Lyle,
Would that it were possible to just dig 'em all up and test them.
I don't know if you have read Kukla's book, but it is certainly not
pop-psychology, but rests on the word of Jefferson's contemporaries as much
as the word of oral histories.
If you have a copy of the book, I refer you to page 119 where the words of a
neighbor of Jefferson, General Cocke, referring to the instances of slave
mistresses, from his diary, are published:
"I can enumerate a score of such cases in our beloved Ancient Dominion. It
is too well known that they are not few, nor far between ... Were they
enumerated with the statistics of the State, they would be found by
hundreds. Nor is it to be wondered at, when Jefferson's notorious example is
considered."
and the same author, said, a few years later:
"All bachelors, or a large majority at least, keep as a substitute for a
wife some individual of their own Slaves. In Virginia, this damnable
practice prevails as much as anywhere and probably more, as Mr. Jefferson's
example can be pleaded for its defense."
I am reading now in Appendix A, which includes a selection of letters
exchanged about the ten year attempted seduction of Mrs. Walker, the wife of
a supposedly close friend, which was carried on even after Jefferson was
married, and is established as fact by the exchange of letters in which Mr.
Walker asks for the intervention of mutual friends, including Justice John
Marshall, to reclaim his honor.
Although I have known about the Hemings affair for some many years, this is
the first I have seen such details as establish that no only did Jefferson
press the wife of his friend for immoral purposes, but that he also lied to
his daughter about why relations with the Walkers had cooled on the family's
return from France during which time, Mrs. Walker finally felt comfortable
telling her husband why she objected to Jefferson as executor of her
husband's will for the moral danger it would place her under in the event
the he met an early demise.
It is also interesting that Kukla brings out the fact that the terrible
liar, Callender, was employed by Jefferson to write scandelous lies about
John Adams and his presidency.
What goes around comes around.
Thank you, Jon Kukla, not only for researching and writing this book, but
also for letting us know about it on this forum. I find your book most
enlightening, and a fair reading of your book will put a lot of the nonsense
that has been said on this list in recent days, to the lie.
Anne
Anne Pemberton
[log in to unmask]
http://www.erols.com/apembert
http://www.educationalsynthesis.org
----- Original Message -----
From: "Lyle E. Browning" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, May 07, 2008 10:34 PM
Subject: Re: PBS Misrepresentation of the truth on their web page in
Barger's opinion
> On May 7, 2008, at 9:55 PM, Anne Pemberton wrote:
>>
>>
>> Herb, it is always better to look at the broader picture. Limiting your
>> belief to only scientific testing is limiting your ability to approach
>> this issue logically.
> Good grief, here we go again. This is getting to the point that it's as
> bad as 10 archaeologists in a room and having 11 opinions as to what
> something means. All the argument in the world is not going to solve the
> case as it is now.
>
> Science has that capability. If you want the answers, then DNA testing is
> the only means of getting there. All this pop-psychology of WWTJD is just
> so much hot air. It gets us not one jot farther along to solving the
> problem than before. But, alas, we're dealing with fallible, or stubborn
> or whatever people who have agendas, conscious or not. Were it in my
> power, I'd dig up the lot of them and get some DNA and chips fall where
> they may.
>
> In my world, this has happened all too often. We get a big man who's word
> is law, we argue the case and we all get to a point where we can go no
> farther. Until the next bit of evidence comes in and then off the
> pedestal the big man comes. We propose another grand idea and we argue
> the evidence to exhaustion and then wait until the next bit comes along.
> That's how science works. It's evidence driven, and is not ultimately
> driven by posturing in one direction or another.
>
> Bottom line is if you want to know whether TJ dallied with SH, dig'em up
> and test'em, all of them. The truth is in the alleles.
>>
>>
>> If you clear your mind of your prejudice, you may be able to let in a
>> little sunshine and logic.
> May you live by those words as well.
>
>
> Lyle Browning, RPA
>
>
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