George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.

Two names that are synonymous with the birth of the United States.

They've been immortalized in paintings, books, movies, and Broadway musicals.

Over the past 250 years, they've become American myths.

But in the 1790s, they were still just men, desperately trying to

figure out what the newly formed United States should be, dealing with their own biases and

insecurities while fiercely debating each other about the future of the country and where

it stood on the global stage. This is the story of how two of the most influential people in U.S. history thought they

had figured out how to turn America into one of the world's major economies. That is, until

a pair of nation-defining revolutions on two continents intersected with a band of marauding

pirates in the Caribbean, and a robbery on the high seas changed everything,

most notably the way we measure the world around us.

On today's episode, how the metric system was stolen.

This is a twist of history. It's January 8, 1790, at Federal Hall in New York City, the interim capital of the United

States.

George Washington, the first president of the United States, sits alone in a small back room trying to block

out the noise coming from the main chamber while he reads over the speech he's about to give.

But Washington can't stop his hands from shaking.

He spent the majority of his adulthood facing life and death situations on the battlefield.

He's a hero of the American Revolution, a legendary general, and he's viewed

as the symbol of newfound American freedom and strength. But none of that has made him a good

public speaker. He could inspire his soldiers in battle, but that isn't the same as making a speech

...