Posted on 10/09/2024 9:14:29 AM PDT by Starman417
In the efforts of the Progressive Left to destroy the legacy and monumental contributions of Thomas Jefferson, a centerpiece has been the focus on his presumed relationship with Sally Hemings, a slave at Monticello. The charge goes that Jefferson had a long-term relationship with Sally Hemings, and had six children with her. In spite of the fact that there is very little evidence to support this rather dubious hypothesis, the tours at Monticello and the University of Virginia state this as a fact. As it turns out, this is probably not at all true.
One of the problems with the fact that the Progressive Left has taken over the tours here, as at many other historic sites, is that instead of celebrating the phenomenal achievements of the Founding Fathers, every detail, no matter how inconsequential, is often twisted into negative criticism and character assassination.
It does seem as though the Progressive Left is willing to go to any length in order to attack Jefferson’s character. For example, recently a modern bathroom was torn out at Monticello and revealed a small room behind, that had not been previously known. This was immediately interpreted by the Left as a secret bedroom for Sally Hemings to be able to carry on her liaison with Thomas Jefferson, although there was not a single vestige of objective evidence to suggest that this was so. Cooler heads prevailed, however, and it was eventually understood to be simply another slave room.
The one piece of objective evidence is as follows: in 1998, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation ran a DNA study and found that there was a match between the Jeffersonian DNA and that of the line of Sally Hemings. They concluded that Thomas Jefferson was likely the father of her six children.
However, the Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society stated almost immediately that “they had skepticism to the convictions of this untruth.”
Next was a 1998 article in “Nature”, citing the DNA evidence. However, there was a retraction by the same magazine two months later. “The title of our study was misleading in that it represented only the simplest explanation of our molecular findings”, as they put it.
Then, “DNA testing by the Thomas Jefferson Society in 1999 suggested that TJ’s younger brother Randolph, rather than Thomas, was the most likely father of Sally Hemings’ sons.” There was considerable evidence that Randolph had been having relations with some of the female slaves.
In 2001 and again in 2011, the Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society also reached different conclusions from the 1998 article. Based on contemporary witnesses, they concluded for one thing, that Hemings was a “minor figure” to Thomas Jefferson, and it was very unlikely that he had fathered any of her children. They suggested that, in, fact it was much more likely his younger brother, Randolph, who was the father of at least some of her children.
Herbert Barder, a Jeffersonian scholar, after exhaustive research, concluded that Jefferson was “NOT the father of Easton Hemings or any other of Hemings’ children. The DNA study along with historical information indicates that Randolph is possibly the father of Easton and maybe the others.”
Pulitzer Prize Historian James Truslow Adams wrote- “Almost every scandalous story about Jefferson—can be trusted to be lies.”
Professor Andrew Holochak also agreed that evidence supports the conclusion that Randolph is most likely the father. Three of the Hemings’ children were given names from Randolph’s family. Randolph, as it turns out, was a notorious alcoholic.
Danielle Darling, a former Monticello slave, Isaac Jefferson, recalled in 1947 that Randolph Jefferson “used to come out among Black people and dance half the night.” By contrast, there are no reports that Jefferson had any social interaction with the slaves, either at Monticello, or elsewhere.
Paris
Another “proof” put forth by the Progressive Left is that, during the five years Jefferson served as Ambassador to France, he had Sally Hemings come with him to Paris, as his mistress.
(Excerpt) Read more at floppingaces.net ...
The truth is we don’t know. The facts are, there is a genetic tie to the Jefferson family. The lie is to create a fact where none exists (pick the Jefferson you wish to be related to or was destroy). People believe what they want to believe. It has always been so.
The rumor about Jefferson and Hemings didn’t start with the Left. The rumor started way back in Jefferson’s lifetime.
Politics. Sometimes as nasty then as it is now.
Brother Randolph was a scapegrace and heavy drinker who spent a lot of time in the slave quarters playing the fiddle (he was supposed to be pretty good) and dancing. Multiple accounts from different sources confirm it.
In contrast, there is no first-hand evidence that Hemings was anything other than ladies' maid to Jefferson's motherless children in Paris. His time there was very public and highly publicized. If he had been dallying with Hemings, every servant in his house would have known it, and it would have been a major topic of conversation.
Moderns don't seem to understand how in the eighteenth century servants were ubiquitous, and knew ALL your business.
The left pushes the story as it applies to slavery and the abuse of slaves - more evidence for their notion that we are a ‘systemically racist nation’ and have always been.
“The title of our study was misleading in that it represented only the simplest explanation of our molecular findings”, as they put it.
Media being the media when busted some things never change.
With all the modern day sex scandals frequently in the news, with the knowledge that women in the 18th century were only a step up from servitude, it is likely the truth. Then the fact that Sally was the daughter of his father-in-law makes it almost a certainty.
I can imagine Martha Jefferson on her deathbed telling Sally, her half sister, to take care of Thomas.
I don’t believe Thomas was involved with Sally that way; but I’m sure that similar took place in many families.
All of the naysayers need to think in terms of the mores of the 18th Century. Thomas Jefferson died heavily in debt, yet he freed Madison Hemings from slavery in his 1826 will. In those times that was proof of a father's love.
That isn’t proof of anything. He also freed Sally’s brother, James, who was his chef. A more likely explanation is that, since the two were actually the half-siblings of his wife, Martha, he did it to honor Martha.
(He also tacitly ignored some of his slaves when they ‘ran away’.)
Also, from everything I have read, Sally was a very close resemblance to Martha. Not unusual, as they were half-sisters.
It wouldn’t be hard to believe he slept with her. But Randolph, is still the more likely suspect. Or possibly both.
You do really have the most elegant prose; On Freerepublic, and the social media world at large.
My Father was the King of Prussia too.
Never was any direct Evidence linking him to Sally, but this has been going on for hundreds of years.
Many people don’t want to believe that someone like Thomas Jefferson was imperfect in any way. And yet, the Founding Fathers were human and, therefore, they were flawed. Jefferson was imperfect, too, as evidenced by the fact that he was a slaveholder. These men lived 200-plus years ago in a time with a very different way of thinking.
The story about Jefferson and Hemings is not a Leftist creation. It was reported in Jefferson’s lifetime. It was spread by newspapers when Jefferson was president, and he never denied it. Madison said Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings were his father and mother. Then, DNA tests showed a relation between the Hemings and Jefferson families.
One could argue that Jefferson didn’t address the rumor because he felt it was beneath him and that Jefferson’s brother fathered the children. But, an honest person has to admit, Jefferson himself might’ve been the father.
Why is anyone shocked by that possibility? Sally Hemings herself was one of six children of Jefferson’s father-in-law and an enslaved ‘mulatto’ woman. When Sally’s son Madison was freed, he married a mixed-race woman who also was the child of an enslaved woman and a white slaveholder. Sally’s youngest son, Eston, married a free mixed-race woman whose mother was the child of an enslaved woman and a slaveholder. So, that story seemed to be common practice in that time and place.
Very good points.
The papers in those days were totally over the top. It was a case of ignore it - or issue a challenge to a duel.
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Isn’t Jefferson the founder of the DemonicRat Party?
Jefferson started the Democratic-Republican Party. Republican in the same way as the revolutionary French Republican Party that wanted to strike down religion and cut off peoples heads. The true founder of the Modern Democratic Party was Andrew Jackson—the Indian Fighter-Pro-Slavery dude who got rich off dispelling Native People and setting up the all powerful Party. He created the “Keep the ball rolling” idea. Brave as a bulldog. An Assassin tried to kill him with two pistols, that both misfired, Andy almost beat the man to death with his cane.
I believe Jackson carried a pistol ball in his chest from a duel he had early in his career.
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