I sent this by mistake only to Paul--my intent was to direct it more publicly, to the list-serv as a whole.

Sent from my iPad

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Hardwick, Kevin R - hardwikr" <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Date: November 28, 2016 at 8:12:03 PM EST
To: Paul Finkelman <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Subject: RE: Censoring Jefferson

I have to confess I have not been paying much attention to controversy over the mountain at UVA.  So it is entirely possible I am misunderstanding what is going on.

That said, there does seem to me to be a disconnect between condemning Jefferson for his hypocrisy over slavery, on the one hand, and dismissal of his contributions to the civic life of the United States, on the other.  I do not see how our recognition of Jefferson's ethical failures, and the misery to which he condemned the scores of enslaved persons who worked for him, lead us inexorably to the conclusion that we have an ethical obligation in the present to avoid citing his words.  It seems entirely possible to argue, as men like Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln did, that the United States Constitution is a liberal statement of principles that ought to apply to all human beings, precisely because it is predicated at the deepest level on realizing the aspirations that Jefferson articulated in the Declaration of Independence.  Lincoln and Douglass perhaps were wrong about that--but its not an obvious thing that they were.  Serious scholars--eg. Harry Jaffa--advance arguments we can not just dismiss out of hand, to the effect that Lincoln got it right.

I am just now in the final weeks teaching a course that surveys the US civic tradition.  American political and civic discourse is shot through with references to the words Jefferson wrote.  Statesmen as diverse as Virginia Congressman Josiah Parker, condemning the slave trade in 1789; Massachusetts Senator Timothy Fuller, debating the Tallmadge amendments in 1819; Pennsylvania Senator Jonathan Roberts, debating the same topic in 1820; Abraham Lincoln, speaking at Peoria Illinois in 1854 (to pick just one example); Theodore Roosevelt, defining the "New Nationalism" at Ossawatomie Kansas in 1910; Calvin Coolidge, using the 150th anniversary of the Declaration in order to criticize progressivism; Franklin Delano Roosevelt, on numerous occasions--all of these statesmen, and many others like them, defined their understanding of what American civic identity consists by reference to the words that Jefferson penned in 1776.  That right there is sufficient to justify taking inspiration from the man.  I don't see how Jefferson's personal moral failures--which are obvious and despicable--require us to forget or to marginalize or to self-censor references his contributions to the American public discourse that justified ending slavery, as well as civic argument about progressivism and the New Deal.

___________________________
Kevin R. Hardwick
Professor
Department of History, MSC 8001
James Madison University
Harrisonburg, Virginia 22807

________________________________________
From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history [[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>] on behalf of Paul Finkelman [[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>]
Sent: Monday, November 28, 2016 4:58 PM
To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Censoring Jefferson

It is charming to see Mr. Dixon using a source quoting a well-known American Marxist (and I think member of the CPUSA) to bolster Jefferson:
"Philip Foner, editor of “The Complete Writings of Thomas Paine,” noted that the characterization of Paine as “the first American abolitionist” was inaccurate, due to Jefferson’s 1769 effort to legalize the manumission of Virginia slaves." It is important to note that the law mentioned here would have merely allowed masters to free slaves through private manumission, if the masters chose to do so. It was not an emancipation law and would not have ended slavery.  Many masters liked such law because it allowed them to free favored slavers, often the mistresses or the children the fathered with the slaves.  In 1782 Virginia passed such a law, and except for a handful of members of the Hemings family, Jefferson never took advantage of the law to free any of his slaves.
Support for such a law was hardly support for "abolition."  Many masters in the South (including Jefferson) freed a few slaves here and there but continued to buy and sell human beings throughout their lives.  Jefferson fits very well in this category.
******************
Paul FinkelmanArielF. Sallows Visiting Professor of Human Rights LawCollegeof LawUniversityof Saskatchewan15Campus DriveSaskatoon,SK  S7N 5A6   [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
c) 518.605.0296 (US number)


     From: Richard Dixon <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, November 28, 2016 11:44 AM
Subject: [VA-HIST] Censoring Jefferson

For those interested in the recent flap at the University of Virginia
where professors and students objected to President Teresa Sullivan
quoting Thomas Jefferson, the founder of the University. There is a
response from Robert Turner, a UVA professor, which appears in the
November 27 Charlottesville Daily Progress.

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.dailyprogress.com_opinion_opinion-2Dcommentary-2Dcensoring-2Djefferson-2Dto-2Dsafeguard-2Dignorance-2Dpresident-2Ds-2Dlegacy_article-5F1756205c-2Db4a1-2D11e6-2D9510-2D9ffce9935918.html-3Futm-5Fmedium-3Dsocial-26utm-5Fsource-3Demail-26utm-5Fcampaign-3Duser-2Dshare&d=CwIFaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=7vfW5CeANJ0VLfuivlArSQ&m=kamh1u6rR4ThcfCCZJ-4Pt7XMHICEtxpXwLAjmoHCKY&s=wft9aFPhmDzRlSS5BPfyTXPjTlN_aCYMoIBcpUabjbQ&e=


--
Richard E. Dixon 12106 Beaver Creek Road Clifton, VA 20124 The Virginia
Presidents: A Travel and History Guide 571-748-7660

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