I do not want to continuously engage Mr. Heite in a public debate, but I do strenuously object to him putting words into my mouth, or at least into my e-mail responses. One need not have 20/20 hindsight to see that even Jefferson knew slavery was morally wrong -- witness his many outbursts such as in the NOTES, "I tremble for my country, when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep forever: that considering numbers, nature and natural means only, a revolution of the wheel of fortune, an exchange of situation, is among possible events: that it may become probable by supernatural interference!" This is not a 21st century liberal talking, this is the master of Monticello. Moreover, as we have seen, many men of his generation did in fact oppose slavery; many freed their own slaves, and argued for the end of slavery. Some, like John Randolph were hardly "liberal" in any sense of the word. They just knew it was wrong. Perhaps Mr. Heite wants to make TJ into an average guy, just a good old boy from rural Va. who should not be held to the standard of other leaders of his generation. That is fine, but then stop memorializing him and bragging about how wonderful he was; you can't call him the most enlightened man of his age, as his biographers all do, and then turn around and say, well, stop demanding he be enlightened. Jefferson's main teacher at William and Mary, George Wythe, opposed slavery; almost all his friends in France opposed it. So to with his scientific colleagues around the world, as well as his revolutionary allies like Lafayette, Franklin, and even George Washington. None of these people had the 20/20 hindsight of our generation. Finally, I did not say that his "his financial profligacy" was planned so he could keep his slaves in bondage, but rather that he was unwilling to make any sacrifices to end his own relationship with slavery, as say his neightbor Edward Coles did. Again, I would ask Mr. Heite, when examing men like Coles, Washington, Wythe, Tucker, Randolph, Carter, and I could list scores more -- did these men get their ideas about slavery from our times? No, they discovered the immorality of slavery, and the way it violated their own republican values all on their own. They could see this, and could act on. Jefferson seems to know they are right, but he fought them and their goals throughout his life. -- Paul Finkelman Chapman Distinguished Professor University of Tulsa College of Law 3120 East Fourth Place Tulsa, OK 74104 918-631-3706 Fax 918-631-2194 E-mail: [log in to unmask] Ned Heite wrote: > 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 To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html