The only case in this series not decided by the Supreme Court, this John Marshall decision was handed down in Federal Circuit Court in Richmond, Virginia, in 1807. Once again, it placed the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in direct opposition to President Thomas Jefferson. Former Vice President Aaron Burr was being tried for treason; although the evidence against Burr was tenuous, Jefferson, in an address to Congress, had declared him guilty. The...

A group portrait of America's first four presidents from Virginia focuses on a series of key historical episodes that illustrate how the myriad leadership roles of Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe promoted transcendental, if contradictory, national views about freedom and equality.

In 1776 the United States government started out on a shoestring and quickly went bankrupt fighting its War of Independence against Britain. At the war's end, the national government owed tremendous sums to foreign creditors and its own citizens. But lacking the power to tax, it had no means to repay them. The Founders and Finance is the first book to tell the story of how foreign-born financial specialists--immigrants--solved the fiscal crisis and...

"In Indivisible, historian and law professor Joel Richard Paul tells how Daniel Webster, a young New Hampshire attorney turned politician, rose to national prominence through his powerful oratory and popularized the ideals of American nationalism that helped forge our nation's identity. In his speeches, Webster argued that the Constitution was not a compact made by states but an expression of the will of all Americans. As these ideas took root, they...

Picking up with the presidency of Thomas Jefferson, this classic program completes the story of a visionary who advanced the cause of freedom everywhere and changed the course of human events: Returning from France, Jefferson strives to preserve the new, fragile American government and helps create the Democratic-Republican Party to temper the policies of the Federalists. As third president of the United States, he doubles the size of the county with...

In its time, their journey equaled a voyage to the moon. It took place before the American west became known as "the frontier," when Europeans understood little about what lay within the continent. Courageous in spirit and unyielding in their dedication to the mission, Meriweather Lewis and William Clark led 31 people from the mouth of the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean and back. In doing so they engendered a riveting tale of adventure and exploration,...

Ideas, issues, events, and individuals come to life as Emmy award-winning journalist Bill Moyers reports on the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Filmed at Independence Hall and filled with historical images and passages from the diaries, letters, and records of the Framers themselves, this two-part set is an indispensable tool for teaching the Constitution. All 76 clips (2:35 each), culled from the classic Moyers: Report from Philadelphia PBS television...