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The Founding Fathers' Papers S. HRG. 110–334 THE FOUNDING FATHERS’ PAPERS: ENSURING PUBLIC ACCESS TO OUR NATIONAL TREASURES HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION FEBRUARY 7, 2008 Serial No. J–110–72 Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 41–482 PDF WASHINGTON : 2008 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate 0ct 09 2002 11:26 Apr 04, 2008 Jkt 041482 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 S:\GPO\HEARINGS\41482.TXT SJUD1 PsN: CMORC COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont, Chairman EDWARD M. KENNEDY, Massachusetts ARLEN SPECTER, Pennsylvania JOSEPH R. BIDEN, JR., Delaware ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah HERB KOHL, Wisconsin CHARLES E. GRASSLEY, Iowa DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California JON KYL, Arizona RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama CHARLES E. SCHUMER, New York LINDSEY O. GRAHAM, South Carolina RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois JOHN CORNYN, Texas BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island TOM COBURN, Oklahoma BRUCE A. COHEN, Chief Counsel and Staff Director STEPHANIE A. MIDDLETON, Republican Staff Director NICHOLAS A. ROSSI, Republican Chief Counsel (II) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 11:26 Apr 04, 2008 Jkt 041482 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\GPO\HEARINGS\41482.TXT SJUD1 PsN: CMORC C O N T E N T S STATEMENTS OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS Page Cardin, Hon. Benjamin L., a U.S. Senator from the State of Maryland ............. 21 Kennedy, Hon. Edward M., a U.S. Senator from the State of Massachusetts ... 2 Leahy, Hon. Patrick J., a U.S. Senator from the State of Vermont .................... 1 prepared statement .......................................................................................... 121 Specter, Hon. Arlen, a U.S. Senator from the State of Pennsylvania, prepared statement .............................................................................................................. 142 WITNESSES Katz, Stanley N., Chairman, Papers of the Founding Fathers, Professor, Woodrow Wilson School of Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey ....... 12 Ketcham, Ralph, Professor of History Emeritus, Maxwell School of Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York ......................................................................... 14 Marcum, Deanna B., Associate Librarian of Library Services, Library of Con- gress, Washington, D.C. ...................................................................................... 8 McCullough, David G., Presidential Historian and Author, Camden, Maine .... 4 Rimel, Rebecca W., President and Chief Executive Officer, The Pew Chari- table Trusts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania .......................................................... 10 Weinstein, Allen, Archivist of the United States, Washington, D.C. .................. 6 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Responses of Stanley N. Katz to questions submitted by Senator Specter ........ 28 Responses of Deanna B. Marcum to questions submitted by Senator Specter .. 37 Responses of Allen Weinstein to questions submitted by Senator Specter ........ 41 SUBMISSIONS FOR THE RECORD Doyle-Wilch, Barbara, Dean of Library and Information Services, Middlebury College, President, Vermont Library Association, Middlebury, Vermont, let- ter .......................................................................................................................... 43 Graffagnino, J. Kevin, Executive Director, Vermont Historical Society, Mont- pelier, Vermont, letter ......................................................................................... 44 Jordan, Daniel P., President, Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc., Charlottes- ville, Virginia, letter and statement ................................................................... 46 Katz, Stanley N., Chairman, Papers of the Founding Fathers, Professor, Woodrow Wilson School of Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, statement .............................................................................................................. 49 Ketcham, Ralph, Professor of History Emeritus, Maxwell School of Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, statement ...................................................... 116 Marcum, Deanna B., Associate Librarian of Library Services, Library of Con- gress, Washington, D.C., statement ................................................................... 123 McCullough, David G., Presidential Historian and Author, Camden, Maine, statement .............................................................................................................. 125 Moe, Richard, President, National Trust for Historic Preservation, Wash- ington, D.C., letter ............................................................................................... 128 Morgan, Edmund S., Sterling Professor of History emeritus, Yale University, letter ...................................................................................................................... 130 Philadelphia Inquirer, Edward Colimore, article .................................................. 132 Rimel, Rebecca W., President and Chief Executive Officer, The Pew Chari- table Trusts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, statement ....................................... 136 (III) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 11:26 Apr 04, 2008 Jkt 041482 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\GPO\HEARINGS\41482.TXT SJUD1 PsN: CMORC IV Page Roll Call, February 6, 2008, article ........................................................................ 140 Washington Post, December 15, 2007, article ....................................................... 144 Weinstein, Allen, Archivist of the United States, Washington, D.C., state- ment ...................................................................................................................... 147 Wilentz, Sean, Sidney and Ruth Lapidus Professor in the American Revolu- tionary Era and Professor of History, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, letter ......................................................................................................... 154 Wood, Gordon S., Alva O. Way University Professor and Professor of History, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, letter ......................................... 157 VerDate 0ct 09 2002 11:26 Apr 04, 2008 Jkt 041482 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\GPO\HEARINGS\41482.TXT SJUD1 PsN: CMORC THE FOUNDING FATHERS’ PAPERS: ENSUR- ING PUBLIC ACCESS TO OUR NATIONAL TREASURES THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2008 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, Washington, DC The Committee met, Pursuant to notice, at 10:09 a.m., in room SD–226, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Patrick J. Leahy, Chairman of the Committee, presiding. Present: Senators Kennedy, Cardin, and Whitehouse. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. PATRICK J. LEAHY, A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF VERMONT Chairman LEAHY. You know, every so often you get to—around here we have committee meetings on horrible crimes, we have com- mittee meetings on wars, we have committee meetings on conten- tious issues. David, we have a place for you right there in the front. Then every so often, we actually have something that’s fas- cinating. Senator KENNEDY. And important. Chairman LEAHY. And important. It is an important hearing, as Senator Kennedy says, on improving public access to the papers of our Nation’s Founding Fathers. Last this month we will celebrate the 276th birthday of our first President, George Washington. Very few of us were here in the Senate at that time. [Laughter.] There is much to be learned from our Founders and our shared national history. We will work with the Reporter to clear up that little bit of the transcript. [Laughter.] But my father was a printer in Vermont, a self-taught historian. I was steeped from childhood in a deep appreciation in the First Amendment and the power of the written word, and the value and the vitality of our Nation’s rich history to us, and to each future generation of Americans. So, today it is especially good that we have this distinguished panel of historians, scholars, and govern- ment officials. The works of our Founding Fathers are a part of the identity and heritage of every single American. We should do everything pos- sible to make these papers available, accessible, and affordable to (1) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 11:26 Apr 04, 2008 Jkt 041482 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\GPO\HEARINGS\41482.TXT SJUD1 PsN: CMORC 2 the American people, especially at a time when many of us are con- cerned that not enough Americans know enough about the history of our country, all of it, the good, the bad, everything else. More than a half century ago, we undertook the important task of making the correspondence and diaries and other writings of the six Founding Fathers—George Washington, James Madison, Thom- as Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Alexander Hamilton—available to the American people. But a lot of this re- mains largely incomplete and inaccessible to most Americans today. They commonly referred to ‘‘letter press’’ projects operated at major universities and other institutions around the country. Although the first volumes of the papers were published in the 1950’s, only the papers of Alexander Hamilton have been com- pleted. According to the National Historic Publication and Records Commission NHPRC, the papers of Thomas Jefferson
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