Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings (Appendix II)
- The Left Spins Another Yarn to Trash the Founders -
(Third in the "Shining City" Series)
by Robert L. Pyles, MD
November 2023
---
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Appendix I
Appendix II
---
Summary of
The Report of the Scholars Commission on the Jefferson-Hemings Controversy
This updated report came out in 2001 and was updated in 2011, so it superseded in time the report from the Monticello Commission. It is not clear why an additional study was required, but apparently there was a sense that some questions had not been addressed satisfactorily,
This new study is remarkable in a number of ways, but a major one is the reputations and eminence of the scholars involved. There are thirteen, and each one of them is the head of a department of government, history, biochemistry, or social sciences at a major university.
The editor and chair is Robert F. Turner, a co-founder of the Center for National Security Law, University of Virginia Law School, and a Lecturer at the US Military Academy.
The study itself comes in a very substantial, handsome volume, and is in excess of four hundred pages. Amazingly enough, it is available through Amazon! The authors are very respectful of the report from the Monticello, and take great care in completely dissecting it. They make all the points I made, and a great deal more, in totally discrediting it.
For example, they point out that Jefferson’s friends, colleagues, and co-workers, put no credence in the rumors about Sally Hemings. James Madison, Jefferson’s closest friend, completely dismissed the idea. The authors spend several pages pointing out that one of the primary rumor-mongers, General Cocke,, was a political rival, as were others who tried to use the issue for their own purposes. Jefferson himself, only once addressed the issue. He said that of all the many indiscretions he had been accused of, he was only guilty of one-seriously flirting with the wife of a friend-presumably Maria Coswell, a relationship described earlier.
All of that is impressive enough, but the study is even more so. The authors take every possible fact and rumor, and address it from every imaginable angle.
Bottom Line: Twelve of the thirteen authors came to the exact same conclusion, which seems truly inescapable, by the time they are done-that Thomas Jefferson undoubtedly did not have a sexual relationship with Sally Hemings, and did not have any children with her.
There was a lone dissenter who wrote a minority report, Paul A. Rahe, of Hillsdale College, but even he did not claim paternity on the part of Jefferson. Instead, he simply said he thought Jefferson was a sleaze, who couldn’t be trusted. It seemed a truly idiosyncratic position, since every other writer I ever read thought Jefferson’s character was impeccable. Curiously, Professor Rahe gave no reasons for his opinion.
My Own Opinion: I have to say, barring a lightning strike, or a treasure trove of new documents, this study is so definitive and carefully done, I would think this conclusion would have to stand.
But just to illustrate how wrong that is, the tours at both Monticello and the University of Virginia have completely ignored this study! They treat it as though it never existed, and continue to completely rely on the earlier, terribly flawed, Monticello study. Even Professor Turner himself expressed bewilderment at the fact that his study seems to have vanished without a trace, in spite of the fact that he himself is a prominent professor at the University of Virginia!
A Game of Clue? It is also difficult to escape the dire suspicion that Professor Turner and his group committed the cardinal sin of coming up with the wrong conclusion. Could it be that that prevailing political powers on the Progressive Political Left need it to have been Colonel Mustard (ala Thomas Jefferson), to preserve their own political weaponry? Stay tuned!
On a More Serious Note: As tempting as it is to make light of this situation, if the earlier Monticello report continues to stand, the political implications to our nation, and the use to which it might be put, could be quite deadly.
- The Left Spins Another Yarn to Trash the Founders -
(Third in the "Shining City" Series)
by Robert L. Pyles, MD
November 2023
---
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Appendix I
Appendix II
---
Summary of
The Report of the Scholars Commission on the Jefferson-Hemings Controversy
This updated report came out in 2001 and was updated in 2011, so it superseded in time the report from the Monticello Commission. It is not clear why an additional study was required, but apparently there was a sense that some questions had not been addressed satisfactorily,
This new study is remarkable in a number of ways, but a major one is the reputations and eminence of the scholars involved. There are thirteen, and each one of them is the head of a department of government, history, biochemistry, or social sciences at a major university.
The editor and chair is Robert F. Turner, a co-founder of the Center for National Security Law, University of Virginia Law School, and a Lecturer at the US Military Academy.
The study itself comes in a very substantial, handsome volume, and is in excess of four hundred pages. Amazingly enough, it is available through Amazon! The authors are very respectful of the report from the Monticello, and take great care in completely dissecting it. They make all the points I made, and a great deal more, in totally discrediting it.
For example, they point out that Jefferson’s friends, colleagues, and co-workers, put no credence in the rumors about Sally Hemings. James Madison, Jefferson’s closest friend, completely dismissed the idea. The authors spend several pages pointing out that one of the primary rumor-mongers, General Cocke,, was a political rival, as were others who tried to use the issue for their own purposes. Jefferson himself, only once addressed the issue. He said that of all the many indiscretions he had been accused of, he was only guilty of one-seriously flirting with the wife of a friend-presumably Maria Coswell, a relationship described earlier.
All of that is impressive enough, but the study is even more so. The authors take every possible fact and rumor, and address it from every imaginable angle.
Bottom Line: Twelve of the thirteen authors came to the exact same conclusion, which seems truly inescapable, by the time they are done-that Thomas Jefferson undoubtedly did not have a sexual relationship with Sally Hemings, and did not have any children with her.
There was a lone dissenter who wrote a minority report, Paul A. Rahe, of Hillsdale College, but even he did not claim paternity on the part of Jefferson. Instead, he simply said he thought Jefferson was a sleaze, who couldn’t be trusted. It seemed a truly idiosyncratic position, since every other writer I ever read thought Jefferson’s character was impeccable. Curiously, Professor Rahe gave no reasons for his opinion.
My Own Opinion: I have to say, barring a lightning strike, or a treasure trove of new documents, this study is so definitive and carefully done, I would think this conclusion would have to stand.
But just to illustrate how wrong that is, the tours at both Monticello and the University of Virginia have completely ignored this study! They treat it as though it never existed, and continue to completely rely on the earlier, terribly flawed, Monticello study. Even Professor Turner himself expressed bewilderment at the fact that his study seems to have vanished without a trace, in spite of the fact that he himself is a prominent professor at the University of Virginia!
A Game of Clue? It is also difficult to escape the dire suspicion that Professor Turner and his group committed the cardinal sin of coming up with the wrong conclusion. Could it be that that prevailing political powers on the Progressive Political Left need it to have been Colonel Mustard (ala Thomas Jefferson), to preserve their own political weaponry? Stay tuned!
On a More Serious Note: As tempting as it is to make light of this situation, if the earlier Monticello report continues to stand, the political implications to our nation, and the use to which it might be put, could be quite deadly.