Actually, isn't the assumption that Betty Hemings (Sally's mother) was half white; Richard Dixon wrote: >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 > >To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions >at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html > > > -- Paul Finkelman Chapman Distinguished Professor of Law University of Tulsa College of Law 3120 East 4th Place Tulsa, OK 74104-3189 918-631-3706 (office) 918-631-2194 (fax) [log in to unmask] To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html