
Revolution 250 Podcast
Revolution 250 Podcast
Loyalist Merchant Networks, Robert Treat Paine, and Jefferson as President
Christina Carrick, an editor at the Papers of Thomas Jefferson, formerly an editor at the Robert Treat Paine Papers, joins us to talk about Jefferson and Paine. She also talks about the loyalist family networks she has studied--New England merchants sent into exile who maintained connections with home. She also discusses editorial projects, and how to become part of these important projects through organizations like the Association for Documentary Editing.
WEBVTT
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Hello, everyone.
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Welcome to the Revolution
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Two Fifty Podcast.
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I am Bob Allison.
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I chair the Rev Two Fifty Advisory Group.
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We are a consortium of about
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seventy five or so
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organizations in
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Massachusetts planning
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commemorations of the
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beginnings of American independence.
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And our guest today is Christina Carrick.
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And Christina Carrick is the
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assistant editor of the
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Papers of Thomas Jefferson.
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Previously,
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she was assistant editor of the
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Robert Treat Payne Papers at
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the Mass Historical Society.
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And she is at work on a book
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on the benefits of banishment,
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on the lasting influence of
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loyalist merchant networks
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in the early American Republic,
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or the loyalists.
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And so, Christina,
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thanks so much for joining us.
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Thank you for having me.
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It's a pleasure to be here.
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And one of the things you
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argue and kind of show in
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your work is that the loyalists
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in the early America.
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Can you tell us a little bit
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more about who they are and
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what they're doing?
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So the people I've been
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looking at in particular
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are mainly merchants,
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but these are people who
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were essentially exiled,
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although sometimes they
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kind of make the excuse
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that they were voluntarily
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going on business trips, right, in
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But a great many of these
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people were officially
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banished and were not
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allowed to return home.
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But almost everyone I looked
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at had family or close
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friends that remained in
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Boston and in Massachusetts.
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And so they kept in close
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correspondence with their family members.
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And then so they're kind of creating this,
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I'm not going to call it a
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diaspora yet at that point,
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but a little bit of a
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correspondence network
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between wherever they were exiled.
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In the case of the people I look at,
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primarily England and the Caribbean.
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and back home in Boston.
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And so they're trying to
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keep their properties
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together back in Massachusetts,
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keep in touch with family members.
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A lot of the time these
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people left behind wives, mothers,
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or daughters.
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that were a little bit more
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able to stay because they were women.
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I'm not going to say by any
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means that women were not political,
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but they could be perceived
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as a little bit safer to
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remain in Massachusetts
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while their male relatives went abroad.
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The people I'm looking at,
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either kept in close
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correspondence with these
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people after the war ended,
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or in many cases,
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they returned to Massachusetts,
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but kept in touch with the
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people that they met while
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they were in exile,
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which is a whole story of its own.
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Right, right, right.
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One of the people you really
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focus on is David Green,
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who goes to Antigua and all.
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Can you tell us a little bit
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more about who he is and
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what drew you to him and
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what else we can learn?
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So David Green was a young
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merchant in Boston at the
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beginning of the revolution.
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He was in his mid-twenties, I think,
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I can't remember his exact birthday,
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but he was pegged as a
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loyalist because he
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supported Thomas Gage and
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Thomas Hutchinson at the
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onset of the revolution.
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So he went on a business
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trip to England in
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seventeen seventy five.
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And while he was there, he joined
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a group of other primarily
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New England exiled
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merchants or political
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figures that were also in London.
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They formed a little club
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that they started off
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calling the New England Club,
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but eventually just took on
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the name of the Loyalist
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Club and took that on as
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part of their identity
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while they were there.
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And so he stayed there for a
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few years before he met a
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merchant from Antigua
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through their connection to
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this shared British merchant firm.
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He moved to Antigua with the
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merchant that he met there.
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Okay.
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His daughter lived in it for
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the rest of the war and
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then returned to New
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England in seventeen eighty two.
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So he returns to New England
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after this business trip to
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England in seventeen
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seventy five when a lot of
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things are happening and
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then goes to the West Indies.
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But then he's able to come back.
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Well, first,
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he came back to Connecticut in
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seventeen eighty two,
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but he was not allowed to go to Boston.
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He was still officially
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banished and it took him a
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couple more years to
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actually be able to go back home home.
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Well,
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another few years to be able to be a
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citizen of Massachusetts officially,
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which was very important to him.
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What's the process of
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appealing your banishment?
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Well,
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so you did have to have personal
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connections most of the time.
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And for him,
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his mother had returned to
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Boston and he had several
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half-brothers and then a
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few other friends who were
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in the merchant community there.
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And so he would write letters to them,
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but he also formally
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petitioned the
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Massachusetts General Court.
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He sent a couple of
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petitions first to be given residency,
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which was kind of...
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he'd be allowed to be back,
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but he wouldn't be
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considered a voting citizen
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or have the full rights of a citizen.
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So after a few petitions,
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the general court granted
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him that ability.
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And then he had to go live
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peacefully in Massachusetts
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for an additional three
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years before he sent more
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petitions through his
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direct connections and
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friends to the general court again.
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And they granted him citizenship in,
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I believe,
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And then does he leave again
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or does he stay?
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He stays after that.
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Yeah.
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I mean,
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I think he went to Rhode Island a
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few times,
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but he never left the country again.
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But he did build up a very
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flourishing trade.
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And his father-in-law, John Rose,
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remained in the Caribbean.
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And so they kept up a close
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connection and ended up
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engaging in trade with each
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other after he settled down
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in New England.
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He achieved that connection
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by marriage when he was in the Caribbean,
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in addition to having all
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the friends that he left
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abroad that were other
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loyalists or other friends.
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You also mentioned,
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I know in some of your work,
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that George Irving,
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who was the Jefferson
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administration's consul in London,
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actually was another of
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these guys who came from a family that,
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twenty years earlier,
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had been booted out.
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So Irving is still like,
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I'm in my early stages of
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looking at him as a loyalist,
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but his father was exiled.
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And so he left with the
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family and went to London.
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And so his father and
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probably him when he was
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young ended up part of this
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loyalist club network in London.
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And then he, George Irving,
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ended up staying in Great Britain,
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but he kind of saw himself
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as an American and he
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visited the US at least once.
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I don't remember the details on that,
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so don't quote me on that one.
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But he really closely
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identified with his
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American heritage and he
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tried to use the excuse
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that he was taken abroad as a young man.
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He didn't really have a
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place to be a loyalist at that point.
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And so he became really
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close with the American
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government and ended up the
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consul for the Jefferson administration.
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That's interesting.
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Now, the New England Club, I mean,
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because they're identifying
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themselves as New Englanders.
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At first.
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Yeah, at first.
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But that seems to be a thing
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I've seen in other people,
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even Thomas Hutchinson.
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They go to England and they
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realize that they're not really English.
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Is that something you've come across?
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Oh, certainly.
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Yeah.
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They do make friends with
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some people in England,
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but there is a lot of a
00:07:26.076 --> 00:07:27.235
feeling of rejection.
00:07:28.375 --> 00:07:29.937
And especially for the more
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prominent loyalists who who
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identified as loyalists at
00:07:32.737 --> 00:07:33.557
the very beginning,
00:07:34.117 --> 00:07:36.517
they expected to have like
00:07:36.557 --> 00:07:37.798
gratitude from the British
00:07:37.838 --> 00:07:39.338
public and to be kind of
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maybe not celebrities,
00:07:40.619 --> 00:07:42.538
but to be really appreciated as heroes.
00:07:43.119 --> 00:07:44.319
And then they get there and
00:07:44.379 --> 00:07:45.740
they're just kind of seen as, you know,
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Backwoods Americans that
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didn't do enough to keep
00:07:51.204 --> 00:07:52.326
America part of Great Britain.
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And so they're not accepted
00:07:54.048 --> 00:07:55.329
into high British society.
00:07:55.370 --> 00:07:56.230
They might be accepted by
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some individual people,
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but they're not really
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getting that status that they wanted.
00:08:00.475 --> 00:08:00.995
And so they end up
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gravitating toward
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merchants in Britain or
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more often toward other
00:08:05.821 --> 00:08:07.343
Americans that are exiled.
00:08:09.028 --> 00:08:09.569
It's interesting,
00:08:09.608 --> 00:08:11.829
both they're seen as backwoods Americans,
00:08:11.930 --> 00:08:12.750
but on the other hand,
00:08:12.771 --> 00:08:13.471
they're seen as the ones
00:08:13.490 --> 00:08:15.291
who failed to keep their
00:08:15.591 --> 00:08:17.673
compatriots as part of the empire.
00:08:19.153 --> 00:08:21.675
And they also have this real
00:08:21.975 --> 00:08:24.795
dilemma they have because
00:08:26.276 --> 00:08:28.398
many of them were among the
00:08:28.437 --> 00:08:30.858
elite in Massachusetts or wherever,
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but then they go to England
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and there the elite is much,
00:08:34.841 --> 00:08:36.022
much higher than their
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level had been here.
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Yes, yes.
00:08:40.350 --> 00:08:45.052
And I think that feeling of still wanting,
00:08:45.253 --> 00:08:47.234
wanting to be in that powerful position,
00:08:47.274 --> 00:08:49.096
but not being at all at the
00:08:49.115 --> 00:08:50.255
level of Great Britain was
00:08:50.336 --> 00:08:51.517
really dislocating for
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people like Thomas Hutchinson.
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Oh, yeah.
00:08:52.998 --> 00:08:56.000
Yeah, it is.
00:08:56.301 --> 00:08:57.902
We're talking with Christina Carrick,
00:08:57.942 --> 00:08:59.602
who is an editor at the
00:08:59.643 --> 00:09:01.024
papers of Thomas Jefferson,
00:09:01.543 --> 00:09:04.807
and also writing on the loyalist networks,
00:09:04.886 --> 00:09:05.226
these
00:09:06.225 --> 00:09:07.365
Americans who remain loyal
00:09:07.385 --> 00:09:09.947
to the crown and then are first banished.
00:09:10.008 --> 00:09:11.308
And some of them she shows
00:09:11.349 --> 00:09:12.409
to come back or maintain
00:09:12.429 --> 00:09:14.510
family connections with those who remain.
00:09:14.951 --> 00:09:16.091
You mentioned earlier that
00:09:16.272 --> 00:09:17.552
it was easier for women to
00:09:17.753 --> 00:09:19.014
hold onto property.
00:09:19.033 --> 00:09:19.894
And so can we talk a little
00:09:19.914 --> 00:09:21.416
bit more about the women
00:09:21.436 --> 00:09:22.296
they left behind when these
00:09:22.336 --> 00:09:23.437
guys go on their business
00:09:23.456 --> 00:09:26.219
trip to somewhere more receptive?
00:09:28.597 --> 00:09:30.519
Well, so you see this in a lot of cases,
00:09:30.600 --> 00:09:31.000
actually.
00:09:31.441 --> 00:09:32.942
Almost every family that I
00:09:33.102 --> 00:09:34.144
looked at when I was doing
00:09:34.163 --> 00:09:35.424
my original research had
00:09:35.684 --> 00:09:38.327
female relatives that remained in Boston.
00:09:39.168 --> 00:09:40.650
And a lot of them were able to keep
00:09:41.333 --> 00:09:42.715
family property together but
00:09:43.056 --> 00:09:44.317
um the rules in
00:09:44.356 --> 00:09:45.937
massachusetts when they did
00:09:45.957 --> 00:09:46.818
allow confiscation of
00:09:46.879 --> 00:09:47.798
estates they would often
00:09:47.860 --> 00:09:49.360
leave just like the house
00:09:49.441 --> 00:09:50.442
in the immediate area
00:09:50.501 --> 00:09:52.322
around the house for the
00:09:52.562 --> 00:09:53.543
woman who was living there
00:09:53.583 --> 00:09:54.865
so that they didn't have to
00:09:55.625 --> 00:09:57.408
uh provide charity to her
00:09:57.488 --> 00:09:59.528
but in some cases like just
00:09:59.568 --> 00:10:00.809
having that person there
00:10:01.230 --> 00:10:02.392
helps protect the property
00:10:02.412 --> 00:10:04.833
from confiscation at all um
00:10:05.791 --> 00:10:06.932
And then you also have these
00:10:06.951 --> 00:10:07.812
women who are providing a
00:10:07.831 --> 00:10:09.712
lot of news and commentary
00:10:09.753 --> 00:10:10.633
for all of their relatives
00:10:10.673 --> 00:10:11.333
who are abroad.
00:10:11.793 --> 00:10:12.653
And so when they're thinking
00:10:12.693 --> 00:10:13.955
about coming back to New England,
00:10:14.095 --> 00:10:15.755
it's really a lot of the
00:10:15.796 --> 00:10:16.916
time these female relatives
00:10:16.936 --> 00:10:17.537
that are saying,
00:10:18.136 --> 00:10:20.217
you can come back or don't come back,
00:10:20.258 --> 00:10:21.879
you might get hanged or
00:10:23.178 --> 00:10:23.700
giving a different
00:10:23.740 --> 00:10:24.519
commentary on what the
00:10:24.559 --> 00:10:25.961
situation for them will be
00:10:26.081 --> 00:10:27.341
in terms of potential
00:10:27.380 --> 00:10:29.461
violence or economic
00:10:29.501 --> 00:10:30.663
opportunities or just
00:10:30.702 --> 00:10:32.683
general acceptance back into society.
00:10:33.104 --> 00:10:34.264
So they become really very
00:10:34.304 --> 00:10:35.725
important as a center to
00:10:35.745 --> 00:10:36.886
these news networks.
00:10:37.447 --> 00:10:38.207
And a lot of the time they
00:10:38.227 --> 00:10:40.249
kind of pass information
00:10:40.288 --> 00:10:41.750
along between different
00:10:41.789 --> 00:10:42.711
parts of the family that
00:10:42.730 --> 00:10:44.172
are exiled to different areas,
00:10:45.113 --> 00:10:45.972
especially families that
00:10:46.013 --> 00:10:46.854
ended up in Canada.
00:10:46.974 --> 00:10:47.914
You might have somebody send
00:10:47.955 --> 00:10:49.056
something from England that
00:10:49.096 --> 00:10:51.017
somehow makes it into Boston,
00:10:51.096 --> 00:10:52.337
and then they correspond
00:10:52.357 --> 00:10:53.318
with other relatives who
00:10:53.339 --> 00:10:54.860
are in Nova Scotia or New Brunswick.
00:10:56.269 --> 00:10:57.090
or vice versa.
00:10:57.929 --> 00:10:59.451
Or sometimes the other way around,
00:10:59.490 --> 00:11:00.552
they might correspond with
00:11:00.692 --> 00:11:01.812
Nova Scotia and then that
00:11:02.172 --> 00:11:03.812
information is relayed into
00:11:04.014 --> 00:11:04.754
Massachusetts.
00:11:05.214 --> 00:11:06.394
So they provide a really
00:11:06.894 --> 00:11:08.035
fascinating and important
00:11:08.096 --> 00:11:10.017
role as hubs and as like
00:11:11.418 --> 00:11:13.339
people who are able to hold
00:11:13.379 --> 00:11:15.120
things together when the
00:11:15.159 --> 00:11:15.980
men are kicked out.
00:11:18.422 --> 00:11:19.783
How did you get onto this topic,
00:11:19.822 --> 00:11:20.102
by the way?
00:11:20.123 --> 00:11:22.024
What led you to these
00:11:22.063 --> 00:11:23.605
networks as something to study?
00:11:24.686 --> 00:11:27.347
um well it's kind of a long
00:11:27.408 --> 00:11:28.788
path uh so when I was
00:11:29.090 --> 00:11:30.210
initially in grad school I
00:11:30.230 --> 00:11:32.331
was very fascinated by um
00:11:32.731 --> 00:11:34.793
changing allegiances like
00:11:34.833 --> 00:11:36.575
people who crossed back and
00:11:36.595 --> 00:11:37.975
forth over the lines and
00:11:37.995 --> 00:11:38.777
somehow that got me
00:11:38.817 --> 00:11:40.658
interested in in loyalties
00:11:41.379 --> 00:11:43.841
and um I remember very
00:11:43.900 --> 00:11:45.381
early in in graduate school
00:11:45.402 --> 00:11:46.923
I read maya jazanoff's book
00:11:47.302 --> 00:11:48.884
uh liberty and I was just
00:11:48.903 --> 00:11:50.024
fascinated by these
00:11:50.065 --> 00:11:51.446
loyalists and the diaspora
00:11:51.485 --> 00:11:52.706
they created but then I
00:11:52.746 --> 00:11:53.927
started to wonder like
00:11:55.164 --> 00:11:57.765
did they go back or keep a
00:11:57.806 --> 00:11:58.846
connection to New England?
00:11:58.885 --> 00:11:59.886
Because that's one part that
00:11:59.927 --> 00:12:01.966
you didn't include as much
00:12:02.047 --> 00:12:03.648
in that really interesting story.
00:12:04.427 --> 00:12:05.168
And so then I started
00:12:05.187 --> 00:12:05.989
looking at people who
00:12:06.009 --> 00:12:07.609
either went back or kept
00:12:07.649 --> 00:12:09.490
these tight connections to
00:12:11.129 --> 00:12:12.510
people in the United States
00:12:12.951 --> 00:12:14.110
in this sort of Atlantic
00:12:14.150 --> 00:12:16.251
world framework that was
00:12:16.312 --> 00:12:17.572
very important to look at at the time.
00:12:18.952 --> 00:12:19.332
And so
00:12:20.791 --> 00:12:22.971
I really enjoy reading
00:12:23.032 --> 00:12:24.711
personal letters between people.
00:12:25.272 --> 00:12:27.413
And so I started going
00:12:27.452 --> 00:12:28.734
through their letters and
00:12:28.793 --> 00:12:30.394
cataloging where they were coming from,
00:12:30.433 --> 00:12:31.354
where they were going and
00:12:31.374 --> 00:12:32.075
what they were talking
00:12:32.154 --> 00:12:33.975
about between these people
00:12:34.335 --> 00:12:35.255
in the Atlantic.
00:12:35.796 --> 00:12:36.995
So initially I had adopted a
00:12:37.035 --> 00:12:38.917
number of families that
00:12:39.236 --> 00:12:40.817
remained divided after the
00:12:40.856 --> 00:12:41.977
revolution to see what they
00:12:41.998 --> 00:12:42.658
were talking about.
00:12:44.171 --> 00:12:46.032
But over the course of looking at that,
00:12:46.072 --> 00:12:47.013
I got interested again in
00:12:47.052 --> 00:12:48.634
people who did kind of use
00:12:48.673 --> 00:12:50.254
that as a tool to return.
00:12:51.235 --> 00:12:52.716
So I ended up landing on David Green.
00:12:53.357 --> 00:12:56.600
And in a way, I wanted him to feel
00:12:58.038 --> 00:12:58.899
to continue feeling
00:12:58.918 --> 00:13:00.240
dislocated when he got back
00:13:01.519 --> 00:13:03.142
to Boston and to feel like
00:13:03.162 --> 00:13:04.121
he didn't belong anymore.
00:13:04.142 --> 00:13:05.363
But once I read through his letters,
00:13:05.423 --> 00:13:06.884
I realized that was not the case at all.
00:13:07.163 --> 00:13:09.265
That in fact, being in exile,
00:13:09.605 --> 00:13:10.966
he had found all these new
00:13:11.006 --> 00:13:11.927
opportunities that when he
00:13:11.967 --> 00:13:12.807
returned to Boston,
00:13:12.948 --> 00:13:16.730
suddenly he was able to
00:13:17.010 --> 00:13:18.111
have even better
00:13:18.172 --> 00:13:19.153
opportunities than he'd had
00:13:19.192 --> 00:13:20.134
before he left.
00:13:20.533 --> 00:13:21.715
And that kind of sent me
00:13:21.735 --> 00:13:22.895
down a new rabbit hole,
00:13:24.256 --> 00:13:26.357
a research hole of these
00:13:26.378 --> 00:13:27.038
people who were able to
00:13:27.078 --> 00:13:27.719
benefit from that.
00:13:28.202 --> 00:13:28.462
Interesting.
00:13:29.043 --> 00:13:30.585
Where are his papers and
00:13:30.605 --> 00:13:31.384
these letters that you were
00:13:31.404 --> 00:13:32.525
reading through?
00:13:32.546 --> 00:13:33.667
So David Green's papers are
00:13:33.687 --> 00:13:35.427
at the Clements Library in Michigan.
00:13:36.087 --> 00:13:37.609
They have his letter book.
00:13:38.210 --> 00:13:39.331
So there are some other
00:13:39.410 --> 00:13:40.851
letters of his in the
00:13:40.912 --> 00:13:42.273
Hubbard Green family papers
00:13:42.452 --> 00:13:44.354
in the Massachusetts Historical Society.
00:13:44.874 --> 00:13:45.995
But the main letter book is
00:13:46.034 --> 00:13:46.995
at the Clements Library.
00:13:48.070 --> 00:13:50.130
I also looked at the Biles family,
00:13:50.191 --> 00:13:51.852
which some people might be familiar with,
00:13:51.893 --> 00:13:53.433
Mather Biles and his sisters.
00:13:53.953 --> 00:13:56.697
Well, Mather Biles Sr., Mather Biles Jr.,
00:13:57.096 --> 00:14:00.820
the two daughters, and the Quincy family,
00:14:01.660 --> 00:14:02.822
who are all held at the
00:14:02.841 --> 00:14:05.403
Massachusetts Historical Society too.
00:14:06.504 --> 00:14:07.946
Just for those who don't know,
00:14:07.985 --> 00:14:09.528
can you fill us in on the
00:14:09.567 --> 00:14:10.948
Quincy's and the Biles's?
00:14:12.196 --> 00:14:12.316
Well,
00:14:12.336 --> 00:14:13.716
the Quincy family was very
00:14:13.756 --> 00:14:16.357
interesting because, well,
00:14:16.378 --> 00:14:17.398
this will connect to one of
00:14:17.758 --> 00:14:18.359
my later topics,
00:14:18.379 --> 00:14:20.779
but Samuel Quincy was
00:14:20.879 --> 00:14:21.460
actually one of the
00:14:21.500 --> 00:14:25.041
prosecutors in the Boston
00:14:25.081 --> 00:14:27.621
Massacre trial with Robert Treat Payne,
00:14:27.663 --> 00:14:29.243
who I ended up working on later on,
00:14:29.942 --> 00:14:31.344
while his brother, Josiah Quincy,
00:14:31.403 --> 00:14:32.764
was with John Adams on the other side.
00:14:32.784 --> 00:14:34.926
Yes, and Josiah was the patriot.
00:14:35.745 --> 00:14:37.527
But Samuel Quincy ended up
00:14:37.866 --> 00:14:40.307
being really forced to file
00:14:41.469 --> 00:14:42.489
And he ended up in London,
00:14:42.570 --> 00:14:44.431
but very bitter and very angry.
00:14:45.131 --> 00:14:46.533
His wife remained in London
00:14:46.613 --> 00:14:49.434
until several years after the war.
00:14:50.635 --> 00:14:51.777
Did they ever reconcile?
00:14:51.836 --> 00:14:52.878
Did they ever get back together,
00:14:53.238 --> 00:14:53.798
he and his wife?
00:14:54.446 --> 00:14:55.807
She actually joins him in Antigua.
00:14:56.989 --> 00:14:58.490
So after David Green moved to Antigua,
00:14:58.529 --> 00:14:59.211
Samuel Quincy,
00:14:59.250 --> 00:15:00.731
who he was good friends with in London,
00:15:00.851 --> 00:15:02.274
ended up going down there too.
00:15:03.475 --> 00:15:05.537
And then his wife moves down in,
00:15:05.876 --> 00:15:07.197
I think it was in, in,
00:15:07.457 --> 00:15:10.160
but he only lives another
00:15:10.201 --> 00:15:11.221
two or three months after
00:15:11.241 --> 00:15:12.943
she was there before a Caribbean fever.
00:15:12.964 --> 00:15:13.264
Oh my goodness.
00:15:14.860 --> 00:15:15.181
killed her.
00:15:16.942 --> 00:15:17.662
So they were not.
00:15:17.761 --> 00:15:18.602
So there are some families
00:15:18.623 --> 00:15:19.423
that I've looked at where
00:15:19.462 --> 00:15:22.424
the wives actually are
00:15:22.524 --> 00:15:23.445
politically opposed to
00:15:23.465 --> 00:15:25.005
their husband's royalties.
00:15:25.306 --> 00:15:25.947
But in her case,
00:15:26.047 --> 00:15:27.567
I haven't seen any evidence of that,
00:15:27.788 --> 00:15:29.447
that she remained behind
00:15:30.448 --> 00:15:34.831
for logistical and their
00:15:34.951 --> 00:15:37.712
children stayed behind for quite a while.
00:15:38.873 --> 00:15:39.953
Interesting.
00:15:40.033 --> 00:15:41.193
Interesting.
00:15:41.214 --> 00:15:41.274
And
00:15:43.043 --> 00:15:43.904
And you mentioned, of course,
00:15:43.945 --> 00:15:44.765
Robert Treat Payne.
00:15:44.806 --> 00:15:45.785
And I know you've done a lot
00:15:45.826 --> 00:15:47.307
of work on Robert Treat Payne,
00:15:47.347 --> 00:15:49.028
who is first Attorney
00:15:49.068 --> 00:15:50.330
General of Massachusetts.
00:15:50.350 --> 00:15:50.770
As you said,
00:15:50.811 --> 00:15:52.052
he is Samuel Quincy's
00:15:52.111 --> 00:15:53.692
co-prosecutor at the
00:15:53.732 --> 00:15:55.413
massacre trials and signer
00:15:55.433 --> 00:15:56.895
of the Declaration of Independence.
00:15:56.936 --> 00:15:58.736
So you clearly are looking
00:15:58.756 --> 00:15:59.957
at people on both sides of
00:15:59.998 --> 00:16:01.620
this whole issue.
00:16:01.759 --> 00:16:03.341
And so I wonder,
00:16:03.902 --> 00:16:05.102
what about Robert Treat Payne?
00:16:05.123 --> 00:16:06.484
And what have you found out?
00:16:06.524 --> 00:16:07.585
You call him one of the most
00:16:07.625 --> 00:16:08.946
forgotten of the founders.
00:16:10.216 --> 00:16:10.556
Well,
00:16:10.635 --> 00:16:12.096
Robert G. Payne I kind of stumbled on
00:16:12.136 --> 00:16:12.856
by accident.
00:16:14.038 --> 00:16:15.119
I wasn't seeking him out as
00:16:15.259 --> 00:16:16.538
part of my loyalist research.
00:16:16.879 --> 00:16:19.321
I had the opportunity to get
00:16:19.421 --> 00:16:20.701
a job at the Massachusetts
00:16:20.721 --> 00:16:22.462
Historical Society as an
00:16:22.482 --> 00:16:23.342
assistant editor on the
00:16:23.383 --> 00:16:24.583
Payne Papers for the last
00:16:24.624 --> 00:16:25.604
few volumes there.
00:16:26.384 --> 00:16:27.865
And it was after I started
00:16:27.905 --> 00:16:28.905
working on the Payne Papers
00:16:28.926 --> 00:16:29.966
that I began to see more of
00:16:29.986 --> 00:16:30.947
these connections between
00:16:30.986 --> 00:16:32.988
him and various loyalists
00:16:33.008 --> 00:16:33.729
that I had looked at.
00:16:34.808 --> 00:16:35.929
But Paine is a really,
00:16:36.409 --> 00:16:38.009
he's a fascinating guy and
00:16:38.049 --> 00:16:39.831
his papers are especially fascinating.
00:16:40.951 --> 00:16:41.831
People do remember him a
00:16:41.971 --> 00:16:43.032
little bit as a signer of
00:16:43.072 --> 00:16:44.371
the Declaration of Independence,
00:16:44.392 --> 00:16:46.452
but he's not among the top
00:16:46.533 --> 00:16:49.354
list of people that are known for that.
00:16:50.114 --> 00:16:52.076
Because after he signed the declaration,
00:16:52.135 --> 00:16:53.596
he went back to
00:16:53.697 --> 00:16:54.899
Massachusetts to take on
00:16:54.938 --> 00:16:56.259
that role of attorney general.
00:16:56.840 --> 00:16:58.402
And he never left New
00:16:58.461 --> 00:16:59.903
England again after that.
00:16:59.942 --> 00:17:00.844
So he didn't take on as
00:17:00.884 --> 00:17:02.725
prominent of a role later
00:17:02.745 --> 00:17:03.846
in the revolution or in the
00:17:03.886 --> 00:17:04.688
federal government that
00:17:04.708 --> 00:17:06.108
many of his compatriots did.
00:17:07.574 --> 00:17:08.794
But as Attorney General,
00:17:09.275 --> 00:17:11.234
he presided over quite a
00:17:11.275 --> 00:17:12.635
number of really important
00:17:12.655 --> 00:17:13.875
trials at that time.
00:17:14.856 --> 00:17:17.297
And his legal case notes
00:17:17.336 --> 00:17:19.258
where he had little
00:17:19.298 --> 00:17:20.598
notebooks that he's filling
00:17:20.798 --> 00:17:23.138
with his own notes on
00:17:23.159 --> 00:17:24.779
different testimonies and trials.
00:17:25.452 --> 00:17:26.555
are part of the papers that
00:17:26.575 --> 00:17:28.436
they are working on at the society.
00:17:28.477 --> 00:17:29.357
And they are very
00:17:29.419 --> 00:17:30.559
interesting to get a
00:17:30.599 --> 00:17:33.002
snapshot at the lives of
00:17:33.584 --> 00:17:35.226
less prominent people in
00:17:35.266 --> 00:17:36.268
America at the time who
00:17:36.288 --> 00:17:37.809
were involved in all these legal cases.
00:17:37.849 --> 00:17:38.170
Right, right.
00:17:39.372 --> 00:17:40.413
Can you tell us about any of
00:17:40.432 --> 00:17:42.155
these cases that you found
00:17:42.215 --> 00:17:42.896
really interesting?
00:17:43.923 --> 00:17:44.323
Oh, well,
00:17:44.523 --> 00:17:46.204
a couple that are very famous
00:17:46.945 --> 00:17:48.467
would be like the Bathsheba
00:17:48.507 --> 00:17:49.807
Spooner murder trial.
00:17:50.407 --> 00:17:51.449
And I think sometime in the past,
00:17:51.489 --> 00:17:52.329
you had somebody who worked
00:17:52.369 --> 00:17:54.511
on Bathsheba Spooner onto this podcast.
00:17:55.251 --> 00:17:56.492
So that one was very interesting.
00:17:56.693 --> 00:17:57.534
And then he was the
00:17:57.574 --> 00:17:58.755
prosecutor in the Shays'
00:17:58.795 --> 00:18:00.376
Rebellion treason trials.
00:18:00.916 --> 00:18:01.857
So you have a lot of
00:18:01.938 --> 00:18:04.460
firsthand accounts of every
00:18:04.559 --> 00:18:06.241
moment of those rebellions
00:18:06.281 --> 00:18:07.863
from the people involved and witnesses.
00:18:09.538 --> 00:18:10.378
And then there's another
00:18:10.419 --> 00:18:12.059
case that I found very
00:18:12.119 --> 00:18:16.561
interesting that was in the
00:18:16.662 --> 00:18:17.762
seventeen eighties.
00:18:17.782 --> 00:18:19.864
I don't remember the exact year,
00:18:19.923 --> 00:18:20.924
but it was the case of
00:18:20.964 --> 00:18:22.705
these three free black men
00:18:22.746 --> 00:18:25.307
who worked around Boston
00:18:25.346 --> 00:18:27.008
Harbor unloading ships and
00:18:27.048 --> 00:18:28.009
doing other jobs in the
00:18:28.028 --> 00:18:30.690
harbor were abducted by
00:18:33.432 --> 00:18:33.732
I guess,
00:18:33.792 --> 00:18:37.174
enslavers who lured them out under
00:18:37.194 --> 00:18:38.055
the pretense that they were
00:18:38.095 --> 00:18:39.096
going to unload a ship in
00:18:39.115 --> 00:18:39.816
the Boston Harbor,
00:18:39.836 --> 00:18:41.056
but then took them to the
00:18:41.076 --> 00:18:43.257
Caribbean and sold them into slavery.
00:18:44.397 --> 00:18:45.659
But Prince Hall,
00:18:46.179 --> 00:18:47.259
the head of the Boston
00:18:47.318 --> 00:18:50.181
Freemasons and several Boston ministers,
00:18:50.260 --> 00:18:52.040
including Jeremy Belknap,
00:18:52.101 --> 00:18:52.801
one of the founders of the
00:18:52.821 --> 00:18:54.342
Massachusetts Historical Society,
00:18:55.002 --> 00:18:56.682
petitioned the governor to
00:18:58.284 --> 00:18:59.804
send letters to all of the
00:18:59.844 --> 00:19:00.765
governors of the Caribbean
00:19:00.884 --> 00:19:02.345
Islands until several months later,
00:19:02.365 --> 00:19:03.484
they were able to locate
00:19:03.525 --> 00:19:04.805
these men who had been sold
00:19:05.326 --> 00:19:06.586
and return them to Massachusetts.
00:19:07.246 --> 00:19:08.546
So the Robert Treat Payne
00:19:08.566 --> 00:19:12.406
role here is once they were returned,
00:19:13.507 --> 00:19:14.787
the men who abducted them
00:19:14.807 --> 00:19:15.768
were put on trial for
00:19:15.807 --> 00:19:18.667
kidnapping and found guilty.
00:19:19.167 --> 00:19:22.028
And I believe all three were
00:19:24.084 --> 00:19:26.405
sentenced to hard labor at
00:19:26.486 --> 00:19:27.767
Castle Island in Boston.
00:19:27.787 --> 00:19:29.647
Don't quote me on that part,
00:19:29.667 --> 00:19:30.989
but it's a very fascinating case.
00:19:31.009 --> 00:19:31.929
That sounds like it.
00:19:31.969 --> 00:19:34.250
Yeah.
00:19:34.270 --> 00:19:34.590
Amazingly,
00:19:34.611 --> 00:19:36.612
the kind of forensic search
00:19:36.632 --> 00:19:37.512
they're having to do and
00:19:37.553 --> 00:19:38.993
writing letters to the governors.
00:19:39.114 --> 00:19:39.354
I mean,
00:19:39.394 --> 00:19:41.474
this is a time-consuming thing to
00:19:42.055 --> 00:19:43.797
actually do that and then
00:19:43.856 --> 00:19:45.196
get them to respond and
00:19:45.518 --> 00:19:46.577
keep a lookout for these
00:19:46.617 --> 00:19:48.378
three men who could have
00:19:48.398 --> 00:19:49.480
very easily just blended
00:19:49.539 --> 00:19:50.800
into the society.
00:19:51.670 --> 00:19:52.791
So I find it amazing that
00:19:52.811 --> 00:19:53.713
they were actually able to
00:19:53.733 --> 00:19:56.038
find them and bring them back to Boston.
00:19:56.098 --> 00:19:56.839
And they were able to
00:19:56.920 --> 00:19:58.502
testify at their own trials.
00:19:59.125 --> 00:20:00.227
Wow.
00:20:01.297 --> 00:20:02.497
with the forever tree pain
00:20:02.517 --> 00:20:03.438
sitting there taking notes.
00:20:04.337 --> 00:20:05.278
That's fascinating.
00:20:05.337 --> 00:20:05.577
Yeah.
00:20:05.758 --> 00:20:05.857
Yeah.
00:20:05.877 --> 00:20:06.718
And I feel like that's not a
00:20:06.738 --> 00:20:08.538
case that very many people
00:20:08.558 --> 00:20:09.499
have talked about very much,
00:20:09.578 --> 00:20:10.878
even though it did connect
00:20:10.898 --> 00:20:12.000
directly to the banning of
00:20:12.039 --> 00:20:12.980
the slave trade in
00:20:13.039 --> 00:20:14.779
Massachusetts in particular.
00:20:15.180 --> 00:20:15.720
Interesting.
00:20:16.080 --> 00:20:17.441
That's interesting.
00:20:17.480 --> 00:20:18.580
What's his handwriting like?
00:20:19.080 --> 00:20:19.621
Terrible.
00:20:20.142 --> 00:20:20.402
Really?
00:20:24.698 --> 00:20:25.978
Well, while I was working there,
00:20:26.478 --> 00:20:28.459
I prided myself by saying I
00:20:28.479 --> 00:20:29.660
was one of maybe two people
00:20:29.700 --> 00:20:30.339
in the world that could
00:20:30.380 --> 00:20:32.221
read his handwriting in the journals.
00:20:32.721 --> 00:20:34.862
The original being the lead editor,
00:20:35.402 --> 00:20:35.842
Ed Hanson,
00:20:35.942 --> 00:20:37.343
who was the original editor of
00:20:37.363 --> 00:20:38.063
the painting.
00:20:40.970 --> 00:20:42.471
When he had to write a nice
00:20:42.550 --> 00:20:43.570
letter to someone,
00:20:43.691 --> 00:20:45.111
it was somewhat legible,
00:20:45.191 --> 00:20:46.810
but in his legal case notes,
00:20:46.851 --> 00:20:48.332
it's extremely difficult to read.
00:20:49.771 --> 00:20:50.811
But I spent quite a lot of
00:20:50.832 --> 00:20:51.771
time with him and figured
00:20:51.811 --> 00:20:53.512
out some of his odd characters.
00:20:53.992 --> 00:20:54.873
Wow, wow.
00:20:55.393 --> 00:20:58.273
It was fun to be able to figure that out.
00:20:59.213 --> 00:21:00.913
So Ed Hansen's going off to
00:21:00.933 --> 00:21:02.153
be a minister in England,
00:21:02.213 --> 00:21:03.595
and you've gone off to other things.
00:21:03.634 --> 00:21:04.855
So is there anyone remaining
00:21:04.875 --> 00:21:05.934
who can read his handwriting?
00:21:07.079 --> 00:21:07.480
Oh, well,
00:21:07.519 --> 00:21:12.281
my mentor and boss at the
00:21:12.342 --> 00:21:13.981
Massachusetts Historical Society,
00:21:14.363 --> 00:21:15.202
Andine LeBlanc,
00:21:15.403 --> 00:21:16.623
learned some of his handwriting.
00:21:18.503 --> 00:21:20.125
She often said, here, Christina,
00:21:20.164 --> 00:21:21.565
take this.
00:21:21.585 --> 00:21:23.885
Figure this page of journal out for me,
00:21:23.905 --> 00:21:24.165
please.
00:21:24.185 --> 00:21:24.266
Yeah,
00:21:26.067 --> 00:21:28.228
I had a jarring experience when one
00:21:28.268 --> 00:21:29.728
of my best students was
00:21:29.807 --> 00:21:30.948
balking at reading
00:21:31.028 --> 00:21:32.568
handwriting of people in
00:21:32.588 --> 00:21:33.930
the eighteenth and early
00:21:33.970 --> 00:21:34.730
nineteenth century.
00:21:36.267 --> 00:21:36.907
So it's something we're
00:21:36.948 --> 00:21:38.450
losing by maybe not being
00:21:38.490 --> 00:21:39.872
able to read cursive generally,
00:21:39.912 --> 00:21:41.354
but also you have someone
00:21:41.374 --> 00:21:43.036
like Pena who has difficult handwriting.
00:21:43.155 --> 00:21:45.378
It does take some deciphering to do so.
00:21:45.960 --> 00:21:47.181
I applaud you for doing this.
00:21:48.529 --> 00:21:49.830
Well, with Paine,
00:21:49.871 --> 00:21:50.932
it's a little funny because
00:21:50.971 --> 00:21:52.153
sometimes even people at
00:21:52.173 --> 00:21:53.413
the time would respond to
00:21:53.473 --> 00:21:54.394
his letters saying,
00:21:55.135 --> 00:21:56.217
I couldn't quite read what
00:21:56.237 --> 00:21:56.958
you wrote there,
00:21:57.018 --> 00:21:58.638
but I think you were talking about this.
00:21:59.480 --> 00:22:01.000
So even by the standards of the time,
00:22:01.060 --> 00:22:02.563
he had very challenging handwriting.
00:22:03.363 --> 00:22:04.564
But I share your concerns
00:22:04.625 --> 00:22:07.547
about future generations
00:22:07.626 --> 00:22:09.048
being able to read a lot of
00:22:09.068 --> 00:22:10.088
these original resources.
00:22:10.108 --> 00:22:11.730
Yeah, yeah.
00:22:11.770 --> 00:22:12.771
What about...
00:22:14.270 --> 00:22:15.311
Does he do anything other
00:22:15.332 --> 00:22:16.613
than be attorney general?
00:22:16.653 --> 00:22:18.253
Not that that's an insignificant thing,
00:22:18.273 --> 00:22:18.734
but you mentioned he
00:22:18.775 --> 00:22:20.296
doesn't serve in the federal government,
00:22:20.375 --> 00:22:21.336
so he stays at home.
00:22:21.376 --> 00:22:24.699
Does he run for governor, do other things?
00:22:24.739 --> 00:22:26.019
How long was he attorney general?
00:22:26.941 --> 00:22:28.422
He was attorney general from
00:22:28.781 --> 00:22:30.864
the end of the end of
00:22:30.923 --> 00:22:31.943
seventeen seventy seven
00:22:32.305 --> 00:22:34.246
through seventeen eighty nine.
00:22:36.189 --> 00:22:38.328
So I might be slightly off on that.
00:22:38.409 --> 00:22:40.410
And then, in the year,
00:22:41.390 --> 00:22:42.289
if I remember correctly,
00:22:42.329 --> 00:22:43.369
he joined the Supreme
00:22:43.410 --> 00:22:44.951
Judicial Court for Massachusetts.
00:22:46.131 --> 00:22:47.151
And he served as a justice
00:22:47.191 --> 00:22:48.411
there for the next fourteen
00:22:48.451 --> 00:22:52.311
years until he retired,
00:22:52.672 --> 00:22:54.471
largely due to deafness.
00:22:56.012 --> 00:22:56.992
People were complaining that
00:22:57.032 --> 00:22:59.153
he could no longer hear the
00:22:59.212 --> 00:23:00.212
witness testimonies,
00:23:00.232 --> 00:23:03.534
so they encouraged him to retire.
00:23:04.826 --> 00:23:08.308
That would be a problem if you're a judge.
00:23:08.348 --> 00:23:09.849
We're talking with Christina Carrick,
00:23:09.910 --> 00:23:10.930
assistant editor at the
00:23:10.970 --> 00:23:12.290
Papers of Thomas Jefferson,
00:23:12.330 --> 00:23:14.392
formerly one of the editors
00:23:14.432 --> 00:23:16.093
at the Papers of Robert Treat Payne,
00:23:16.153 --> 00:23:17.593
working on a book about the
00:23:17.693 --> 00:23:18.953
loyalist networks in
00:23:19.013 --> 00:23:20.535
post-revolutionary America
00:23:20.954 --> 00:23:21.996
and in Britain and the
00:23:22.455 --> 00:23:23.916
greater Atlantic world.
00:23:25.738 --> 00:23:27.258
So now you're at work in
00:23:27.298 --> 00:23:28.358
Princeton on the Papers of
00:23:28.398 --> 00:23:29.378
Thomas Jefferson.
00:23:30.259 --> 00:23:31.520
What period are you focusing
00:23:31.580 --> 00:23:32.260
on with Jefferson?
00:23:33.759 --> 00:23:34.400
Right now,
00:23:34.460 --> 00:23:36.000
we are working primarily through
00:23:36.221 --> 00:23:37.701
eighteen oh six and eighteen oh seven.
00:23:39.143 --> 00:23:41.364
So with Thomas Jefferson, of course.
00:23:41.983 --> 00:23:42.943
So Robert Treat Payne,
00:23:42.963 --> 00:23:43.964
we had a total of five
00:23:44.005 --> 00:23:46.226
volumes of published papers.
00:23:46.885 --> 00:23:47.746
Thomas Jefferson,
00:23:47.806 --> 00:23:49.707
we're working on volume fifty four.
00:23:50.647 --> 00:23:51.327
We have more to go.
00:23:52.188 --> 00:23:53.749
And the retirement series
00:23:53.788 --> 00:23:56.549
papers are down at Monticello.
00:23:57.891 --> 00:23:58.851
anything after he retired
00:23:58.871 --> 00:23:59.692
from the presidency is
00:23:59.711 --> 00:24:00.612
being published by them.
00:24:00.672 --> 00:24:02.491
So total, we're looking at, you know,
00:24:02.612 --> 00:24:04.393
eighty five volumes of
00:24:04.633 --> 00:24:05.913
Thomas Jefferson's papers
00:24:05.952 --> 00:24:08.334
compared to five of other series.
00:24:08.894 --> 00:24:10.413
And so each volume for us
00:24:10.473 --> 00:24:12.295
might cover three months of
00:24:12.355 --> 00:24:13.714
Jefferson's presidency.
00:24:14.755 --> 00:24:16.615
So in the six years I've been there,
00:24:16.655 --> 00:24:19.356
we've covered late five
00:24:19.396 --> 00:24:20.797
through mid eighteen oh seven.
00:24:21.636 --> 00:24:22.637
So six years for me,
00:24:22.678 --> 00:24:23.958
only two years for Jefferson.
00:24:24.565 --> 00:24:25.425
Yeah.
00:24:25.746 --> 00:24:26.086
And of course,
00:24:26.106 --> 00:24:27.508
this Papers project began
00:24:27.587 --> 00:24:29.911
before you were born in the
00:24:29.931 --> 00:24:31.271
early nineteen fifties, I believe,
00:24:31.311 --> 00:24:32.512
when the United States
00:24:32.532 --> 00:24:33.795
started this enterprise of
00:24:34.214 --> 00:24:36.196
publishing these founding documents.
00:24:36.217 --> 00:24:39.119
So you're kind of for you,
00:24:39.160 --> 00:24:40.821
this is like six years of work,
00:24:40.902 --> 00:24:42.604
but it's part of a much bigger,
00:24:42.864 --> 00:24:45.287
longer project that I don't
00:24:45.307 --> 00:24:46.188
know if in our lifetimes
00:24:46.228 --> 00:24:47.209
we'll see the end of it.
00:24:48.323 --> 00:24:48.482
Well,
00:24:48.542 --> 00:24:51.703
Julian Boyd started the project in
00:24:51.743 --> 00:24:52.664
nineteen forty four.
00:24:52.684 --> 00:24:54.345
He was the librarian of
00:24:54.384 --> 00:24:55.645
Princeton University at the time.
00:24:55.665 --> 00:24:58.527
I think it was nineteen
00:24:58.567 --> 00:24:59.968
fifty before they were able
00:24:59.988 --> 00:25:01.048
to get the first volume out.
00:25:01.728 --> 00:25:03.068
But yes,
00:25:03.148 --> 00:25:04.588
eighty one years now working
00:25:04.608 --> 00:25:06.309
through this project with a
00:25:06.329 --> 00:25:07.691
whole team of editors.
00:25:08.951 --> 00:25:10.032
But one of the wonderful
00:25:10.053 --> 00:25:10.973
things about the papers of
00:25:11.013 --> 00:25:12.756
Thomas Jefferson compared
00:25:12.796 --> 00:25:14.218
to earlier volumes of his
00:25:14.258 --> 00:25:15.740
writings that have already
00:25:15.759 --> 00:25:18.763
been published is that he, for one,
00:25:18.824 --> 00:25:22.028
kept everything or almost everything
00:25:22.998 --> 00:25:24.159
And so we are publishing
00:25:25.140 --> 00:25:25.941
virtually everything.
00:25:26.520 --> 00:25:27.761
And so while he was president,
00:25:27.821 --> 00:25:28.742
he received a lot of
00:25:28.803 --> 00:25:30.845
letters from people all over the country,
00:25:30.884 --> 00:25:32.046
all over the world, really.
00:25:32.445 --> 00:25:33.307
And so we are making an
00:25:33.326 --> 00:25:35.189
attempt to publish all of those.
00:25:36.150 --> 00:25:37.290
And that it really helps get
00:25:37.550 --> 00:25:38.230
the voices of
00:25:39.531 --> 00:25:41.334
under-representative people
00:25:41.753 --> 00:25:44.836
into the papers collection,
00:25:45.136 --> 00:25:46.458
because he did keep
00:25:47.498 --> 00:25:49.598
everything he didn't respond
00:25:50.640 --> 00:25:51.819
he did record it in his
00:25:51.859 --> 00:25:53.080
book of received letters
00:25:53.701 --> 00:25:54.622
file these things away
00:25:54.642 --> 00:25:57.202
interesting so you're not
00:25:57.343 --> 00:25:58.482
just publishing things
00:25:58.544 --> 00:25:59.844
jefferson wrote but things
00:25:59.884 --> 00:26:01.684
people wrote to jefferson
00:26:01.884 --> 00:26:04.346
yes letters to the
00:26:04.385 --> 00:26:06.446
president yeah that could
00:26:06.467 --> 00:26:07.188
be a whole series
00:26:08.779 --> 00:26:11.362
Oh, it's been the last, let's see,
00:26:11.422 --> 00:26:13.624
how many volumes of Jefferson Papers?
00:26:14.765 --> 00:26:15.345
At least ten.
00:26:16.365 --> 00:26:17.968
So what kinds of things are
00:26:17.988 --> 00:26:19.067
people writing to him about?
00:26:19.088 --> 00:26:20.890
Oh, well,
00:26:21.049 --> 00:26:23.071
recently I had a man from rural
00:26:23.132 --> 00:26:25.534
Maine who wrote a very long
00:26:25.574 --> 00:26:26.515
letter describing
00:26:26.555 --> 00:26:27.575
conditions in rural Maine
00:26:27.595 --> 00:26:29.277
and asking for a post office.
00:26:31.266 --> 00:26:34.028
I also recently had a
00:26:34.669 --> 00:26:35.848
Presbyterian minister named
00:26:35.868 --> 00:26:37.369
Gideon Blackburn who
00:26:37.490 --> 00:26:40.392
established a school in
00:26:40.852 --> 00:26:42.633
like the North Carolina, Tennessee border,
00:26:42.993 --> 00:26:46.635
modern border for Cherokee children.
00:26:47.816 --> 00:26:50.258
in the early eighteen hundreds.
00:26:50.397 --> 00:26:53.138
And so he had the students
00:26:53.318 --> 00:26:54.680
at that school write
00:26:55.160 --> 00:26:56.461
letters to the president
00:26:56.760 --> 00:26:58.902
discussing their education
00:26:58.981 --> 00:26:59.662
at that school.
00:27:00.682 --> 00:27:01.823
We are now publishing the
00:27:01.863 --> 00:27:03.644
letters of these children
00:27:03.663 --> 00:27:04.904
who are at that school.
00:27:06.070 --> 00:27:07.752
um and then of course you
00:27:07.792 --> 00:27:08.993
have you know major
00:27:09.013 --> 00:27:09.815
correspondence like the
00:27:09.855 --> 00:27:10.816
marquis de la fayette
00:27:10.836 --> 00:27:12.576
writing to him from europe
00:27:12.616 --> 00:27:13.577
talking about things going
00:27:13.617 --> 00:27:17.041
on there or very um in
00:27:17.142 --> 00:27:18.663
eighteen oh six eighteen oh
00:27:18.702 --> 00:27:19.804
seven we're working through
00:27:19.844 --> 00:27:21.705
the aaron burr papers so
00:27:22.046 --> 00:27:24.749
many accounts of uh
00:27:25.871 --> 00:27:27.231
different either first
00:27:27.372 --> 00:27:28.894
rumors of what's going on
00:27:29.673 --> 00:27:33.778
um in the uh with with what
00:27:33.857 --> 00:27:35.219
aaron is up to and then
00:27:35.278 --> 00:27:36.980
later on uh papers related
00:27:37.019 --> 00:27:38.942
to his trial when he was
00:27:38.961 --> 00:27:41.364
trying to do anything a
00:27:41.384 --> 00:27:42.625
very wide array of things
00:27:42.805 --> 00:27:44.346
oh yeah yeah so you have
00:27:44.365 --> 00:27:45.547
both kind of the big issues
00:27:45.586 --> 00:27:46.548
but then the smaller ones
00:27:46.567 --> 00:27:47.548
like you know the reverend
00:27:47.568 --> 00:27:48.990
blackburn and someone in
00:27:49.029 --> 00:27:50.711
maine wanting a post office and
00:27:51.432 --> 00:27:52.832
a fascinating range of
00:27:52.951 --> 00:27:54.732
things that are coming
00:27:54.772 --> 00:27:57.492
across Jefferson's desk and
00:27:57.532 --> 00:27:59.314
then through the Jefferson Pave,
00:27:59.433 --> 00:28:00.294
across yours too.
00:28:00.973 --> 00:28:01.074
Oh,
00:28:01.094 --> 00:28:02.534
and then we have things like letters
00:28:02.554 --> 00:28:03.394
from his granddaughter
00:28:03.434 --> 00:28:04.275
talking about the chickens
00:28:04.315 --> 00:28:04.934
they're raising.
00:28:06.115 --> 00:28:07.095
So it really is like a
00:28:07.355 --> 00:28:08.955
fascinating array of
00:28:09.316 --> 00:28:10.496
snapshots into the early
00:28:10.536 --> 00:28:11.276
American Republic.
00:28:11.355 --> 00:28:12.676
Now,
00:28:12.696 --> 00:28:13.997
what has changed about your
00:28:14.037 --> 00:28:15.517
perceptions of Jefferson as
00:28:15.537 --> 00:28:17.037
you've been at this now six
00:28:17.116 --> 00:28:19.738
year deep dive into his presidency?
00:28:23.140 --> 00:28:24.339
I'm not really sure that I
00:28:24.359 --> 00:28:25.840
would say much in my
00:28:25.921 --> 00:28:27.861
perception has necessarily changed,
00:28:27.961 --> 00:28:29.320
except that I've gained
00:28:29.361 --> 00:28:31.342
respect for how much he kept things.
00:28:32.942 --> 00:28:33.843
But for me,
00:28:34.182 --> 00:28:35.923
the real joy of working on the
00:28:35.942 --> 00:28:37.442
Jefferson Papers is to see
00:28:37.502 --> 00:28:38.403
all the stories from these
00:28:38.483 --> 00:28:41.203
other people that are writing to him,
00:28:41.223 --> 00:28:43.845
just to get a glimpse into
00:28:43.964 --> 00:28:44.805
life for all of these
00:28:44.825 --> 00:28:46.105
different people or what
00:28:46.164 --> 00:28:48.425
issues they are seeing as
00:28:48.465 --> 00:28:49.586
important enough to them to
00:28:49.605 --> 00:28:50.727
write to the president about them.
00:28:51.287 --> 00:28:51.826
And so for me,
00:28:53.481 --> 00:28:55.027
it's fascinating to be able
00:28:55.047 --> 00:28:56.791
to research and in a way
00:28:56.833 --> 00:28:58.597
get to know like all kinds
00:28:58.637 --> 00:28:59.681
of people from that era,
00:28:59.821 --> 00:29:01.145
not just Jefferson himself.
00:29:02.352 --> 00:29:02.952
That's true.
00:29:02.972 --> 00:29:04.173
That really is a window.
00:29:04.473 --> 00:29:05.894
You mentioned going down rabbit holes,
00:29:05.934 --> 00:29:06.895
and this gives you any
00:29:06.955 --> 00:29:08.417
number of new ones to look
00:29:08.498 --> 00:29:11.121
into these correspondence with Jefferson.
00:29:11.161 --> 00:29:12.521
We're talking with Christina Carrick,
00:29:12.561 --> 00:29:13.803
who is an assistant editor
00:29:14.263 --> 00:29:15.845
at the papers of Thomas Jefferson,
00:29:15.884 --> 00:29:18.708
working through the presidential papers,
00:29:18.768 --> 00:29:20.509
actually his second term.
00:29:20.910 --> 00:29:22.371
You've also written about
00:29:22.431 --> 00:29:24.693
his second inaugural address, say,
00:29:25.574 --> 00:29:27.154
His first inaugural address, of course,
00:29:27.194 --> 00:29:28.515
is one of the great touchstones.
00:29:28.575 --> 00:29:30.515
It sets the tone for the
00:29:30.555 --> 00:29:32.316
next half century or so of
00:29:32.336 --> 00:29:33.236
American politics.
00:29:33.256 --> 00:29:34.056
What can you tell us about
00:29:34.096 --> 00:29:35.135
his second inaugural
00:29:35.155 --> 00:29:37.277
address as a statement?
00:29:38.737 --> 00:29:39.017
Well,
00:29:39.096 --> 00:29:40.498
a lot of my research on the second
00:29:40.538 --> 00:29:41.817
inaugural has actually been
00:29:42.698 --> 00:29:44.739
on Jefferson's ability to present
00:29:46.078 --> 00:29:48.180
So I wish I had the image in front of me,
00:29:48.259 --> 00:29:49.619
but the fascinating thing
00:29:49.640 --> 00:29:50.601
there is actually the
00:29:50.641 --> 00:29:53.122
physical relic that he left behind.
00:29:53.842 --> 00:29:55.603
So for his second inaugural address,
00:29:56.182 --> 00:29:57.442
he didn't think that he
00:29:57.502 --> 00:29:59.844
presented his first one all that well,
00:29:59.884 --> 00:30:02.984
because Jefferson was renowned as, well,
00:30:03.644 --> 00:30:05.165
Jefferson was known as not
00:30:05.445 --> 00:30:07.826
being a particularly good public speaker.
00:30:08.532 --> 00:30:08.653
Well,
00:30:08.692 --> 00:30:09.874
he knew he wasn't a good public speaker.
00:30:09.894 --> 00:30:09.974
Yeah.
00:30:11.375 --> 00:30:12.537
So he put a lot of effort
00:30:12.616 --> 00:30:13.877
into the second inaugural
00:30:13.999 --> 00:30:16.080
and he put he was able to
00:30:16.161 --> 00:30:17.382
abbreviate the entire
00:30:17.422 --> 00:30:18.623
address onto the front and
00:30:18.663 --> 00:30:20.484
back of one sheet of paper.
00:30:21.145 --> 00:30:22.247
And then throughout the thing,
00:30:22.287 --> 00:30:23.909
he put these little
00:30:24.068 --> 00:30:25.750
markings like hash marks
00:30:25.829 --> 00:30:27.092
and circles and other
00:30:29.028 --> 00:30:31.788
elocution marks onto the document,
00:30:31.848 --> 00:30:32.849
trying to indicate to
00:30:32.910 --> 00:30:34.250
himself where he should
00:30:34.391 --> 00:30:36.211
pause or where he should
00:30:36.311 --> 00:30:38.653
add emphasis onto different words.
00:30:39.093 --> 00:30:40.733
I think to try to help him
00:30:40.814 --> 00:30:43.615
present the address better
00:30:43.755 --> 00:30:46.195
and more understandably
00:30:46.395 --> 00:30:48.317
than he did his previous address.
00:30:49.218 --> 00:30:49.917
Unfortunately,
00:30:49.978 --> 00:30:51.118
despite all of that work
00:30:51.159 --> 00:30:52.019
that he put into it,
00:30:52.159 --> 00:30:53.480
everyone who was at the
00:30:53.539 --> 00:30:54.579
inaugural address commented
00:30:54.599 --> 00:30:57.321
that he was not audible at all.
00:31:00.423 --> 00:31:01.945
In an era before microphones
00:31:02.086 --> 00:31:03.166
and other things.
00:31:04.528 --> 00:31:05.911
And the first inaugural
00:31:05.931 --> 00:31:06.711
address is really a
00:31:06.771 --> 00:31:08.133
tremendously eloquent
00:31:08.294 --> 00:31:10.076
statement of everything.
00:31:12.219 --> 00:31:12.739
But yeah,
00:31:12.798 --> 00:31:14.582
you can imagine if no one can hear it,
00:31:15.041 --> 00:31:16.944
it's not going to have the same impact.
00:31:19.098 --> 00:31:20.339
He did immediately send it
00:31:20.380 --> 00:31:21.240
off to be published.
00:31:22.020 --> 00:31:22.641
Most people around the
00:31:22.661 --> 00:31:23.622
country would be reading
00:31:23.682 --> 00:31:26.262
both in newspapers in
00:31:26.303 --> 00:31:27.344
printed form anyway.
00:31:28.785 --> 00:31:29.986
But no,
00:31:30.026 --> 00:31:31.527
the eloquence of the spoken word
00:31:31.567 --> 00:31:33.867
would not have really come through.
00:31:33.968 --> 00:31:35.028
And the second address is
00:31:35.148 --> 00:31:36.028
eloquent in a way, too.
00:31:36.068 --> 00:31:37.150
It doesn't have quite the
00:31:37.250 --> 00:31:40.412
same quotable passages that
00:31:40.451 --> 00:31:42.032
you see in the first inaugural.
00:31:44.519 --> 00:31:46.380
Well, the one great one is what farmer,
00:31:46.500 --> 00:31:47.361
what mechanic,
00:31:47.401 --> 00:31:48.621
what artisan ever sees the
00:31:48.681 --> 00:31:50.382
face of a tax gatherer of
00:31:50.402 --> 00:31:51.382
the United States?
00:31:53.842 --> 00:31:56.143
He says, we are all Federalists.
00:31:56.182 --> 00:31:59.763
We are all Republicans in the first one.
00:31:59.784 --> 00:32:00.564
Yeah.
00:32:00.584 --> 00:32:02.904
So,
00:32:02.944 --> 00:32:04.724
so what do we have to look forward to
00:32:04.765 --> 00:32:07.226
in the next volume of Jefferson's papers?
00:32:08.984 --> 00:32:09.586
Oh, well,
00:32:10.586 --> 00:32:12.027
so we're usually working on like
00:32:12.086 --> 00:32:13.669
four at a time that are
00:32:13.689 --> 00:32:14.368
going through different
00:32:14.429 --> 00:32:15.589
parts of the review process.
00:32:16.029 --> 00:32:18.112
But volume forty nine,
00:32:18.192 --> 00:32:19.512
which will be coming out at
00:32:19.532 --> 00:32:20.733
the end of this year,
00:32:21.713 --> 00:32:26.738
has the beginnings of the
00:32:26.837 --> 00:32:28.239
Aaron Burr series.
00:32:30.298 --> 00:32:30.900
And then the one we're
00:32:30.920 --> 00:32:33.520
working on right now, volume fifty four,
00:32:33.560 --> 00:32:34.402
which will be a few years
00:32:34.442 --> 00:32:35.201
before it comes out,
00:32:35.542 --> 00:32:36.442
we're starting to look at
00:32:36.482 --> 00:32:37.304
the Chesapeake Leopard
00:32:37.324 --> 00:32:39.865
Affair from all over the
00:32:39.884 --> 00:32:43.527
country with their strong
00:32:44.008 --> 00:32:46.169
desire to defend the United
00:32:46.189 --> 00:32:46.949
States against British
00:32:46.989 --> 00:32:48.809
aggression and a lot of
00:32:48.869 --> 00:32:49.590
militia companies
00:32:49.631 --> 00:32:51.511
volunteering for service
00:32:51.531 --> 00:32:52.392
should they be needed.
00:32:53.313 --> 00:32:54.753
So that's the big theme of
00:32:54.973 --> 00:32:55.713
the volume fifty four that
00:32:55.733 --> 00:32:56.535
we're working on right now.
00:32:58.019 --> 00:32:59.219
One thing that I work on in
00:32:59.259 --> 00:33:00.599
particular that's read
00:33:00.619 --> 00:33:02.039
throughout the volumes is
00:33:02.220 --> 00:33:04.880
petitions for pardon to the president,
00:33:06.441 --> 00:33:07.661
which are really interesting,
00:33:08.141 --> 00:33:09.421
especially at that point in time,
00:33:09.461 --> 00:33:11.201
because in Washington, D.C.,
00:33:11.362 --> 00:33:13.261
every crime was essentially
00:33:13.301 --> 00:33:14.041
a federal crime.
00:33:14.442 --> 00:33:15.281
And so you have people who
00:33:15.321 --> 00:33:17.363
are imprisoned with a fine,
00:33:17.502 --> 00:33:18.282
but they don't have any way
00:33:18.303 --> 00:33:19.042
to pay the fine.
00:33:19.063 --> 00:33:19.962
So the only way to get out
00:33:19.982 --> 00:33:21.423
of prison is to write a
00:33:21.443 --> 00:33:22.463
letter to the president and
00:33:22.483 --> 00:33:23.144
ask for pardon.
00:33:24.065 --> 00:33:25.567
wow um so those are really
00:33:25.606 --> 00:33:26.648
fascinating to me and there
00:33:26.689 --> 00:33:28.049
are a few of those in all
00:33:28.090 --> 00:33:28.932
of the volumes that we're
00:33:28.951 --> 00:33:31.535
looking at it's interesting
00:33:31.694 --> 00:33:32.896
yeah I know john quincy
00:33:32.977 --> 00:33:34.138
adams is president in his
00:33:34.179 --> 00:33:35.160
diary he mentions the
00:33:35.180 --> 00:33:36.121
people who come to him
00:33:36.141 --> 00:33:37.262
because they need a handout
00:33:37.363 --> 00:33:38.364
or something so he's
00:33:40.459 --> 00:33:43.721
Um, Jefferson mentions those, uh, well, we,
00:33:43.761 --> 00:33:44.923
we do get a lot of letters
00:33:45.083 --> 00:33:45.883
asking for charitable
00:33:45.903 --> 00:33:47.904
contributions that he saved, um,
00:33:47.944 --> 00:33:51.027
people with, uh, stories of hardship or,
00:33:51.827 --> 00:33:54.309
um, people just asking for, you know,
00:33:54.430 --> 00:33:55.230
support to get their
00:33:55.269 --> 00:33:57.432
business up and running, uh,
00:33:57.451 --> 00:33:58.313
that are really interesting.
00:33:58.353 --> 00:33:59.073
And then you can see when
00:33:59.113 --> 00:34:00.173
they actually visited him
00:34:00.193 --> 00:34:01.815
because he'll record in his, um,
00:34:02.096 --> 00:34:04.057
memorandum books, uh,
00:34:04.277 --> 00:34:05.417
when he gave a charitable
00:34:05.438 --> 00:34:07.179
donation to different people.
00:34:07.420 --> 00:34:09.101
Yeah.
00:34:09.496 --> 00:34:10.018
Do you get a sense,
00:34:10.077 --> 00:34:10.818
is there a difference
00:34:10.838 --> 00:34:12.280
between when Jefferson is
00:34:12.340 --> 00:34:13.541
in Washington and when he's
00:34:13.561 --> 00:34:14.422
in Monticello?
00:34:14.864 --> 00:34:16.485
He said at one point in Monticello,
00:34:16.505 --> 00:34:18.989
he feels like a workhorse
00:34:19.068 --> 00:34:20.751
just constantly turning
00:34:20.771 --> 00:34:22.132
because he's constantly writing.
00:34:22.152 --> 00:34:23.074
It seems he says he does
00:34:23.135 --> 00:34:24.155
more writing there than he
00:34:24.195 --> 00:34:25.016
does in Washington.
00:34:26.309 --> 00:34:26.951
Yes, for sure,
00:34:26.990 --> 00:34:28.570
especially to his cabinet members.
00:34:29.532 --> 00:34:30.532
When he's in Washington,
00:34:30.552 --> 00:34:31.753
they have meetings with
00:34:31.773 --> 00:34:32.934
Gallatin and with Madison
00:34:34.494 --> 00:34:36.795
and his other secretaries.
00:34:37.056 --> 00:34:38.317
But when he's at Monticello,
00:34:38.336 --> 00:34:39.637
he has to do all of that by letters.
00:34:39.978 --> 00:34:41.298
So it's nice for us because
00:34:41.318 --> 00:34:42.358
we get a little bit more of
00:34:42.619 --> 00:34:43.599
detail into how they're
00:34:43.619 --> 00:34:44.500
interacting with each other
00:34:44.559 --> 00:34:45.880
as parts of the cabinet.
00:34:46.481 --> 00:34:48.922
But it must have been a lot
00:34:49.523 --> 00:34:50.443
more work for him because
00:34:50.463 --> 00:34:50.963
he didn't have to
00:34:51.003 --> 00:34:52.304
constantly be writing to them.
00:34:52.985 --> 00:34:54.344
Especially if he was at
00:34:54.385 --> 00:34:55.445
Monticello when there was a
00:34:55.485 --> 00:34:56.545
big dramatic world event.
00:34:56.585 --> 00:35:00.206
It does give you an
00:35:00.226 --> 00:35:01.487
appreciation of the speed
00:35:01.527 --> 00:35:03.108
of communication and how
00:35:03.168 --> 00:35:05.648
long it took a letter to go from, say,
00:35:05.688 --> 00:35:07.389
Madison in Washington to
00:35:07.469 --> 00:35:09.188
Jefferson or Madison was at
00:35:09.228 --> 00:35:11.170
Montpelier or Gallatin was in Washington.
00:35:11.836 --> 00:35:12.777
the way they would have had
00:35:12.797 --> 00:35:13.898
to connect with each other
00:35:14.117 --> 00:35:14.719
through writing.
00:35:14.778 --> 00:35:16.320
It's not an easy thing.
00:35:17.019 --> 00:35:19.282
No, but it's speedy for the time.
00:35:19.521 --> 00:35:19.681
I mean,
00:35:19.702 --> 00:35:21.402
you can turn around in a couple of
00:35:21.443 --> 00:35:24.284
days for a lot of those letters.
00:35:24.405 --> 00:35:25.686
So they expected pretty
00:35:25.746 --> 00:35:27.447
rapid responses for that.
00:35:28.291 --> 00:35:30.092
Yeah.
00:35:30.132 --> 00:35:30.974
So we've been talking with
00:35:31.014 --> 00:35:31.894
Christina Carrick,
00:35:31.914 --> 00:35:33.295
who is an assistant editor
00:35:33.335 --> 00:35:34.958
of the papers of Thomas Jefferson,
00:35:35.038 --> 00:35:37.960
and she served as an editor on volumes,
00:35:38.041 --> 00:35:39.862
forty five, forty six, forty seven,
00:35:40.123 --> 00:35:41.143
forty and then forty eight
00:35:41.164 --> 00:35:42.284
through fifty three, I guess,
00:35:42.344 --> 00:35:43.166
are in the works.
00:35:43.987 --> 00:35:45.108
And also you've been an
00:35:45.168 --> 00:35:47.090
editor of the papers of Robert Paine,
00:35:47.130 --> 00:35:49.132
published by the Mass Historical Society.
00:35:49.894 --> 00:35:51.838
and working on the loyalist networks.
00:35:51.878 --> 00:35:52.420
Christina, I mean,
00:35:52.440 --> 00:35:53.201
we've covered a lot of
00:35:53.240 --> 00:35:54.463
ground from the loyalist
00:35:54.583 --> 00:35:55.505
time of the revolution to
00:35:55.525 --> 00:35:56.726
the Jefferson administration.
00:35:56.766 --> 00:35:57.648
Is there anything else we
00:35:57.668 --> 00:35:58.309
should talk about?
00:35:59.425 --> 00:36:00.007
Oh, goodness.
00:36:00.686 --> 00:36:01.987
I do feel like I wear many
00:36:02.047 --> 00:36:03.009
hats when I'm researching,
00:36:03.168 --> 00:36:05.510
but they are all connected in ways.
00:36:07.351 --> 00:36:07.972
Especially,
00:36:08.672 --> 00:36:09.693
we mentioned earlier with
00:36:09.773 --> 00:36:11.235
George Irving and the
00:36:11.275 --> 00:36:12.856
Jefferson councils abroad,
00:36:12.896 --> 00:36:14.117
it's nice that I can kind
00:36:14.137 --> 00:36:14.998
of come full circle to
00:36:15.217 --> 00:36:16.139
having people who are
00:36:16.159 --> 00:36:17.340
connected to these exiled
00:36:17.380 --> 00:36:18.860
loyalists now serving the
00:36:18.880 --> 00:36:19.922
Jefferson administration.
00:36:20.282 --> 00:36:21.143
So I feel like, in a way,
00:36:21.202 --> 00:36:22.344
my research and my career
00:36:22.364 --> 00:36:23.704
has come full circle by
00:36:23.744 --> 00:36:24.545
connecting those two.
00:36:24.625 --> 00:36:27.547
That's great.
00:36:27.628 --> 00:36:28.909
Is there anything else you would like to
00:36:29.615 --> 00:36:29.695
Well,
00:36:29.715 --> 00:36:31.097
I wonder if you have any advice to
00:36:31.237 --> 00:36:32.177
anyone who wanted to get
00:36:32.237 --> 00:36:35.278
into documentary editing.
00:36:35.358 --> 00:36:35.778
Well, first,
00:36:35.838 --> 00:36:36.559
I would recommend that you
00:36:36.599 --> 00:36:37.840
visit the Association for
00:36:37.900 --> 00:36:39.320
Documentary Editing website,
00:36:41.442 --> 00:36:43.603
which not to be confused
00:36:43.623 --> 00:36:44.762
with the Association for
00:36:45.264 --> 00:36:46.985
the Alliance for Documentary Editors,
00:36:47.045 --> 00:36:48.045
which is movies.
00:36:50.206 --> 00:36:51.266
And you can see the variety
00:36:51.306 --> 00:36:52.706
of different projects that we have.
00:36:52.766 --> 00:36:52.967
But
00:36:54.769 --> 00:36:55.311
allies,
00:36:57.393 --> 00:36:59.193
the different allied projects are
00:36:59.233 --> 00:36:59.614
going on.
00:37:00.195 --> 00:37:01.456
Documentary editing is by
00:37:01.516 --> 00:37:03.639
nature a very collaborative enterprise.
00:37:03.978 --> 00:37:05.000
So we interact with each
00:37:05.059 --> 00:37:07.021
other across projects quite often,
00:37:07.521 --> 00:37:08.684
share research and care
00:37:08.724 --> 00:37:09.824
resources that we're using.
00:37:10.324 --> 00:37:11.326
And it's really great to
00:37:11.385 --> 00:37:12.086
work with all of these
00:37:12.126 --> 00:37:13.407
other editors on projects
00:37:13.427 --> 00:37:15.789
in the country that connect to ours.
00:37:17.471 --> 00:37:17.592
Now,
00:37:17.652 --> 00:37:18.913
I would say if anyone wants to be a
00:37:18.952 --> 00:37:19.813
documentary editor,
00:37:20.094 --> 00:37:21.355
start volunteering to
00:37:21.394 --> 00:37:22.275
transcribe and reading
00:37:22.295 --> 00:37:23.376
those original courses
00:37:23.556 --> 00:37:24.797
because practice with
00:37:25.018 --> 00:37:27.981
handwriting is most essential.
00:37:30.041 --> 00:37:31.023
And really getting to know
00:37:31.163 --> 00:37:32.585
each person that we're
00:37:32.644 --> 00:37:35.407
working on and the nuances and little...
00:37:37.548 --> 00:37:38.489
different elements of their
00:37:38.509 --> 00:37:39.750
handwriting that might help
00:37:40.210 --> 00:37:41.550
you in particular.
00:37:42.789 --> 00:37:44.791
And then also we have the
00:37:44.831 --> 00:37:45.951
opportunity to do like
00:37:46.070 --> 00:37:47.490
really in-depth research on
00:37:47.610 --> 00:37:48.911
individual people within
00:37:48.931 --> 00:37:50.231
these papers that I think
00:37:51.092 --> 00:37:52.072
when they might be
00:37:52.112 --> 00:37:53.253
mentioned in broader
00:37:53.313 --> 00:37:55.713
monographs might not get that same,
00:37:55.773 --> 00:37:57.873
like we try to identify
00:37:57.994 --> 00:37:59.673
every person who wrote to
00:37:59.813 --> 00:38:00.634
or received a letter from
00:38:00.673 --> 00:38:02.514
Thomas Jefferson.
00:38:04.373 --> 00:38:06.353
I hope that that can be of
00:38:06.494 --> 00:38:08.855
use in adding these people
00:38:08.894 --> 00:38:09.996
to the historical record
00:38:10.235 --> 00:38:12.317
and in helping people who
00:38:12.376 --> 00:38:13.516
are writing the monographs
00:38:14.036 --> 00:38:15.838
that often use our editions.
00:38:16.398 --> 00:38:21.240
And so I'm very happy to be
00:38:21.280 --> 00:38:22.081
working in documentary
00:38:22.161 --> 00:38:25.722
editing and I would
00:38:25.762 --> 00:38:29.043
encourage other scholars to look into it.
00:38:30.181 --> 00:38:30.362
Well,
00:38:30.402 --> 00:38:32.284
what you do is really invaluable to
00:38:33.103 --> 00:38:34.224
the scholarly world and the
00:38:34.264 --> 00:38:34.945
general public.
00:38:34.985 --> 00:38:35.744
I know a lot has been
00:38:35.784 --> 00:38:37.045
digitized and then put on
00:38:37.085 --> 00:38:40.867
the Founders Online source.
00:38:42.009 --> 00:38:43.289
The National Archives, I know,
00:38:43.349 --> 00:38:44.329
has a project.
00:38:44.349 --> 00:38:45.510
They're looking for civilian
00:38:45.550 --> 00:38:47.411
volunteers to transcribe things.
00:38:47.452 --> 00:38:48.911
And here in Boston,
00:38:48.931 --> 00:38:50.393
the Congregational Library
00:38:50.432 --> 00:38:51.733
has a big project on the
00:38:51.753 --> 00:38:53.175
hidden histories of New England.
00:38:53.195 --> 00:38:54.215
They're looking for people
00:38:54.235 --> 00:38:55.255
to help transcribing
00:38:55.916 --> 00:38:56.976
a lot of great church
00:38:57.036 --> 00:38:58.496
records and so there are
00:38:58.516 --> 00:38:59.458
really many great
00:38:59.498 --> 00:39:00.557
opportunities for people
00:39:00.577 --> 00:39:01.978
who want to get into this
00:39:02.039 --> 00:39:04.619
get your um and learn this
00:39:04.659 --> 00:39:06.820
handwritten the uh american
00:39:06.860 --> 00:39:08.081
philosophical society I
00:39:08.101 --> 00:39:08.902
know is doing a
00:39:08.942 --> 00:39:09.621
transcribing the
00:39:09.661 --> 00:39:11.882
revolutionary city project
00:39:11.922 --> 00:39:13.143
that is also bringing in
00:39:13.543 --> 00:39:14.563
you know citizen
00:39:14.603 --> 00:39:15.704
transcribers to help with
00:39:15.744 --> 00:39:19.887
this work um and I'm sure
00:39:19.907 --> 00:39:21.728
there are others too but
00:39:22.994 --> 00:39:23.594
It's really great.
00:39:23.614 --> 00:39:24.396
It's great to hear that it's
00:39:24.416 --> 00:39:25.715
a collaborative enterprise too,
00:39:25.775 --> 00:39:27.197
that you're,
00:39:27.217 --> 00:39:28.538
because you're doing Jefferson, I mean,
00:39:28.577 --> 00:39:28.958
you're, you're,
00:39:29.018 --> 00:39:30.358
you're not the anti Hamilton,
00:39:30.418 --> 00:39:31.559
but you're all working
00:39:31.719 --> 00:39:32.880
together to just trying to
00:39:32.920 --> 00:39:33.900
figure out what happened.
00:39:33.920 --> 00:39:34.139
Yeah.
00:39:34.360 --> 00:39:36.501
Yeah.
00:39:36.601 --> 00:39:38.442
So, so thank you so much, Christina.
00:39:38.461 --> 00:39:40.103
We've been talking with Christina Carrick,
00:39:40.282 --> 00:39:41.804
who is an assistant editor
00:39:41.844 --> 00:39:43.304
at the papers of Thomas Jefferson.
00:39:43.445 --> 00:39:44.045
And as she said,
00:39:44.085 --> 00:39:45.405
wears many other hats in
00:39:45.445 --> 00:39:47.146
the world of scholarship.
00:39:47.166 --> 00:39:48.487
So thank you so much for joining us.
00:39:48.507 --> 00:39:49.487
Thank you for having me.
00:39:49.507 --> 00:39:50.768
It's been a pleasure.
00:39:52.045 --> 00:39:53.545
And I want to thank Jonathan Lane,
00:39:53.686 --> 00:39:55.507
our tireless executive
00:39:55.547 --> 00:39:57.469
director of Revolution Two-Fifty,
00:39:57.608 --> 00:39:58.570
and also thank our
00:39:59.030 --> 00:40:01.152
listeners who tune in regularly.
00:40:01.172 --> 00:40:02.632
You know, every week we thank some.
00:40:02.672 --> 00:40:04.114
And if you're in one of these places,
00:40:04.715 --> 00:40:05.896
send Jonathan an email,
00:40:06.215 --> 00:40:08.958
jlane at revolution two-fifty dot org,
00:40:09.579 --> 00:40:10.679
and he will send you some
00:40:10.760 --> 00:40:12.360
Revolution Two-Fifty swag.
00:40:12.561 --> 00:40:14.262
And if you just want to connect with us,
00:40:14.282 --> 00:40:14.983
send us an email.
00:40:15.023 --> 00:40:16.103
We love hearing from people.
00:40:16.920 --> 00:40:17.440
And this week,
00:40:17.539 --> 00:40:18.260
I want to thank our
00:40:18.300 --> 00:40:20.081
listeners in the great city
00:40:20.121 --> 00:40:22.583
of Philadelphia and here in
00:40:22.623 --> 00:40:23.822
the Bay State at East East
00:40:23.882 --> 00:40:26.403
Falmouth on Cape Cod, Casa Grande,
00:40:26.463 --> 00:40:28.684
Arizona, Las Cruces, New Mexico,
00:40:29.206 --> 00:40:30.766
Edinburgh in Scotland,
00:40:30.826 --> 00:40:33.387
Burlington in Vermont, Katy, Texas,
00:40:34.168 --> 00:40:35.427
home of a great pitcher,
00:40:35.688 --> 00:40:37.469
Goffstown in New Hampshire,
00:40:37.608 --> 00:40:39.909
Acapulco in Mexico, and Kelvin Grove,
00:40:39.949 --> 00:40:40.590
Australia,
00:40:40.771 --> 00:40:42.351
and all places between and beyond.
00:40:42.371 --> 00:40:43.331
Thanks for joining us.
00:40:43.351 --> 00:40:44.913
And now we'll be piped out
00:40:44.952 --> 00:40:45.833
on the road to Boston.