 Cavalcade of America, sponsored by the DuPont Company, maker of better things for better living through chemistry, presents Frederick March as Thomas Jefferson in the Lengthening Shadow. Self-evidence, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. The man who wrote those words was born 200 years ago tomorrow. From the moment that Thomas Jefferson was born, April 13, 1743, America possessed the mind and the voice to express its dreams of human freedom. Our program tonight, starring Frederick March, joins in a nationwide celebration of this anniversary with an original radio chronicle, the Lengthening Shadow. It is not a play so much as it is a portrait of Jefferson, largely in his own words, words that struck the smoldering torch of liberty into flames, presenting Frederick March as Thomas Jefferson on the Cavalcade of America, sponsored by DuPont. Like a man, a shadow may be small at first. It may waver as a man wavers. The light it lives by is not always bright, not always steady. Young Tom Jefferson found no straight path to his greatness and feared in fact that he would waste his life as an idler. At 24, he had settled on his court. We see him first in Williamsburg in 1767, the day he is admitted to the bar. Tom, now that you're a member of the general court, you should have spent your time in town. No, Miss Page. A young lawyer may have more leisure than he wants, but whatever leisure I have must be spent on my plantation. Or it doesn't need you, Tom. Oh, yes, sir, it does. You know, farming isn't haphazard anymore. Science is helping it out. Rotation of crops, experiments with seeds and plants. This boy's your urban soul. But you can't vegetate with your vegetables. That's no sort of existence for a man. The only existence for any man. The happiest and sanest. There on my farm, I have a little world of my own, completely self-contained. I produce enough to feed and fold my family and my slaves. You didn't grow your good furniture or your books, did you? No, Mr. Witt. But I did grow the tobacco that I shipped to England in exchange for these commodities. Tom, you know that you cannot stay forever in your private paradise. Virginia will soon need all its wisest men. Yes, yes, I know. There's something stirring in the colonies that will soon force us to definite action. And you cannot ignore it. No, no, we cannot ignore it. As a man grows in stature, his shadow runs before him in longer leaps. Thomas Jefferson, the farmer lawyer, stood higher to view the world around him, to know, to understand. A man can stand up, but he makes himself a target, as well as a guide. When he was only 26, Jefferson's passion for human freedom shocked Virginia's house of burgesses. He wanted to abolish slavery. Mr. Stiglard? Mr. Stiglard? Come on, Dabney. We'll get out of here and close the door. Mr. Stiglard? Well, Tom, your attempt to emancipate the slaves certainly took the house of burgesses by surprise. You, um, you didn't really expect that slave owners would pass, did you, Bill? Perhaps not expected. Hoped. You know, Tom, even I, your own brother, and no one ever suspected that you felt so strongly about slavery. How can men whose fathers came to this country to gain freedom, deprive all the human beings of liberty? Well, what plan is going to surrender slaves on whom his livelihood depends that he would beg or assault you yourself? Our first step is to prevent more slaves being brought into this meaning. I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just and that his justice cannot sleep forever. Well, I feel that we shall have first to look to our own liberties, now that the English governor has dissolved our legislature, too. What is the next move? Patrick Henry is calling a meeting to discuss this very question. As the meeting is to be held immediately, I shall have to leave you. Well, gentlemen, the governor seems to think that by closing the doors of our legislature, he can keep us from asserting our rights. What is your opinion, Mr. Jefferson? First, Mr. Henry, we must assert our rights. But we must also pledge ourselves not to buy any merchandise from the crown. Mr. Jefferson, is it wise to disturb ourselves about conditions in other colonies? Massachusetts' tax on tea may be a burden. What Virginian drinks tea? Why not wait till some measure is directed at us? That is dangerous, Mr. Pendleton. An attack on one colony should be considered as an attack upon all. But, Jefferson, how can we decide what is just around just in Parliament's decisions about another colony? Gentlemen, I deny that Parliament has any control over these American colonies. We cannot be taxed or regulated by any power on Earth but our own. The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time. Mr. Henry, you agree? Indeed, I do, Mr. Jefferson. The colonies must act together. But they will need your voice to speak for them. Yes, they needed Thomas Jefferson. The long and articulate cry for freedom needed him. The heavy heart, aching and mute needed him. The high fierce faith of man and his own destiny and his right to govern himself in wisdom and responsibility. All, all of these, needed that tongue to give them voice. He could say what truth we hold to be self-evident. He could declare before the world man's everlasting belief in himself. So, in Philadelphia, Jefferson came to a moment in history far shadowed in his past. A moment. Well, Mr. Jefferson, I judge that Dr. Frankson, the committee, have left to us to draw up the declaration. This is a grave responsibility, Mr. Adams. I'm proud to serve with you, but the work will be yours. Well, I thank you, sir, but how do you know anything about my ideas on government? I'm no orator. I haven't spoken a word in this Congress. My dear Mr. Jefferson, I read your pamphlet right to British America. It could be used as a basis for this declaration. I attempted merely to list our grievances against King George. But I'd like to specially... you're saying that government rests upon the consent of the governed. That is a point. Naturally, government must exist for the individual. Governments must be planned to give men liberty and... Happiness is not a New Englander's word. I do not think we expect to be happy. Ah, but you should. All men are born free and equal and entitled to life, liberty, and such happiness as each desires and would pursue for himself. That's a new philosophy for me. I shall have to reflect upon it. And act upon it too, Mr. Adams, I hope. Act upon it. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. Here is the quill, Mr. Hancock. Well, I hope that's speaking up for them to read it. Your document, my dear Jefferson, is so felicitously worded that it's eloquent. Really, it was not mine, Dr. Franklin. The sentiments are not original. They are an expression of the American mind. I was deeply disappointed that slavery clause was struck out. Oh, my dear young man, it couldn't have passed with Georgia and South Carolina so violently opposed. If you tried to force the issue, the whole declaration would have been lost. You know, we mustn't burn our houses just to roast our aim. You're right, Dr. Franklin. But it was difficult to sit passive until criticism was hurled upon me. Yes, I saw you writhing under those attacks, but he who has a wax head must not walk in the sun. Don't draw up resolutions if you can't stand criticism. I never do. I find them, but I don't draw them up. Perhaps I have no talent for politics, Dr. Franklin. And now that our work is done, I'm going back to my farm, to Monticello. Yet I realize it will no longer be my whole world. His dream for himself was smaller than his dream for the world. Monticello, a beautiful mountain, lured him back to the rural peace of private life, a return instead toward Europe. The words Jefferson had written had become more than words. A new nation had been woven out of those phrases. A new nation with a decent respect for the opinions of mankind. So across the Atlantic, the lengthening shadow fell upon Paris, where Thomas Jefferson meets again another fighter for freedom, the Marquis de Lafayette. Welcome, Mr. Jefferson. I am happy to see you. You will find many of your friends here. Thank you, madam. Many friends, I hope, but perhaps some others. Oh, but a salon is only far from the world, Mr. Jefferson. I hear clearly they're friends. Madame de Tessay, Lafayette's cousin, Mr. Jefferson. If we had to lose Dr. Franklin, I'm happy you could take his place. I could never take the place of that great man, madam. I only succeed him. I hope your cousin is here. A little concept will begin soon. And my cousin is here, Mr. Jefferson. He is looking for you. My dear Jefferson, I am glad you are back. You have been away from Paris too long. Yes, Lafayette, but I don't travel like the ordinary man. I go fouling about, rambling through farms and fields. I ferret people out of their houses, eat their bread, look into their kettles. I've layin' on their beds, standing I was weary. I wanted to see how hard they were. I fear it is no pleasant report you bring, Mr. Jefferson. Eh, but I fear it is a true one. The poverty of your country, my friends, is deplorable. I was shocked everywhere by the full-on villages of the peasants. All the people were badly clothed. Women and children were working in the fields beyond their strength. Oh, France must devote every effort to remedy these wrongs. People are ground to powder by the vices of the form of government. You must take property out of the few hands and give it to the many. You understand, my dear Jefferson, that people would not easily accept such ideas. The earth is given as a common stock for man to live and labor on, yet the few own it. Yes, man is the only animal which devours its own time. But I believe that wise councils could bring about this social revolution without bloodshed. Yes, Mr. Jefferson. You gave liberty to your own countrymen. You must help our people here. Their day will come. You are listening to Frederick March as Thomas Jefferson in the Lengthening Shadow on the Cavalcade of America sponsored by Dupont. In a chronicle dedicated to the nationwide observance of Jefferson's 200th birthday tomorrow, we have seen the early growth of the Great Virginia and his arrival in Paris as American minister to succeed Benjamin Franklin. As our play continues, Thomas Jefferson, portrayed by Frederick March, has returned to America to take his place in Washington's cabinet, confronting Alexander Hamilton in the bitterest fight of his career. Good morning, Hamilton. Oh, I see we've both been summoned. Yes, I am sure that Mr. Washington finds it difficult to have personal animosities in his cabinet. Personal feelings are not important, no? You know as well as I do that our whole financial structure collapsed. I hadn't taken prompt measures. We shouldn't have credit now at home or abroad. It is your method that I object to, Colonel Hamilton. You made our citizens prey to stock-jobbers. I made them? Why, sir, this is a direct attack. I begin to understand what you meant by personal animosities. It is an attack, Colonel Hamilton, not upon you, but upon your measures. Do you deny that the poor and ignorant lost vast sums while others made fortunes? Is this personal, too, Mr. Jefferson? Do you mean to assess that I forewarned them? It hardly matters whether you or your followers forewarned them, Colonel Hamilton. Word was passed by someone in time for wild speculation to begin, and corruption still spreads. That's harsh language, sir. I hardly know what you mean by corruption, gambling. We become a nation of gamblers. No salemaker lifts his needle, no cobbler or tool. There will soon be no farmers or merchants in this mad craze. Such flurries of gambling to use your term, Mr. Jefferson, always accompany any financial changes. You'll soon die out. What I did accomplish was to establish the credit of the United States. No one was more anxious to restore our credit than I was. But now I must condemn your methods, probably because it takes away powers from the States and gives them to the federal government, contrary to our Constitution. The Constitution? That's milk and water document. It might well be, Colonel Hamilton, if a bill of rights had not been drawn for our protection. It's sheer nonsense to believe that the kind of government our Constitution frames will be successful. Childish optimism to trust in people. Doublish you would prefer a monarchy. You are of alien birth, Mr. Hamilton, and perhaps cannot understand the American passion for liberty. Mr. Jefferson, you add insult to intolerable accusations. Alien is a... President, gentlemen. Good morning, Mr. Washington. Mr. Jefferson. We are awaiting your pleasure. Good morning, Mr. Washington. Mr. Hamilton. At any other time, sir, I shall gladly await your pleasure. In the presence of a man who's just hurled the epithet alien at me, I cannot stay. I bid you good morning, sir. This is most regrettable, Mr. Jefferson, if my cabinet should be invaded by personal enmity. No, Mr. Washington, not personal enmity. I... I respect Mr. Hamilton's personal integrity, and I admire his brilliant qualities. But his political ideals fall. He is working to abolish state's rights, perhaps establish a monarchy. Yes, yes, I know. It is the fashion of the moment. It will pass. I have been urged to be a king, but, uh, Mr. Hamilton has been invaluable to me in restoring our credit. I haven't looked too deeply into his methods. They were only measures of expediency. We have our Constitution to protect us? Our Constitution. I... I believe he despises us, sir. We are in a dangerous situation. This matter of the debts has greatly offended the South. I have realized that. You know I also am a Virginian. I fear secession, Mr. President. The South may withdraw from it. And what do you propose as a remedy, Mr. Jefferson? That you accept the second term of the presidency. North and South will hang together if they hang on you. Then it is all a mirage, my retirement from public office. You asked me to give up my cherished hope of life on my own acres with my family about me. And peace and serenity to console me for the bitter years of struggle. The ungrateful task of public service has kept many of us from home and fireside, sir. I dare not look at you, Tom Jefferson. When I recall how many times I have prevailed upon you to give up just such dreams as mine. I cannot decide now. But I shall think of it. You will know what to do, Mr. President. The burden of that high office, too, was to be his. The paper's work is never done. There was Jefferson the President. The third President of the United States. How long ago it sounds. Yet how new and living. The highest honor his countrymen could give him was his. The Jefferson left it out of his own epitaph. The President? Yes. But a man with an idea, an idea like shadows, far lengthening down the years. He gave us the breadth of a continent to grow in and live in. Good afternoon, Madison. Good afternoon, Mr. President. I thought that we might discuss a certain matter informally before our cabinet meeting. It is a matter dear to my heart. We must acquire the foreign possessions hemming us in on the west that hinder our expansion. You agree with the need of this, Mr. Madison? I do indeed, sir. It will take much diplomacy, much money, perhaps even war to gain possession of the Florida and the control of the Mississippi. Let it cost what it will, Mr. Madison. This must be one nation. A nation like a great farm in true freedom, self-contained and self-sustained. Let us see to it. Last scene of all in Man's Eventful History. Here was Thomas Jefferson, the sage, the patriarch, the clare of men's hopes. Prophet. He was a prophet in his deed, for he knew that the true light that brightens the world is in the mind of men. It was that great beacon he let the far beam of human intelligence and understanding brave flame of knowledge. In it we see him at the end, the high mind, the long shadow lengthening and lengthening as far as men's dreams may reach. Oh, no. No, don't stir, Father. This is no inquisitive visitor come to gate but the greatness of Jefferson. But it's an old friend of ours. They have a tear. My dear Jefferson, are you about to run away from me? You know, Abbey, Father has become a legend. One of the founders and the drafter of the decoration. Welcome a thousand times, welcome, my old friend. It is good to have you here. But Martha is right. I have become a museum piece. Sometimes we all run away to take refuge. It all seems so serene and peaceful here looking over your beautiful valley. Good evening, everyone. Where is Ellen? Oh, since you are now grown up, may I continue to call you Ellen? If you didn't, I should feel hurt. May you still have sweets in your pockets for children. Oh, no, no, no. I fear that is forgotten now. Mrs. Jefferson, how fortunate you are in having your family around you. Yes. Yes, they are the joy and pride of my life. And my grandchildren are good for me. Good for you, Grandfather. That is ridiculous. We hardly let you have a moment to yourself. But you are good for me. You remind me that each generation must go away from the previous one. You will know a world that I have never lived in. But it will be a world you have helped to shape. My friend, perhaps, have I? But there is a great deal of sanctimonious nonsense now about the Constitution treating it as though it were the Ark of the Covenant, who's sacred to be touched. We framed it to meet particular conditions. But others may arise, requiring it to be further amended. Laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. Only the siege, my friend, can know the wisdom of change. That change itself is the only unchangeable law. Oh, well, at least Father is an oracle. By every day, someone comes to him for advice. Yes, ever since he invented the plow, he's thought to be a wizard. We have to discuss seas and drainage and soils and sheep. Ah, look, Father, here comes Mr. Matze. Ah, here, here is the real oracle. My vineyards and orchards and gardens bear witness to his wisdom and to his infinite kindness. Come, come, Mr. Matze, and listen to the good things we are saying about you. I do not need to listen. I know them in my heart. I am delighted to see you, Mr. Matze. By the way, do you not find that our friend Jefferson is hail and party? Yet he is building his monument. In fact, he has completed it. He does not wait for a death. His monument? Oh, yes, you mean university? Yes, yes, my dreams are reality. How seldom can a man say that. Do you remember, Mr. Matze, how often when the building was going on, Grandfather would come home for dinner over that rough road and then instead of resting in the afternoon, we'd get out his telescope and sit here on the lawn watching the workman. Yes, not every man who can see his dreams through a telescope. I watched them, but it was something beyond bricks and mortar that I saw. For as I sat here gazing off, as I sit here, I seem to see the march of civilization, advancing and passing over us like a cloud of light, increasing our knowledge and improving our condition. Where this progress will stop, no one can say. It comforts me to reflect that in some small measure I have contributed to this diffusion of liberty and this spread of knowledge. Thank you, Frederick March. Throughout the world and countries where men may still follow the dictates of their conscience, the peoples of two great religions deserve days if they hold sacred. Next week on Cavalcade, we present the distinguished star of stage and screen, Paul Lukas, in a play devoted to freedom to worship. It is called Listen for the Sound of Wings. And in it, Mr. Lukas will play Pastor Neymarler, the man who listened to his own conscience and defied Adolf Hitler in his attempt to destroy Christianity in Germany. Join Cavalcade again next week when we present Paul Lukas as Pastor Neymarler in his new radio play, Listen for the Sound of Wings. The orchestra and musical score tonight were under the direction of Don Burry. This is Clayton Collier sending best wishes from Cavalcade sponsor, the DuPont Company of Wilmington, Delaware. This program came to you from New York. This is the National Broadcasting Company.