In this episode, John discusses the important events and decisions of Thomas Jefferson’s second term as the third U.S. President. John begins by talking about the Sally Hemings affair, which was actually brought to public attention in a very direct way for the first time about halfway through Jefferson’s first term. John explains how and why it was that Jefferson’s decades-long relationship with one of his slaves became a national story, why it matters when considering Jefferson’s legacy and how it was that Jefferson dealt with it all when it became a public scandal.

John then dives into Jefferson’s troubled second term, which went nowhere near as smoothly as his first term. John talks about the administration’s decision to break with Great Britain, even as the U.S. was benefiting tremendously from trade facilitated in part by the detente achieved with Britain through the Jay Treaty. John explains how things got ugly really fast for American ships and seamen in 1805, how the Napoleonic Wars figured into this situation and what the American government chose to do about it. Finally, John discusses how Jefferson decided to start a trade war with Britain and France, why it failed and what the results were from the American perspective.