The Jefferson - Hemings ControversyHistory on trial Main Page

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The war of Independence long over but not forgotten, nationalistic British travelers to America in the early 19th century whip Jefferson's heritage with Jefferson's hypocrisy. "An unprincipled tyrant and most heartless libertine," charge the pugilistic John Bullers, the "venerable" Jefferson "purchased his immortality by a lie." The father of the "monstrous falsehood" of democracy and the "mischievous sophistry" of human equality also fathered "whole gangs of slaves" and "dreamt of freedom in a slave's embrace." Credit our Founding Father with a giant libido and a dwarfish conscience.