For those who wonder why we have only private denials of misconduct when the Hemings accusations and others were broadcast in the newspapers of the time, Jefferson says this, “were I to undertake to answer the calumnies of the newspapers, it would be more than all my own time, & that of 20. aids could effect. for while I should be answering one, twenty new ones would be invented. I have thought it better to trust to the justice of my countrymen, that they would judge me by what they see of my conduct on the stage where they have placed me...” [Letter To Samuel Smith, August 22, 1798]
For nearly two centuries that trust wasn’t misplaced. Whether that will continue in the future we’ll see. https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-30-02-0346
I call what Jefferson said in my post 355 to the attention of all Free Republic readers —
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3566404/posts?page=355#355 .