Annette Gordon-Reed
@agordonreed.bsky.social
Carl M. Loeb University Professor, Harvard, Author of, among other books, Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings:An American Controversy,The Hemingses of Monticello,, Vernon Can Read: A Memoir with Vernon Jordan, On Juneteenth
Excellent analysis of this complex person.
November 9, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Excellent analysis of this complex person.
Oh, I meant he didn’t think slavery was good. I took “support” in the sense that proslavery folks said it was a positive good. Did he think slavery was right? No. Do people only do the things they think are right? No. Do they always refrain from doing things they know are wrong? No.
November 7, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Oh, I meant he didn’t think slavery was good. I took “support” in the sense that proslavery folks said it was a positive good. Did he think slavery was right? No. Do people only do the things they think are right? No. Do they always refrain from doing things they know are wrong? No.
He didn’t support slavery.You’re right that he wasn’t enthusiastic about individual emancipation & preferred that there be a legislative solution for total emancipation along with expatriation, the so-called “liberal“ solution then. But he dealt with this situation for years.
November 7, 2025 at 3:53 PM
He didn’t support slavery.You’re right that he wasn’t enthusiastic about individual emancipation & preferred that there be a legislative solution for total emancipation along with expatriation, the so-called “liberal“ solution then. But he dealt with this situation for years.
Probably the biggest issue was that the executor had to post a cash bond of a certain percentage of the worth of the bequest. He did not have the cash and I’m sure he did not want people to know that. He was broke, particularly after the case he lost just a year before.
November 7, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Probably the biggest issue was that the executor had to post a cash bond of a certain percentage of the worth of the bequest. He did not have the cash and I’m sure he did not want people to know that. He was broke, particularly after the case he lost just a year before.
If he didn’t want it happen he wouldn’t have turned to one of the country’s most able lawyers to handle it. When that didn’t work, he asked one of the most able people in Virginia to see it through.
November 7, 2025 at 3:45 PM
If he didn’t want it happen he wouldn’t have turned to one of the country’s most able lawyers to handle it. When that didn’t work, he asked one of the most able people in Virginia to see it through.
Great photo of Baker!
November 7, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Great photo of Baker!
3) TJ, a lawyer,could see where this was headed once he learned about the wills that were written AFTER the one in question.The year before he had lost a long-running legal case and had to pay money to purchase property he thought he had already bought. There were other complications besides these.
November 7, 2025 at 1:17 PM
3) TJ, a lawyer,could see where this was headed once he learned about the wills that were written AFTER the one in question.The year before he had lost a long-running legal case and had to pay money to purchase property he thought he had already bought. There were other complications besides these.
2) TJ arranged to have a younger person, who could afford to do it, take his place. But, as he predicted, the will ended up in litigation that went on long after TJ’s death, until the mid 19th century all the way up to the Supreme Court. The will in question was declared invalid.
November 7, 2025 at 1:12 PM
2) TJ arranged to have a younger person, who could afford to do it, take his place. But, as he predicted, the will ended up in litigation that went on long after TJ’s death, until the mid 19th century all the way up to the Supreme Court. The will in question was declared invalid.
Well, it was the same night as Bruce.
November 7, 2025 at 12:22 AM
Well, it was the same night as Bruce.