Why did Thomas Jefferson get romantically involved with Sally Hemings?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:After Jefferson's wife died, why didn't he remarry another white? Why did he remain single?

And why did he get involved with Sally? How was Jefferson's relationship with Sally help him?

If you want answers to these questions, you can start with two books by Annette Gordon-Reed: Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings, and The Hemmingses of Monticello.

If you are the person who keeps posting on DCUM about the relationship between Sally Hemmings and Thomas Jefferson being romantic, I wish you would stop.

[Anonymous]

He did free their children. 2 he funded an "escape" for, in order to not bring much attention to it. The younger ones were freed when they were around 20. He petitioned the state to allow them to stay in the state. He freed Sally in his will. I'm pretty sure some of her extended family were also freed. These were the only ones freed of all the slaves on his property.

She first got pregnant while they were in France together. She didn't have to come back with him, she was free there. He begged her to and she chose to, so they could be together.

It was a taboo and forbidden relationship but a relationship nonetheless.

I personally think TJ was obsessed with this woman and she should have stayed in France, he could have visited from time to time.

[Anonymous]

I think it is ridiculous to characterize this as a romance. It might have been, but it is far more likely that it was not.

She was a teenager who looked like his wife and was his property. That isn't dating.

[Anonymous]

They had 6 kids together. If that ain't love then what is?

Ariel Castro had a child with one of the women he kept imprisoned for a decade. That must have been love too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He didn't just simply remarry another white because he was already in love. It was taboo at the time, his affinity for a black woman, but that doesn't mean it wasn't sincere. Goes to show despite whatever cultural traditions and ethical practices society puts in place to determine who can/should be with whom, love supersedes all policies and protocol.

"Love?" You're a bit naive.

How do you know?

he owned her, and didn't free her or their children- you can't consent if you are someone's property so please don't buy into this "love" crap

I agree with you that the inherent inequality of the salve master relationship means that the slave cannot consent. Property cannot give consent.

However, we can't know how TJ or SH actually FELT about each other. If he had freed her, society would not have expected them to live together any more, right? Maybe they did not want to be parted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He didn't just simply remarry another white because he was already in love. It was taboo at the time, his affinity for a black woman, but that doesn't mean it wasn't sincere. Goes to show despite whatever cultural traditions and ethical practices society puts in place to determine who can/should be with whom, love supersedes all policies and protocol.

"Love?" You're a bit naive.

How do you know?

he owned her, and didn't free her or their children- you can't consent if you are someone's property so please don't buy into this "love" crap

I agree with you that the inherent inequality of the salve master relationship means that the slave cannot consent. Property cannot give consent.

However, we can't know how TJ or SH actually FELT about each other. If he had freed her, society would not have expected them to live together any more, right? Maybe they did not want to be parted.

I know it makes some of you feel better to believe they loved each other, but I also agree with your point that we won't know. It just seems gross to imply anything other than he owned her, she couldn't consent and in the end when he died he didn't free her or ALL of their children...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He did free their children. 2 he funded an "escape" for, in order to not bring much attention to it. The younger ones were freed when they were around 20. He petitioned the state to allow them to stay in the state. He freed Sally in his will.I'm pretty sure some of her extended family were also freed. These were the only ones freed of all the slaves on his property.

She first got pregnant while they were in France together. She didn't have to come back with him, she was free there. He begged her to and she chose to, so they could be together.

It was a taboo and forbidden relationship but a relationship nonetheless.

I personally think TJ was obsessed with this woman and she should have stayed in France, he could have visited from time to time.

No, Thomas Jefferson did not free Sally Hemings in his will.

And as for "he begged her to and she chose to, so they could be together" -- you were there, I guess? They confided in you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It was a taboo and forbidden relationship but a relationship nonetheless.

Yes, this is true, if by "taboo and forbidden relationship", you mean "common". There was nothing unusual about white slave masters fathering children whose mothers were slave women the white slave masters owned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it is ridiculous to characterize this as a romance. It might have been, but it is far more likely that it was not.

She was a teenager who looked like his wife and was his property. That isn't dating.

Likely isn't actually.
Probably isn't definitely.
Possibly isn't precisely.
Reasonably isn't really.
Conceivably isn't conclusively.
Presumably isn't positively.

Are you getting any of this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:After Jefferson's wife died, why didn't he remarry another white? Why did he remain single?


And why did he get involved with Sally? How was Jefferson's relationship with Sally help him?

Why are you gossiping about something from over 200 years ago?

[Anonymous]

OP,

Only Thomas Jefferson knows. Ask him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it is ridiculous to characterize this as a romance. It might have been, but it is far more likely that it was not.

She was a teenager who looked like his wife and was his property. That isn't dating.

Likely isn't actually.
Probably isn't definitely.
Possibly isn't precisely.
Reasonably isn't really.
Conceivably isn't conclusively.
Presumably isn't positively.

Are you getting any of this?

Not the poster you quoted and what the ever-loving fuck are you going on about?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was a taboo and forbidden relationship but a relationship nonetheless.

Yes, this is true, if by "taboo and forbidden relationship", you mean "common". There was nothing unusual about white slave masters fathering children whose mothers were slave women the white slave masters owned.

Sexual relationships between masters and their slaves were *incredibly* common. And when I say "sexual relationship," I mean rape. Even if the slave "consented." It's not consent if you don't have the right to say no.

[Anonymous]

Romanticizing slave master/slave relationships is pretty damn insulting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He didn't just simply remarry another white because he was already in love. It was taboo at the time, his affinity for a black woman, but that doesn't mean it wasn't sincere. Goes to show despite whatever cultural traditions and ethical practices society puts in place to determine who can/should be with whom, love supersedes all policies and protocol.

This.

She was supposedly hot and he was head over heels for her. But she wasn't white (enough), so he lived legally unmarried while attached to her.

Sorry it doesn't fit your whites should only be with whites worldview.

It's not a "whites should only be with whites" worldview. It's a "humans should only be with people who can freely consent to the relationship" worldview.