The annual Friendsgiving episode is now available!
Sept. 13, 2020

3.22 – A Death in the Family

3.22 – A Death in the Family

Year(s) Discussed: 1803-1804

While Vice President Burr worked to secure his political future in his bid for the New York governorship and New England Federalists plotted to separate from the Union, the Jefferson family suffered the untimely loss of one of its members in the early months of 1804. Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, both the British and the French governments went through reorganizations that would impact their relations with the United States for years to come.

Featured Image: “US postage stamp commemorating Monticello, Issue of 1956, 20c” by US Post Office [1 Jan 1956], courtesy of Wikipedia

Intro and Outro Music: Selections from “Jefferson and Liberty” as performed by The Itinerant Band

Special thanks to Alex for providing the intro quote for this episode!

The transcript for this episode can be found here.

Previous Episodes Referenced in this Episode:

Sources Used:

  • Ambrose, Stephen E. Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997 [1996].
  • Chernow, Ron. Alexander Hamilton. New York: Penguin Press, 2004.
  • Ehrman, John. The Younger Pitt Volume III: The Consuming Struggle. London: Constable & Co, 1996.
  • Ernst, Robert. Rufus King: American Federalist. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1968.
  • Esdaile, Charles. Napoleon’s Wars: An International History. New York: Penguin, 2009 [2007].
  • Fedorak, Charles John. Henry Addington, Prime Minister, 1801-1804: Peace, War, and Parliamentary Politics. Akron, OH: University of Akron Press, 2002.
  • Gannon, Kevin M. “Escaping ‘Mr. Jefferson’s Plan of Destruction’: New England Federalists and the Idea of a Northern Confederacy, 1803-1804.” Journal of the Early Republic. 21:3 [Fall 2001] 413-443.
  • Jefferson, Thomas. “To James Madison, 9 April 1804,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/02-07-02-0028. [Original source: The Papers of James Madison, Secretary of State Series, vol. 7, 2 April–31 August 1804, ed. David B. Mattern, J. C. A. Stagg, Ellen J. Barber, Anne Mandeville Colony, Angela Kreider, and Jeanne Kerr Cross. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2005, pp. 25–26.] [Last Accessed: 27 Jul 2020]
  • Jefferson, Thomas. “To James Madison, 17 April 1804,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-43-02-0222. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 43, 11 March–30 June 1804, ed. James P. McClure. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2017, p. 259.] [Last Accessed: 27 Jul 2020]
  • Jefferson, Thomas. “To James Madison, 23 April 1804,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-43-02-0246. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 43, 11 March–30 June 1804, ed. James P. McClure. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2017, pp. 292–293.] [Last Accessed: 27 Jul 2020]
  • Jefferson, Thomas. “To John Page, 25 June 1804,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-43-02-0542. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 43, 11 March–30 June 1804, ed. James P. McClure. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2017, pp. 652–653.] [Last Accessed: 27 Jul 2020]
  • Kierner, Cynthia A. Martha Jefferson Randolph, Daughter of Monticello: Her Life and Times. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2012.
  • Landry, Jerry. The Presidencies of the United States. 2017-2020. http://presidencies.blubrry.com.
  • Lomask, Milton. Aaron Burr: The Years from Princeton to Vice President 1756-1805. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1979.
  • Malone, Dumas. Jefferson the President First Term, 1801-1805: Jefferson and His Time, Volume Four. Boston: Little, Brown and Co, 1970.
  • Moulton, Gary E. The Lewis and Clark Expedition Day by Day. Lincoln, NE and London: University of Nebraska Press, 2018.
  • Schom, Alan. Napoleon Bonaparte. New York: HarperCollins, 1998 [1997].

Featured Image: “Martha Jefferson Randolph, daughter of Thomas Jefferson, informal First Lady, Smithsonian Institution” [c. 1836], courtesy of Wikipedia