And so that makes Jefferson a villain? I am not so quick to judgment,
and I don't speak for anyone but myself. But it does occur, drawing
only from Virginia, if we subtract from history Washington,
Jefferson, Mason, and Madison, slaves owners one and all, would we be
having this conversation? Would the United States as a democratic
republic exist?
-- Stephan
On 4 May 2008, at 17:33, Anita Wills wrote:
> Many of my ancestors in Colonial Virginia were Free Persons of
> Color, who led somewhat extraordinary lives. Even being born free
> did not entitle them to any special treatment. One direct ancestor
> was in The Revolutionary War, and another was a successful
> seamstress and owned her own home. At least one was a slave,
> living in Fredricskburg, under the rule of Jefferson. Coming from a
> mixed heritage, I can state that, I do not speak for the white
> gentry, but others who lived under, and had no benefit from that
> system.
>
> Anita
>
>> Date: Sun, 4 May 2008 15:54:56 -0400
>> From: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: Jefferson's Overseer
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>>
>> I am afraid, Anita, here I do not agree with you. Thomas Jefferson
>> was an 18th century Virginian, and part of the gentry of his day and
>> place. What makes him interesting, to me at least, is that like
>> Mason, who mentored him, he slowly rose above the views of his class
>> and context. Never completely, nor with a whole heart that drove him
>> to action, but conceptually, philosophically. I grew up in
>> Gloucester, and still have painful memories of the disapprobation
>> that assaulted me when I returned from Birmingham, where I had gone
>> to stand up with the civil rights leaders there. People I had known
>> all my life snubbed me, or said rude things behind my back, that they
>> knew would get back to me. Right now I am writing a paper in another
>> discipline with a Russian Jewish mathematician, and the other night
>> he was telling me about what it was like to stand up for civil rights
>> in the Soviet Union. Going against one's generation's irrationality
>> that it clutches to its bloody bosom is never easy.
>>
>> Our children's children are going to look at us when they study what
>> happened about climate change and ask, how could they...
>>
>> Compassion is a necessary tool when analyzing history.
>>
>> -- Stephan
>>
>> On 4 May 2008, at 19:17, Anita Wills wrote:
>>
>>> Anne,
>>> I agree with you on this one. It seems to aggravate some folks that
>>> Jefferson may have slept with his young slave. Take away Sally and
>>> what we are left with is Jefferson, the racist, slave holder. I
>>> believe that is what some of the historians here are arguing for,
>>> to leave his legacy of slave holding, Genocide against Native
>>> Culture, and racist views intact. Trying to paint him as a saint is
>>> not going to work, because there is too much opposing information
>>> out there. Even if he never touched Sally, the fact that he held
>>> slaves, and wrote literature that continues to be used to justify
>>> racist views, says a lot about his character.
>>>
>>> Anita
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> -- Anne Pemberton <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>> Steven,
>>>
>>> Perhaps because I am no spring chicken anymore, I am on a fence on
>>> how much
>>> we can or should demand that science establish "proofs" which in
>>> the past
>>> were left as unanswered questions.
>>>
>>> I have no problem whatsoever in analyzing all the available
>>> information and
>>> sticking to my belief that in all probability, Sally shared TJ's
>>> bed. He
>>> would not have needed to slip out to her cabin. They could have been
>>> comforably undisturbed in his bed. Since she was also his
>>> chambermaid, who
>>> would know? Such testimony as the overseer's statements reminds me
>>> of the
>>> "testimonies" offered by our current president to explain away his
>>> absences
>>> from National Guard duty.
>>>
>>> I would like to learn more about that census entry for Madison
>>> Hemings that
>>> he was the son of Thomas Jefferson. Why would the clerk of the
>>> court sign
>>> off on a document with such an assertion if it was not intended
>>> to be
>>> understood as knowledge and fact.
>>>
>>> Anne
>>> Anne Pemberton
>>> [log in to unmask]
>>> http://www.erols.com/apembert
>>> http://www.educationalsynthesis.org
>>>
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