Sally Hemmings And Thomas Jefferson example essay topic

398 words
Sally Hemmings and Thomas Jefferson had a liaison that began when they were in France. Their are many historians who dispute this as being false, many also say corroborate with this story. To discover which is true, you look back at all the evidence in the book written by Annette Gordon-Reed. The facts that back this up are the story that Madison Hemmings told, the discrepancies in the stories by Thomas Jefferson Randolph, and the treatment of the Hemmings family by Thomas Jefferson. Madison Hemmings story was correct in the facts that he told.

Many historians discredit it because an old, black man told it. Hemmings never would have told his story if it had been false because even though he was well respected in his community, it was just after the Civil War and white people didn't like the blacks. Israel Jefferson, a slave that had lived on the Jefferson plantation, corroborated Hemmings story. Thomas Jefferson Randolph said that his grandfather, Thomas Jefferson never had a liaison with Sally Hemmings.

He says that Jefferson was never home around the time that Sally would have become pregnant, although historical records prove that he was. Randolph also said that he was in charge of the estate while Jefferson was away during his presidency, but he was too young to be in charge. His mother, Martha Jefferson Randolph was, in fact, the one in charge of the estate, although she wasn't living there at the time. Thomas Jefferson was very liberal in the treatment of Sally Hemmings and her children. HE set all of her children free at the age of 21. Two of them ran away according to his records, but he sent Harriet with a ticket to Philadelphia and $50.

He also set Madison and Est on free in his will. He only freed three other slaves, and these were master craftsmen and dedicated servants who could make it in the real world. The children of Sally never had to do any hard labor and were tought to read and write. While they were children they spent a lot of time with their mother, something most slave children didn't get to enjoy. Based on this evidence it seems true entirely that Sally Hemmings and Thomas Jefferson had a liaison.