On Mon, 22 Jul 1996, Perry E. Metzger wrote:
(BTW, Jefferson's slaves were inherited and an an entailment clause in the will prevented him from freeing them during his lifetime. Not, of
It would be hard to prove the case that this was the only thing preventing earlier manumission, but then the whole issue is one of the hardest things to understand about Jefferson; many of his closest friends were leaders in the abolitionist movement of the time, and it's almost impossible to believe that he didn't know slavery to be morally indefensible relatively early on in his political development. Guess it was just part of his programming he couldn't throw off. Still leaves him just ahead of FDR as best american president, but does drop him a way behind Paine for best political theorist of the revolution --- Cause maybe (maybe) | In my mind I'm going to Carolina you're gonna be the one that saves me | - back in Chapel Hill May 16th. And after all | Email address remains unchanged You're my firewall - | ........First in Usenet.........