I am grateful to Mr. Dixon for his response. "Mismanaged" was the wrong
word, as it implies some malfeasance or negligence; my point was that
Jefferson and the other heirs made a mistake in assuming the Wayles debt
personally, as Jefferson discovered when it came back to bite him badly. It
is fairer to say that Jefferson "misjudged" the situation. But I don't
understand Mr. Dixon's statement that land and slaves were paper assets. 

In "Thomas Jefferson: A personal financial biography," by Stephen Harold
Hochman, University of Virginia, 1987, p. 83, Hochman says the Wayles estate
was worth about L30,000 and owed L10,000. TJ's net personal gain was about
L6500.

Now that we're all tightly focussed on this very obscure issue of Jefferson
and the Wayles debt, perhaps Mr. Dixon or someone else can explain
something. In a July 29, 1787 letter to Nicholas Lewis, TJ writes that 2/3
of the Wayles debt (which TJ is stuck with) arose from Wayles's purchase of
the slaves which TJ eventually inherited from the Wayles estate. As I
understand it, Wayles's debt arose from a slave-trading transaction. Wayles
was buying the slaves for resale, not for himself, and he in fact sold those
slaves to people who then didn't pay him, so Wayles couldn't pay the British
supplier, which was the origin of the debt that later burdened Jefferson.
Wayles never had personal possession of those slaves, nor did TJ inherit
those slaves. It seems that Jefferson was saying to Lewis: "the slaves I got
from Wayles have burdened me with debt," when actually they had not. Am I
correct on this?

Henry Wiencek

For those who are interested, here is the letter:

To Nicholas Lewis from TJ 

Paris July 29, 1787.

The torment of mind I endure till the moment shall arrive when I shall not
owe a shilling on earth is such really as to render life of little value. I
cannot decide to sell my lands. I have sold too much of them already, and
they are the only sure provision for my children, nor would I willingly sell
the slaves as long as there remains any prospect of paying my debts with
their labor. In this I am governed solely by views to their happiness which
will render it worth their while to use extraordinary exertions for some
time to enable me to put them ultimately on an easier footing, which I will
do the moment they have paid the debts due from the estate, two thirds of
which have been contracted by purchasing them.