6:30 pm - 9:00 pm
Part V: Unite or Die (1788–1797)
The fifth episode begins with Vice President John Adams presiding over the Senate and the debate over what to call the new president. It depicts Adams as frustrated in this role: his opinions are ignored, and he has no actual power, except in the case of a tied vote. He's excluded from George Washington's inner circle of cabinet members, and his relationships with Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton are strained. Even Washington himself gently rebukes him for his efforts to "royalize" the office of the presidency, although Washington values Adams' counsel in other areas, considering him to be "reasonable company" when compared with Jefferson and Hamilton. A key event shown is the struggle to enact the Jay Treaty with Britain, which Adams himself must ratify before a deadlocked Senate (although historically his vote was not required). The episode concludes with his inauguration as the second president—and his subsequent arrival in a plundered executive mansion.
George Washington: The Man Who Would Not Be King
“He began as a grasping, land-hungry, young surveyor. Somehow, he made himself a general who could win a revolution. Then he did what no general had done in a thousand years. When he could have seized power and made himself king, he handed in his commission and seized history instead.” According to this PBS biography, Washington was the essential man who turned the American Revolution from a theoretical ideal into a reality.
He was the first to put his life on the line against the British; he led his ill-trained and undersupplied troops in battle for eight long years, inspiring his men to keep fighting even when all appeared lost; and most importantly, at the end of the war, when his officers urged a coup d’état because they had not been paid by Congress as promised, he alone faced them down. Here is a person indeed worthy of libertarian hero worship, and his achievements are given due respect in this biography.
One flaw in the film, however, is that Washington’s early, aggressive acquisition of land is treated almost as though it were a stain on his character, not just because some of his actions in acquiring land may have been wrong, but because they reflect greed. This minor point takes away little from the overall effect, but libertarians will be sensitive to it.
In other respects, this film is competently put together in the usual PBS style, with a number of expert viewpoints and reenactments woven into an interesting story. George Washington: The Man Who Wouldn’t Be King will instill new admiration for this essential man, without whom the U.S. might have remained a British colony, or worse, become a military dictatorship.
Doors open @ 6:00pm | Film @ 6:30 pm | Free to the Community | Concession items $1
