American History In Video: Thomas Jefferson: A View From the Mountain
Thomas Jefferson: A View From the Mountain from The History Channel (A&E Television Networks, 1999) 95:18.
 see more details
|
 Transcript
|
 View Thumbnails
|
 Embed/Link
|
 Print
|
- Transcript
- Clips
Roger Mudd Hello, I'm Roger Mudd . Welcome to the History Channel. Of all the founding fathers, he is the most confounding. Thomas Jefferson is exalted as a genius. A renaissance man and a revolutionary whose lofty ideas continue to inspire people around the world. But he also owned other human beings which some feels enough to have his image sandblasted from Mount Rushmore. Our program with commentary from film maker Martin Doblmeier , looks at one of the most remarkable and paradoxical of our presidents. As a man of his times, Jefferson needed slaves to run his plantation. As a man for these times, he realized slavery's inherent evil. Join us now as the History Channel presents Thomas Jefferson : A View from the Mountain.
[sil.]
Thomas Jefferson "Where has nature spread so rich a mantle under the eye? Mountains, forests, rocks, rivers. With what majesty, do we dare ride above the storms! How sublime to look down into the workhouse of nature, to see her clouds, hale, snow, rain, thunder, all fabricated at our feet! And the glorious Sun, when rising as if out of a distant water, just gilding the tops of the mountains and giving life to all nature." Thomas Jefferson .
Martin Doblmeier Each morning from his mountain top home, Thomas Jefferson could look out in awe at the wonders and workings of nature. For Jefferson , the natural world is his classroom and he, its most admiring student. The beauty, order, and balance that nature reveals also serves to guide Jefferson to his beliefs about human nature. As a boy, Jefferson walked these hills, he later inherits from his father. Here, he builds the home of his dreams and calls it Monticello. With its styles of ancient and modern Europe, Monticello shines against the rugged Virginia wilderness. Over four decades, Jefferson designs and redesigns Monticello, as he shapes and reshapes a new nation. Both stand as creative endeavors of a most creative mind and has lasting reflections of one of America's great renaissance men. A biographer writes of Jefferson , "He could calculate an eclipse, survey an estate, tie an orderly, plan an edifice, try a cause, break a horse, dance a minuet and play a violin."
Martin Doblmeier Thomas Jefferson is one of the most fascinating and complex figures to ever come on the American landscape. His ideas about individual rights, education, freedom of religion and freedom from the oppression of our own government have made him more than an important figure in our national mythology. To many, Jefferson has become a symbol, of all that we value in America . So it remains one of the great ironies in our history, that the man who writes the Declaration of Independence, declaring the equality of all men and their right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, writes these immortal words while holding scores of African-Americans as slaves.
Martin Doblmeier Jefferson certainly is a man of his day, a day when the institution of slavery is already deeply entrenched in the American colonies. In fact, Jefferson's own wealth, his social status and his political influence, in some ways, depend on slavery.
Martin Doblmeier But in so many other ways, Jefferson is not a man confined to his day, especially when speaking about personal liberties. Jefferson lives to be 83, twice the normal life expectancy of the time. His life spans a period in history when America is radically rethinking its notions about race and slavery and Jefferson's own words have enormous impact, both good and bad. Sometimes those things that are supposed to be self-evident can be the hardest to understand.
GORDON WOOD Historian
Gordon Wood I'm reminded of, of a statement by James Parton about a hundred or a little over a hundred years ago, Parton was a, ah, first professional biographer, and I think he put his finger on what Jefferson has, had become even to his time, 18, 1874 , ah, he said, uh, " If Jefferson is wrong, America is wrong. If Jefferson is right, America is right." That kind of moral identification has continued into our own time and, ah, is the source, I think, of much of the controversy that surrounds Jefferson . When Jefferson does something or behaves, ah, in a, a noble fashion, then it's as if America itself was behaving in, in, in a noble way.
BARBARA JORDAN Former Congresswoman
Barbara Jordan I watched as a naive, ah, kid, ah, in the ghettos of Houston, Texas , and ah, in about, ah, sixth grade, seventh grade, whenever you get to the Declaration of Independence, I thought it sounded just great and I would write speeches about ah, the, what this, this country promised, and all men and we weren't sensitive about it being all men back when I was a kid, and I thought that those words really gave America the kind of promise and opportunity which would free me as an individual to soar as high, as far, as wide as I chose.
JULIAN BOND Historian
Julian Bond Our ideas about race come from comparing what we are with the standard Thomas Jefferson set for us. And the standard he set for us is an ideal that all are created equal and we look at, if we look at race relations today and we clearly see that all are not treated equal, all are not, uhm, respected as if endowed by their creator with certain rights, and all don't have certain rights, and aren't allowed to practice the same kinds of rights. And so we contrast that experience with his ideal and we're, we find ourselves wanting. So, in that sense, yes, our racial discussion derives precisely from Thomas Jefferson and owes itself precisely to Thomas Jefferson because to Thomas Jefferson , that's most important to me, is the one who wrote those words.
EDWARD AYERS Historian
Edward Ayers Jefferson is always referred to for his hope, but it, behind that hope was a persistent worry which we all share which I think drives much of this debate over Jefferson . It's worrying that, somehow that seed of evil that was planted with slavery there at the very beginning of the American nation is still going to be what kills us.
Martin Doblmeier Thomas Jefferson is born in 1743 on the edge of the Virginia frontier, on a plantation known as Shadwell. He is the third child and the first son of Peter and Jane Jefferson . His mother, born in England , is from a well-to-do family. His father is a native Virginian of modest means with little formal education. If Peter Jefferson would become a successful farmer and surveyor, two skills he teaches his son. Even from his earliest days, African-Americans are part of Jefferson's life on the plantation, one in particular, is a slave named Jupiter .
CINDER STANTON Monticello Research Director
Cinder Stanton He was born in the same year as Jefferson and Jefferson's own brother was very much younger than he was. And we can, we can begin to speculate that Jupiter perhaps might have been a boyhood companion of, at Shadwell where, when Jefferson was growing up. He became Jefferson's personal servant, accompanied him to Williamsburg . Jefferson would give him large sums of money to go out into town and buy things. He was a very trusted servant.
[sil.]
Paul Conkin As a young man, Jefferson began reading classics early. He had two school masters and in what would have amounted to grammar school instruction but there were tutors who introduced him to Latin and Greek. He was always a very conscientious young man, as well as an older man. He, according to people who knew him, spent 14 and 15 hours a day at study, so he immersed himself very rapidly in the classical languages even as a teenager began to, to draw from Cicero , from Seneca , from Epicurus , from other classical authors.
Martin Doblmeier The Greek philosopher Epicurus writes, "It is not possible to live pleasantly without living prudently, honorably and justly." From the Stoics, Seneca and Epictetus , Jefferson learns, "that the highest good for any creature consists in acting in accordance with its nature." From these classic philosophers, Jefferson begins to shape a direction for his life. At 17, Jefferson attends the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg . After which, he takes up the study of law. His mentor is the brilliant George Wythe . In years to come, Wythe is a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a harsh critic of slavery.
Martin Doblmeier At the age of 21, Jefferson inherits the family estate after the death of his father. The inheritance includes 5,000 acres of land and 22 slaves. He is now part of Virginia's landed gentry and in 1768 , at the age of 25, Thomas Jefferson is elected to Virginia's governing body, The House of Burgesses. At this time, Virginia law makes it difficult for slave owners to free their slaves. Freed slaves are a challenge to the institution, but at the same time, the law prevents masters from abandoning those slaves who were too old or too sick to work.
Martin Doblmeier In his first session in the house, Jefferson proposes changes in the slavery laws. He joins with Colonel Richard Bland , who Jefferson describes as an older and respected member of the house. Their proposal extends protection for slaves and allows limited manumission.
Thomas Jefferson "I second at Bland's motion, and as a younger member, was more spared in the debate, but he was denounced as an enemy of his country, and was treated with the grossest indecorum." Thomas Jefferson .
Martin Doblemeier The bill is soundly defeated. For the young Jefferson , the defeat is humiliating and one he long remembers. Yet, Jefferson had now distinguished himself from many other plantation owners by identifying slavery as an institution in need of change.
Thomas Jefferson The whole commerce between master and slave is the perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions; the most unremitting despotism on the one part, and degrading submissions on the other. I tremble for my country, when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever.
Martin Doblmeier Jefferson is convinced that slavery is an evil that someday will end. Yet, he also believes that when freed, Blacks must be colonized in Africa or the Caribbean where they can live as free and independent people, but not in America . For Jefferson , the history of abuse and suffering is far too great for freed Blacks and Whites to ever live together.
Thomas Jefferson "Deep-rooted prejudice is entertained by the Whites. Ten thousand recollections by the Blacks, of the injuries they have sustained, new provocations, the real distinctions which nature has made and many other circumstances will divide us into parties and produce convulsions which will probably never end, but in the extermination of one or the other race." Thomas Jefferson .
Roger Mudd Thomas Jefferson : A View From The Mountain will return in a moment. The History Channel now returns to Thomas Jefferson : A View From The Mountain
Isaac Jefferson " Mr. Jefferson was a tall, straight-bodied man if ever you'll see, right square-shouldered. Mere man in this town walks so straight as old master, neither built man has ever was seen in Virginia I reckon, or any place, a straight-up man, long-faced, high-nosed. Mr. Jefferson always singin' when ridin' or walking. Hardly see him anywhere outdoors when he wasn't singin'. He had a fine, clear voice, sung minuets and such, fiddled in the parlor." Isaac Jefferson .
Martin Doblmeier Isaac Jefferson is a blacksmith at Monticello. He can neither read nor write, but years after Thomas Jefferson's death, Isaac dictates his memoirs about life on the mountain. Like many slaves living on plantations, Isaac assumes the family name of his owner.
Cinder Stanton There were really two very obvious worlds at Monticello, the world of Jefferson and his family and the world of his slaves, the African-American men, women and children who lived on the 5,000 acre plantation. Jefferson referred to everyone who lived on the plantation as his family, he spoke of my family of a hundred and twenty seven souls, and, uhm, by doing that, he's using the word "family" in a sense that's obsolete today, meaning an entire household with, ah, Jefferson at the head of that household or in his case, plantation.
[sil.]
Martin Doblmeier On New Year's Day, 1772 , Thomas Jefferson marries the 23-year-old widow, Martha Wales Skelton . No painting of Martha survives, although some believe this to be her silhouette. She is described as petite, vivacious, a model of grace and she shares her husband's love for music. She plays the harpsichord, he plays the violin.
[sil.]
Martin Doblmeier Two years after they marry, Jefferson's father-in-law, John Wales , dies. Jefferson inherits 11,000 acres of land and 135 slaves from the estate. Jefferson , who expresses so much distaste for the institution of slavery, has now, through inheritance, become the second largest slave holder in the county. But in addition to the land and the slaves, Jefferson also inherits from his father-in-law, a rather sizeable debt. Most Virginia planters like John Wales , owe money to British creditors. By accepting the property as inheritance, Jefferson must also assume the debt, but it is 1774 , Jefferson is in good financial shape and confident he can eliminate the debt in short order.
PETER ONUF Historian
Peter Onuf This, of course, was a miscalculation, a staggering miscalculation, but how could Jefferson have anticipated the American Revolution, a revolution that both makes him famous, creates the great world historical opportunity for him to be a great revolutionary leader, but also in a way, inflicts the burden of debt on Jefferson throughout his life.
Thomas Jefferson "Finding it necessary to sell a few more slaves to accomplish the debt of Mr. Wales to Farrell and Jones , I have thought of disposing Dinah and her family, as her husband lives with you, I should choose to sell her in your neighborhood, so as to unite her with him."
Martin Doblmeier For 16 years, the overseer at Monticello is Edmond Bacon . Jefferson describes Bacon as an honest, correct man in his conduct, who possesses the esteem, confidence and goodwill of his neighbors. On most large plantations, the overseer directs the work of the slaves, allowing plantation owners, like Jefferson , to keep some distance.
Cinder Stanton The slaves, really each year, had potluck about what kind of overseer, Ah, would be in charge of them and some of them were known to be very cruel. So, even though Jefferson constantly expressed his wish that his slaves be treated humanely and that the use of the whip be reduced to a minimum, we do know that there was, there was cruelty and physical punishment on the plantation. I think Jefferson , when dealing with his slaves on a one-to-one ba, basis was very sympathetic, merciful, uh, he acted as a human being in his relationship with them in that way, but he was also the head of an, of an economic enterprise, the 5,000 acre plantation and so he had to act as a manager of labor, ah, also an owner of valuable property, and these two impulses were in constant collision, I think, in the course of his life.
Martin Doblmeier Yet, what the slaves enabled Jefferson to do is develop his great love of farming. "The small land-holders are the most precious part of a state," he writes. He experiments with methods of crop rotation to increase productivity. He devises detailed plans for seeding and harvesting fruits and vegetables.
[sil.]
Martin Doblmeier He invents the mow-board for a plow as a better way to till the soil. He decides not to patent it saying, "Its contribution to the American farmer, it's too important to gain profit."
DANIEL JORDAN Monticello Director
Daniel Jordan Jefferson had an almost religious sense of the land and the importance of people being independent. Ah, he was philosophically opposed to any kind of oppression. Ah, he wanted individuals to be able to stand on their own two feet and all of this translated in his time into the notion that an, ah, a person would own a certain amount of land that he would work that land and by the sweat of his own brow, ah, he would have a certain self-sufficiency and would not be dependent on others or, ah, certainly not on the government.
Martin Doblmeier Yet, in many ways, Jefferson is dependent on the help of his slaves. Over his lifetime, he owns an estimated 400 slaves. They worked mostly as house servants, skilled craftsmen and field hands. For more than 50 years, Jefferson keeps records of his slave family in his farm book. He records their births and deaths, list the provisions they receive, calculates to the finest detail their productivity and even notes their small pox inoculations. Jefferson has little use for doctors, so he insists on doing the inoculations himself.
[sil.]
Martin Doblmeier One of the slave families Jefferson inherits from his father-in-law soon changes Monticello. It is the Hemings family. The Hemings are experienced house servants and skilled artisans who take on privileged status in the Jefferson home. John Hemings , who can read and write, becomes a skilled carpenter producing many fine wood pieces. James Hemings becomes the principal cook at Monticello. Later, he accompanies Jefferson to France , to learn the art of French cooking. Robert Hemings replaces Jefferson's boyhood companion, Jupiter , as Jefferson's personal valet and Betty Hemings heads the household staff. Over the years, Jefferson owns 30 of Betty Hemings' children and grandchildren.
MINNIE WOODSON Woodson Family Historian
Minnie Woodson Jefferson must have thought highly of her because he gave her ploughed land, she had chickens of her own, she had, ah, her own, ah, eggs and he bought them from her, so he must have thought very highly of her. She sort of was the matriarch of all of the house slaves they have, as, as long as she was able to do that. So, she must have been a pretty, ah, intelligent, most likely most likeable person.
Martin Doblmeier While the Hemings family enjoys privileged status at Monticello, most slaves spend the day working the fields, raising wheat, corn, and tobacco.
DYLAN PRITCHETT African American Interpreter
Dylan Pritchett All ages would be in the field, mother, father, sister, brother, uncle, aunt, grandma, everybody would be in the field. And just doing whatever it took to work tobacco, that's hoeing, that's worming, that's suckering, that's hard work, sun up to sun down, six days a week. And because of, it was difficult work, you had to find a way to break that monotony of that work day, and the way they did that was through music. But the real party started Saturday night because on Saturday night they had something called the "Saturday Night Gathering," where they play music and dance, sing and tell stories and just, you know, just get together.
Dylan Pritchett This is when the African-American community was a distinct community. This is when, if you'll look at what they did on a Saturday night and Sunday, you can really begin to see that these people are not slaves, that this is a cultured of people that were enslaved.
Roger Mudd Thomas Jefferson : A View From The Mountain will return in a moment. The History Channel now returns to Thomas Jefferson : A View From The Mountain
[sil.]
Paul Conkin Every sense of beauty that he had, he tried to fulfill it in his image of Monticello. I don't think there's another person in American History and certainly no President, where geographical site plays in particularly building, is as much a part of one's identity, so intrinsically a part of the identity of the person. In the case of Jefferson , unlike almost any other President and I say, you can't know Jefferson 'til you come to Monticello.
Martin Doblmeier What Monticello reveals about Jefferson is the precision of his mind and the passions of his life, the balance of the head and heart. He designs the parlor after the salons of France . Here, Jefferson entertains an endless parade of notable friends and guests surrounded by his favorite works of art. The entrance way is a showcase for natural history, antlers from the journeys of Lewis and Clark . Mastodon bones, Jefferson believes no animal created in nature can ever become extinct. A giant deer skin tells the story of a battle between the Sioux and Mandan Indian tribes. From his earliest years, Jefferson looks with admiration on Native Americans. Jefferson's private library and study are his inner sanctum. He reads in seven languages, including Greek and Latin, and prefers to read a work in its original form, so nothing can be lost in translation. Here, in his cabinet, Jefferson spends hours in study, exchanging correspondence with the great minds of his day. The polygraph creates duplicate copies of his letters. During his lifetime, Jefferson writes more than 18,000.
Daniel Jordan Jefferson was nothing if not, ah, methodical. He'd like to brag that he rose with the sun and somebody said, "Well, how do you know when the sun's up?" He said, "When I can read, uh, the hands on the clock at the ledge of the foot of my bed." And there, it was, facing him. And it seems madness, but in another way, it's a good metaphor for his life, because he calibrated his day just that ah, precisely. His grandson said he was a miser with his time, he was nothing if not purposeful and organized. He wanted every minute to count for something, ah, constructive.
Martin Doblmeier While his slaves do the bulk of the manual labor on the plantation, Jefferson spends much of his day in the endless pursuit of knowledge.
Isaac Jefferson "Old master had abundance of books, sometimes, would have twenty of them down on the floor at once, read the first one, then the other. Isaac has often wondered how old master can have such a mighty head, reading so many of them books. And when they go to ask him anything, he go right straight to the book and tell you all about it." Isaac Jefferson .
Martin Doblmeier Jefferson emerges as a major American figure, in an international community of intellectuals known as "The Enlightenment." Science had only recently discovered things like gravity, electricity, magnetism and energy, and out of these discoveries, Universal Laws about nature and the natural order were unfolding. Now, Enlightened thinkers reasoned that if there was a natural order to the things they could see around them, there must be a natural order to man as well. Nature now became a tool to their Utopian dreams of universal peace and equality.
Martin Doblmeier Jefferson most admires three Englishmen. Francis Bacon , who believed that man could decipher the simple basic structures of nature. The scientist Isaac Newton , who attempted to explain the mechanical laws of the physical universe. And philosopher John Locke , who argued against the divine right of kings. Nearly a hundred years before the Declaration of Independence, Locke wrote, "That all men are free and equal in the state of nature and possess certain natural rights." But another important influence on Jefferson is a Presbyterian minister, Francis Hutchison , a leader of the Scottish Enlightenment. Hutchison claimed that a person's highest faculty is the moral sense.
Martin Doblmeier This sense of right and wrong, of benevolence to others, of matters of the heart, is part of our nature and equal in all human beings. For Jefferson , this moral sense makes us accountable to ourselves and each other, and it makes possible the right to self-government. This similarity in the moral sense also makes all other physical and mental differences minor.
Martin Doblmeier Jefferson immerses himself hour after hour in this world of knowledge. From his mountain top home, he fashions an outlook that is a fusion of ideas from philosophy, science, law and history. It is from this base of study and his own family experience that Jefferson's ideas about race and slavery emerged.
Thomas Jefferson "We know that among the Romans, about the Augustine age, especially, the condition of their slaves was much more deplorable than that of the Blacks on the continent of America. Yet, among the Romans, their slaves were often that rarest artists, they excel too in science, in so much as to be usually employed as tutors to their masters' children. Epictetus , Terence and Phaedrus were slaves, but they were of the race of whites. It is not their condition then, but nature which has produced the distinction." Thomas Jefferson .
Martin Doblmeier These words come from Jefferson's "Notes on the State of Virginia", written by him in long hand. It is the only book Jefferson ever publishes. "Notes" is not intended as a book on race and slavery, but Jefferson's response to many of the false notions about the New World being advanced by European naturalists, including France's celebrated Georges-Louis Leclerc Buffon . Buffon claims America is a land only recently emerged from the deluge, a damp humid place where animals and people are smaller than normal. He calls it, " a land best suited for insects, reptiles, and feeble men." To defend the New World before an enlightened Europe, Jefferson dispatches observers across the countryside to measure and collect data on everything from the smallest creatures to the natural wonders. In "Notes", Jefferson describes in detail the rivers, mountains, climate, abundant minerals and native Indian populations. Blacks are also part of his study of the New World and in "Notes on the State of Virginia", Jefferson becomes one of the first Americans to put in print ideas about racial differences. About Blacks, he writes:
Thomas Jefferson "Comparing them by their faculties of memory, reason and imagination, it appears to me that in memory they are equal to Whites. In reason, much inferior, as I think one could scarcely be found capable of tracing and comprehending the investigations of Euclid , and that in imagination, they are dull, tasteless and anomalous.
Martin Doblmeier In "Notes", Jefferson uses his studies of science to draw conclusions about Blacks including how their blood is darker than Whites and how they secrete fluids differently than Whites. All these conclusions, he says, "are tentative, in need of further scientific observations." Jefferson stresses, "that he is merely the observer of the differences that nature, not he, has determined."
JOYCE APPLEBY Historian
Joyce Appleby Jefferson saw a world around him warped, he thought, by tyranny and ignorance and superstition. But it was a powerful world, and it was the only world that people have seen, and it produced great cathedrals and great mansions and pa, palaces. And so everywhere, there was the presence of institutional power over people's lives, that dwarfed ordinary people. And he very much wanted to dismantle these symbols and this reality of power over people. Now, the greatest weapon he could use, was to say that it was unnatural, that nature had a better plan than this artificial one that kings and, and, and, and churches had created. So, in order to use nature as a weapon against the artifices of the past, he emphasized uniformities and similarities that all men are alike, all men are equal. What it meant is as if there were people who are conspicuously different like African-Americans or native Americans or women, he assumed that nature had sort of pushed them out, outside this new liberal natural order. Uhm, and at the time it enabled him to combat privilege and status, inherited, ah, forms, but it did create a new way to discriminate. Jefferson was very intolerant of, of living with diversity.
Martin Doblmeier Jefferson concludes with some reservations that in matters of the head, Blacks are inferior to Whites. But for Jefferson , there is the other dimension, the moral sense, the matters of the heart.
Thomas Jefferson Whether further observation will or will not verify the conjecture, but nature has been less bountiful to them in the endowments of the head. I believe that in those of the heart, she will be found to have done them justice.
Martin Doblmeier Jefferson is reluctant to have Notes on the State of Virginia widely distributed because he fears it may hurt the chances for future emancipation. Yet the work becomes widely known, and Jefferson finds himself defending his remarks for the rest of his life.
Thomas Jefferson Be assured that no person living wishes more sincerely than I do to see a complete refutation of the doubts I have myself entertained and expressed on the grade of understanding allotted to Negroes by nature, and to find that in this respect, they are on a power with ourselves. My doubts were the result of personal observation on the limited sphere of my own state, where the opportunities for the development of their genius were not favorable. And those who're exercising it, still less so. I express them therefore with great hesitation. But whatever be their degree of talent, it is no measure of their rights. Thomas Jefferson .
Roger Mudd Thomas Jefferson : A View From The Mountain will return in a moment. The History Channel now returns to THOMAS JEFFERSON : A View From The Mountain
Martin Doblmeier The Boston Massacre, Lexington and Concord .
[sil.]
Martin Doblmeier Bunker Hill . Blood is spilling, and the Colonials are rapidly being brought to the brink of war against the most powerful nation on earth. In Philadelphia , delegates gathered to decide the fate of the colonies.
PAUL FINKELMAN Historian
Paul Finkelman One of the curiosities of the ah, of the American Revolution is that their leaders talk about equality and liberty, and yet the leaders are, in fact, not the equal folks. They are, in a sense, aristocrats.
Martin Doblmeier Many of the delegates to the second Continental Congress are slave holders. At this time, slavery is still legal in every colony, north and south, the Virginia Delegation including a 33-year-old Thomas Jefferson makes the initial proposal of independence. The Congress appoints a committee of five to write the declaration. The committee includes Jefferson , John Adams and Benjamin Franklin . Jefferson is asked to write the draft. During the third week of June, the readings and studies of Jefferson's young life enable him to turn a revolution into a struggle for all humanity.
Thomas Jefferson Entitled by the laws of nature and of nature's God, we hold this truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
MERRILL PETERSON Historian
Merrill Peterson In Locke's Second Treatise on Civil Government which is the local classic history might of say of the theory of the natural rights and the declaration of independence. Ah, Locke defined the inalienable rights of men, of life, liberty and property. Jefferson substituted for a property, the pursuit of happiness. Property was a civil right, not a natural right. Underneath, ah, in his own mind, he could not say anything that would give a status of an inalienable right to the ownership of slave, to the ownership of other men, of human chattels.
PETER ONUF Historian
Peter Onuf Jefferson identifies with his slaves and with all slaves in his concern about the loss of freedom, the loss of independence, the loss of self-mastery. This is what the revolution meant for Jefferson and his colleagues, and that is if the British triumphed, then freedom would be lost. And Jefferson could see himself in a condition of his slaves. This may seem far-fetched or exaggerated to us, but it's the principle of the thing that matters to Jefferson . And that is, that if you don't control yourself, you are slave. And in this sense, it's a perverse and ironic one. You can say that Jefferson does see the equality of all people, and that is, he acknowledges that losing their freedom, privileged Whites such as himself, could become like the slaves they held in bondage.
MARY FRANCES BERRY Historian
Mary Frances Berry Jefferson and other ah, men of his times who had an intellectual bet, ah, were very aware of the history of the institution of slavery, the classical tradition, the history of, the idea of slavery in Western civilization, the idea of freedom in Western civilization. And they were very aware that in every society, there had always been at the bottom, a group of people who are not included in the body politic, that there was nothing inconsistent about standing for freedom and equality for those who were part of the citizenry, the body politic by definition, and having a class which did the work, ah, that was below the manual labor and all the rest of it on which this class, this upper class stood. And in their minds, this did not seem inconsistent. It would not have seemed inconsistent, so it made sense that when Jefferson said, you know, "all men are created equal", he didn't mean slaves.
GORDON WOOD Historian
Gordon Wood Exactly what Jefferson meant when he said "all men are created equal" is not easily answered. He certainly meant more than all people are equal before the law. He meant much more than that. Ah, in some basic sense, he believed that all people were created equal. Now, in his particular case, he simply could not accept the equality of Blacks. He could accept the equality of Indians. Ah, he felt that they were deprived, ah, but that it was simply a question of environment, and if you change their environment and educated them, they could be ah, made civilized. That's the way he would've put it. But when it came to Blacks, he simply was blind to this. Ah, he was unable to fulfill his own rhetoric, his own language.
PAUL CONKIN Historian
Paul Conkin That phrase, "all men are created equal", we'll always be tantalized with it. I think Jefferson knew exactly what he meant, and I think he's contemporaries knew what he meant. It was a well-established principle and moral theory, that before government and a state of nature, all people are born equally free and independent. That is, they're not under the jurisdiction of anyone else, they don't, are not born with any disabilities, are born with special privileges. That's what equality means. I think that was clear to Jefferson . I think it was clear to him and everyone else, had it applied to all people from the perspective of "all men are created equal", Blacks are created equal. If they are enslaved, it's a, it's an example of tyranny imposed upon them because they're denied their natural equality. That's totally apart from equality of abilities or any other issues of an empirical sort. Jefferson speculated broadly and not always consistently about the inferiority of Blacks. But none of this speculation about Blacks had a thing in the world to do with human equality as expressed in the preamble of the Declaration of Independence.
Martin Doblmeier But in addition to the preamble, Jefferson's original draft list the grievances against the king. The last grievance attacks the king for controlling the American slave trade and for encouraging slaves to arm against the colonies.
Merrill Peterson It's a very powerful indictment. And he says that that trade is a war against human nature itself. And he goes on to describe the horrors of that war, and goes on to point out that the slaves are men, M E N in capital letters.
Paul Finkelman The Declaration's relationship to slavery is full of myths of, a whole variety of them. One of them is that Jefferson tried to end slavery or attack slavery in the Declaration. Ah, this is simply not the case. Ah, what Jefferson proposed was an attack on King George for encouraging the African slave trade. There was a certain amount of truth to Jefferson's attack. Virginia , for example, had tried to prohibit the African slave trade in the 1770s , and King George's ah, counsel had overruled the, ah, Virginia legislature, and prohibited Virginia from banning the trade. But Virginia wasn't banning the slave trade 'cause they wanted to ban slavery, they were banning the slave trade for economic reasons. Too much money was flowing back to England or back to at least slave traders. And for prudential reasons, they were afraid of all these Africans coming over. The Africans were more likely to revolt, they believed, than African-Americans who were born in the country, and they may, at the moment have had too many slaves anyways. There was kind of a surplus of slaves. There were lots of reasons for opposing the African slave trade. Some of them humanitarian, it was simply an awful, awful, horrible thing. And so, one could say we shouldn't be this horrible. We shouldn't chain people up in the bottom of the ships. But once we have them here, that's something else again. So, Jefferson's attack is on the slave trade, it's not on slavery itself.
Martin Doblmeier After much debate, Congress approves the phrase, "He has excited domestic insurrection amongst us" as the only reference to the king's control over slavery.
Thomas Jefferson The clause reprobating the enslaving of the inhabitants of Africa was struck out into places to South Carolina and Georgia who have never attempted to restrain the importation of slaves, and who, on the contrary, still wish to continue it. Our northern brethren also, I believe felt a little tender under those censures, for though their people have very few slaves themselves, yet they have been pretty considerable carriers of them to others. Thomas Jefferson .
Martin Doblmeier In the early evening of July 4th, Congress accepts Jefferson's Declaration of Independence. People celebrate as the Declaration is read in cities and towns across the colonies. Crowds tear down the statue of King George . Across the Atlantic, the Declaration prompts the English writer, Samuel Johnson to ask, "How is it we hear the loudest yells for liberty, among the drivers of Negroes."
[sil.]
Martin Doblmeier In the hopes of a quick end to the rebellion, Virginia's Lord Dunmore offered slaves their freedom in exchange for service to the British Crown. 800 slaves joined. Across the colonies, some 60,000 slaves run away from their masters to join the British. In the first years of the revolution, the Continental Army excludes Blacks, but when enlistment quotas fall short, the policy changes. Slave owners are offered the enlistment fee for slaves that fight in the cause of independence. As many as 8,000 free or enslaved Blacks joined, but Jefferson slaves are not among them. During the revolution, Jefferson serves in the Virginia legislature, and later as governor. He succeeds in passing a bill, banning the further importation of slaves into Virginia . But he refuses to support a bill that allows slave holders to free their slaves. That will pass later without the support of Jefferson . At the end of Jefferson's term as governor, the British sweeping through Virginia , take Monticello and the surrounding plantation. Jefferson narrowly escapes. 30 of Jefferson's slaves are taken by the British. By 1781 , the once hopeless Continental Army now has the British on the run. With France as its ally, the colonials corner the British in Yorktown, Virginia . And in October, the British the surrendered. The struggle for American independence is over.
Paul Finkelman A slave was better off ending up behind Cornwall's lines or behind British lines at the end of the war than ending up behind American lines at the end of the war. None of the slaves that were returned to Jefferson after the war, ended up as free people. They lived and died as slaves. Ah, from the slave's perspective, indeed, they might have been better off if the Americans lost the war.
Roger Mudd Thomas Jefferson : A View From The Mountain will return in a moment.
Roger Mudd I'm Roger Mudd . Welcome back to the History Channel. Tabloid journalism, of course, didn't begin with the Inquirer or the Star, Jennifer Flowers or Monica Lewinski . Two centuries ago, the writer, James Calender accused George Washington of being a hypocrite and a thief, and John Adams of being a British spy. But Calender save his most savaged writing for Thomas Jefferson , claiming the President had carried on a long affair with one of his slaves. It's an accusation that continues to cloud Jefferson's reputation. We continue now with Thomas Jefferson : A View From The Mountain.
Martin Doblmeier The revolution that won America's independence has taken a toll on the land. Years of poor harvest have increased the debt for many farmers. At Monticello, like most Virginia planters, Thomas Jefferson and his wife, Martha , now face years of rebuilding. Some plantation owners used the war as an excuse to erase their debt to British creditors. Jefferson is not one of them.
PETER ONUF Historian
Peter Onuf Jefferson didn't look for political solutions to his problem of indebtedness. A debt was a debt, and he was a man of his word. And you have to think of Jefferson as being extremely conscious of the importance of words authentically spoken. That's what the Declaration of Independence is all about. If words don't matter, if we can redefine them and reinterpret them, then this Declaration is nonsense. It does not stand for anything. And this is a central principle of Jefferson's political life, to be true to his words and to be true to his debts.
MARTIN DOBLMEIER
Martin Doblmeier For Jefferson , the issues of slavery and indebtedness are connected. If he frees his slaves, work on the plantation stops, and he defaults on the debt. If he sells the slaves to raise the capital and pay off the debt, the plantation suffers, and the slaves remained slaves only to someone else. Jefferson always believes his slaves are best treated under his care. Owning slaves makes Jefferson part of the privileged class. It provides him with the opportunity for a lifestyle he has grown accustomed to. Yet his views on the institution remain the same. Slavery is unjust; an unpleasant part of America's inheritance from Britain . But for Jefferson , the conditions are not yet right for change.
Martin Doblmeier The center of domestic life at Monticello is Jefferson's wife, Martha . In ten years of marriage, they have six children but only two daughters, Martha and Maria , survive childhood. After giving birth to their sixth child, Jefferson's wife Martha becomes ill. She will never recover. As she is dying, she is attended by Jefferson , their daughter Martha , and servants Betty Hemings and a young Sally Hemings . Jefferson cares for his wife with a love their oldest daughter Martha never forgets.
Martha Jefferson-Randolph As a nurse, no female ever had more tenderness or anxiety. He nursed my poor mother, sitting up with her and administering her medicines and drink to the last. For four months that she lingered, he was never out of calling.
Martin Doblmeier The plantation overseer remembers the final scene.
Edmund Baker She told him she could not die happy if she thought her four children were ever to have a stepmother brought in over. Holding her other hand and his, Mr. Jefferson promised her solemnly that he would never marry again, and he never did. Edmund Baker .
Martin Doblmeier No painting of Martha nor any of their correspondence survives. It is believed in his grief, Jefferson destroys everything.
Thomas Jefferson Before that event, my scheme of life had been determined. I had folded myself in the arms of retirement, and rested all prospects of future happiness on domestic and literary objects. A single event wiped away all my plans and left me a blank, which I had not the spirits to fill up. Thomas Jefferson .
PAUL FINKELMAN Historian
Paul Finkelman There are slaves in all of the 13 states in 1776 , when they declare independence. By the end of the Revolution, Massachusetts and New Hampshire have outright abolished slavery. Ah, Massachusetts , declares slavery to be ended because the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780 uses language almost identical to the Declaration of Independence, declaring all men are born free and equal, therefore, there can't be slaves if you're born free and equal. Pennsylvania , Rhode Island , and Connecticut have passed gradual emancipation statutes, which means that the children of all slaves will be born free, and as the existing slaves die, the institution of slavery will die out. Ah, by 1804 , New Jersey has become the last Northern state, New York in 1799 , to also adopt this gradual emancipation statutes, so the North creates itself.
GORDON WOOD Historian
Gordon Wood The American Revolution created at the, the anti-slave consciousness, in a sense. Ah, for a hundred years, slavery had existed in the colonies without substantial criticism. From the late 17th century to the middle of the 18th century, there's very little criticism. Or, or once in a while a, a Quaker, a few isolated individuals but by large, slavery is accepted as a given. But suddenly, in the middle of the 18th century, coincident with the rising sense of enlightenment values, ah, particularly freedom, independence, ah, slavery becomes a problem. People suddenly say, "Well, this is inconsistent," and from that moment on, and it coincides with the American Revolution, slavery is on the defensive. And it's only then that you begin to get racial defenses of slavery. Nobody used race as a, as a, an excuse or justification for slavery earlier 'cause they didn't have to.
Martin Doblmeier So, while Jefferson's words about equality in the Declaration provide a spark for emancipation in the North, ironically, it is also Jefferson's words, this time in Notes on the State of Virginia, that expressed the feeling of many slaveholders.
Thomas Jefferson Whether originally a distinct race or made distinct by time and circumstances, Blacks are inferior to the Whites in the endowments both of body and mind. This unfortunate difference of color, and perhaps of faculty, is a powerful obstacle to the emancipation of these people. Thomas Jefferson .
Martin Doblmeier Jefferson finds himself between two worlds moving on a collision course. He condemns the evils of slavery, but he doesn't free his own slaves. Yet in Notes on the State of Virginia, he details a plan for emancipation, on the condition that when freed, Blacks must be colonized in Africa or the Caribbean , where they can live as free people. To that end, Jefferson proposes educating Blacks now, at the public expense. These ideas anger many slaveholders who have no interest in educating their slaves only to lose them. But colonizing Blacks is crucial to Jefferson because he believes the history of pain and suffering makes it impossible for Blacks and Whites to live together in freedom.
Mary Frances Berry Historian
Mary Frances Berry What Jefferson was, was reflecting, again, was the confusion and the search for solutions to a sort of impossible situation that had been created, which he perceived as being impossible, in a sense painful. A situation that, if it had not existed, it would have been better; might be the way he would put it. It would been better if we hadn't, you know, created the situation, but it has happened. It has its benefits. It has its liabilities. I don't see how we, after all that's happened, could live together. Well, some other time, he's been right because there have been some very painful eras in our history when it seemed as if we couldn't live together.
[sil.]
Martin Doblmeier In the years after the Revolution, settlers are moving West in greater numbers. What they discover is an America blessed beyond dreams, with abundant game and fertile soil. But as people move into the Promised Land, they bring with them the question: Will this be slave territory, or will it be free? Jefferson details a plan.
ARMSTEAD ROBINSON Historian
Armstead Robinson In 1784 , when Jefferson was a delegate from Virginia to the Confederation Congress, he introduced a bill to organize what became the Northwest Territory. This particular bill sought to describe the terms under which the territory, roughly from the Appalachian Mountains to the Mississippi , from the Great Lakes to the Gulf, we're gonna be organized into states. Jefferson presented a plan that divided that up into 15 different states, described how the territory would be converted into a state. And in Article 6, he said that slavery would be banned from this territory as of the year 1800 .
MERRIL PETERSON Historian
Merril Peterson Unfortunately, that provision was eliminated from the Ordinance of 1784 , the first plan of Government for Western territory; one vote. And he said that, uhm, so the future of our whole race was hanging on that one vote, and heaven was silent in that awful moment. The reason that one vote was not cast because a congressman was ill in this launchings and could not be on the floor. So he felt that, that was a terribly tragic circumstance. Uh, the same provision, however, for the restriction of slavery in Western territories was included in the Northwest ordinance of 1787 which, however, applied only to the territories North of the Ohio River to the Great Lakes .
Armstead Robinson And to compromise they reached was that they cut off the land at the High River . The area north of the High River was set aside for free soil, and they didn't say anything about the area southward. They passed another ordinance called the Southwest Ordinance which didn't have Article 6, and so slavery was allowed. And that's how you end up with slavery in the areas of Kentucky , Tennessee , Alabama , and Mississippi .
Armstead Robinson The fact is it if the country had gone forward with what Jefferson proposed, which was to say that as of 1800 , all slavery must end in this era, what you're talking about is, was something that certainly might have eliminated the American Civil War because all of the slave states West to the Appalachian Mountains would have been free states.
THOMAS JEFFERSON : A VIEW FROM THE MOUNTAIN will return in a moment. The History Channel now returns to THOMAS JEFFERSON : A VIEW FROM THE MOUNTAIN.
Martin Doblmeier In March, 1785 , Jefferson is appointed Minister to France , succeeding Benjamin Franklin . For Jefferson , it is a time of rebirth. The architecture, the music, the salons ignite his imagination. But one thing that disturbs him is that French women have notions about politics, and they're willing to express them. For Jefferson this is unnatural. Back home, the Virginia legislature enacts Jefferson's Statute of Religious Freedom, providing for the separation of Church and State. And in Philadelphia , the Constitutional Convention meets. One of the most heated debates at the Convention is over slavery, although the word "slavery" never appears in the final document. One compromise reached is that the Federal Government cannot prevent the importation of new slaves into America for 20 years. And at the insistence of the Southern states, a slave now counts as three-fifths of a person in determining a state's representation to Congress and votes in the Electoral College. Those added electoral votes will one day help Jefferson's election as President.
Martin Doblmeier While Jefferson is in France , he sees the borrowing and squandering that results in the financial collapse of the country. It helps to crystallize what becomes for him a fundamental principle of the government and private life. No generation can pass its problems or its debts on to the next generation. For Jefferson , that is generational tyranny. From Paris , he writes to his friend, James Madison . He uses a term from Roman Law, "usufruct" meaning something given in trust and writes, "because the Earth belongs in usufruct to the living to make use of, no generation can contract debts greater than may be paid during the course of its own existence."
Peter Onuf The whole idea of self-government is based on being free to act. People in debt are not free to act. And writing in 1789 in that famous letter of September 6th to James Madison , Jefferson was fully develops this great theme of his political philosophy, and that is that every generation is like an independent nation. It should be free and equal with respect to every other generation.
Martin Doblmeier For Jefferson , the principle of the living generation extends beyond the issue of debt. It applies to land use, resource allocation, anything that should be passed on to the next generation. And for Jefferson , a term like "generation" could not be left vague. He uses tables compiled by BUFFA and calculates a generation to be 19 years. "That is how long," he says, "debts should be contracted for, how long patents and copyrights should extend." And he even proposes that every 19 years, the U.S. Constitution should be re-examined. To many, this is far-fetched. To Jefferson , the key point is that each generation has the right to determine its own destiny.
Martin Doblmeier In the fall of 1789 , Jefferson returns to America filled with new ideas about government, new designs for Monticello, and a commission from President George Washington to become America's first Secretary of State. He also ships home 86 crates of French furniture and fine art.
[sil.]
Martin Doblmeier During Jefferson's term as Secretary of State, a rebellion breaks out in the Caribbean . Haiti , up to that time was, was a colony of France called San Domingue , was in fact, ah, at the time of the French Revolution the richest, the most prosperous, the most productive of all of the slave colonies in the Americas. In fact, half of the world sugar and coffee was produced on this one-third of an island in the Caribbean .
[sil.]
Martin Doblmeier There's a massive slave rebellion, which then leads through a series of successive stages toward ah, independence for Haiti , ah, which was declared on January 1st, 1804 . The Haitian Revolution is really very much a part of Thomas Jefferson's world, and uhm, we also know that Jefferson had a special interest, partly because he was such a devotee of the French Revolution and of France .
JULIUS SCOTT Historian
Julius Scott There's a lot of contrast, the main one really being that in the Haitian case, uhm, you have a, a new polity that's builts on the fundamental principle of the abolition of slavery, and that's really what, what, what pushed this rebellion forward.
Martin Doblmeier Haiti is a dilemma for Jefferson and the New Nation. During the American Revolution, Haitian soldiers fought for the colonies in their struggle for independence. But now in Haiti , this is a revolution of slaves. The slaves are rebelling against their White masters, masters who support French Rule, and France is a powerful ally of the United States .
But Haiti also speaks directly to one of Jefferson's greatest fears, a violent uprising of slaves in America . "Unless something is done," he warns, "we will be the murderers of our own children." On Haiti , Jefferson remains neutral. A struggle lasting more than a decade results in Haiti becoming the second independent nation in the hemisphere.
EDWARD AYERS Historian
Edward Ayers If you imagine living in Virginia , there are any number of things that could make even a relatively large slaveholder think twice about the future of slavery. First of all, you have these ideas associated with the Revolution, and of universal human freedom. The ideas are being expounded in France and England . But there's more than this. There are things that are much more immediate, much of grittier, which is the fact that your plantation doesn't seem to be nearly as profitable as it might be. When you travel to Pennsylvania or New Jersey and you see the productive farms there, you wonder: How productive could Virginia be if we have free labor instead of slave labor? So you can find people who are not just sort of bitten with the infection of enlightenment ideas, who could believe that as a very hardheaded sort of business proposition, the question of political economy that having slavery, even gradually, might not be all that bad.
Martin Doblmeier Like Jefferson , George Washington inherits most of his slaves through marriage. But during his life, Washington refuses to buy or sell his slaves. He also leaves instructions in his will that all the slaves be freed upon the death of his wife, Martha . Early in his life, Benjamin Franklin owned a small number of slaves. But in his last years, he becomes president of the Pennsylvania Abolitionist Movement. Shortly before his death, he writes Congress asking them to "loosen the bands of slavery that all may enjoy the birthright of liberty." And Jefferson's daughter, Martha , writes about her distress over the ownership of slaves.
Martha Jefferson-Randolph Good God, have we not enough? I wish with all my soul that the poor Negroes were all freed. It grieves my heart when I think that these, our fellow creatures, should be treated so terribly as they are by many of our countrymen.
Martin Doblmeier Over the course of his lifetime, Jefferson owns some 400 slaves. He engages in the commerce of slavery, buying and selling them as a source of ready capital, or to keep slave families together. During his life, he frees only three.
Thomas Jefferson A good cause is often injured more by ill-timed efforts of its friends, than by the arguments of its enemies. Persuasion, perseverance, and patience are the best advocates on questions, depending on the will of others. The revolution in public opinion which this cause requires is not to be expected in a day or perhaps in an age, but time, which outlives all things, will outlive this evil also. Thomas Jefferson .
CINDER STANTON Monticello Research Director
Cinder Stanton And when Jefferson was actually here on a regular basis, ah, things seemed to have gone quite well on the plantation. And when he would go back into public service, all kinds of trouble broke out. I think in, in general, that his absence had a definite effect on how things operated here on the plantation, and the whole financial health of the, of that operation. Jefferson's own family, in fact, blamed his constant absences in public service for the state of his finances.
Martin Doblmeier While he is away, Jefferson's daughter, Martha , now the wife of Thomas Mann Randolph , keeps her father informed about the difficulties at home.
Martha Jefferson-Randolph My Dearest Father, we are burned up for want of rain. The drought has continued for upwards of five weeks, and there is no appearance of its discontinuing as yet. People are in great pain about their crops. Indeed, they have a wretched prospect before them, as many of them are suffering for bread even at this time. Martha Jefferson-Randolph .
Thomas Jefferson : A View From the Mountain will return in a moment. The History Channel now returns to T homas Jefferson : A View From the Mountain.
Martin Doblmeier In 1793 , Thomas Jefferson resigns as Secretary of State. At the age of 50, he returns home where crowds, including many of his own slaves welcome him.
Edmund Bacon Mr. Jefferson was very liberal and kind to the poor. When he would come from Washington , the poor people all about the country would find it out immediately and would come in crowds to Monticello to beg him. He told me that when they came to him and told him their pitiful tales, he could not refuse them and he did not know what to do. I told him, send them to me. He did so, but they would never come. They knew what to expect. Edmund Bacon .
Martin Doblmeier For the next few years, Jefferson turns his attention to the plantation and its growing death. But it proves a short retirement, for in 1796 , his political party, the Republicans run against the Federalists, led by Jefferson's old friend, John Adams . The Federalists win by three electoral votes. And Adams becomes the nation's second President. For coming in second, Jefferson becomes Vice-President. But in 1800 , Jefferson and Adams face each other again. Jefferson writes, "I like everything about Adams , except his politics." Now the two men, who were so aligned at the Declaration of Independence, disagree over the direction of the new nation. Adams supports a strong central government. Jefferson , a more limited, states' rights government. The campaign is cruel. And the attacks personal. Jefferson is labeled an infidel by the Federalists. In part, for his position on the separation of church and state. The Republicans label Adams a monarchist. Slavery is not a major issue. The election is so close. It takes 36 ballots in the House of Representatives to decide. But in the end, Thomas Jefferson becomes third President of the United States . Adams , weary of political life and embittered by the campaign, retires to Massachusetts . Jefferson is under attack from the start of his presidency. But in September, 1802 , Jefferson finds himself facing accusations of a very different kind. The Richmond Recorder publishes a story alleging a relationship between Jefferson and a Monticello slave, Sally Hemings .
JAMES T. CALLENDER It is well-known that the man, whom he delighteth the people to honor, keeps, and for many years passed has kept as his concubine, one of his own slaves. Her name is Sally . The name of her eldest son is Tom . His features are said to bear a striking although sable resemblance to those of the president himself. The African Venus is said to officiate as housekeeper at Monticello. James T. Callender .
Martin Doblmeier In the 1790s , the Scottish-born James Callender wrote against the Federalists, including stories about Alexander Hamilton and his affair with a married woman. After Jefferson is elected president, Callender expects to be rewarded with a political appointment. But Jefferson decides otherwise. Callender is angered by the rejection and now begins writing for the Federalists. One of his first stories is about Jefferson and Sally Hemings .
This was, the scandal of the day, and in very short order, all of the Federalist press had picked up Callender's story and was serializing it all the way up to Boston .
Martin Doblmeier What makes the accusation so damning for Jefferson is that throughout his life, he has condemned misogynation, the mixing of the races. Jefferson writes, "Amalgamation of Blacks and Whites produces a degradation to which no lover of his country, no lover of excellence in the human character can innocently consent." He feels so strongly that he develops an elaborate mathematical formula for when the descendants of mixed blood can return to full white.
Thomas Jefferson Two crosses with a pure white and a third with any degree of mixture, however small, clears the issue of Negro blood. Thomas Jefferson .
Martin Doblmeier Yet, as painful as the accusations about Sally Hemings are, Jefferson's defense is to say nothing.
And in fact, his silence, in a way fueled the newspaper stories because by not saying anything, the opposition press could say, "Well, we're still waiting." And Jefferson resolutely refused to deny. So, the story continued and continued.
Martin Doblmeier What is held is fact by some, and impossibility by others, is that while in France , Jefferson fathered a boy named Tom by Sally Hemings . At the time, Jefferson would have been 44 and Sally Hemings , 14.
MINNIE WOODSON Woodson Family Historian
Minnie Woodson The tradition in the accounts that we have discovered through research is that Thomas Woodson at that time, just called Tom , was conceived in Paris . Because Sally Hemings was there with Jefferson after she had tran, helped transport his youngest daughter, uh, living daughter to him, back in 17, I guess about 1788 , 1787 , 1788 . And while there, she was given clothing, been educated, learned French and most likely became his concubine. When she returned to the United States , shortly after Thomas Woodson was born in 1790 .
Martin Doblmeier According to the account handed down in the Woodson family, Jefferson bends to pressure from the press. And in 1802 , when the boy is 12, sends him to a nearby plantation. He takes the name of the plantation owner and becomes Thomas Woodson . There was almost no written history about this. Most slaves and slave descendants could not read or write. So, many who trust the story rely on oral tradition.
JOHN WOODSON Thomas Woodson Descendent
John Woodson In, in the Woodson family, we have all of these people who uhm, have answered the question, "When did you first hear about the Sally Hemming ah, Thomas Jefferson relationship?" And they come up with stories with uh, pretty close to being identical. Uhm, and these are among people who, for four generations did not contact one another. Uhm, this story runs through four different families in Pennsylvania , Ohio , Tennessee and Texas . So, uh, it, it, that sort of thing leads me to believe that it happened.
Martin Doblmeier Jefferson keeps lists of the children of his slaves in his farm book. Here, he list no child named Tom under Sally Hemings's name. He does list a Tom with no last name whom the Woodson family believed to be Thomas Woodson . Others claim him to be an itinerant farm worker. But Jefferson does record Sally having at least five other children, Beverly , Harriet , who died in infancy, a second Harriet , Madison and Eston . Most believe that all of Sally's children were fathered by a white man.
Minnie Woodson Now, all of the children were able to be Thomas Jefferson's children according to the times when he was at Monticello. We know that he was president and was away in Washington quite often. But nine months before, nine to ten months before each one of them was born, he was present in Monticello and Sally Hemings is present at Monticello. And the ability to father those children was there. No one contends that point. No one contends the point that he was there.
Martin Doblmeier Isaac Jefferson , a slave at Monticello leaves in his memoirs a description of Sally Hemings .
Isaac Jefferson Sally , mighty near white. She was the youngest child. Folks said Ms. Hemings was own Mr. Wayles' children. Sally was very handsome, long straight hair down her back.
JAN LEWIS Historian
Jan Lewis As best we know and this comes through oral tradition that no one really has disputed much. Sally Hemings herself was three-quarters white. She was the daughter of Betty Hemings , a mulatto that is half-black, half-white slave woman and John Wayles , who happened to be Jefferson's father-in-law. Betty Hemings , Sally's mother, was John Wayles' slave after the death of his wife. He apparently took Betty Hemings as his slave mistress, fathering some children, one of whom was Sally . What this means also is that Sally Hemings would have been Thomas Jefferson's wife Martha's half sister. She might well have resembled Martha Jefferson . Ah, she might have reminded Jefferson of his deceased wife.
Martin Doblmeier In 1873 , an article appears in an Ohio newspaper, dictated by Sally's son, Madison Hemings . Madison identifies Thomas Jefferson as his father. And describes in detail, life at Monticello. Madison also tells how his mother's duties were to care for Jefferson's chambers and wardrobe. The argument over whether Jefferson did or did not fathered Sally's children, has raged now for nearly 200 years. Jefferson's grandchildren maintain that Sally's children were fathered by one of Jefferson's nephews, Peter or Samuel Carr , whom Jefferson had taken into Monticello after their father's death. If true, it could account for any family resemblance, but unmistakable proof, either way, may never be realized.
Roger Mudd Thomas Jefferson : A View From The Mountain will return in a moment. The History Channel now returns to Thomas Jefferson : A View From The Mountain.
Martin Doblmeier One of the great achievements of Jefferson's first term as president, is the Louisiana Purchase. It is a vast region extending from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. For $15 million, roughly three cents an acre, it nearly doubles the size of the new nation. Jefferson sends his private secretary, Meriwether Lewis , along with William Clark , to explore the territories. Years before, Jefferson trained Lewis as a surveyor. Now, Jefferson gives the two, detailed instructions to record every great natural sight and to greet the Native Americans in peace. Jefferson says, offer their children the opportunity to be educated by us, if they so desire. In 1804 , Jefferson easily wins reelection. During his second term, the Constitution's 20-year moratorium on the importation of slaves ends, and Jefferson signs the ban into law. But during Jefferson's second term, tensions with England and France are growing. There is piracy at sea, and instead of war, Jefferson begins a trade embargo. It has mixed success, causing as much harm to America , as its enemies. The federalists again find Jefferson an easy target.
[sil.]
Martin Doblmeier As Jefferson' second term draws to a close, his desire to return to Monticello grows even stronger. Back on the mountain, he can enjoy again the life of a country farmer, but his years in public service have been costly.
Martha Jefferson Randolph My dear Papa, The impossibility of paying serious debts by crops, and living at the same time, has been so often proved that I am afraid you should trust to it. If, by any sacrifice, you can relive yourself from the pressure of debt, I conjure you not to think of the children. Your happiness is alone to be considered. Let not the tranquility of your old age be disturbed, and we shall do well. I never could enjoy happiness to see you deprived of those comforts you have always been accustomed to and which habit has rendered necessary to your health and ease. Martha Jefferson Randolph .
Thomas Jefferson When I look to the ineffable pleasures of my family society, I become more and more disgusted with the jealousies, the hatred and the rancors and malignant passions of the scene, and lament my having ever again been drawn into public view. Tranquility is now my object. Thomas Jefferson .
Martin Doblmeier When Jefferson took office in 1801 , the young nation was already $83 million in debt. As he leaves office, after two terms of frugal government and growing commerce, the debt is cut by almost a third. As president, Jefferson received a rather healthy annual salary of $25,000, but the salary did not include an allowance for the social obligations of a president. And with Jefferson's passion for the finest in everything, he leaves office $10,000 more in debt than when he began. He says it is comforting to know he did not profit from his years in service to the country.
Martin Doblmeier In 1809 , a weary Jefferson returns to Monticello. He is nearly 66. Overtime, he turns from politics, stops reading newspapers and even purchases advertisements, telling people not to write him because he has neither the interest nor the energy to reply.
Thomas Jefferson The man who never looks into a newspaper is better informed than he who reads them. And as much as he who knows nothing, is near the truth, than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors. Thomas Jefferson .
PAUL CONKIN Historian
Paul Conkin In the last few years, I think he is like Epicurus . Ah, he is deciding that you can't battle the world and all these problems and he, he, he does, ah, become more tranquil and simply accept things and let them take their course. There's a little bit of fatalism in Jefferson at times. The old man burned down with enormous problems, deeply in debt and no way out.
Martin Doblmeier In his later years, Jefferson's greatest joy comes from his 12 grandchildren, who fill Monticello. They are his escape from the infirmities of arthritis and migraine headaches. Yet, even in retirement, Jefferson embarks on what he believes is one of his most important projects, the creation of the University of Virginia. Jefferson designs the campus, develops the curriculum and selects many of the professors. All with the intention, he says, of preparing leaders for a new nation. Yet, the next generation of statesmen is already shaping the future of slavery, including a young admirer of Jefferson's , Edward Coles .
PAUL FINKELMAN Historian
Paul Finkelman Coles writes to Jefferson , basically says, I'm going to free my slaves and I'm going to free my slaves because I've read Jefferson , because I've been persuaded by the Jeffersonian ideas that slavery is wrong, and he basically is asking Thomas Jefferson , this is 1814 , Jefferson is an old man. He's basically, asking this former president for his blessings.
Martin Doblmeier Jefferson responds to Coles.
Thomas Jefferson My opinion has ever been, but until more can be done for them, we should endeavor with those who fortune has thrown on our hands to feed and clothe them well, protect them from ill usage, require such reasonable labor only as is performed voluntarily by freeman, and be led by no repugnance to abdicate them and our duties to them.
Martin Doblmeier Jefferson reminds Coles that as a young member of the House of Burgesses, he and Richard Bland attempted to ease the Virginia Slave Laws and were called traitors, but so much has happened since that day 45 years earlier. Jefferson's Declaration of Independence has become the foundation for a new nation based on equality. The Northern states have abandoned slavery all together, while the Southern states, with the invention of the Cotton Gin, find the once marginal institution, now even more entrenched. And Jefferson who spoke so strongly against generational tyranny, against passing the problems and the debts of one generation to the next, now seems resigned to doing just that when it comes to slavery and his own personal debt.
Thomas Jefferson This enterprise is for the young. For those who can follow it up and bear it through to its consummation. It shall have all my prayers, and these are the only weapons of an old man. Thomas Jefferson .
Paul Finkelman Coles fortunately, ignores Jefferson , takes his slaves to Illinois , frees them, and then later becomes governor of Illinois and helps prevent, uhm, Illinois from becoming a slave state. So the, the legacy of Jefferson is there, even if Jefferson isn't part of his own legacy, even he's not part of his own movement.
Martin Doblmeier Yet some of Jefferson's most potent words on slavery come near the end of his long life. In 1820 , Congress admits Missouri into the Union as a slave state, and a line is drawn at the 3630 parallel, above which, slavery is prohibited. Below which, it is accepted. It is the Missouri Compromise. For Jefferson , it is the beginning of the end of the new nation.
Thomas Jefferson I have been, among the most sanguine in believing that our Union should be of long duration. I now doubted much and see the event at not great distance and the direct consequence of this question. This momentous question, like a fire bell in the night, awakened and filled me with terror. I considered it at once, as the nail of the Union. We have the wolf by the ear, and we can neither hold nor safely let him go. Justice is in one scale and self-preservation in the other. I regret that I am now to die in the belief that the useless sacrifice of themselves by the generation of 1776 to acquire self-government and happiness to their country, is to be thrown away by the unwise and unworthy passions of their sons. But then my only consolation is to be that I live not to weep over it.
Martin Doblmeier In the spring of 1826 , as the division over slavery grows ever deeper, the country prepares a special celebration for the 50th anniversary of its founding document, the Declaration of Independence. Of the original signers, only Jefferson , John Adams and Charles Carroll are still alive. Jefferson , 83 and in failing health, declines the invitation to attend.
Thomas Jefferson I should indeed, with peculiar delight, have met and exchanged their congratulations personally with the small band, the remnant of that host of worthies who joined with us on that day in a bold and doubtful election we were to make for our country, between submission or the sword; and to have enjoyed with them the consolatory fact that our fellow citizens, after half a century of experience and prosperity, continue to approve the choice we made. Thomas Jefferson .
Martin Doblmeier In the early afternoon of July 4th, 1826 , Thomas Jefferson dies. Incredibly, that same day in Massachusetts , John Adams also dies. The last words, Adam speaks are, " Thomas Jefferson still survives."
Cinder Stanton Jefferson left debts of over a hundred thousand dollars at his death and all of his property, the house, the lands, the slaves had to be sold to help pay these debts, so this economic catastrophe really swept away all the families of Monticello both Black and White. Jefferson's will, ah, bequeath freedom to five of his slaves, John Hemings , the cabinet maker, his nephews, Madison and Eston Hemings , who were his apprentices really. Joe Fossett , the blacksmith and Burwell Colbert who was a butler. But a 130 slaves were sold at auction after Jefferson's death because of the great indebtedness of his estate.
Martin Doblmeier All five slaves freed in Jefferson's will, are either children or grandchildren of Betty Hemings . He does not free Sally Hemings . She is freed two years later by Jefferson's daughter, Martha and dies in 1835 at the age of 62. The great dilemma of Jefferson's own life is that he recognize the injustice of slavery, but wasn't able to change it. Within little more than a generation after his death, his prediction about the end of the Union nearly comes true. Yet, Jefferson will forever be part of our American conscience for the Declaration he wrote, for the eloquence that defines the spirit and dreams of a nation, for the words that empowered his generation and every generation since, to make real those trues we hold to be self-evident.
Roger Mudd The debate about Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings has now evolved into an argument on both sides of the Atlantic. In November, 1998 , the British publication Nature, declared that DNA evidence proved that Jefferson fathered Hemings youngest son, Eston . But the magazine later qualified its reports, saying, the father could've been Jefferson's brother or one of his nephews. The author of the original article admits, "we never proved it, we never can, we never will." For the History Channel, I'm Roger Mudd . Thanks for watching.
Executive Producer CHARLES W. SYDNOR, JR. Producer / Writer MARTIN DOBLMEIER Associate Producers TIMOTHY A. FINKBINER GREG FRIEDMAN , OFM Editor TIMOTHY A. FINKBINER Cinematographers ERICH ROLAND GARY GRIEG JOHN MALISZEWSKI Camera Assistants BRETT WILEY MICHAEL STAILEY JASON CARTER Gaffer THOMAS BERTCH Grips PAUL FISCHER BOB SPENCER MOE CLAYTON Film Colorist SUE ROCHE Motion Control Camera MIGUEL MUNOZ Videographers TIMOTHY A. FINKBINER MARK CHAMBERLIN TONY EVANS JOHN LANDERS Audio BRUCE LIFFITON GRETCHEN DYSART , MSC Teleprompter CAROL MITCHELL Historical Consultant JAMES E. LEWIS Research Assistants GREG FRIEDMAN , OFM KRISTIN FELLOWS HEFLIN Voices EDWARD HERRMANN ............. Thomas Jefferson DANNY GLOVER ............ Isaac Jefferson ROBERT PROSKY ............. Edmund Bacon SISSY SPACEK ................. Martha Jefferson Randolph JEWELL ROBINSON ................ Hannah MICHAEL P. SULLIVAN ............. James T. Callender CINDY GEARY ............... Martha Jefferson Dialect Consultant RON BUTTERS Publicity CAROLINE LEWIS VISUALS The Alderman Library, The University of Virginia Michael Plunkett , Ervin Jordan The Library of Congress Gerald Gawalt , Deborah Evans The Massachusetts Historical Society Peter Drummery , Chris Steele The Library Company of Philadelphia Phil Lapansky The Virginia State Library and Archives Carolyn Parsons Monticello, Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation Libby Fosso , Suzanne Olson The National Archives Raimondi Films American Antiquarian Society American Philosophical Society Architect of the Capitol The Army Art Collection Bibliotechque Nationale, France Library of the Boston Athenaeum Brown University Library Musee Carnavalet, France Chicago Historical Society The Coreoran Gallery of Art The J. Paul Getty Museum The Granger Collection Red Hill - The Patrick Henry National Memorial The Houghton Library, Harvard University The Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery Illinois State Historical Library Independence National Historical Park Fred Marcellino Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore James Monroe Museum and Memorial Library Montana Historical Society Travel Montana The National Portrait Gallery, USA The National Portrait Gallery, England New York State Historical Association, Cooperstown The New York Public Library The New York Historical Society North Carolina Museum of Art Ohio Historical Society Mairie de Paris Princeton University Libraries Mary Root State of South Carolina Colonial Williamsburg Foundation University Library, Univ. of Massachusetts Amherst The Walters Art Gallery The White House The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center Winterthur Museum Worcester Art Museum Virginia Historical Society Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Yale University Art Gallery SPECIAL THANKS Jim Bradley , Colonial Williamsburg The Donald Turner Farm Lucinda Robb , The National Archives Senator Charles Robb Representative James Moran Beverley Granger Lillian Brown Robert Cooley III Janet Martin Stephanie Bruttig Craig D'Ooge Merilee Oliver MUSIC Original Music GERRY BOWLES Slave Vocals DYLAN PRITCHETT ROSEMARIE McAPHEE ROBERT WATSON, JR. CHRISTY S. COLEMAN Fiddle and Banjo Solos PETE VIGOUR "Mr. Jefferson's Music" " Marching Out of Time" selctions used with permission of Colonial Williamsburg Foundation 1989 "Over the Hills and Far Away" selections used with permission of David and Ginger Hildebrand 1990 "Corerlli: Concerti Crossi, Opus 6" selections used with permission of Essex Entertainment 1988 In Memorium MINNIE WOODSON 1921 - 1994 Worldwide Distribution LOU REDA PRODUCTIONS Easton, PA A View from the Mountain is a production of CENTRAL VIRGINIA EDUCATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION MCMXCIV All Rights Reserved CENTRAL AND NORTHERN VIRGINIA PUBLIC TELEVISION IN ASSOCIATION WITH JOURNEY COMMUNICATIONS LTD DISTRIBUTED BY A LOU REDA PRODUCTION For The History Channel HOST ROGER MUDD This has been a presentation of H The History Channel 1999 A Television Networks All Rights Reserved
on all equal 07:26
APPLEBY 01:39
-- make a new clip -- 1:03:01
Thomas Jefferson Introduction 04:40
Declaration of Independence 10:10