At 1:51 PM -0500 4/14/01, Paul Finkelman wrote:
>  Along the same lines, Jefferson may have seen support for slavery as a
>necessary component of his political self-preservation.  As John
>Chester Miller
>observed, Jefferson always believed he had to "choose between the preservation
>of his political 'usefulness' and active opposition to slavery."  This
conclusion of course assumes that Jefferson wanted to oppose slavery.

Again, Professor Finkelman, you are engaging in 20/20 hindsight,
which I find indefensible. You are presuming, from the vantage point
of the twenty-first century, that enlightened eighteenth-century
liberal politicians should have opposed slavery.  This presumption is
colored by your own opposition to slavery, which in turn is colored
by events of the past two centuries. Jefferson did not have the
benefit of those two centuries of the American experience.

You must remember that much of the argument in favor of slavery was
based on the Bible and the common law. Honest and humanitarian people
defended slavery; they must not be demonized, just because their
beliefs are not politically correct centuries after their deaths.

His financial profligacy may have debarred him from manumitting his
slaves, as you suggest, but I fear it is a stretch to stand that
logic on its head and assert that the profligacy was somehow
connected in a causal way to his desire to keep his slaves in bondage.

--
Ned Heite  ([log in to unmask])
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