Here’s something you probably didn’t learn in history class: In the days leading up to the founding of our nation, there was a conspiracy to kill George Washington. Many historians are aware of this fact, but there’s not a lot of information to support it.

But that didn’t stop Brad Meltzer.

When he saw the reference in a footnote by Pulitzer-prize winning historian Joseph J. Ellis, Meltzer couldn’t shake it from his mind. So he collaborated with Josh Mensch to discover the history behind that footnote. The result is Meltzer’s first work of nonfiction: The First Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington.

I visited with Meltzer about this new look at our nation’s past, and how it can inform our present and future. Here’s our conversation: