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The White House S01E04 (2026) [Full Movie] [Full Episodes]Full EP - Full
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00:07I have missed you, my love.
00:18Now, the president will deny it, of course.
00:23But I went to Monticello.
00:28Visited a nearby tavern there.
00:31Had the same lurid tail time and again.
00:36Thomas Jefferson's bed is kept warm by one Sally Hennig.
00:41A light-skinned woman in his employ.
00:47You're a goddamn liar.
00:49Am I?
00:52You grew up close to Jefferson's plantation in Virginia, didn't you?
01:00You must have heard the stories.
01:04Seen his little brood of mulattoes.
01:09If you squint a bit, you can see the likeness.
01:18But then, what is the point in being the president if you can't take a slave into your bed,
01:27sire your children with her?
01:34You know, during my time in the old me,
01:41I was called upon to kill a number of men.
01:49Not one of that deaths cost me a moment's sleep.
02:06You'd kill me because I tell the truth about the president.
02:10My daughter'll have to kill you, Mr. Callender.
02:14You'll do that all by yourself.
02:25Have another drink on me.
02:33I won't be silenced, Mr. Lewis.
02:37Tell the president James T. Callender is coming for him!
03:00Mr. President.
03:02Sir.
03:03Good morning, John.
03:06What a beautiful day.
03:08It surely is.
03:13Well, that ain't for me.
03:17Oh, well, thank you, honey.
03:19Yeah, most as pretty as you.
03:24Sally Hemings was one of the young female slaves who lived at Monticello,
03:29which, of course, was owned by Thomas Jefferson.
03:34Sally was a mixed-race slave with a white father and an enslaved African mother.
03:44But Hemings was also the half-sister of Jefferson's wife.
03:51So, Thomas Jefferson married one sister who was free and then took as a concubine the other sister.
04:04And there are some accounts that she resembled Thomas Jefferson's wife.
04:29Not that basket.
04:32That's the master's basket.
04:33All the servant's clothes go in the other one.
04:39You must be that new manservant we all heard about.
04:43Yes, I am.
04:45John.
04:46John Freeman.
04:47Well, John Freeman.
04:53You can quit staring and help me dry some laundry.
04:59Melinda Colbert is Sally Hemings' niece.
05:03And she was given as a wedding present when she was about nine years old to Maria Jefferson.
05:13One of her jobs was to be the body servant, to be the companion of Thomas Jefferson's daughter.
05:20So, Melinda worked inside the house.
05:23And she was a friend of Sally.
05:28You didn't have to do this.
05:33Well, I figured I'd do something for you.
05:36And you do something for me.
05:38And what is it you want from me, John Freeman?
05:41I want to know what's going on with the master and that woman.
05:45Well, you're playing with fire there.
05:48You don't talk about that at Monticello.
05:51Unless you're absolutely sure no one is listening.
05:57She has two kids.
05:59Both his.
06:01There were more, but some died young.
06:06And nobody knows about this?
06:08Some of her friends, maybe.
06:10The Madisons, for sure.
06:12They're here all the time.
06:18Sally has her own cabin away from the house in the slave's quarters.
06:23But there's a private passageway.
06:26Leads to the master's property.
06:28Makes it possible for her to visit his rooms when nobody is looking.
06:34Jefferson had successfully kept his relationship with Sally Hemings a secret.
06:39However, Jefferson does have enemies.
06:44There are people in the United States who do not like Thomas Jefferson
06:48and are looking for anything they can find to help tear him down.
07:00Captain Lewis.
07:02I'm disappointed.
07:05You're supposed to be a man of action.
07:07I expected you to return from your mission victorious,
07:09not waving the white flag of surrender.
07:13I made their proposal to Callender.
07:15As you asked, he declined.
07:21It's a trouble with drunks.
07:23There's no reason it will.
07:26You made a number of malicious accusations.
07:30About your household staff.
07:34About your relationship.
07:36For one in particular.
07:41No one would ever believe him.
07:43Let him shoot his mouth off.
07:46Are you certain, Mr. President?
07:50There are other more persuasive avenues that could be explored.
08:00I don't think there'll be a need for violence, Captain.
08:05At least not yet.
08:09No, Callender's a loud mouth.
08:12Give him a week and you'll come crawling back.
08:15Beg him for that $50.
08:24Callender.
08:28General Fouzan Leverture has almost complete control of the island.
08:32He's freed over half a million slaves, including the ones that he's released from Santa Domingo.
08:37And now the French Emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte, has sent a fleet of 20,000 men to retake the colony from
08:43the rebel slaves.
08:45The southern plantation owners are worried, Thomas.
08:48Haiti is offering citizenship to anyone black who could make it to their shores.
08:58Haiti is a very small island, about a thousand miles away from Washington, but a very big problem for the
09:05Jefferson administration.
09:07It was actually the location of the first truly successful slave revolution.
09:15And one of the things slave-holding white Americans and plantation owners knew is that if just one slave revolution
09:25was successful, it could topple the entire system in the United States.
09:33Freeman, over here, now.
09:42Look at me.
09:45How much of our conversation did you hear?
09:49Most of it.
09:51I see.
09:53Do you know about the slave rebellion in Haiti, Freeman?
09:58I guess I do.
10:00There ain't too many black folk that I haven't heard.
10:02And what do they say about it?
10:06It's all right, John.
10:08You may be candid.
10:11Well, I guess most folk think the Haitians are heroes.
10:16Like Spartacus and his followers back in the Roman times.
10:20Except Spartacus was what?
10:22Didn't stop the Romans from killing them, though, did it?
10:28Go on.
10:30Maybe the Romans were scared.
10:32What a slave might do to those who kept them in chains.
10:37Maybe slavery ain't a black or white thing.
10:40It's about people making money.
10:44Pure and simple.
10:48Truth is, sir,
10:50I believe in all those powerful things you said.
10:53About we all being born equal.
10:57That's a world to look forward to.
11:07I'm sorry, sir.
11:09My mouth just runs off of me sometimes.
11:11To become a politician, we get paid for it.
11:17All right, John.
11:25Well, Thomas,
11:28what are we going to do about Haiti?
11:30Thomas Jefferson does not want a Haitian revolution happening in the United States.
11:37Even as he's arguing and writing the Declaration of Independence, over his lifetime, he's holding maybe 600 plus slaves.
11:46He's using slaves for his plantation, Monticello.
11:52He's using slaves at the White House.
11:55And he doesn't want them thinking about revolution.
11:58So he decides to act like Haiti doesn't exist.
12:02He doesn't acknowledge Haiti as a country at all.
12:06The time is coming when we will need to expand our nation.
12:12It is not practical or reasonable to expect whites, blacks, Indians to coexist if populations grow as they are.
12:25Well, we need space to breathe.
12:33Space to contain.
12:44It is well known that the man whom it delighteth the people to honor, keeps, and for many years past
12:51has kept as his concubine, one of his own slaves.
12:55Her name is Sally Hemings.
13:10By this wench, our president has had several children, and there is not an individual in the neighborhood of Charlottesville
13:18who does not believe this story, and not a few who know it.
13:22The Black Venus.
13:27The Black Venus is set to officiate as housekeeper at Monticello.
13:34When Mr. Jefferson reads this article, he will have leisure to estimate how much is lost or gained by so
13:46many unprovoked attacks upon J.T. Calendar.
13:54In 1802, James Callender writes this story about Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, and it's going to become the first
14:03presidential sex scandal.
14:04What will you do?
14:09Nothing.
14:14I shall hold my peace.
14:20Calendar wants to burn everything down.
14:24I will deny him that oxygen.
14:28It's the talk of Washington, but Jefferson ignores it.
14:34He never talks about it publicly one way or the other.
14:39And in fact, until DNA, there were noted historians who were denying it.
14:45No, Jefferson, our boy Jefferson would never have done that.
14:48And there were those of us saying, oh, yes, he could.
14:57I knew deep down that someday the truth would come out.
15:02That one of his opponents would discover our relationship, use it to shame him.
15:11I just never guessed it would hurt this bad.
15:15Stupid, stupid Sally.
15:19He will never acknowledge me or the children.
15:28My greatest fear now is that he will send us away.
15:35Sell us.
15:37Worse.
15:38Separate me from the children.
15:41You could run away.
15:45And how far do you think I would get with no money and the president of the United States chasing
15:52after me?
15:55There's always hating.
15:58Oh.
16:00Anyway.
16:01What's happening with you and that, John Franklin?
16:03I saw you both coming out of the laundry room together.
16:06You know that's a place where stuff's supposed to get cleaner, not dirtier.
16:11I like him.
16:13A lot.
16:16Do you think you could speak with the master about taking me into a service at the White House with
16:24John?
16:25Seriously?
16:27No harm in asking, is there?
16:29Oh.
16:41Secretary of State.
16:43Ah, Mr. Monroe.
16:45Glad you could make it.
16:46What do you know about Haiti, Mr. Monroe?
16:49James Monroe was a revolutionary war hero.
16:52He cuts his teeth as a diplomat in France during the 1790s.
16:55I know that Napoleon Bonaparte's forces there have been decimated by disease.
17:01And if he loses Haiti, he might rethink France's ambitions in the new world.
17:08Napoleon tried to retake Haiti from enslaved rebels who had declared Haiti autonomous of France.
17:18And it failed spectacularly.
17:21What Napoleon really needs now is money.
17:25France-controlled land in the United States.
17:29The entire territory was called Louisiana.
17:33Today it covers about 15 U.S. states.
17:36From the Gulf of Mexico up to Canada, from the Mississippi River out to the Rocky Mountains.
17:44I'm sorry, sir.
17:46Did you just ask me to go to France and buy New Orleans?
17:51Exactly that.
17:51You are authorized to offer $10 million.
17:55Thomas, that isn't...
17:55But he has to throw in West Florida.
17:57That is insane, Thomas.
17:58We don't have anything like that in ready cash.
18:00And even if we did, is it even legal for the president to purchase territory without approval from Congress?
18:06It is the destiny of this country to grow larger.
18:09That cannot be achieved if we allow foreign powers to control our waterways.
18:13Napoleon will listen.
18:15He's busy conquering Europe.
18:17God knows he needs the money.
18:19Courage, mes amis.
18:21Allez, mes braves.
18:23Don't come back empty-handed.
18:41You see, this is what Captain Lewis writes.
18:47Is the James River capable of cleansing your soul?
18:59Now, I don't know about you, but that sounds a lot like a threat.
19:07Callender's report on Sally Hemings is a great threat to Thomas Jefferson.
19:13Jefferson himself is furious that this is reported in the news.
19:20Maybe I should ask the fool himself.
19:24No one would publish Callender.
19:27I mean, he was persona non grata to everybody because he could turn from one side to the other.
19:41George!
19:47When your own lawyer beats you up, as George Hay did, you're probably not a great guy.
19:55I'm sorry, gentlemen.
19:57I think there's been some confusion.
19:58You did just say 15 million.
20:01I did.
20:01You offered Napoleon 15 million dollars for New Orleans and West Florida when we agreed 10 was our limit.
20:10Sorry, Thomas.
20:11You misunderstand.
20:12The 15 million dollars isn't for New Orleans.
20:16Well, why in the name of Hades is it for, then?
20:29I don't understand.
20:31But you say it, Thomas.
20:34That crazy French bastard offered us the whole of Louisiana for 15 million dollars.
20:46Jefferson's greatest accomplishment was the Louisiana Purchase, without a doubt.
20:53The real estate to steal of the century of 15 million dollars for this huge tract of land that effectively
21:01doubled the size of the country.
21:04Jefferson, even threw in a cup of champagne, even threw in a cup of champagne.
21:14You don't look happy, but aren't you happy?
21:20This is a good thing.
21:22This is an amazing thing.
21:24Jefferson has made his reputation as a strict constructionist of the Constitution.
21:31The government cannot do anything that is not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution.
21:41Now, he's spent 15 million dollars purchasing Louisiana.
21:48And there's nothing that says the president can do this.
21:52We are this close to the greatest prize in history.
21:57A vast expanse that will make America the most powerful nation on Earth.
22:04We just have to make sure we bring everyone on board.
22:08Nothing can derail this.
22:12Nothing.
22:15Nothing.
22:17Nothing.
22:18Nothing.
22:20Nothing.
22:22Nothing.
22:24Nothing.
22:27Nothing.
22:36James, would you care to explain why we're meeting in a church?
22:41Why all the cloak and dagger?
22:46I have bad news.
22:49Something I thought better discussed away from the White House.
22:56It's Calendar.
22:58He approached me wanting to speak.
23:01He's in possession of letters written by you to him before the election.
23:05Letters that prove that you paid for his articles attacking John Adams.
23:12Impossible.
23:13There are no such letters.
23:19I have read them, Thomas.
23:22They are undeniable authentic.
23:24Your hand.
23:26Calendar says that he has countless others hidden away.
23:30He's threatening to release them all to the press.
23:40Well.
23:43That's sad.
23:47He said he would ruin me.
23:50Now he can.
23:55If this gets out, the Louisiana deal will collapse.
24:07Maybe he can be reasoned with.
24:11That has been attempted.
24:14He's not a man to be reasoned with.
24:19Then we should just have to hope for some miracle.
24:23The Green Landeskamp.
24:32No.
24:35No.
24:49No.
24:50No.
24:51No.
24:52No.
24:52No.
24:58Oh, my God.
25:30Try to sneak up on a man, would you?
25:34Ah, you.
25:36I sent you again, did he?
25:38Well, you can tell him to go to hell.
25:44Finally found your balls, did you?
26:14James?
26:18James, your letter says you have found a solution to our Louisiana conundrum.
26:25Yes.
26:27Well, your opponents, New England, are refusing to support the Louisiana Purchase.
26:33Some fear that the power of the existing states will be diluted, that their economic dominance will be curtailed.
26:39Others insist that the Constitution gives you no such power.
26:43Now, Napoleon Bonaparte has told our French embassy that unless we pay up immediately, the deal is off the table.
26:49Dear Lord, James, none of that sounds like a solution.
26:52You know, we need to reframe the conversation.
26:54The Constitution says that the President has the power to make international treaties.
27:03How does that help us?
27:05James, well, we need to think of the purchase not as a transaction, but as a treaty with France.
27:14James Madison is adamant that this is a treaty and that land exchanges have always been parts of treaties and
27:20international negotiations.
27:24That is brilliant.
27:30You are a genius.
27:40James?
27:41Is this something else?
27:44James Callender is dead.
27:48They found him drowned in the James River.
27:50Oh, that's terrible.
27:55Alcohol-related?
27:57Seems that way.
27:59They found him drowned in three feet of the James River.
28:06And they declared it death by misadventure, that he had gotten drunk, stumbled into the water, passed out, and died
28:16from this.
28:17The Federalist had a different interpretation, that foul play had been involved by someone devoted to Jefferson, but it never
28:28went anywhere.
28:29Well, the world moves on.
28:34We have great tasks to perform.
28:36We have great tasks to perform.
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