The Jefferson - Hemings ControversyHistory on trial Main Page

AboutTime LineEpisodesJefferson on Race & SlaveryResources
Episodes
>
>

1) "The very man who drew up the declaration of independence, was not only a slave-owner, but he sold his own children by Quadroon women, nearly white--thus making his lust subservient to pecuniary wants, and consigning his offspring to the degradation of the lash, and to the condition of the saleable brute creation." ""Yes!" said Playfair, "I am aware that Jefferson is accused of those enormities, and that a daughter of his, in whose colour scarcely a tinge of African blood could be traced, was not long since sold by public auction at New Orleans, after having changed masters nearly a score of times since that philosopher and presumed sensualist, her father, first sold her at the tender age of nine years." "There is no doubt of the fact," replied the doctor, "it has been not only too well authenticated, but industriously circulated by those who, no doubt from party feelings, delight in publishing the well-known personal immorality of the philosopher of Montecelli; a man who has in his writings cajoled mankind, and in his private character outraged not only Christianity, but the decent virtues;--yet he has had, and continues to have, his eulogists." "Detested," said Playfair," will his memory ever be: the making merchandise of the fruits of his sensuality will, if that be true, alone ensure his lasting and loathing infamy." "To that just mortal doom let us leave him," replied the doctor; "zealots, religiously inflexible, will consign him to sufficient punishment in his spiritual destiny."
Hugo Playfair, II, 33-34

2) Her lecture [Frances Wright's] was upon the nature of true knowledge, and it contained little that could be objected to by any sect or party; it was intended as an introduction to the strange and startling theories contained in her subsequent lectures, and could alarm only by the hints it contained that the fabric of human wisdom could rest securely on no other base than that of human knowledge. There was, however, one passage from which common sense revolted; it was one wherein she quoted that phrase of mischievous sophistry, "all men are born free and equal." This false and futile axiom, which has done, is doing, and will do so much harm to this fine country, came from Jefferson; and truly his life was a glorious commentary upon it. I pretend not to criticise his written works, but common sense enables me to pronounce this, his favourite maxim, false.
Frances Trollope 73

3) It is a well-known fact, that a considerable portion of Mr. Jefferson's slaves were his own children. If any of them absconded, he would smile, thereby implying that he should not be very particular in looking after them ; and yet this man, this great and Good man, as Miss Martineau calls him, this man who penned the paragraph I have quoted, as having been erased from the Declaration of Independence, who asserted that the slavery of the negro was a violation of the most sacred rights of life and liberty, permitted these his slaves and his children, the issue of his own loins, to be sold at auction after his demise, not even emancipating them, as he might have done, before his death.
Frederick Marryat 55-56

4) The moral character of Jefferson was repulsive. Continually puling about liberty, equality, and the degrading curse of slavery, he brought his own children to the hammer, and made money of his debaucheries. Even at his death, he did not manumit his numerous offspring, but left them, soul and body, to degradation, and the cart-whip. A daughter of Jefferson was sold some years ago, by public auction, at New Orleans, and purchased by a society of gentlemen, who wished to testify, by her liberation, their admiration of the statesman, "Who dreamt of freedom in a slave's embrace." This single line gives more insight to the character of the man, than whole volumes of panegyric. It will outlive his epitaph, write it who may.
Thomas Hamilton 185

5) "All men are born free and equal." This maxim, the pole star of the republic, was first promulgated by Thomas Jefferson, whose writings are acknowledged by all Democrats as the standard of political authority. About the commencement of the present century, this same Thomas Jefferson filled the office of President of the United States for the period of eight years; and his memory is still held in profound veneration by a large section of the Americans. Yet it is well known here, that this sublime character had, by his Quadroon slaves a vast number of children of both sexes; whom he retained on his plantation in a state of vassalage, and dying left them so!! It is with no feelings of pleasure that I drag the crimes of this atrocious wretch before the public; but, I believe this fact is not known in England, and it may serve to give some idea of the charming things that are transacted in those regions of slavery, where both the framer and the violator of the law are found united in the person of the planter. Surely it may here be said, that licentiousness and tyranny have met together; democracy and slavery have kissed each other. The existing slavery of these "free and independent" States, combined with the atrocious conduct of Jefferson, the progenitor of whole gangs of slaves, forms a beautiful comment on his favourite apothegm--"All men are born free and equal." An expression which declares precisely the same doctrine, occupies a prominent position in their national manifesto--the famous Declaration of Independence.
Mrs. Felton 53-54

6) The democratic party gained the ascendant, and Mr. Jefferson, the framer of the declaration of independence, the friend and disciple of Franklin, the able statesman and warm patriot, the enlightened philosopher, and generous friend of the human race, stood the chief magistrate of the republic.
Frances Wright 336

7) Few names are held in higher estimation in America than that of Jefferson; it is the touchstone of the democratic party, and all seem to agree that he was one of the greatest of men; yet I have heard his name coupled with deeds which would make the sons of Europe shudder. The facts I allude to are spoken openly by all, not whispered privately by a few; and in a country where religion is the tea-table talk, and its strict observance a fashionable distinction, these facts are recorded and listened to without horror, nay, without emotion.
Frances Trollope 73

8) Perhaps no political chief ever had more reliance placed on him than Jefferson. He was the man who according to his partisans was to raise America to the pinnacle of prosperity, yet it is worth noticing, that he fell far below Washington in the success of his policy, and was as inconsistent as Robespierre respecting liberty. Not that it is meant to be insinuated that Jefferson is to be regarded with horror like that sanguinary monster, or that in his public measures he was not actuated by patriotism: far otherwise. Still he was inconsistent as it respected liberty. He was the author of the celebrated Declaration of Independence; a document which speaks of liberty as a natural and inalienable right, and which denounces George III. as a tyrant for his attempts to deprive the Americans of it: and yet this man was then the owner of hundreds of slaves, and has continued so to the present day! It certainly was not his fault that his patrimonial estate was cultivated by slaves; the inconsistency lay in denouncing George III. as a tyrant, while he himself continued to hold slaves without making any attempt to persuade the State Assembly to abolish slavery, or instituting means to prepare his own slaves for that freedom, which, according to the Declaration, is the birthright of all men.
Isaac Candler 405-6

9) Monticello, at a somewhat greater distance from the town in a nearly opposite direction, was the seat of Jefferson; there he had his abode, and thence he beheld the college buildings grow at his bidding. His ashes repose in a spot enclosed in a rough manner from the grounds, and used as the burial place for the family, several of whom are interred there. The mansion is erected on the table summit of a lofty hill, and as to external architecture and general appearance is in keeping with the beautiful and diversified scenery it commands; but how much was there here on which to moralize! This deserted residence was about to become the dwelling of a descendant of Abraham; and at no great distance the slave, who was the mother of Jefferson's children, and who was left in bondage, or if liberated, was unprovided for, had her humble abode. The granite column may stand for ages over his grave; but on the brass tablet to be inserted, it might be engraven that he was literally the father of some of his own slaves!
Cox and Hoby 41-42

10) This extract from the writings of President Jefferson ["Manners," Query XVIII of Jefferson's Notes on the State of Virginia], who lived and died a slave-holder, and whose offspring is said to have been actually sold in the markets of his native State, would have done more honour to the head and heart of its distinguished author, had he regulated his practice more in accordance with his declared principles, and the morality which he so eloquently inculcates. The lesson, nevertheless, is rife with useful instruction, and every way entitled to the consideration of the American citizen for whom it is intended, but more especially of the south, whose ill-directed zeal on many recent occasions has exceeded all sound discretion, and well-nigh exposed the nation to the chances of a fierce and sanguinary convulsion.
Francis Wyse 67

11) Mr. Jefferson is said to have been the father of children by almost all his numerous gang of female slaves. These wretched offspring were also the lawful slaves of their father, and worked in his house and plantations as such; in particular, it is recorded that it was his especial pleasure to be waited upon by them at table, and the hospitable orgies for which his Monticello was so celebrated, were incomplete, unless the goblet he quaffed were tendered by the trembling hand of his own slavish offspring. I once heard it stated by a democratical adorer of this great man, that when, as it sometimes happened, his children by Quadroon slaves were white enough to escape suspicion of their origin, he did not pursue them if they attempted to escape, saying laughingly, "Let the rogues get off, if they can; I will not hinder them." This was stated in a large party, as a proof of his kind and noble nature, and was received by all with approving smiles. If I know any thing of right or wrong, if virtue and vice be indeed something more than words, then was this great American an unprincipled tyrant and most heartless libertine.
Frances Trollope 73-74

12) Until the Americans consent entirely to loose the yoke and let the oppressed go free, they should cashier the stars and stripes and adopt the following device and motto, which would more effectually represent the piebald character of their Republic. Let this device be, the representation of a man wearing the cap of liberty, and brandishing a slave whip in his right hand, while his left displays the Declaration of Independence; his right foot, at the same time resting on the naked back of a prostrate negro.--With this motto: "All men are born free and equal."
Mrs. Felton 58-59

13) The university of Virginia did not flourish with the most auspicious patronage of the state and of Mr. Jefferson. How much soever we may deplore the infidelity of that great man and distinguished patriot, one can scarcely regret the opportunity for the fair trial of his principles, as connected with education, inasmuch as the experiment turns out so signally to the honour of revelation. So long as infidelity was the presiding genius of the place, it languished and decayed. Now that there is no longer any systematic hostility against "the truth," this temple of science promises to rival the most prosperous of the literary institutions of the land.
Cox and Hoby 41

14) Jefferson's posthumous works were very generally circulated while I was in America. They are a mighty mass of mischief. He wrote with more perspicuity than he thought, and his hot-headed democracy has done a fearful injury to his country. Hollow and unsound as his doctrines are, they are but too palatable to a people, each individual of whom would rather derive his importance from believing that none are above him, than from the consciousness that in his station he makes part of a noble whole. The social system of Mr. Jefferson, if carried into effect, would make of mankind an unamalgamated mass of grating atoms, where the darling "I'm as good as you," would soon take place of the law and the gospel. As it is, his principles, though happily not fully put in action, have yet produced most lamentable results. The assumption of equality, however empty, is sufficient to tincture the manners of the poor with brutal insolence, and subjects the rich to the paltry expediency of sanctioning the falsehood, however deep their conviction that it is such. It cannot, I think, be denied that the great men of America attain to power and to fame, by eternally uttering what they know to be untrue. American citizens are not equal. Did Washington feel them to be so, when his word outweighed (so happily for them) the votes of thousands? Did Franklin think that all were equal when he shouldered his way from the printing-press to the cabinet? True, he looked back in high good-humour, and with his kindest smile told the poor devils whom he left behind that they were all his equals; but Franklin did not speak the truth, and he knew it. The great, the immortal Jefferson himself, he who when past the three score years and ten, still taught young females to obey his nod, and so became the father of unnumbered generations of groaning slaves, what was his matin and his vesper hymn? "All men are born free and equal?" Did the venerable father of the gang believe it? Or did he too purchase his immortality by a lie?
Frances Trollope 253-54

15) I heard a distressing story of a planter, who from the difficulty of getting the consent of the Legislative Assembly, and the impossibility of finding the proper securities, had been unable to effect the emancipation of his slaves, and was haunted on his death-bed by the pleasant knowledge, that the moment the breath had left his body, his favourite slaves, and in some instances his own children, would be sold to the highest bidder. Numbers of these cases occur. Immediately after the death of President Jefferson, his illegitimate children were sold by public auction at New Orleans.
Edward Robert Sullivan 202-3

16) Tis evening now; the heats and cares of day / In twilight dews are calmly wept away. / The lover now, beneath the western star, / Sighs through the medium of his sweet segar, / And fills the ears of some consenting she / With purls and vows, with smoke and constancy / The weary statesman for repose hath fled / From halls of council to his negro's shed, / Where blest he woos some black Aspasia's [brothel keeper and harlot romantically connected to Pericles] grace, / And dreams of freedom in his slave's embrace!
Thomas Moore 27-28

17) I do not like them. I do not like their principles, I do not like their manners, I do not like their opinions.
Frances Trollope, qtd. in Worth 17

18) Can the blood that, at Lexington, poured o'er the plain, / When the sons warred with tyrants their rights to uphold, / Can the tide of Niagara wipe out the stain? / No! Jefferson's child has been bartered for gold! / Do you boast of your freedom? Peace, babblers--be still; / Prate not of the goddess who scarce deigns to hear;/ Have ye power to unbind? Are ye wanting in will? / Must the groans of your bondman still torture the ear? / The daughter of Jefferson sold for a slave! / The child of a freeman for dollars and francs! / The roar of applause, when your orators rave, / Is lost in the sound of her chain, as it clanks. / Peace, then, ye blasphemers of Liberty's name! / Though red was the blood by your forefathers spilt, / Still redder your cheeks should be mantled with shame, / Till the spirit of freedom shall cancel the guilt. / But the brand of the slave is the tint of his skin, / Though his heart may beat loyal and true underneath; / While the soul of the tyrant is rotten within, / And his white the mere cloak to the blackness of death. / Are ye deaf to the plaints that each moment arise? / Is it thus ye forget the mild precepts of Penn,-- / Unheeding the clamor that "maddens the skies," / As ye trample the rights of your dark fellow-men? / When the incense that glows before Liberty's shrine, / Is unmixed with the blood of the galled and oppressed,-- / O, then, and then only, the boast may be thine, / That the stripes and stars wave o'er a land of the blest.
"Jefferson's Daughter"

19) I found the negroes much more numerous, and presenting a much better appearance than I ever expected; and I am happy to say, that although still retained in bondage in the Southern States, they are all now free in this and the five New England States, and have been so for upwards of fifteen years. They invariably excite a feeling of deep interest in the minds of all Europeans. But I beheld, with acute sensations of sorrow, their late task-masters regarding them with feelings of hatred mingled with contempt, and as a class far below the rest of the human species, in point of moral rectitude and intellectual power. I was not prepared to find this in a nation who are taught to lisp, with their infantile breath, that monstrous falsehood--" All men are born free and equal."
Mrs. Felton 52-53