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Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:
Re: "the wolf by the ear"
From:
Dorothea Martin <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 20 Feb 2003 09:51:21 -0500
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Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history <[log in to unmask]>
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It would appear that Mr. Jefferson used both -- "by the ear" and "by the
ears," to describe his thoughts on the institution of slavery.

http://www.monticello.org/library/famquote.html  -- web site for the
Jefferson Library

Wolf by the ear('s)
"But as it is, we have the wolf by the ear, and we can neither hold him, nor
safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, and self-preservation in the
other."
(Jefferson discussing the Missouri question and slavery to John Holmes April
22, 1820. Ford, Paul Leicester, ed. The Works of Thomas Jefferson, Volume
12. New York: GAP. Putnam's Sons, 1905, p. 159.)

We have the wolf by the ears and feel the danger of either holding or
letting him loose."
(Jefferson to Mrs. Sigourney, Monticello, July 18, 1824.)




Dorothea G. Martin
Rau & Associates
804.359.6075 x119

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