Henry,
Your posting puts the topic in perspective. We should compare what happend then to what is going on now with those in power. We have people who are making decisions which affect others, and (IMHO), are not using common sense. Although it is not about slavery it is about Economic Power and control. Some would say it is a religious war that we have waged in Iraq. It does not appear that we have learned many lessons from the past. 

In Jefferson and Washingtons day, the power was moving from the Church and England to the Political arena. A new republic was being created, but all of those in leadership positions were white males. We can only judge these figures from their actions, while revering their words. By that I mean that Jefferson wrote documents that he did not necessarily live by. Does that mean they are of no value? The founding fathers are now gone to their makers, and their deeds will be judged. What we are left with is a history that we can examine, and hopefully glean some lessons from. 

Anita 

-- Henry Wiencek <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
I too wonder what Allen means when he refers to 'common-sense Jeffersonian
conservative principles' -- and I think the answer is: whatever Allen
wants that to mean; probably lower taxes and less government--Alaskan
bridges excepted, of course.  Merrill Peterson, Joseph Ellis, and others
have pointed out that Jefferson can be summoned to support either side of
almost any issue.

There were two small errors in Paul Finkelman's posting: George Washington
did sell a few slaves before the Revolution, not nearly as many as
Jefferson did after it; and as Paul says, Washington grew to detest
slavery and freed all his slaves in his will.  Also, TJ owned more than
600 slaves in his lifetime, not 400.  I'm at work on a book about
Jefferson and slavery and I'm wrestling with all these issues.

Joan Brooks writes that we need to give TJ a break because he was "a man
of his time and place in the world and with values of the Age of
Enlightenment" and that "it is not fair to judge someone in America of
200+ years ago as if he had the values of today's American society." Well,
yes, but what WERE the values of 200+ years ago?  When we go back and
actually read the statements of the founding generation it is amazing to
see how widely and passionately slavery was denounced as an abomination
that would bring a catastrophe to the United States.  Jefferson himself
said it, in a famous remark: "I tremble for my country when I reflect that
God is just: that His justice cannot sleep forever."


Henry Wiencek
Charlottesville

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