What an excellent explanation of the metaphor! And, in history, the dangers
of holding onto the wolf  through Black Codes and Jim Crow legislation
continued to plague development in the South throughout the 20th century,
and, sadly is still with us.

                                 Anne

At 11:08 PM 2/21/03 -0600, you wrote:
>My point in the article was  a much larger one, however, which was that the
>traditional understanding of Jefferson's image of the wolf  seems
>wrong.  If you
>have a wild animal by the "ear" and let it go, the animal is probably not
>going
>to turn on you, but instead will run away, and that the only danger is holding
>on the animal.  The real danger was in holding on to the animal, and not
>in the
>letting go.  Indeed, it was in holding on to slavery that South harmed itself
>and created great dangers; had the South taken steps to end slavery, it had
>nothing to fear from the "wolf"; however, that would have undermined the
>lifestyle of southern masters, like Jefferson.  Thus, ironically, we might see
>that the "self-preservation" was not a physcial one (the wolf of slavery will
>turn on the former masters) but rather a material one; let the slaves go
>and the
>material well being of Jefferson and others would be harmed.
>
>--
>Paul Finkelman
>Chapman Distinguished Professor of Law
>University of Tulsa College of Law

Anne Pemberton
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http://www.erols.com/stevepem
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