Jefferson and Sally Hemings Flashcards
Jefferson
3rd President of America (first who wasn’t a federalist)
Virginian
Monticello plantation
Jefferson owned
Over 600 slaves
Including Sally Hemings
Only freed 7 in the course of his life (all of which were descendants of Heming)
Most of his slaves were passed down to his family after his death
Hemings and Jefferson had
5 children
Likely produced by rape
Hemings lived in the ‘big house’ (plantation house) with Jefferson for at least 40 years
Historical debate whether the Jefferson and Hemings relationship was consentual
Living with him could suggest it was similar to a marriage
Likely Jefferson used coercion to enter into sexual relationships with Hemings
Historians had refused to accept
Black versions of history
This has changed, but took a significant time to happen
Meant historians did not accept ex-slaves/descendants of’s testimonies
Oral traditions of the families involved
Madison Hemings was interviewed in Ohio
Spoke on his family history
Furthered the view that Jefferson was his father/the father of his other siblings
Circumstantial evidence
There were mixed race couples living in Charlottesville, Virginia
Jefferson had sold Hemings’ sister to a white man
They then lived as a married couple
Could mean Hemings and Jefferson’s relationship was consensual, in a similar sense
Hemings and Jefferson living in an area that accepted inter-racial couples
Callander wrote a
Federalist newspaper against Jefferson
Where the illegitimate (slave) children story came from
Believed the story would ruin Jefferson
Rape of slaves was something everyone knew happened
No one spoke about it
Doing it was one thing, talking about it simply wasn’t done
Problems with DNA testing
Infidelity could change DNA chain link
Could mean the Carr and Woodstone families are still descendants of Jefferson
Jefferson probably did father Heming’s children
History deals with plausibility
Forming arguments about persuasive aspects of evidence
