Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Constitution Center. I am the president of this institution and this is such a happy day to celebrate the collaboration between the National Constitution center and cspan. [applause] cspan has a mission to bring unfiltered information about the u. S. Government to american citizens and that coincides with the Constitution Centers mission which i want you to reside along with me to inspire our guests and viewers. The National Constitution center is the only institution in america chartered by congress to disseminate information about the u. S. Constitution on a nonpartisan basis. Beautiful. That was so well done. [applause] i was so thrilled when my friend and colleague susan swain, the head of cspan, came just a few months ago, or rather weeks ago, and said, we have this great new book on the president s. Let us launch it at the National Constitution center. It is such an honor to welcome back to the Constitution Center the great founder of cspan, b
Baxter here with us today the author of in pursuit of jefferson traveling through europe with the most perplexing founding father. Joining us today from fairfax, virginia where he lives with his wife and children and in his words. They lived quite a peaceful life there before deciding to follow thomass jeffersons travel advice across europe, so he is going to tell you a little bit more about the book and we are so thrilled to have him here derek baxter everybody. Great. Well, thank you. Thank you scuppernong and and cspan. Thank you everybody for watching. So. So yes, this book is about its about me following jeffersons travels across europe and its really it was a chance to learn about a different side of jefferson that we dont often hear about we all know about the younger jefferson who wrote the declaration of independence at the age of 33, and we probably know something about jefferson as an older man when he was president , but this gave me a chance to explore this different side
To a creator, a supreme judge, or Divine Providence. He also highlights the importance of the great awaken awakening, a protestant religious revival in the 1740s, that influenced many founding fathers. This class took place at Georgetown University and is an hour and 45 minutes. It was organized by the j madison memorial fellowship foundation. Good morning, everyone. Arent you a smartlooking set this morning. The topic today is religion and the American Revolution. You recall from our last session together, i laid out what i think are some headwaters of early american constitutionalism. Thats what i was calling them. So we looked at classical republicanism, primarily roman, grecoroman, but primarily roman. We looked at enlightenment liberalism, primarily british, which included the common law tradition and some older things. Then i mentioned protestant christianity as the third of those headwaters that i believe feeds into early american constitutionalism. And we deferred that to today
Gordon it made me a fan of john, just because he was a good old yankee. I am not sure that being a northerner has affected me consciously, i do not like to think that i am letting the present influence my conception of the past. So i am not sure. But i am a new englander for sure. Brian can you remember when you first heard about john adams . Gordon probably not until high school. I did not know much about him, not until college. I had not gotten to see his home until after college. So it was a long time before i got to know him. Now, because they did three volumes in the library of america about his writings, i really got to know him. To know him better than i know most of my friends. He is really something. Brian you said in your book that he had it and Thomas Jefferson did not. Why do think one did and the other didnt . Gordon adams was a puritan in that sense. He came out of that tradition, they kept diaries. He needed to write out his emotions and feelings. He put everything in th
Brian gordon wood, as a longtime historian, what impact does it have on you that you were born in concord, massachusetts, grew up around boston . What has it done to your thinking of history . Gordon it made me a fan of john, just because he was a good old yankee. I am not sure that being a northerner has affected me consciously, i do not like to think that i am letting the present influence my conception of the past. So i am not sure. But i am a new englander for sure. Brian can you remember when you first heard about john adams . Gordon probably not until high school. I did not know much about him, not until college. I had not gotten to see his home until after college. So it was a long time before i got to know him. Now, because they did three volumes in the library of america about his writings, i really got to know him. I think i got to know him better than i know most of my friends. He is really something. Brian you said in your book that he had it and Thomas Jefferson did not. W