I believe it does, though I have not yet read it, either--and of course
Professor Finkelman himself has written widely on the subject.
I can't speak for others, but I am not sure that many historians on
this list or elsewhere would consider Sen. Allen's bid to invoke
"common-sense Jeffersonian conservative principles" a wise or plausible
enterprise, however much it participates of a perennial temptation in
American politics. Some years ago Alf Mapp Jr. published a biography
of Jefferson that attempted, at its close, to determine whether
Jefferson was fundamentally "liberal" or "conservative" in the terms by
which we think of those positions today. It does no injustice to what
may well be the other strengths of Mapp's study--I have not read more
of it than that one portion--to say that his attempt was unpersuasive
and has not had any appreciable influence on subsequent scholarly
discourse.
Better to say, as others have wisely done and Mr. Wiencek reminds us,
that Jefferson wrote so much, for so long, and in so many different
circumstances that like the proof-texts of the Bible his words can be
quoted on almost any side of any contemporary issue.
And better, perhaps, to direct Sen. Allen to one principle which
Jefferson proclaimed throughout his life: that the past should not be
taken as a limit on the present or the future. "[W]e might as well
require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy, as
civilised society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous
ancestors" (TJ to Samuel Kercheval, July 12, 1816, page 7;
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?
collId=mtj1&fileName=mtj1page049.db&recNum=260 ).
--Jurretta Heckscher
On Dec 5, 2005, at 8:44 AM, John Maass wrote:
> Doesn't Garry Wills book NEGRO PRESIDENT go into this stuff a great
> deal? I have only read a bit fo that one so far........
>
>
>
>
>
> John R. Maass
> Dept. of History
> The Ohio State University
> 230 West 17th Ave
> 106 Dulles Hall
> Columbus, OH 43210-1367
> Ph. 614/760-9625
> http://history.osu.edu/people/person.cfm?ID=1490
>
> "I do not take a single newspaper, nor read one a month, and I feel
> myself infinitely the happier for it."
> Thomas Jefferson
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Paul Finkelman
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Sent: Sunday, December 04, 2005 11:38 PM
> Subject: Re: "common-sense Jeffersonian conservative principles"
>
>
> I have always assumed it was more than 400, but no one has really
> counted. So, I greatlly appreciate Henry coming up with better
> numbers.
> I shoudl have stipulated, as Henry notes, the GW sold no slaves
> after
> the Revolution. Thanks for the correction.
>
> And whlie TJ may have trembled for his country, with the exception of
> his feeble attempt to ban slavery 20 years down the road in the
> west, he
> never lifted a finger to do much about it. When he was chairing the
> committee to revise the laws of VA. he prevented a bill for gradual
> emancipation from even reaching the floor.
>
> Henry Wiencek 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
>>
>> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the
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>>
>>
>
> --
> Paul Finkelman
> Chapman Distinguished Professor of Law
> University of Tulsa College of Law
> 3120 East 4th Place
> Tulsa, OK 74104-3189
>
> 918-631-3706 (office)
> 918-631-2194 (fax)
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
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