Foundational Truths

How do we grapple with the breach between our foundational 'truths' and our historical reality? We take a close look at the portraits of two key figures from the history books -- one a rich slave trader, the other a pamphleteer who died penniless. Author Rick Atckinson brings them to life as the complicated people they really were, and holds their stories against today's re-examination of our democratic ideals. Democracy is “never a thing done," Rick says, citing Archibald MacLeish, "always something a nation must be doing."