9: The Art of the Steal (Thomas Jefferson)

There is one event, in particular, that we will focus on in this episode. It’s an event of critical importance to our country and the world; without which we may never have become a world power. It’s a story that challenges our historical bias towards inevitability and the very meaning of what it means to be an American. It involves four of our presidents, all of whom played indispensable roles in this story. It involves a great deal of trickery, deception, and spur-of-the-moment decisions. And it’s a story with enormous implications for the world today. That story, the Louisiana Purchase, is the subject of this episode of This American President.