The assumption that Sally Hemings was the child of a black women and a
white man seems accepted. Her children are also assumed to have been the
children of a white man. Under the Virginia law at that time, they were
white.Why then did Jefferson seek permission (also a requirement of
statute) for Madison and Eston Hemings, freed under the terms of his will,
to remain in Virginia. It was also provided by statute that the child of a
slave women was born a slave, If the child were white and freed when an
adult, why did he not become a "white man" and automatically divested of
those requirements that control black freed slaves, i.e., leave the
Commonwealth unless granted permission to stay by the General Assembly?


Richard E. Dixon
Clifton, VA 20124-2115
703-830-8177
fax 703-691-0978

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