No Patrick Henry, No United States (Ep. 39)

We lose a lot in our understanding of the Founding Fathers, says John Ragosta, an historian at the Robert H. Smith Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello, when we see them only as marble statues. They were real people who made mistakes and who got mad at one another. Patrick Henry so angered fellow Virginian Thomas Jefferson in 1781, Ragosta maintains, that his reputation never recovered from the impact of Jefferson's wrath. Ragosta hopes to shed new light on Henry's life and contributions in an upcoming book, and he recently discussed his research with Governing Editor-at-Large Clay Jenkinson.