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CLAY JENKINSON: The Jefferson Watch — Samuel Johnson’s ‘A Dictionary Of The English Language’

Posted on January 28, 2020January 28, 2020 by Clay Jenkinson 1 Comment

During the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee’s recent impeachment hearings, I was surprised to hear several constitutional law scholars cite Samuel Johnson’s “A Dictionary of the English Language” for definitions of treason, misdemeanors, bribery, etc, a reference to Dr. Johnson’s 1755 dictionary of the English language. It is not altogether uncommon to hear the name Dr. Johnson — usually in …

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CLAY JENKINSON: The Jefferson Watch — The Republic On The Brink Of Collapse

Posted on October 27, 2019October 29, 2019 by Clay Jenkinson 1 Comment

“Checks and balances, Mr. Jefferson. Checks and balances,” said John Adams. We are only a republic if each of the three branches of the national government has some capacity to check the excesses of one or both of the other two. The Founding Fathers sought to ensure that no single individual or entity would ever have unlimited, unchecked power. The …

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CLAY JENKINSON: The Jefferson Watch — Help This Program Go Viral

Posted on September 13, 2019September 16, 2019 by Clay Jenkinson

The semipermanent guest host rebukes me for all the begging I do on “The Thomas Jefferson Hour.” I think you know I am mostly joking — but do send books, gas cards, wine, Yeti coolers and titles to your ranch. All in good fun. But here is what I really want from you. Help this program go viral. Tell everyone …

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CLAY JENKINSON: The Jefferson Watch — Let Us Read the Mueller Report

Posted on April 4, 2019 by Clay Jenkinson

A Jefferson Hour listener wrote me a snarky letter last week after Attorney General William Barr released a four-page summary of the Mueller Report, apparently clearing President Trump and his closest aides of colluding with the Russians in the 2016 election. After informing me that I have been embarrassing myself with what he called my anti-Trump rhetoric, the writer asked …

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CLAY JENKINSON: The Jefferson Watch — So Far Ahead Of Her Time

Posted on May 16, 2018May 16, 2018 by Clay Jenkinson

One of Joseph Ellis’ contributions to the historiography of the revolutionary era is that he proves that when Abigail Adams wrote her famous, “remember the ladies” letter to her husband, John, in the spring of 1776, she meant it. She was being playful — it was another episode in the never-ending, good-humored “war” between the sexes — and yet she …