Dear Ms. Mills:
I just posted something along these lines; I guess is has not yet
surfaced; in case it got lost in cyberspace, I append it to this message.
=================
we debate these issues every few years. For a long discussion of how
Jefferson helped invent scientific racism, look at the last two chapters
of my book, SLAVERY AND THE FOUNDERS: RACE AND LIBERTY IN THE AGE OF
JEFFERSON, 2nd ed. 2001. In that book I judge Jefferson by the
standards of his own time; compared to many other founders, Jefferson
does not fare well. I think Jefferson should be judged the standards of
his own time; compare his view on race to those of Washington, Franklin,
Hamilton, Adams, as well as his many European friends, or John and Henry
Laurens in South Carolina, or LaFayette.
As for the Indian removal. I don't have the cite handy but shortly
after buying Louisiana he proposed moving Indians out of hte Southeast
and shipping them west.
TJ may have believed rocks could not fall from the sky, but he could not
consuct the experiment. He also believed that the blood of blacks was
darker than the blood of whites, that they smelled worse than whites,
and that the were incapable of forming loving relationships like whites.
Over the course of his adult life he owned more than 400 slaves; and he
could certainly have observed many things about them. He sold off more
than 80 in a ten year period (contrast this to Washington who never sold
a slave or Madison who only sold a few to neighbors late in life when he
literally could not afford to maintain them). Surley while selling off
these slaves he would have been able to observe how the slaves felt
about the destruction of their families. Washington said you do not
take men to market like cattle. Jefferson sent scores to market like
cattle. I agree, judge him by the standards of his own world. When his
neighbor Edward Coles wanted to free his slaves, Jefferson told him not
to do it and refused to take a public stand supporting either private
manumissions or gradual abolition. When his friend St. George Tucker
(the law professor at William and Mary and a judge) proposed a scheme
for ending slavery in Va. Jefferson refused to endorse it, or come up
with one of his own.
Yes, I agree completely. Judge him against the best of his generation.
=================
[log in to unmask] wrote:
>MR FINKELMAN,
>I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHO, IN YOUR ILLUSTRIOUS OPINION, MIGHT NOT HAVE BEEN A "THOROUGH GOING RACIST" OR, FOR THAT MATTER, JUST A PLAIN, LONG, OLD, REGULAR RACIST, IN THE 18TH CENTURY WESTERN WORLD. DO YOU SUPPOSE THAT IF YOU HAD BEEN ALIVE IN THE 18TH CENTURY, WITHOUT THE BENEFIT OF THE HINDSIGHT OF A 21ST CENTURY PERSON, YOU JUST MIGHT POSSIBLY HAVE BEEN A TYPICAL, AVERAGE, NORMAL WHITE MAN WHO PRESUMED, LIKE EVERYONE ELSE (EXCEPT THE MAN OF COLOR), THAT THE WHITE RACE WAS THE SUPERIOR RACE?
>GIVE ME A BREAK: EVERYONE WAS A THOROUGH GOING RACIST BACK THEN. EVERYONE!
>DEANE MILLS
>13TH GENERATION (PROVEN) VIRGINIAN
>
>
>
>>Sent: Sunday, December 04, 2005 3:24 PM
>>
>>
>
> Re: "common-sense Jeffersonian conservative principles"
>he was a thorough going
>
>
>>>racist, who believed that blacks were mentally inferior to whites, and
>>>he wanted to remove all Indians to someplace else (like where I live);
>>>he invented the Indian removal.
>>>
>>>Unlike modern conservaitves, he believed in balanced budgets and worked
>>>at them; he was a free trader, except when it came to the Embargo
>>>against Haiti and then Europe.
>>>
>>>Unlike moderns conservatives, he believed in a small military and
>>>avoided military adventurism whenever possible.
>>>
>>>And, unlike modern Consrvatives and Republicnas, he did, to his great
>>>credit, believe in religious freedom and a strict separation of Church
>>>and State.
>>>
>>>Finally, of course, he believed in racial subordination and slavery. I
>>>will refrain from commenting on whether that fits with the
>>>administration or Sen. Allen
>>>
>>>Paul Finkelman
>>>
>>>
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--
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)
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