I went through and there it was. It is a line in the play called cato. There are countless other examples of this. We should understand that and appreciate it. It all comes from what they read in these age old indices of character. Character above all, strength of character. George washington was not a brilliant general. There were others who were far more brilliant than he was. He made very serious mistakes. He had that strength of character, and enduring confidence, that sense of forgiving people who made mistakes, and never giving up. George washington was a miracle, a stroke of infinite luck. Luck is a big factor in history, just as it is a big factor in life. Washington never doubted, whatsoever, in the validity of what they were trying to achieve in the government of the people by the people and for the people. He never doubted that want this was achieved, they were going to make sure that we had education of the kind that is essential. I want to go back to adams and go through a list i typed up to make sure that i did not leave out anything. I am now at the stage where i am looking back on my work in a way i did not before. I tried to see if there was any pattern to what i am doing. Down the year, when i was being asked by friends if i was working on a new book, i would say yes, i am will stop if they were some of my academic friends, they would say what is my theme. I would make something up. I had no idea what my theme was. I knew what i was writing about, but what my theme was . That would come to me eventually. I was often asked how much of my time i spend doing research, and how much time i spend writing. Nobody has ever asked me how much of my time i spend thinking. That just happens to be a big part of it. Thinking. One of my most revealing lines in adams diaries, he will simply write at home thinking. Imagine if we had people like that in public today. [applause] it may be said of john adams that he was the one above all who made the declaration of independence happened when it happened. That he put George Washington<\/a>s name in nomination as commander in chief of the continental army, that he insisted jefferson be the one to write the declaration of independence. His thoughts on government written in the spring of 1776, he outlined a fundamental checks and balances of the system of our government. With direct influence on what followed was that he wrote and drafted the oldest constitution still in use in the world today, the constitution of the commonwealth of massachusetts. He immediately questioned the lack of the bill of rights and the constitution. He was one of the most vivid and appealing letter writers of his day, i would say of all time. This is what most people have no idea about, that he traveled farther in the service of his country and cause that any of the founding fathers, and at great risk to his own life. He was the one who stood before george the third after independence had been won. With franklin and john jay, who is responsible for the remarkable treaty of paris that ended revolution and established the new country of the United States<\/a> of america. He was one of the very few men who saw that it was going to be a long and costly war. He sought early on that sea power would be crucial in the long run. He bravely kept us out of a war with france, which would have been catastrophic. In no way were we ready to fight a war with france. And yet the idea was very popular. He was one of the best read americans of his time, more widely read even than jefferson. As president , he signed into law the library of congress. He never owned a slave out of out of principle. He was the first president to entertain someone of africanamerican descent as his guest at dinner. He was the first president to be defeated for reelection, the first Vice President<\/a> to secede to the presidency. He was fluent in latin, greek, french, and even a little dutch. He was consistently solvent, hated debt. He never went south of mount vernon, never further north than portland, maine. He was the first president to occupy the white house. The first president to have been a schoolteacher. The first president of massachusetts or new england. He lived longer than any president at that time. He was the first president who lived see his son become president. He was married to Abigail Adams<\/a>. Once he wrote there are over a thousand letters between john and Abigail Adams<\/a>, personal letters. Neither one was capable of writing a dull letter or a short one. It is humbling to hold one of those in your hands. We have to remember that they were living in a different time. They were not like we were. They had to deal with hardships, sufferings, tragedies, heartbreaks of the kind that we do not have to think about. Imagine standing in a hallway upstairs in your home with the door closed on your daughters bedroom. On the other side of that door, your daughter, who is middleaged, is having a mastectomy without anesthetic. And she probably wont survive this operation. We cannot imagine that. Imagining having a tooth pulled without anesthetic. Imagine watching children die of necessarily from disease we do not even think about anymore. The hard work night and day for women in particular. Abigail adams come when john was away in europe, serving the country, she would work all day long. At about 11 00, she would sit down and write these extraordinary letters. Courage, backbone, loyalty, perseverance, all qualities in abundance in numerous people at that time. They did not know any differently. They were not just like we are. We think about transportation and communication as two different subjects. For them, it was one. Correspondence was not only plentiful, it was much slower. Imagine if your husband is in europe, he cannot pick up the phone company cannot you know him. Yet the decide whether to take your children to have inoculation against smallpox, which might kill one or two of them. You had make that decision. My sons to study mathematics, geography, naval architecture, navigation, congress and out the culture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain. Think about that. He said i must do this so that my friends can go beyond politics and war. In the next sentence, he said in order to give their children he designates this will be men and women. Thats a him is the upward climb, that is progress. It all has to do with education. He was right. I was driving down massachusetts avenue one day not very long ago, on my way to an appointment. It was summertime or spring. I hit a tremendous traffic jam at sheraton circle. Ive no idea how many people drive that way in a day, many thousands. I thought to how many people know who that is . Why he is there . I bet almost none. What a shame. I was getting pretty down about it. I was also late and frustrated. At that point, i had the car radio on. And on came gershwins rhapsody in blue. The song lifted me out of my blues and the traffic jam. I thought, who is more important to us now from past days, other times . Bill sheridan, or George Gershwin<\/a> . Not much of a question. The point is, you cannot leave them out. Thats what john adams was telling us way back before we were even a country. So that their children could study painting, poetry, music, architecture, all of the utmost importance. Many times, what last longest, all the way back to the cave paintings. We have to remember that we need to teach history that way. We need to write history that way. We do so in the tradition of the founders. Think of the importance of the painters at that time and what they meant to recording who these people were, what they looked like. The signing of the declaration of independence is almost totally inaccurate. The room did not look like that. The doors are in the wrong place. The furniture is the wrong kind. The emblematic display of flags on the black dashed back wall was never there. What is accurate and of the utmost importance are the faces. Half of them he did by doing live studies in person. He started with jefferson. The fact that the fas are accurate does not just mean that they are identifiable for us, what it means is that the time of the painting they were accountable. If you signed the declaration of independence, you are signing your death warrant. Let us never forget. They all knew it. That is courage of a kind and pride of the kind, and certainty in the validity of the purpose as one could find. When i was working on the Wright Brothers<\/a> a few years ago, i got enormously interested and had tremendous admiration for milton wright, the father of the brothers. He raised those boys to have purpose in life. You have the purpose of making life better, better for the next generation and the generation after that. We have never been a perfect country, yes we have had flaws. We have always risen to the occasion and done what needed to be done in order to correct that. We did not play on fear and hatred, or any of these other cheap methods of gaining followers that so often come and go with different people. The value of history is not just that we know more about how the Government Works<\/a> for the civics of it, which is all extremely important. The value of history is that it enlarges your pleasure in life, your experience in life. You can still meet people who are long gone because they tell than the ever could in person. Nobody in public life would dare to keep a diary because it can be subpoenaed and used against you in court. Nobody writes letters anymore. If you have any interest in immortality, start keeping a diary and writing a lot of letters. When the time comes, give them to the library of congress. You will be quoted forever, because it will be the only one in existence. [laughter] having said all that about john adams, who is one of the most admirable and interesting of all of our president s. Yes, the alien sedition act was a mistake. It was wrong. It did not last very long. It. He knew and he never enforced it. There is no memorial to john adams in our capital. Everyone else has a statute or a building. Not john adams. He did leave a message for us. Thanks to rose that franklin was about, harry truman, that message is still there in the white house, carved into a mantelpiece in the state dining room. On his first night in the white house, he wrote a letter to abigail, who are not been able to be with him yet. She was back home. In the letter, he wrote, i pray heaven to the star of the best of blessings upon this house and on all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof. May none but honest and wise men of the rule under this roof. What i like best about that is that he puts honest first. Thank you. 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