Jefferson's Secrets by Andrew Burstein

Author:Andrew Burstein
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Basic Books
Published: 2011-04-18T16:00:00+00:00

Some Inferences

Since 1998, the burden of proof has most definitely shifted. Perhaps the DNA findings have not absolutely made Thomas Jefferson the father of his house servant’s children, but mounting circumstantial evidence makes him by far the most plausible father of these children, as most would now agree. It matters more now that Ohioans who personally knew Eston H. Jefferson in his mature years recorded that he was a dead ringer for the president whose bust they had seen on display in the nation’s capital; he was, like Jefferson, more than six feet in height, he stood erect, and he had nearly straight auburn hair. Only the emotional character of the relationship between Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings remains at issue.69

Here is a recap of the evidence presented: (1) Jefferson’s medicalized sensibility directed him to behave in accordance with the regimen recommended to men of letters, which included a semi-vegetarian diet, physical exercise, and regular sexual activity; (2) Jefferson’s taxonomic work on race and his aversion to blackness suggests that he thought of the “nearly white” Sally Hemings more in accordance with her class identity; her racial background, though undeniable, was sufficiently suppressed so as to enable feelings of attraction to develop; (3) Jefferson’s fascination with the Greek way—its language, literature, and morals—may have contributed to his acceptance of extramarital sex that was not adultery (as a widower taking a young concubine), especially in combination with the relative isolation of his mountaintop estate and the sexual freedom southern planters had reserved to themselves across generations.

Jefferson may not have been the rigid moralist that the majority of his preserved correspondence and public addresses tends to show. That said, the study of history is an imperfect enterprise. The best historians can do in a case like this is to suggest ways in which the historic memory may have been corrupted.

Questions will persist. Even if we think we now know something about Jefferson’s sense of male prerogative, we can do no more than speculate about the real moral boundaries within which he considered his feelings toward this particular servant. It still seems odd that as president, when he was, in a sense, the nation’s most visible citizen, he would have risked further embarrassment by continuing to father children by his servant. Did he feel protected from further outside intrusions upon his private life? Did he think he would never have to explain to his grandchildren, over whom he doted? The explanations given do not cover every contingency. And it is important to add that no human being behaves rationally all the time. We can try to make Thomas Jefferson make sense; but in suiting our needs, we may unknowingly detour from historical truth.

To understand an alien psychology is a daunting challenge. We may imagine him capable of it, but Thomas Jefferson exhibited no particular signs of a guilty conscience. Why should we think that he personalized every moral concern and moral responsibility in the same way our society expects of us? He exercised his mental faculties in ways we no longer relate to.

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