Did Thomas Jefferson really love Sally Hemings? Or did she remind him of his late wife? They were half sisters!
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| Sally Hemings |
The debate about Thomas Jefferson. The third President, having enslaved children started in 1802 and lasted until 1998. It was then that DNA evidence linked Sally Hemings' descendants to the Jefferson family. James T. Callender first published the story, claiming Jefferson had a slave as his lover. Even though rumors existed before his presidency, opponents used this story to question his morals. Jefferson wasn't the only wealthy man in Virginia to have children with female slaves, but he was the most famous one.
Interracial slave children were common among the wealthy plantation owners in Colonial America. These kids were born from relationships between the landowners and enslaved women. A law from Virginia in 1662, called "partus sequitur ventrem," stated that children inherited their mother's status, so they too became slaves. However, if their mother was white and free, it didn't apply. This law freed the fathers from any responsibilities and made these children their property. Many slave owners took advantage of this as an affordable way to increase their number of slaves without having to buy them from auctions. Most of these relationships were non-consensual and can be considered rape, though some may have resulted from an unusual bond between a master and a slave.
The unusual relationship between President Thomas Jefferson and his slave. Sally Hemings, is quite intriguing. We cannot prove if they loved each other, as it's tough to know, especially since Jefferson is well-studied in early American history. If any evidence of love existed, it would likely have been found by now. The odd connection here is that Sally Hemings and Jefferson's wife, Martha, were half-sisters. Interracial relationships were common in colonial America. Martha's father, John Wayles, had an affair with his slave Elizabeth Hemings, resulting in six children, including Sally Hemings. Martha inherited these children after her father's death in 1773.
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| Martha Jefferson |
The relationship between Hemings and Jefferson is believed to have begun in Paris between 1787 and 1788 while Jefferson was working as the Minister to France. He had his nine-year-old daughter Polly come to stay with him, accompanied by fourteen-year-old Sally. Some historians think that Jefferson pursued a relationship with Sally because she looked a lot like his late wife Martha, who passed away in 1782; Sally was known to be very beautiful, with long straight hair and light skin. In Madison Hemings' memoirs, one of Sally's children fathered by Jefferson, he states that Jefferson had to plead with Sally to come back to Monticello when he was called back to America in 1789. Sally had learned French language and culture, and since slaves could ask for their freedom in France, she didn't want to leave. Madison says that Jefferson promised her special privileges and that her children would be freed at age 21. Trusting his promise, she went back with him to Virginia.
Sally Hemings had six children, all thought to be fathered by Jefferson. He recorded their births in his "Farm Book" but didn't mention the father. Four of Sally's children, Beverly, Harriet, Madison, and Eston, grew up and didn't have to do hard work like other slaves at Monticello. They didn't help with growing tobacco, wheat, or other crops but did light tasks around the house.
The older two Hemings children, Beverly and Harriet, both left Monticello in 1822 when Beverly was twenty-four and Harriet was twenty-one. Beverly “ran away” from the estate but was not pursued, and Harriet left in a stagecoach headed North after longtime overseer of the Monticello estate gave her $50, presumably under instruction by Jefferson. When Jefferson died in 1826, out of the hundreds of enslaved people he owned, he only freed the Hemings family. In his will, he declares:
I grant them freedom and respectfully ask the Virginia legislature to confirm this gift of liberty to my servants, allowing them to stay in the state with their loved ones. I express my gratitude for the countless favors I've received throughout my life, and this is my final, sincere thank you.
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| President Thomas Jefferson |
We need to think about the relationship between Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings and their mixed-race children. Why didn't the Hemings siblings do the same work as other slaves? Was it because Jefferson didn't want to see his own kids, though he never admitted they were his, in terrible slavery? He who wrote The Declaration of Independence?
Without more info, we can't solve this mystery. In his book Notes on the State of Virginia, Jefferson says there's already a change since the revolution. The master's attitude is less harsh, while the slave's condition is improving. He hopes this leads to complete freedom with the masters' consent, not by wiping them out.Without more info, we can't solve this mystery. In his book Notes on the State of Virginia, Jefferson says there's already a change since the revolution. The master's attitude is less harsh, while the slave's condition is improving. He hopes this leads to complete freedom with the masters' consent, not by wiping them out. Ancestory!
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