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Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history <[log in to unmask]>
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Thu, 17 Jul 2008 18:27:00 EDT
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I suppose that if Rev. ML King and Jesse Jackson could have illegitimate  
children, TJ could have them as well.
 
 
 
 
In a message dated 7/17/2008 5:33:47 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
[log in to unmask] writes:

Herb,

You are asserting that he no consideration for her as a  human being, but it 
does not answer the question of whether or not he had  a sexual relationship 
with her.

It really does not matter how  exhaulted Jefferson was in being a Founding 
Father. In fact, it is no part  of my consideration of whether or not he was 
responsible for fathering  children with Sally. The publication of the 
stories circulated at  Monticello by the "scandalmonger" Callender seem like 
the tip of the  iceberg. Callender did well by Jefferson in the early days of 
the 1800  election, publishing questionable details on Adams' personal 
behavior,  details at times supplied by Jefferson himself. Jefferson applaude 
 
Callendar's publications, and helped circulate them where they would be  
useful to his campaign. But when Adams, who'd had enough, pressed for  
Callendar to be prosecuted under the Sedition laws, in Richmond, Jefferson  
deemed it detrimental to his campaign to intercede, and Callendar went to  
jail, from where he continued to write the same stuff about Adams and the  
Federalists. It is understandable that he would have reason to later turn  on 
his supporter, Jefferson, when the tide turned against him. Did he then  
publish "lies", or did he publish the truth as he was told it by those who  
were at Monticello and probably knew what was going on?

Jefferson,  as explained in Kukla's book, was not necessarily an "admirable" 
man in  all his sexual activities. Although he admitted to pursuing Mrs. 
Walker,  when he was "young and unmarried", the truth, as disclosed in the 
Walker  documents, was that the pursuit continued after he was married to 
Martha.  Not only did he relentlessly pursue Mrs. Walker, a married woman, 
but he  also carried on an affair with Mrs. Coswell in France and after 
returning  home to Virginia. It would seem to me that his relationship with 
Martha  was verging on abusive, inasmuch as the poor woman was kept 
constantly  pregnant, and those constant pregnancies were the ultimate cause 
of her  death.

While the evidence is circumstantial, it is evidence  nevertheless, and 
certainly points to the likelihood that those who  affirmed it, the slaves at 
Monticello, and those who claimed to be his  sons, were not totally making it 
up. Minor details may be suspect, but in  whole, the argument holds water.

You can hold out as long as you can  draw a breath, but do you really need to 
rail against those who are more  accepting of the humanity of this man than 
you are?

Your defense of  Jefferson is admirable in the same sense that the attorney 
for a suspect  grabs at straws and technicalities to confuse the  jury.

Anne



Anne  Pemberton
[log in to unmask]
http://www.erols.com/apembert
http://www.educationalsynthesis.org  

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