Jefferson the Hypocrite

By Mary Jane Sheehy Moffett

Thomas Jefferson, a philosopher, author of the Declaration of Independence, and the third president of the United States of America, has been reviled in recent years as a hypocrite … but is the criticism fair?

Mary Jane Sheehy Moffett seeks to refute the idea that Jefferson was a hypocrite by taking a detailed look at his dealings with American Indians, his stance on slavery, and his relationship with Sally Hemings, a slave at Monticello.

Noting that the slave trade began long before the Americas were discovered and that people of various races were sold into slavery, she contends that the Founding Fathers – including Jefferson – had nothing to do with slavery being introduced into America and everything to do with its demise.

The author shares a brief history of the American Indians’ settlement in the Americas and Jefferson’s interaction with them throughout his lifetime. She also explores his relationship with Hemings.

Get an accurate view of who Jefferson really was and gain a deeper appreciation for his many accomplishments with this rich analysis of his life – as well as what be motivating his detractors.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: Jan 28, 2020
• ISBN: 9781480886445

Mary Jane Sheehy Moffett

Mary Jane Sheehy Moffett, a lifelong student of history, is concerned with what she perceives as the ulterior motives of some pundits who present our slaveholding Founding Fathers as hypocrites – with Thomas Jefferson as their favorite and easiest target. She wrote this book in an attempt to prove those pundits wrong. She is the proud mother of five children.

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Copyright © 2020 Mary Jane Sheehy Moffett.

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ISBN: 978-1-4808-8642-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-8643-8 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-8644-5 (e)

Archway Publishing rev. date: 01/21/2020

CONTENTS

Introduction

Indelible Imprints

Formative Years at Shadwell

Chapter I American Indians

Indians of His Presidency

Chapter II Slavery

Jefferson and the Black Race

Chapter III Sally Hemings

The Jefferson/Wayles Debt

Life in the Great House

The Liaison

Return to the United States

Expectations Become Reality

Reflections

Bibliography

To those

who would know the truth

This work is intended to refute the accusations of those who call Jefferson a hypocrite in three specific areas. Those areas concerning:

The American Indians

Slavery

Sally Hemings

INTRODUCTION

ISOLATED EXCERPTS FROM JEFFERSON’S NOTES ON THE STATE OF Virginia will be discussed periodically in these writings. These writings were begun by Jefferson when he was thirty-seven years old and were published (unbeknown to him) in France when he was forty-four. At first glance, they would seem to be about as bigoted as one can tolerate … at first glance.

There is only one thing more tedious then being subjected to a highly opinionated conversation of the uninformed, and that is being subjected to a highly opinionated conversation of the prejudiced, uninformed, and the blame America first media that the twenty-first century gives, not only but most notably to Thomas Jefferson as well as all our Founding Fathers in general. Herein, we (and I use the royal we) will provide a more knowledgeable second glance.

The self-serving portrayal of Jefferson as a bigoted hypocrite, concerning blacks, Indians, and his relationship with the slave Sally Hemings, is the posturing opinion of those with a present-day political agenda. Their cunning ulterior intent is to establish a Saul Alinsky–style government-controlled nanny state, reminiscent of the omniscient 1984 Orwellian Big Brother form of government. Their posturing and out-of-context opinions necessarily and deliberately attempt to denigrate the moral integrity of America’s Founding Fathers. Big government is a complete about-face as to how the Founding Fathers viewed the role of government. Their idealized role of government, so astutely expressed by Jefferson, possibly referring back to Rousseau, was that the least government is the best government.

Having successfully rebelled against and defeated the distant self-serving British Monarchy, intent on exploiting newly discovered lands to swell the purses of their hereditary privilege, our Constitution, as constructed by the Founding Fathers, is a document deliberately defining the duties of government and, at the same time, deliberately limiting the role of government.

The knowledge, foresight, and ability of Thomas Jefferson as a wordsmith, in his Declaration of Independence (much edited by others), where he declares that all men are created equal, his later insistence on the freedom of the press, and the separation of church and state, when viewed side by side with his analysis of the Negro from his Notes on the State of Virginia are his own worst enemies in the hands of his detractors. His own words are the perfect grist for their mill. His analysis of the black man in Notes is so contradictory to his declaration that all men are created equal that his cynical enemies make gleeful scrutiny of it. This single phrase became the perfect foil for the Big Brother wannabes denigrating him as an elitist founding hypocrite.

To be truly authoritative in order not to embarrass oneself and mislead others, it is crucial that those who take delight in presenting Jefferson as a hypocrite critically examine, with honest integrity, where their own personal search for him as a hypocrite originates.

If their criticism originates in the harboring of resentment toward an individual or group, feeling victimized by that individual or group, or if it stems from ideas or thoughts derived from family hearsay or a biased history of racism, such criticism can be weighty and self-destructive baggage. Biased resentment can be self-destructive to an otherwise intelligent and well-meaning productive personality, and exponentially it can be destructive to the very group they may think they are benefiting. To be credible in what we say or even think, it is crucial to be well informed from all points of view with knowledge of the times we are viewing so critically, as well as to seek information that is factual. The very act of thinking itself necessarily influences our speech and our behavior toward those close to us, extending then to our communities at large. This implies a responsibility to question first the honesty of your own agenda.

The agenda here is to present a portrait of Thomas Jefferson as a whole person as well as a product of his own time. He will not be limited to an isolated quote or extricated from a lifetime of thoughtful writing by a resentful minority who delight in discrediting anyone in a gotcha moment. These isolated moments are then used as fodder for the political and socially power hungry to blame others for their station in life and are then used to expedite their rise to power. More often than not, such detractors are known by their demands for rights that oftentimes they aren’t willing to work for. Rights demand responsibility. Such detractors can often be recognized as political aspirants only too willing to ferment destructive resentments for their own political gain rather than promote the far more difficult and constructive path of positive harmony, benefiting the whole country.

No one who pays any attention to political, medical, or even pop culture today can be unaware of the role and sometimes intrusion of psychiatry into our lives. To their own benefit, the Psychiatric Institute meets every year to declare what illness or aberration of behavior can be classified as a psychiatric illness. This generally means that the expense, which few patients can afford on their own, can be charged to our more and more inclusive health-care policies.

Whether we view this fact as a greater benefit to the psychiatrist or to the mental health of the public, most today would agree that childhood experiences make permanent imprints on our psychology, influencing our thinking and behavior later in life. However, they do not psychologically cripple the critical-thinking person.

This truism holds just as