Good Day citizens and welcome to what would Jefferson do our weekly opportunity to discuss

current American events with President Thomas Jefferson who is seated across for

me now and good day to you Mr. Jefferson.

Good day to you citizen.

Mr. Jefferson I wanted to talk to you about a letter you wrote to James Madison in April of 1809 the Ney Plus Ultra letter. Do you remember this, sir?

Yes, I wrote this letter just after leaving the presidency. I was president of the United States from the fourth day of March 1801

until the fourth day of March 1809. I had just returned to my own home at

Montecello when I wrote this. I bring this up because you sir are one who wants good relations with all

entanglements with none I believe you put it that is true I'm an

isolationist particularly with respect to the old world and later,

a number of years after this letter, I helped my protege James Monroe formulate what's known as the Monroe Doctrine, that the Western

Hemisphere is permanently off limits to European colonial designs.

So reading this letter, maybe I'm misinterpreting it, but it sounds sort of imperialist almost as if you are going to go out and grab land.

Well, not particularly. I did envision that our republic would eventually extend from the Atlantic all the way to the Pacific.

It might be decades, maybe hundreds of years before that happened, but it seemed to be clear that this continent,

certainly the center of it was going to be an American experiment in Liberty.

I also wanted Canada. I don't like the idea that the British have a foothold in the

new world. I wish we could press them off of the Western Hemisphere once and for all.

And so, yes, I would have liked to have had Canada twice.

We invaded Canada during my lifetime and failed on both occasions.

And then Napoleon, this letter of 1809 is really about Napoleon Bonaparte

he was wanting some aid and comfort from the United States and I knew that we could ask something in return and what I

...