Original subtitles

(audience cheering)

- [callender] well, well.

With what do I owe the pleasure?

- You look well.

Enjoying your little holiday?

- Oh yes. This is a wonderful little stink hole.

Perfect at this time of year. Thanks for asking.

- You're welcome. I brought you a little present.

- I've been hoping for a diary.

- I need you to keep writing.

- No. - [jefferson] why not?

- It may have escaped your attention,

But I'm a felon, arrested on the orders

Of the same mr. Adams.

You now want me to poke with a stick?

- No one will know the identity of the author.

- Why me?

Can't you find another pariah?

- No one's quite so imaginatively filthy as you.

- Same deal?

- Same deal.

(tense music)

(upbeat music)

(steady music)

- Charles adams is 30 years old when he dies,

And he dies of alcoholism.

- [catherine] and abigail feels guilty about that

Because even then, they understood

That alcoholism runs in families,

And it was coming from her family.

(steady music)

- There is still time.

- I have my duties here.

New york is a seven day ride at best. 10 more likely.

I will miss the funeral anyway.

- You are the president. They will wait for you.

- Have we not already discussed this?

- Our son will be buried alone.

- Sally will be there,

And probably that sodomite friend of his.

You can go. I won't stop you.

- You know I can't go on my own.

Don't do this, john. I'm begging you.

(tense music)

- I shall never forgive you.

(tense music)

- Even though john has renounced his son, he mourns

And remembers not the man that he chewed out a year

And a half before, but the little boy.

And he said he was, "my darling, my darling boy.

The apple of my eye."

- [patrick] presidential elections, back then,

Were not like they are today.

It took many months.

It began at the end of October

And really wrapped up in December,

And no one really knew how it was gonna shake out.

- [tyson] at the time,

Whoever received the most votes

In the electoral college became president.

And whoever received the second most votes

Becomes vice president.

- [richard] thomas jefferson's base is virginia.

So the great electoral plan

Of jefferson's party is always an alliance of virginia

And new york.

So you have to look for useful new yorkers.

And at first, aaron burr looks like a useful new yorker.

- [tyson] aaron burr is a very complicated figure

And a lot of people looked at aaron burr as somebody

Who was only out for his own.

(bright music)

- Mr. Jefferson. - Mr. Burr.

Thank you for your time. I promise to make it worthwhile.

- I hope so.

President adams.

- His rotundity. - If you wish,

Must be stopped, replaced.

- And gutted, like a pig.

- Figuratively speaking.

- Of course.

- By any means necessary.

- And I cannot disagree.

- Excellent.

I have a proposal for the election.

We will split our parties vote.

You will get 72 electoral college votes. I will get 73.

So I will beat you by a single vote.

- A bitter pill to swallow.

- But the narrowness of your defeat will mark you out

As the coming man.

- Your successor.

- I will be president. You will be my vice president.

- Why would I wanna do that?

Surely I'm too young to be such a non-entity.

- It's true.

It's not a destination for a man of your abilities.

Think of it as a stepping stone.

- Adams was vice president for the old sage washington.

- Exactly! And I was vice president to adams.

- I'm not known as a patient man, but I can be.

- I don't doubt it.

- I like it.

Do it.

- [tyson] aaron burr was willing

To work with people from both sides.

The problem with that is then, as now in us politics,

Those who are willing to work with both sides end up

With people on both sides hating them.

- Christmas of 1800, a gloomy, depressing time

For the president and mrs. Adams.

- I have a present for you.

- [paul] the death of their son charles was devastating,

As well as the election of 1800,

Newspapers full of nasty partisan vitriol.

The nastiest stuff imaginable.

- [abigail] "curious adventures of young emmeline."

Shall I read it to you?

- I want daddy to read it to me.

- [tyson] john adams felt betrayed

And scandalized that jefferson ultimately was

Behind these attacks on his presidency.

- What now? - More lies.

Unspeakable filth about me.

- Show me. - Absolutely not.

- Why?

- The accusations, entirely false,

Are of a sexual nature.

- Oh, don't be so daft, john.

- It's not true, abigail.

Not a word. I swear.

- Oh my.

(abigail laughing)

- I really don't see anything to laugh about.

- I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

It's just, I'm sorry, really?

You asked general pinckney

To import four pretty english girls,

Two for his use and two for your own.

Where have you stashed them, john?

Am I to be turned out of our bedroom?

- Am I truly so unmanly,

So boring that you find the idea impossible?

- Of course not, my love. You have always been a lion.

Magnificent, untamed.

- The truth is that general pinckney cheated me out

Of my two girls.

- What will you do about this?

- No doubt jefferson is behind it, or one of his lackeys.

He wants to kill off any chance I have, bury me.

Well, two can play it that game.

- What are you thinking?

- Sad news, abigail.

There's going to be a funeral.

- Newspapers in those days made absolutely no pretense

Of being nonpartisan.

They published absolutely outrageous,

Scandalous things about people.

(tense music)

- What the hell's going on?

(tense music)

I'm dead?

- You know, thomas, we may need to study the constitution.

See what it says about a ghost running for president.

- [paul] there was a federalist newspaper

That printed a fake obituary of jefferson,

So your vote would be wasted if you vote for him.

- It was very easy to spread false information

And very difficult to correct it.

- [jesse] so at that time in the united states,

Only landholding white men could vote.

That means the entire female population

Of the united states could not vote.

All african americans, all of the indigenous people

Who lived in the united states at that time,

They could not vote.

- [richard] people are following the returns,

Checking their lists.

"well, how is pennsylvania going?

Where is south carolina gonna go?"

So this created an element of suspense.

- [catherine] but it's also clear by christmas time

That john adams is not to be reelected.

- John.

- Why?

- We must discuss the levee.

- There's nothing to discuss.

I'd rather roll naked in glass than throw a party right now.

And what would we be celebrating?

My rejection by the voters?

Jefferson's triumph?

- The timing is terrible, but it is expected of us.

Maybe it's a good thing, a chance to heal the nation

And show everybody that we are

So much more than the petty politics that have divided us.

- I will not dress up, smile,

Shake my enemy's hands whilst they drink my wine.

- Well, you are the president and whether you like it

Or not, it's your duty.

- Well, they can shove it,

Right up my assumptions, which proved entirely accurate.

(everyone laughing)

- [catherine] the levee is a european forum.

It's like a reception,

A more formal staid cocktail party, if you will,

With love curtsying and presenting, pomp and circumstances

And courtiers and palace intrigue

And patronage and all that stuff.

But you had to be very careful.

Couldn't be too european. It couldn't be too suspect.

- I feel a fool.

- And it will be over soon.

Just promise me you will keep your temper.

- All right, all right.

For you.

- Hell is empty.

All the devils are here.

(tense music)

- [patrick] thomas jefferson reviled the luxury

And the decadence in europe,

And he wanted america to be the antithesis of all

That he saw was wrong in europe.

- Shall we dine?

- I'm waiting on my friend, mr. Jefferson.

- He's here.

- I don't see my friend.

(tense music)

- I see a man who would be king, who claims

To be no more nor less than an ordinary citizen.

Well, if so, why the throne?

(tense music)

- That man is dead to me.

- [catherine] the relationship between john adams

And thomas jefferson has been falling apart pretty steadily

Over the past few years

Before we get to the sort of fateful moment

In 1801 when the election results show

That john adams is not going to be reelected.

And so the drama of the election

Of 1800 shifts, actually, right around this time.

- Where are you, you furry little bastard?

- John, please stop.

It's almost midnight.

- He's mocking me!

Every single night, scratching and stumbling.

- It's just a mouse. Let it be and come to bed.

I've got a surprise for you.

(quaint music)

Oh, come on, john. You know it's not your birthday.

And anyway, I've got a far better surprise for you.

- By February 11th, 1801, the results of the election

Of 1800 are in, and the result is very disconcerting.

- That's a dirty trick to play on a poor man.

- It arrived this evening. Get comfortable.

You're going to enjoy this.

The headline reads, "election result shock."

- What are you waiting for, woman?

- Do you want me to read this to you or not?

The electoral college count

In the presidential election is finally complete,

Blah, blah, blah, formalities, blah, blah,

Thanks to the counters.

Ah, here we are.

The president of the senate then declared

That thomas jefferson

And aaron burr had a majority of all the votes

And also the same number of votes.

- A tie, between jefferson and burr?

(john and abigail laughing)

Hilarious!

- So it says here, 72 votes each.

- Let them share it.

Let them both sip from the poisoned cup.

- You do see the danger. Burr might be president.

You must do something.

- Must I?

Read it to me again. - Why?

- Humor me.

- Thomas jefferson and aaron burr had a majority

Of the votes, and also the same number of votes.

(john and abigail laughing)

- I'll sleep well tonight.

- So why is there a tie vote in 1800?

Someone should have thrown away a vote.

- [tyson] nobody withholds their vote from burr,

Kind of thinking that the other guy was going to do it.

The house of representatives comes to a stalemate.

There are a lot of federalists in the house who would prefer

To see burr in the presidency, rather than jefferson.

- [burr] may I have a word?

- Sounds ominous.

- In private.

(tense music)

- What news?

- What news?

This.

- [jefferson] which is?

- Mr. Burr has no principle, public or private,

And is in fact one of the most unprincipled men

In the united states.

- Gosh.

- You bastard. You set me up.

And then there were the letters,

Sent to over a hundred members of congress,

Urging them to vote for you because I am not to be trusted.

- I see. Unfortunate.

- For me.

And what did they have in common,

The letters, the articles?

Well, the man who wrote them.

- If you're suggesting that was me, you're wrong.

- So your hand wasn't on the pen,

But I know you put him up to it.

- Put whom up to it?

- You are trying my pa-

You are trying my patience.

Let's pretend you are innocent, or just plain stupid.

These attacks on me were written by mr. Alexander hamilton,

War hero, washington's right hand man, federalist vermin,

Corrupt wretch.

And you allied with him to sell me out?

But alexander hamilton thinks that burr is dangerous.

And so he sways his fellow federalists instead

To cast their votes for jefferson,

Which swings the election to jefferson.

(steady music)

- They say I want to be king,

But actually all I want is a privy

That doesn't freeze in winter.

Is that too much to ask?

- You need not worry about that much longer.

- So, it is decided.

It will be thomas?

- Yes. - That is good.

They rally to his side?

- It was mr. Hamilton who persuaded them.

- Hamilton? Why?

- It seems the only man he loathes more

Than jefferson is mr. Burr.

- Ah. Everyone hates burr.

They're welcome to each other.

(john chuckling)

- [paul] adams is considered the first failed president.

He's the first president not to be reelected.

- Classic line on john adams was benjamin franklin.

He said, "always an honest man, often a wise one,

But in some things, absolutely out of his senses."

- I'll kill him!

- [richard] john adams was a great patriot.

He was a great intellectual.

He had a great sense of humor sometimes,

Especially with his wife, abigail.

But he could also turn on people

That he felt had betrayed him.

- I can't believe we're leaving just

As the building work is finally finished.

Will you miss it?

- The house?

No.

- I meant the presidency.

- I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you.

Away from washington, away from the nest

Of vipers crawling all over it.

- The adams hightail it outta town.

They don't go to jefferson's inauguration.

- Careful what you wish for, thomas.

(steady music)

- James callender. You're free to go.

- [carol] when jefferson is elected,

Everybody's freed who is under the sedition act.

- Huh.

- [guardsman] so, where will you go?

- [callender] hear washington's nice.

There's a man there that owes me a favor,

And I aim to collect.

(tense music)

My pen placed you in that seat.

Now you will recompense me.

- I don't know what you're talking about.

- [callender] you assume you're untouchable,

But everyone has secrets.

- [speaker] you don't talk about that,

Unless you're absolutely sure no one is listening.

- Let's find the truth of it, then.

- Damn callender!

I must stop them.