Season 1 · Episode 73
Relics and Reverence
The American Story · Christopher Flannery
December 1, 20206m 25s
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Show Notes
Abigail Adams recorded that when her husband and Thomas Jefferson visited Shakespeare's birthplace, Jefferson fell upon the ground and kissed it and John Adams cut a chip from Shakespeare's chair. Jefferson and Adams both revered Shakespeare, as did Abigail, and they all understood how necessary it was for a free people to revere what deserves reverence. As this story shows, they also understood that true reverence needs to be complemented by good humored irreverence.