I rarely find myself in unequivocal agreement with Mr. South. But his remarks below strike me as sensible. Barring the emergence of new evidence, we can not know for certain whether Jefferson did or did not have children by Sally Hemings.
Having reviewed the evidence, assisted by a number of fair-minded and constructive folk here, I find myself compelled to change my mind. Where once I thought that we could fairly say that it was likely, but not certain, that Jefferson was the father of some of Heming's children, now I am convinced that we just don't know, nor do we have strong reasons to believe, one way or the other. We just don't know. All the evidence we have is flawed and partial.
But suppose we did know. What difference would it make for the way we commemorate him in our public history? We honor Jefferson for a variety of reasons, but primarily because he was one of the men who articulated the fundamental public principles and values upon which our public life today is premised. Suppose he fathered children by Hemings? How would that change the fact that Jefferson was one of the more important men who helped found our country? Suppose he did not father children by Hemings. How would that make his contribution to our country any more (or less) worthy?
We value Jefferson for his public contributions. He could have had the private life of James Henry Hammond, or Jean Jacques Rousseau (two men who were far more thuggish, barbaric, irresponsible, and just plain vile than anyone on either side of this debate alleges Jefferson to have been), and he would still command our respect and attention.
So Mr. South is correct. What difference does it make? And if in fact it does not make any difference, why are we spending so much time talking about this?
All best,
Kevin
---- Original message ----
>Date: Sat, 1 Nov 2008 14:12:41 EDT
>From: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Barger and Barger, Jefferson family of Virginia
>To: [log in to unmask]
>
>Or you could spring for a copy of the Barger bool on Amazon.com and update
>your library.
>
>I don't see why you all get so emotional over this Jefferson-Hemings matter.
> It has never and can never be proven that he fathered any of her children,
>so why this continuing childish debate? Such argumentum ad hominem is boring
>and without historical significance from my perspective.
>
>J South
>
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>______________________________________
>To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at
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Kevin R. Hardwick, Ph.D.
Department of History
James Madison University
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