I am not a Jefferson scholar, but have read most of the apposite
literature on this issue, because it impacts on something else which
I am working on. That said, the Jefferson/ Hemmings story seems to
me first and foremost a very human response to loss, grief, and a
testament to the power of love. Here are the basic tropes as they
lay out for me:
1.) Jefferson loses Martha Skelton a woman he is so deeply in love
with that after her death he fears he will lose his sanity, and
isolates himself for months. I am a widower who adored his wife,
and know just what that feels like. Perhaps that is why this seems
so clear to me.
2.) He goes to Paris, begins his dalliance with Maria C. and is
having a fine time.
3.) He brings his daughter over and, at the last minute, her planned
companion is substituted with Sally Hemmings, then a teenage girl at
the height of young beauty. He sees her for the first time and she
is Martha again -- almost literally -- a half sister on the wrong
side of the color line but light skinned and much as Martha was when
he first met her.
4.) Jefferson is notably fastidious about personal intimacy, and as
many list members have noted, highly ambivalent about Africans. I
think he probably resisted his impulses but, over time, Sally's
appearance, her accessibility, and her pleasant sensible demeanor
(the reason she was picked to accompany his daughter) are a
temptation he can not resist.
5.) On French soil Sally was a free woman, and could have walked out
the door and into a different life. But she did not. Why? Probably
because Jefferson was a fascinating man, who had allowed her to enter
his inner world. Of course he was discrete. Of course nothing
untoward was seen to pass between them. It would have been utterly
out of character for Jefferson to be open about such a connection.
Yet it gave him something he could get no where else.
6.) When he returns, she comes with him. She is the only person
allowed to enter and clean his private apartment at Monticello. Had
he freed Sally she would have had to leave, with her children
(indisputably the children of some male of the Jefferson line). It
is hard to imagine another Jefferson male taking liberties with a
slave woman known to have a close (even if discrete) connection with
Jefferson, who was unquestionably king of his hill. Jefferson, while
famously hospitable, was also known to be very careful about his
personal private space and things. I cannot, as I write this recall
the name of the Black woman attorney who wrote about all this, but I
think her assessment of the understanding that arose between Hemmings
and Jefferson is probably pretty close to what happened.
The key to all this is that in spite of his ambivalence about
Africans, and fastidiousness about letting people into his inner
world, Sally Hemmings got through his defenses because she looked,
spoke, and probably acted very much as his beloved wife had. Sally
was a secret second chance at the intimacy that shaped his life so
fully he never married again. It was an impossible relationship at
many levels for Jefferson, and he seems to have isolated it from the
rest of his life -- unlike, say, George Wythe -- but it was also
irresistible, and very human.
-- Stephan
On 6 Dec 2005, at 12:19, Lonny J. Watro wrote:
> All I said was that we can only speculate who these children belong
> to. They
> could have been TJ's or they could have been someone else's, we
> just don't
> know. For now we don't have the scientific tools to prove who the
> father of
> these children are. Unless some white man claimed them as his own
> they are
> sadly, fatherless.
>
> My romantic side would like to believe that TJ was a tender hearted
> man who
> fell in love with his wife's half sister. But my cynical side grew up
> watching politicians turn water hoses on black people in Missisippi
> who
> simply wanted to cast a ballot to vote, watching them gun down college
> students on college campuses, and watching a President resign all
> the while
> insisting "I am not a crook". Well this cynical side of me just
> can't help
> but thinking TJ is like all the other politicians. Sure, sure, he
> did a lot
> for the greater good, but IMHO he was an elistist who thought that
> only
> certain "white planter class men" were created equal. He was a
> victim of his
> time. He may have been a free thinker, but he couldn't free himself
> from the
> pressure of his peers. No more than many of us can today. Me included
> sometimes. Just bring TJ down off his pedistal. His dignity doesn't
> need
> preservation, Harold. He needs for us to try to learn empathy for his
> situation. And this is so hard for us to do, because none of us
> will ever
> understand how anyone can justify holding another person as a
> slave. If we
> could walk a mile in his shoes maybe we could understand him. It's not
> dignity our forfathers need from us. Really its our understanding
> for how
> they lived.
>
> Sometimes I think I should not be so judgemental of them because
> I'm sure
> future generations will hold our generation under the microscope
> also. And I
> shudder to think what they might say about us. <grin>
>
> Lonny Watro
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Debra Jackson/Harold Forsythe" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Tuesday, December 06, 2005 11:22 AM
> Subject: Re: TJ and Sally's kids
>
>
>> The problem with Lonny Watro's analysis here is that it doesn't
>> take into
>> account correlary consequences of the logic. If true, the TJ
>> spend the
>> remaining 34 years of his life celibate and alone; a practice he
>> is on
>> record as opposing for health reasons. Moreover, with all the
>> white men
>> living in the northern Piedmont of Virginia, was it only chance
>> that male
>> Jeffersons apparently alone fathered Sally H's babies? Finally,
>> Tj was
>> known as the "Sage of Monticello." Was he completely blind to these
>> goings
>> on? Children running around the place whose father(s) were his
>> kin and
>> whose mother was his wife's half-sister. Was Monticello a bawdy
>> house?
>> Was
>> this why TJ freed Hemmings and her children only when he died?
>> You see
>> where this is going, don't you?
>> Stick to the romance. It preserves some dignity for TJ.
>>
>> Harold S. Forsythe
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Lonny J. Watro" <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: Monday, December 05, 2005 2:33 PM
>> Subject: Re: TJ and Sally's kids
>>
>>
>>> No, but I do believe that when Jefferson came home all his
>>> relatives came
>>> to
>>> his home to visit him. And probably didn't visit his home when he
>>> was
>>> away.
>>> (Because the only reason my mother visits my house when I'm away
>>> is to
>>> feed
>>> my cat) Since Jefferson had over see-ers he had no need to ask
>>> his family
>>> to
>>> come over while he was away, IMHO. So I can believe that
>>> Jefferson came
>>> home
>>> and said "Hey Uncle Fields, why don't you come on over for dinner
>>> now
>>> that
>>> I
>>> am home." That I do believe. And so you see that's why we can't say
>>> definitely who these children belong to. We can only speculate,
>>> IMHO.
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Paul Finkelman" <[log in to unmask]>
>>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>> Sent: Monday, December 05, 2005 2:12 PM
>>> Subject: TJ and Sally's kids
>>>
>>>
>>>> Sally Hemings only had children 9 months after she was in close
>>>> proximity to Jefferson; she never had children when she was not
>>>> close to
>>>> Jefferson for more than 9 months.To believe your theory, you
>>>> would have
>>>> to believe that whenever Thomas Jefferson was away from
>>>> Monticello that
>>>> Sally Hemings remained celebate, but as soon as Thomas was
>>>> around, she
>>>> immediately had sex with one of his relatives. I can see it
>>>> now, TJ
>>>> arrived in Va after weeks or months in Philadelphia or
>>>> Washington, and
>>>> immediately contacts his Uncle Fields and say, "hey, Uncle
>>>> Fields, come
>>>> on over and visit Sally, now that I am home." Do you really
>>>> believe
>>>> this? If you believe this, then I am sure you would be
>>>> interested in
>>>> the bridge I have for sale.
>>>>
>>>> But, assume you are right. Sally is Jefferson's half-sister-in-
>>>> law. No
>>>> one doubts that Sally is the daughter of John Wayles and Bette
>>>> Hemings.
>>>> So, Thomas owns his half-sister-in-law. Furthermore, if the
>>>> children
>>>> were fathered by TJ's male relatives then they are his neices and
>>>> nephews or cousins. So, both by blood (through the father) and by
>>>> marriage (through his marraige to Martha Wayles Skelton) Sally's
>>>> children are his relatives. So, here we have a man who owns his
>>>> double
>>>> relatives as slaves.
>>>>
>>>> Now maybe that is the role model for Senator Allen!
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Paul Finkelman
>>>> Chapman Distinguished Professor of Law
>>>> University of Tulsa College of Law
>>>> 3120 East 4th Place
>>>> Tulsa, OK 74104-3189
>>>>
>>>> 918-631-3706 (office)
>>>> 918-631-2194 (fax)
>>>>
>>>> [log in to unmask]
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Kathleen Much wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Whoa, whoa, whoa. PLEASE don't let us rehash the Jefferson/Hemings
>>>>> claims and counter-claims. For the record, the original headline
>>>>> accusing Thomas Jefferson of siring Sally Hemings's children
>>>>> was NOT
>>>>> supported by evidence in the _Nature_ article itself and was
>>>>> retracted
>>>>> by the journal. I recommend that anyone wishing to weigh in on the
>>>>> subject read the whole article first.
>>>>>
>>>>> All anyone can say from the DNA evidence is that SOME Jefferson
>>>>> male,
>>>>> possibly Thomas or his nephew, sired ONE of Sally's children.
>>>>> Beyond
>>>>> that, all is speculation.
>>>>>
>>>>> Now let's return the list to other historical topics.
>>>>>
>>>>> Kathleen Much
>>>>> The Book Doctor
>>>>>
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>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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