Let me first say that I admire the wise prudence of Brent Tarter in requesting that the dead horse of the Jefferson-Hemings dispute be left in peace!   The paternity of Sally Hemings's children is [probably] never going to be proven by DNA : science doth make 'agnostics' of us all -- and so we are left with the historical evidence which we have to analyze and interpret and we should be honest as we do so.   But I cannot see the good in ceding this forum to posts such as the lengthy one from Adrian Zolkover.   I must observe here (as I believe I did the last time Ms. Zolkover posted this same information) that few of these facts are relevant to the question of Jefferson's paternity of Hemings' children.  Indeed, many of them make no sense in the issue at hand at all.   Ms. Zolkover prefaces her post as being a service to new members of the list, but by insisting that these bits of information support her pre-conceived conclusion that Jefferson could not be the father of the Hemings children (or any of them) and that to suggest otherwise is somehow to tell lies and to defame Jefferson ("raping his legacy?"), she actively seeks to limit the inquiry she claims to champion.   Thus, I believe, she does a disservice to this list.

David Kiracofe



David KIRACOFE
History
Tidewater Community College
Chesapeake Campus
1428 Cedar Road
CHESAPEAKE, Virginia 23322
757-822-5136
>>> Adrian Zolkover <[log in to unmask]> 02/26/09 2:16 AM >>>
Yeah to that! There are many new names on this list and in an effort to 
re-report some essential TJ information published in excellently documented 
books I submit the following. I haven't submitted anything in months, so I 
hope it isn't too too much T'RUB BULL to have to skip it if you want.

THOMAS JEFFERSON'S LIFE HISTORY


<snip.>


If he were having an affair with Sally why didn't she become pregnant before 
she was 22 years old, or during the 13 years after Thomas's wife died? Sally 
had her first child in 1797 and last child 1808; Randolph was a widower 
1796-1808. And Randolph had 4 sons of child bearing age when Sally became 
pregnant and they sometimes lived or visited Monticello. Randolph's oldest 
son married in 1808. And Randolph was known to have a somewhat retarded 
intellect. And he enjoyed "fiddling" around with the slaves. President 
Jefferson retires to Monticello 1809 and Sally has no more babies. That 
President Jefferson was the father of even one of her children is possible, 
but I think most unlikely. Some might be of the opinion that the difference 
is only academic; that what big difference would there be if Thomas and 
Sally, two consenting adults, had a sexual relationship? I think it would 
have been much out of character for the brilliant, most principled, most 
important and dashing man, who was close with his and Martha's children, to 
have a sexual relationship with a family slave Sally; for whom he held 
enough personal regard to have her help raise his children. I think there 
would be many accomplished, Caucasian, not slave women, who would be 
desirous of Thomas Jefferson's attentions. From Sally's point of view I 
think the statements from scholarly spin masters who (twist, manipulate, and 
ignore an overabundance of evidence to the contrary) state that Thomas 
Jefferson was, or even was most likely, the father of Eston and or Sally's 
other children is degrading to Sally, as well as to President Jefferson, as 
well as to United States history.



And some of the "scholars" that state in writing and lectures that he was 
the father of Eston and or more of her children are those that own and work 
for Monticello and are professors at the University of Virginia, both 
institutions that were founded by Thomas Jefferson. They have a fundamental 
responsibility not to lie and deface their founder Thomas Jefferson. They 
have changed the name from The Monticello Thomas Jefferson Memorial 
Foundation to The Monticello Thomas Jefferson Foundation. With its present 
administration, I think the Monticello Corporation has no reason to continue 
as a public facility representing Thomas Jefferson, its founder, or United 
States history. Academia would be better off without those that misstate, 
deceive, lie, and prosecute their institutions' founder, instead of 
presenting the available information and wherever it may lead. They should 
be removed from their positions of responsibility. I conclude that because 
Thomas Jefferson was an extraordinarily brilliant, principled, judicious and 
discerning person, and because of much additional evidence which supports my 
conclusion, it is extremely unlikely that President Jefferson would have had 
a sexual relationship with, and or impregnated Sally Hemings. As multiple 
public records show, and as these scholars would have known, there were many 
other male Jeffersons, some adolescent or in their early 20's, frequently at 
Monticello when Thomas Jefferson was there, and particularly during the time 
when Sally became pregnant with Eston, who could have been the father of 
Eston. And as to the rest of her children, there may have been several 
different fathers, as reported was so with Sally's mother.



I emphatically question the motives of people who have an agenda to publish 
BIASED AND MISINFORMING opinions and conclusions [and to the extent that 
they ignore most pertinent scientific evidence and historic evidence, LIES] 
about the very person who probably did the most, in his day, to end slavery. 
Jefferson wrote numerous articles, including his first draft of the 
Declaration of Independence (exhibits are available), where he states that 
slavery is "a cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most 
sacred rights of life and liberty" and that slavery is "an assemblage of 
horrors". They made him delete his opinions about slavery from his draft of 
the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson was arguably our most 
significant founding father. He was the most instrumental in establishing 
democracy with the new idea that he first wrote in the Declaration of 
Independence "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are 
created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain 
inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of 
happiness." Additionally "That to secure these rights, governments are 
instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the 
governed." Raping the legacy of Thomas Jefferson is a disservice to society.

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