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]) ************************************************* * Today's compost wisdom: * * Think about your fertilizer bill before * * you throw out that biodegradable garbage! * ************************************************* To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html