with. [applause] and fabric are all that remains of the and delivers engaging on the list. >> and how he spent history. marine all of the topics bridge the online and work/history. confront a full schedule on your program that works at c-span.org/visit. explorers of h america. before thomas jefferson set lewis and clark off their famous expedition, moscow's work took him from bahamas to the hudson

bay and it's likely that no other had seen so much of this continent at the time. but there's more to the story. during his decade long in america, he found himself the center of a vast internet national conspiracy and as the story winds on an unexpected figure emerges at the center of the plot. one very well known to all of us here in virginia, and that is thomas jefferson joining us this evening to unpack this conspiracy is patrick spero until patrick served as the library man and director of the american philosophical society library, one of the oldest, one of the very oldest history organizations, our nation. and in beginning this january, official, he will take on the reins this august organization as its new ceo. patrick is a scholar of early american history and the author of several articles and four

books, including frontier country, the politics, war and early pennsylvania frontier rebels, the fight for, independence in the american west and other presidency. thomas jefferson and the american philosophical society. and most recently, the work will be the form will form the the bulk of his talk this evening the scientist turned spy andre michaux thomas jefferson and the conspiracy of 1793. i very much appreciate you all taking the time to be here this evening for your wonderful support of this august institution. and i hope now you'll join me in a very warm welcome for my friend patrick spero. well, thank you, jamie, for that very generous introduction. i thought you were done with the clap. and then you went on so and it's great, actually, to be back here. i was reminiscing earlier, my first visit to this site was the

virginia historical society. at the time when i was working on that first book, frontier country politics of war in early pennsylvania, and that book among things, studied something called dunmore war, which is probably fairly well known with this audience, but i was looking in particular at how pennsylvania and virginia were actually in a conflict at the same time over who would control pittsburgh, virginia, as it was want to do. i'm a pennsylvania. and you know like the state claims to a whole vast parts of the country and they said pittsburgh was part of virginia. of course pennsylvania said no, but a lot of records of that was here. but in any case, it's been i don't know, over. 15, 16 years since i've been here. and seen the transformation. and so thank you all for giving me a round of applause. but i have to say, having walked through here today, you owe jamie bosket a huge round of applause. the change that he's in, whether we're. so i want to talk tonight about

my book front, the scientist turned spy. i've got all the books conflated now. i head. and what i want to do is talk a little bit first about how i came to write the that i did and then share with you some of my findings. so the story of this book actually begins with with this document. i should ask why. sure. hands how many people have heard of andre michaux before? all right. a fair number, but not many. so when i was a librarian at the american philosophical society, you know, it's a large library. it's got a lot of administrative nctions. i would 90% of my job was spent behind the computer screen, behind the desk, glued, glued to tputer, dealing with email and various other things. but every oncewhile, the greatest of b was when we got to take out the treasures and give a tour that showcased the incredollection that we have, thesophical y, and one of my favorite documents to share was this one. it was the michaud

subscription list. and the reason i, i like a chair isse this is aational treasure which we'll talk about. but it also tells really so what i want to do is share with you wt would tps who would come to the philosophical society for four treasures tour. at least what i would them and then i'll tell at?ok. then i will tell you what i say in the b so to begin this document is written in 1793, the first half of it is in thomas jef's hand at the t793, jefferson was the secretary of state, bwas also vice president of the american philosophical society, which was the country's first oldest and most distingui learned, had also begun. develop a library around it the society, supported research and what this shows in this top half is a project that jefferson was trying to fund. and you can see there, the top portion says, whereasndrew michaux was andre, a native of

france. and it happened in the united states has underta explore the interior country of north america from the mississippi along missouri, west to the pacific ocean. so this is lewis and clark. ten years before lewis and clark, that middle sectionre where that arrow is, it says the said philosophy society. well, we' raise money. the proceeds thereof will fund this expedition across the ocea and then what youre looking at beneath there are the people who supported this project. so jefferson wrote andn he brought it around to all of his friends in philadelphia to say, i found somebody who wants to take a trannental expedition. will you support it? and here you can see some of the signatures on the top. george washington $100. john adams beneath him. in the mthere is thomas jefferson dollars. beneath him is alex andrew hamilton and above him you can probably cks. and then to the right is james madison. so three of virginia sons are on

this, but also the first four presidents. so this document ed t be the only one to contain the first four presidents signature on it. they all were in at the declaration and they all worked at the constitution. now, the most remarkable part of this document story is there was only rediscovered. in 1979 when a high school intern was going through an old vault, the philosophical society. he found a scroll roll rolled up with a red ribbon on it, realized, well, this is probably above my pay grade to open this and decided to take it to the librarian's office who unfurled it and realized they had a national treasure on his hands. now i often got asked, you know. so. so what happens? they raised all this money. what happened? this expedition. i've never heard of andre michaux or this expedition. and i'd usually summarize it by what we wrote on our own. what the apes wrote on their website. ultimately, the expedition was called off due toiplomatic difficulties with france, which owed much of the territo tbe

explored so i want you to remember this mmary. diplomatic difficulties with france is why it did not happen and that they owed much of the territory to be explored. this is important so the story of how i came to write this book is this. this document always fascinated me and i it was the pandemic. my my life had gotten waylaid like else. one of the things that also happened was i have three children, all of their soccer canceled. and so all of a sudden i had my evenings and i started thinking, well, i something to do. and at almost the time the director of development at the aps, hey, you know that document you always talk about the me show subscription list. it'd be really if you would give a talk about that subscription list at an event in california in september of 2020. and i thought, this is great. i really would like to dive into this more to figure out what the whole story is behind document. so as you know, september 20,

20, i probably did not travel to california. and instead of giving a 20 minute talk in san francisco, i ended up writing a 400 page book and i'm now here giving you a 40 minute talk about what i found. so that was the spark for the book. it really was. it was supposed to be a talk. and i wanted to range the talk around four questions. and these are the questions tha end up forming the core of the book. so who was andre michaux? anwhat is the real story of this description list and what real happened? and probably most importantly, did it matter? what's the legacy and so i want to share with you now some the findings that i uncovered during my expedition, if you will, into the past. but if you want the full answers, i understand there's a book signing afterwards out in the hall. so. so who was andre michaux, who was jaime mentioned? i think andre michaux show is probably the greatest scientific explorer, a natural historian of

his generation that you've never heard of before. in fact, there is no no likeness of him you're looking at. here is an image i found in the aps library in another french botanist papers, who decided to sketch what? a botanist would look like in the field, conducting research. and so this was actually really helpful for me when i was trying to imagine me showing all these expeditions, because you can see here, i don't know if you can make it out, but he's got a gun over, his shoulder, he's got a pickax in his right hand. he's got all this treasure and specimen behind him. and this is how i pictured michaux throughout the story. so i hope maybe you will, too. i'm too. i'll tell you a little bit more about michaux. michaux was born in france in 1746. he was born outside of rissi. so you're looking at vici here he wasoron an area called sartori, which at the time where a number of farms ts s land that was by the king of france, who then leased it out to diduals. and often these individuals had gained the favor or in support

of t king. d if you had one of these farms, you could rely on a fairly lucrative income. wh because you fed vici and there were a lot of males at vici all the time to feed. and any excess you had you could then bring to market. you could also feed your own family. sartori is actually that forest down there on the bottom that is now forest that was all farmland before. so you can get a sense of how close michaux was to riverside. w, misha's father anticipated that his son just follow in his footsteps. this is, you know, monarchical autocratic, hierarchical france, as far as he was concerned, this is a great living. it's an inheritance that he wanted to pass on to his son. and michaux, for all intents and purposes followed in his father's, followed in his father's footsteps, in eventually took over the farm and everything was going swimmingly for michaux. and as. see this is a theme in me shows

life. everything seems to be going really well. he marries he has a young son named francois andre and then the happens. tragedy strikes me michaux whose wife dies just months after childbirth, leaving a widower, a young single father and most of all, what becomes clear in misha's life story is that he had a passionate love for his wife and. he never again. there's no record of him ever again finding a friend. and he's sent into this deep dark depressive abyss. there are accounts of his neighbors and his friends worried about michaux, and they feared that he was going to do something drastic and his friends were inviting him over for dinner they're all trying to raise his spirits and nothing seems to work until he's invited over to a botanist who is working at versailles. and that botanist was working on that top area there, if you can see kind of a cross-check. that's brown. he iit michaud over.

he heard about michaud. he understood michaud had a farm and he asked me, sure, if you do me a favor, he'd receive these new seeds from afar. and he wanted to see me. sure can conduct an experiment to see if they would grow in french soil, michaud agreed. and next thing he knew the work consoled him and also consumed him. michaud realized he had found his passion. he was a scientist and this sparked that interest in him and the botanist. at first i realized that he had somebody had incredible aptitude. michaud blew me away with his ability to conduct this experiment, and soon he takes michaud under his wing and he becomes his protege. and after he spends a month in vici studying under him, he sent to paris to study at the royal garden. there. and then they are so impressed with him they send michaud over to london to study in the botanical gardens in the uk he returns from london and he sent out in some very early kind of apprenticeship what are called botany expeditions. that's when a botanist goes out

to conduct experiment in the pyrenees and then he returns to paris and he's hungry for adventure. he's hungry to prove who he is and what he can do. and that coincides in 1782 with the arrival or the of a diplomatic to the middle east. the french are sending an envoy who are supposed to go to baghdad to conduct diplomacy, to establish a castle. and they and michaux lobbies to be appointed on this expedition and the crown and marie-antoinette in particular agrees to underwrite his cost to the middle east. and so michaux spends three years traveling throughout the middle east. he travels all the way up to the caspian sea and returns to paris, and he returns ladened with all of these treasures. he carries back with him. he can. he's the person that's believed to be the first person to create a french to persian dictionary. he carries back something called the michaux.

and i read about this. michaux stone is described as 50 pounds, and it had this this kind of ancient hieroglyphics on it that nobody could interpret. actually, nobody could actually crack it until the mid-19th century, but everybody knew it was valuable because it had sort of data on it. when i went to paris to conduct research and to kind of walk in me shows footsteps, and they had stone out. the stone was only about this big, but it's 50 pounds, which is pretty incredible. and he has hundreds of new specimens and seeds. he arrives back at the court of france and. they're blown away by him. and king louis, the 16th, decides to appoint michaux as his royal botanist, and michaux thinks, oh, this is great. i finally made it. i can now myself as a botanist, i'm going to a steady stream of income and i pursue botany. however i wish. and the king says to him, i don't think so. and he says, what do you mean? he says, because i've just got to travel to the far east and i've actually see there is so much more in asia to discover. i want to go there.

the environment can be similar to france. i can find all these new treasures there to bring back. and king says, no, no, i have different plans for you, young man. you were to head west, travel across the atlantic ocean to the united states. why? there are several reasons that the king decided to send michaux over to the united states, michaux agrees to. of course he, is in the patra under the patronage of the king of france at the time. france, this is the first time france had really had to eastern north america. and it had been offered incredible amount to the french. so first off, as many of you probably know, france had just fought almost 30 years of constant warfare. the seven years war also as the french and indian war, followed by the american revolution, the support of the united states during the american revolution, and as a result, the french force were largely depleted. they had depleted their force in

order to provide their military, especially they turned the navy with the stores necessary to sustain these wars. and so the king said to me, show i need you to go to united states and try and discover american oats that are hardy enough that can be planted in france so we can replenish our forests. the other hope for the other objective was that because the british controlled eastern america for so long, french had largely not had access to that area and the french were hopeful that there are all these crops and plants and even animals that could be exported from the united states and import into france that would transform french agriculture to strengthen their economy, but also to provide greater sustenance for those in france. this was a period of time which remained a real threat. and they hoped they believed their crops in america that we could be sent to france and imported into their soil and transform french agriculture. and then the third objective, which was actually the one

michaux had the most interest in, was to find new plants that were incredibly beautiful. and so that was the third objective that michaux had so we show travels across atlantic ocean in 1785 he'll arrives in york city this is where they think he's going to open up his first botanical garden. and he meets a number of new yorkers and he immediately realizes this is not place for him. he why you all laughing? i haven't got to the punch line yet. he writes, and this is a quote that, new york city people are cold and only care about money, not science. it's and and so he starts to explore other areas of the country. the other thing he's frustrated with, he does not find the horticulture, the plant life that he's looking for in this expedition. and so he starts traveling

around north america to try and find a different spot. and of course, one of the places he visits is virginia he's carrying with him letters of introduction from lafayette and others. and he finds himself at mount vernon to meet george washington. he and george washington spend a night together. washington is taken. michaux he's one of those stories where as far as we can tell, washington had no idea michaux was going to show up on his doorsteps. but he shows up and he's carrying a letter introduction from lafayette. so, of course, washington's going to invite him in. and then washington, all these stories about the middle east that michaux is regaling him with. and he says, you know, if you need any help, if you want to use mount vernon as a site for experimentation, i can give you some area if you if you'd like it. so they really hit it off. and michaux eventually sends washington a number of pistachio nuts and other plants that that washington plants are. well as he's traveling throughout north america, he eventually lands in charleston, south, and he realizes the charleston, south carolina,

provides with the base that he wants to work. and so he opens a botanical garden in charleston, south carolina. and about the same time, he also opens a second garden in new jersey. it's only it's a smaller garden in new jersey. he has 110 acres, 111 acres in south carolina. so by 1785, andre michaux, this frenchman, has opened two large botanical gardens in north america, one in new jersey that actually took an act of the new jersey state legislature to create because foreigners were not allowed to own any land at the time. but in recognition of the french support for the american revolution, they decided to allow michaux to open a garden and 110 acres from charleston, south carona, which served as me, shows base of operations. and as you can s here, michaux from that south carolina hub took a number of expeditions thughout north ameca, the way his pattern was basically every spring would launch an expetion to a new arereturn

and then spend the fall and winter months taking those plants and those specins, planting them, cultivating them and keeping up with his scientific work. and here you c see he travele through florida. he went to the bahamas. everything is going swimmingly from his show. he may have been reluctant to come to the united states, but after a couple of years, he is completely smitten with the united states. this is where he's making incredible discoveries. he's writing back to france. he ends up sending 50,000 living specimens across, the atlantic ocean to france. it's really remarkable. but going back to that pattern in me shows life where everything seems to be going well until it isn't anymore. in he's completely waylaid by events of his control. as we all probably know, eventually the french revolution happens by 1791, the king has been deposed. he is no longer able to fund me. shows, expeditions. michaux himself has run out of his own personal money.

he's in dire financial straits. he's going to former bankers and financiers in charleston and boston in new york city, trying to find somebody who would keep him in the united states. south carolina goes far. they know he how desperate michaux and how vital the work he is doing is. south carolina offers him citizenship. in exchange, they will give him citizenship if he'll stay in the united states, they will fund his garden. he refuses because he refuses to become an american citizen. he may like the united states, but he is a frenchman. first and foremost. so michaux is in dire straits. he decides, you know, the best thing for him is to in fact, one of the funny stories is he receives a letter from his supervisor in france and he says, we can't support you anymore. it's time for you to come home. you have end this project. and he shows he writes to a friend. he says, you know, i just pretended i never received letter. so we may be able to relate to that in some respects.

so finally he goes, what can i do? i've got to get out of charleston. so he starts selling some of his property. in fact, he starts to sell some of those he'll enslave bvd to fund a major an expedition all the way up to the hudson bay. so michaux takes an expedition just him in three native american guides travel all the way up to almost the hudson bay and back and michaux arrives back in the united. it's now the winter of seven december 1792, and he knows that he's going to be recalled again and he's trying to think, how can i what can i do to stay here? and looks at this map? and he writes, he looks at all of his expeditions and he realizes, you know, i've done lot of easternorth, but i haven't yet crossed that missisppi river and gone all theay to the pacific ocean. and i've just since he's just successfully done this hudson bay expedition, he has the confidence, he believes that he can successfully do a

transcontinental expedition with just three or four native american guides. and so he thinks, well, if i want to do this, where how can i do this? and he realizes there's the philosophical society michaux had become very close to his scientific work with many members of the american philosophical society, which was this incredible scientific organization, greatest thinkers, were at. the philosophical society, people like william bartram, benjamin smith, barton, thomas jefferson, david rittenhouse. benjamin franklin was the founder of the society and its first president. so this a scientific center similar to the french academy of sciences which we show no knew about. so he arrives in december 1792 in philadelphia he meets with a group of apes members and he says i have a great idea for you. i want to travel across this continent. i will make discoveries that you can't even imagine, discoveries that will be useful to the united states and to mankind. and i will share with you my if you underwrite this expedition

and the apes members say. huh? we've heard this idea before. we you know. have you ever heard of thomas jefferson? he's been talking about doing for almost a decade, as early as 1783, jefferson had been trying to fund a transcontinental expedition. fact, in 1783, he appointed he reached out to george rogers clark, conqueror of the west, to see if clark would undertake an expedition to the pacific ocean, he tried to raise money, particularly through the virginia, but he couldn't receive any funding. so it died 1791, 92. he'd approached the apes. he said, do you think we can raise the money through the apes to do this? the apes to reach out and find somebody who could undertake this expedition? one of the people they approached the idea with was meriwether lewis. jefferson said he didn't think lewis was up to the task yet. they they by the time he probably wasn't. but he meets andre michaux these members say you've to meet thomas jefferson, you've got to talk to him. jefferson hears this idea, but he also hears about the

expeditions michaux has undertaken. he's heard about this incredible expert mission to the middle east, where michaux had confront. he had been robbed. he fought off pirates he'd encountered dangerous animals, horrendous weather. he'd heard about his travels, the hudson bay, just three or four native american guides realizes if somebody is going to undertake this expedition successfully, it andre michaux. and he also realizes michaux might provide him the cover necessary to succeed because at the time, jefferson is acutely aware of the tensions that have developed between the united states and native american communities, especially those in the ohio and points west, who are fearful that this new country is just an aggrandizing power, that is going to colonize and subjugate them. and jefferson is very worried that if he sends an american envoy out there, they're going to assume that's what's going on. so he thinks that if i can send a frenchman out there, this will look suspicious. so jefferson, with this idea, decides to try and raise the

money for real and what the subscription list is all about. the societies successll raises the equivalent of $1.75 million to underwrite this and this is how youe a number of committees to do this. and after they successfully raise the money, they decide create a third committee, a committee that was going to outline the mission purpose, the priorities the michaux should have as he travels west and at the head of this new committee. it's it's the luminaries of american science it's got benjamin rush on it it's got somebody named caspar wistar it's got thomas jefferson, it's got david rittenhouse. they decide to write instructions to michaux. and what you're looking at here once in thomas jefferson's hands and this is by the aps library are the instru to andre michaux. now, these are very long detailed instructions, but i want to highlight what their priorities are for so the first

priority and this is emphasized and ag these instructi they observe to you that the chief objects of your journey are to find the shortest and most conveniene of communication between the u.s. and the pacific ocean. how quickly can we reach t this is about communication. this is about trade. this is about commerce. they wanind a fast out to the pacific, not to explore the fastest route t pacific, andn if you're to find any animals, we really want and if have a chance, we also want you to find allama. now, the reason they do this very important. i'm happy to talk about it later. but the point i want to make here is think about who andre michaux was. he was a botanist when he first was appointed royal. the royal botanist, he said to the king, i want to travel to asia to pursue science for its own sake. and now he's got a bunch of

americans telling him to find the fastest so the united states can have greater commercial to the pacific and to find a mammoth and a llama. so michaux and the apes get into this actually other little fun fact. jefferson also tells me show or the instructions tell me show that you should keep a journal just like lewis and clark did. but to make sure that the most important information is tattooed on his skin in the event that if were to die and his body returned, they would have access to that knowledge. or if he did lose his journals, he would have it, you know, lose it. so so let me show here's this. and he writes and aps has this correspondence. he says, no, no, this is not the plan. i want to travel on my own accord. i'm going to explore. i'm pursuing natural history for its own sake. i am not willing be an employee essentially of the aps. he's particularly worried about how this might be perceived in france if he's getting paid by the apes and pursuing u.s. interest. how are the french going to

interpret his actions? i should remind this is also the time where a lot of people were losing their heads, so they are locked in negotiations. they come to loggerheads is a total stalemate. and then once again in the show's life, an unexpected event completely redirects some. this man arrives in philadelphia. can anybody recognize him. who said that? edmond ginny, this is the first diplomatic representative, the french revolutionary government, to arrive in the united states. he arrives in charleston to greet. he arrives in philadelphia. he is there to advocate for the french revolution. his objective is to try to try and convince the united states, especially their citizens to support the french revolution. this is a time in which the french revolution itself is a

great controversy. the united the united states is challenged how you. they are looking to the united states as their ally. this is a revolution and you should be supporting at the same time the european monarchies in the great threat in their institution here in philadelphia george washington, the president of the united states how to navigate foreign policy dilemma it is with the french revolution and concerned about the way things are and at the same time he exercises the policies, he knows it's a dangerous time, foundations are fragile and enter into the conflict in great

britain could easily take back north america. washington decides issue a proclamation stay out of the conflict altogether. frustration of the french who feels they are burning their back on them so the objective to try and convince to lobby the government. he also carries instruction but he hopes will force the united states if they won't buy their own conviction. secret instructions to mobilize them in turkey to invade louisiana. their belief is if they invaded new orleans, they will unwrap a

republic and those in europe will consider this an act of the united states, not kentuckians. arising with these instructions he meets, andre. you are planning to go out west. a scientist and everybody thinks scientist, is there any way you will see if they will do this invasion? the loyal frenchman that he is, is extraordinarily reluctant. but hee was loyal to friends and

he did it so there was a plan to travel in which he goes and people are aware of this and when he goes, he meets george rogers park at a time he was frustrated with the lack of support he received after the american revolution and indicated he was willing to renounce and conduct invasion of louisiana so they decided this is a great plan and a special cover becomes close friends with thomas jefferson and he is a debate about the frenchpo revolution and a great supporter and leaves the united states

should be supported, so july 5, hoe jefferson's secretan at his state, he decides he canrust jefferson and tells him the enti plot and this is jeffs notes and highlighted key parts here as jefferson, a friend, not a official capacity. he writes a letter of introduction andkack the letter and i wro it exacts he asked him to do so is a letter of introduction she says him travel, he

should not be under any suspicion. this is secretary of state and you they would invade ukraine and did not say anything to their administration. so what happens? he goes to kentucky and goes quickly and if you want to know the full story -- [laughter] successfully travels and needs be owner and manag to raise troops and they create their own uniforms and there are reports and they are burning bright in and they are tasked with

traveling down and they have everybody talking about it and it looks like it's going to happen in the 1 spring, but the spanish catches wind of what's happening. there is a spanish spy and the spanish ambassador goes, the secretary of state. jefferson says oh my god, we didn't know this was happening out west and jefferson of these letters and it creates this huge crisis and i talk a lot about it in the book.

washington is really trying to sorte out, what is their power o do in this? does he have the authority? he isn't certain. localte states have to have the authority and right to do so washington decides he doesn't have the authority and his number one p duty of the constitution if they could fundamentally take the administration but the republic itself. he issues stern proclamations in the make ital clear the business they will arrest people and they could even be executed and the

rebellion never comes to pass. anan anticlimactic ending, it ws challenging for me to say i was sucked into this story so that is what i talk about. what really happened? a lot more to the story than the original website. i was blown away with all of it. ... this conspiracy. so first, what is the legacy of andre michaux? so in north america ends up discovering over a thousand new species of plants. he has a remarkable record of discovery, of modernizing work. but it doesn't just end the united states. what ends up happening. he has to go back to paris eventually.

and in paris, he to take another expedition and as you can see here, he goes through africa. he ends up in madagascar where he realizes the biodiverse city in madagascar is even the biodiversity and madagascar iswh more them in the south he decides to create another botanical garden and it madagascarbut once again thingsg well but this time's tragedy strikes.ag the most severe of all tragedies he is stricken withd some sortf local virus and he dies and madagascar. for those in the field of botany it's very large he's credited with over 1000 new species of plants. the legacies us when the interesting parts of the story first up spirit that animatedt 1893 continues to animate the ution today. society has always been pushing the boundaries of knowledgeis. 1803g the lewis and clark

expedition jefferson finally succeeds i realizing the vision the first thing he does is tells goathe and meet with ourtist so you can learn are going to need on thisents expedition. it was essential to the launch of lewis and clark expedition. today we are the stewards of lewis and clark journals. even morey notably in the instructions jefferson wrote for lewis and clark he use these instructions from his show as his first draft. have shown they are verbatim copies ofanage in this lewis and clark. it's clear this was by his side he is referring back to it as he wrote up these instructions for lewis and clarkio. today the society and that same spiritrc continues to fund research around the world. you can see we've funded a research and over continents. spurring new discoveries through

the work of a botanist, expeditions and other types of fieldwork. thing as a legacy for the united states. this is perhaps most surisg discovery is atarting own expedition and the pasto for thisd document. the qstn about this document would take me to middle east. we take me t conspiracy of the unitetes in early republic. and, ultimately to a question about citizenship. this is probably the finding that most surprised me. citizenship at this time, it was undefined idea. assessment subject to the american revolution. this idea of being a citizen was a new concept. just as a washington was trying to figure out what authority do i have is an executive? sohi too are americans saying wt

is this idea of citizenship mean? one of the things that emerged during this conspiracy those in kentucky had a very different idea of citizenship than those in philadelphia especially the founders had. we are able to see in the arguments he justify the action. citizenship ends at the borders of the country. as soon as an american citizen leaves the united states they are not bound by any laws or obligations to this country they're basically independent citizens of the world. and, fort washington he said we have policies. people had to be bound by the policies of the united states. 1795 washington along with congress ande this is the perid of the first party system there is incredible partisan divide within the united statesy agree that the pass a law that further clarifies and limitations on

citizenship. making itth clear americans cant conduct the efforts george rogers clark and others did in kentucky that would be against the law. the citizens have to be bound by laws of the united states were ever they are. little did i know that exploring this one document something as fundamental and is as essential ashe meaning of citizenship. and for me that's what doing history is all about. that's why places like this exist. this is a story of one document is incredible treasure trove here at the museum of history and culture. how many are resting and archives waiting to be told. thank you. [applause]

>> was kentucky estate at this point? looks yes it adjustment made a statement. so a big part of the story is those in kentucky are arguing what it means to be a state. what powers to the state have. and as you know there's a growing states rights mentalities developing kentucky as wrecking us in the resolve. there's a number of conventionsn health in which many people involved in this conspiracy rightet petitions arguing for te federal government they need greater support and if not they will become perhaps independent a lot of threats about independency. they just meetor estate and thas a big part of the story as well. >> what happened to his son? >> i never know how much i can

tell by watching my watch here. françois, this is great you're going to get me too tell something i always like to tell but i couldn't. when he goes to the middle east, he decides his son is too young. so he puts in with the sisters s who care for him. we goes to north america françois is a teenager he wants his son to follow in his footsteps just like his father wanted him to follow in his and he goes is on its own path. andre is withch him at his side for much of this period of time. he's involved in very serious accident in which his eye is struck with the bullet and it looks like his i may be lost. and so he tries to treat him anybody guess what the best way bleed yourself that's way t you treat your eye.

he loses his eye and sends it back to paris where he receives medical treatment for his eye is saved. he follows in his father's footsteps. he returns to the united states and becomes an incredible botanist himself pretty traveled all the heirs' father travels he published a number of books if you heard the name it's perhaps a son published a journal about his travels to the united states and britain when his son dies so he decides to give the entire estate to the american philosophical society. the society received incredible gift in the late 19th century they said what should we do? how can we use it? we should use it to serve the idea and he was a member. what could we use this for? it is interesting at this period of time in the united states because of the industrial revolution the united states itself had gone through its own deforestation.

this is a very early days of the four street movement conserve the environment in the united states. they decide to use this fund to hire a lecturer to travel around pennsylvania advocating for preserving forest in the state. which had because about farming and industrial revolution. so this lecture would go around and stories are written about this. he started offie in a small audience member two or 3a grew larger and larger uses is this incredibly gifted ledge lecturer. after several years they create department of four street and appoint him the first director of forestry. and then an honor decides to name the first state forest in pennsylvania. and a recognition of the funds meantue for this endeavor. thank you for the question.

>> if andre was a royal botanist obviously he was working for the french king. when there french king was over parliament that revolutionist how did they have any authority? to be able to go home? >> it's a really good question. he needed money. i read about this in the book. people have asked me in the book that he support the french revolution or not to question you could probably supported revolution. he was not there at the center of it. but what we have seen in his writing, he was seat receiving patronage from the ground. he knew how to perform that art. he relied on the government for funding. without the french government whether itt was the crown or the

revolutionary government he needed their support. his goal with a deposition of the king to get reappointed by the french revolutionary government to receive funding for them united states. he could have stayedth in the united states but that's the part you can see above all else he's a loyal frenchman. and so he wants to get the support of the french governments he is pretending he still working for the french government and he hopes by doing so he can say i'm serving you, and i've got to pay me. the risky returns to paris is because the money never comes. the other reason he decides to return to paris he is determined to your transcontinental trip across the united states. his friends and the united states especially those in philadelphia they say we love you to do this but let's be

honest you're probably not going to make it back. you have got to go to paris and publish all that you have found and you've got the thousand new species arebu documented. buried them and save it for prosperity. you got to go do that. it agrees that you're going to do this to the united states and do this with hopefully funding from the french government. that fact is one of the things he realizes he's driven, he is determined his friends described himon as a stork who only talks science in his letters there's not a lot of. personality that comes out you can see him as a very driven person. he loves expeditions and bots and icing party's troubles with publishing. for years he's trying to publish he cannot publish she's in financial straits and goes off to africa and never returns again. i took it in low but different direction but i wanted to share that as well.

>> when you talk about the citizens going from a substitute citizenship are you referring to the 14th amendment? >> no, that is later. before the american revolution the colonists were considered subjects of the crown. which meant you paid your obedience and loyalty not just to the british parliament but and partly to the british king. they were subjects you are subject to the king underneath the king. the idea of t citizenship whichs born out of the democratic revolution, the american revolution is the idea your equal equal individuals of this under this government the term citizen is what's used to describe that new political conception of the individual part you are a citizen not subject to a crown. you are independent ofth that. in fact the idea of citizenship sweeps across atlantic ocean. after the french revolution those in france right describe

themselves as citizens. some people start describing themselves as citizens of the world they are no longer subjects. this is a transnational category of individuals who all share the same values. cooks okay, that's all we will have time for tonight. if you will join me and given the speaker another round of applause. [applause] will be shortly after the lecture you can enjoy a reception and answering more questions that you might have. thank you for your support. >> thank you all. >> here is a look at significant moments in american history during the month of may. may 25, 1787 constitutional convention began in philadelphia delegates debated a replacement for the articles of confederation. it would not be until september

of that year that members drafted the constitution striking a compromise and sending the documents to the states for ratification. in tulsa, oklahoma on may 31, 1921 after african-american teenager dick rolan was arrested for an incident the day before mobs surrounded the courthouse the following day the greenwood district known as black wall street was destroyed by white rioters. what is now known as the toll sort recent massacre hundreds of people were either injured or killed. here is viola fletcher in 2021 a survivor who spoke about what she remembered. >> the night of the massacre i was awakened by my family. my parents and five siblings were there. i was told we had to leave and that was it. i will never forget the violence of the white mob when we left our home. i still see black men seen being shot, white bodies lying in the

street. i still smell smoke. i still see black businesses being burned i still hear airplanes flying overhead. i hear the screams that live to that massacre every day. our country may forget this history but i will not neglect the airship caught fire may 6 , 37 what landing at lakehurst new jersey after flying over new york city the airship was supposed to be filled with helium gas but because of restrictions placed by the united states on not to, germany the hindenburg had been filled with hydrogen a highly flammable gas at the time of the disaster. >> it twisted tangled mass are all that remained of the proud luxury airliner hindenburg that lives in the naval station. death ... 35 wh 10 and clean cointhe captain sold the criticl