Jefferson was an elitist-- which explains a lot of his crummy behavior,
and there's no reason to believe he ever considered freeing his slaves.
That being said, the man was brilliant and did some extraordinary thinking and
important things. I don't think anyone wants to excuse the bad/wrong he did.
The defensive reaction comes when it sounds as if some want to tear him down,
dismiss his accomplishments, and destroy the respect in which he is held... because he wasn't a saint.
None of the so-called founding fathers was perfect. I find it fascinating to learn more about all of them
(as well as some of the "little people" of the time). Why is there so much vitriol here about TJ?
--
Melinda C. P. Skinner
Richmond, VA
-------------- Original message ----------------------
From: Paul Finkelman <[log in to unmask]>
> We owe a lot to Dan, so does Monticello.
> My sense is that some people on this list do not really appreciate
> "scholarship" and intellectual inquiry, but are only interested in
> hagiography.
> Henry is right that we must "judge" and evaluate people from the past
> because we have inherited what they created. But even if we only judge
> Jefferson by the standards of his own time, he does not come off very
> well. He was in the position, many times in his life, to take a stand on
> slavery; he never did.
> Some on this list want to see him as a secret opponent of slavery, who
> would have freed his slaves if only he had not been bankrupt; but that
> "if" goes to his character. Throughout his life he spent money he did
> not have and sold human beings to pay his debts. In the 1780s and 1790s
> he sold at least 85 people -- sold them away from their friends, their
> family, the world they knew, so that he could buy his wine, his art, his
> toys and rebuild his house over and over again. It is hardly an
> admirable legacy.
> When his neighbor Edward Coles resolved to free his own slaves and asked
> TJ to endorse that act -- and to take a stand against slavery; TJ
> refused.
> When people asked him to simply oppose the spread of slavery in 1820 he
> flat out refused.
> When chair of the committee to revise the laws of VA he proposed
> horribly draconian laws against blacks and against white women who had
> children with free blacks -- so extreme that the Va. legislature would
> not pass them.
> Judge him by his own standards -- his claims that we are all "created
> equal" -- and he is a miserable failure. What did he do to make sure
> to bring "life liberty and the pursuit of happiness" to the slaves he
> owned and to those owned by so many other Virginians?
>
> Paul Finkelman
> President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law
> and Public Policy
> Albany Law School
> 80 New Scotland Avenue
> Albany, New York 12208-3494
>
> 518-445-3386
> [log in to unmask]
> >>> [log in to unmask] 05/01/08 9:13 PM >>>
> At the risk of making my good friend Deane Mills scream, I'll say that
> we
> SHOULD be judging the people of the past. We live under their laws,
> their
> Constitution, their customs, so we have a right to inquire about the
> character of those people who made the world we live in. When we write
> books
> that heap praise on the Founders, that's a judgement too.
>
> Lyle Browning asks for a succinct summary of this Hemings question. You
> could look at the Monticello report on their website, which is very
> clearly
> presented, and then look at Herb's website for another view.
>
> Jon Kukla said what I have been thinking of saying but haven't gotten
> around
> to -- the personal attacks on Dan Jordan of Monticello are way, way out
> of
> line. He is a superb scholar, committed to a full and frank discussion
> of
> the Jeffersonian legacy. He presided over the creation of the
> magnificent
> International Center for Jefferson Studies, where scores of scholars
> come
> from around the world to study, discuss, and advance Jefferson studies
> in an
> open and impartial atmosphere. We owe Dan a lot.
>
> Henry Wiencek
> Charlottesville
>
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