Craig,

How about catching up on your reading and get some facts. Jefferson did not 
take Sally to France. He sent for his daughter Polly, asking for a 
responsible woman to be sent with her. Instead, the folks Polly was staying 
with said a woman was not available and the sent the girl, Sally, who was 
but two years older than 12 year old Polly - children traveling together - 
Abigail Adams was aghast at the irresponsibility when the two girls landed 
in England.

Sally became a servant in Jefferson's household in France and was paid a 
wage under French laws. Jefferson was required by French law to register any 
slaves he brought with him. He registered neither James nor his sister 
Sally. Sally had the right to petition the court for her freedom (which 
would have made public the embarassment of Jefferson's failure to follow 
French law). James, who had been highly trained in French cooking, agreed to 
go back on the condition that he would be freed as soon as he trained a 
replacement. Madison said that Sally agreed to go back on condition that her 
children would be freed. Sally was, when they left France, pregnant at age 
16. Jefferson never recorded the outcome of that prenancy in his farm book. 
James did get his freedom, but it took Jefferson several years to keep his 
promise resulting in the loss of the contacts James needed to prosper in his 
freedom. Sally returned with Jefferson and worked as a seamstress and was 
allowed to raise her own children unlike other slaves who left their 
children with elders so they could work.

So,l what else would you like to know, Craig, and why are you being so 
disrespectful towards the mother of Jefferson's only surviving sons?

Anne

Anne Pemberton
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http://www.erols.com/apembert
http://www.educationalsynthesis.org 

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