Customer Reviews

The Jefferson Scandals: A Rebuttal

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I was a history major in college and believe that Virginus Dabney makes excellent use of both primary and secondary sources, unlike Brodie who merely speculates about Jefferson's love life without providing any facts. Dabney's book is written like a history thesis with a little bit of humor between the lines. Brodie's book reads like a novel and should be in the fiction section, not with the biographies.

I take offense to one of the comments below assuming that white readers who accept the occurance of the Maria Cosway affair, while "denying" the Hemmings affair are racist... this is simply ridiculous. History is not about what we think should have happened. It's about what did happen based on the available evidence. If the evidence says that Thomas Jefferson had an affair with a slave, fine, but my hunch is that Jefferson did not father Sally Hemmings' children and that his nephew was the father. However, my opinion is based on the evidence that is currently available and does not make me a racist.

As Dabney points out, the fact that prominent historians such as Gary Wills in addition to the three leading Jeffersonian experts in the world also doubt the historical integrity of Brodie's book adds credibility to Dabney's thesis statement. Brodie was not qualified to write such a "comprehensive" analysis of Jefferson's life. Her background was not in history, so what is she doing pretending to be an historian?

I read a 1981 edition of this little book which summarizes the facts and fiction surrounding the speculated affair between Thomas Jefferson and one of his slaves. I don't know if the 1990 edition contains new material or not, but it was written years before any DNA testing was completed.

This book was originally written, in part, as a rebuttal to the "factional" account contained in Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate Portrait by Fawn Brodie, a part-time UCLA history professor (with two degrees in English but none in history). Other psycho-historical accounts, e.g. Sally Hemings by Barbara Chase-Riboud, are also targets of Mr. Dabney's critique.

The rumor sprang from the pages of a pro-Federalist newspaper. James Callender, a frustrated office seeker, wrote in 1802 that Mr. Jefferson had fathered children with his concubine, Sally Hemings. Yet despite the publicity, we are expected to believe that the President fathered two more (Madison '05 and Eston '08) children with Sally. I think one fact everyone can agree on is that Mr. Jefferson was not stupid.

Many eyewitness accounts are reviewed. For example, [James] Madison Hemings made a number of claims that are demonstrable false. "Unlike Washington he had but little taste or care for agricultural pursuits." Yet documentary evidence makes this claim absurd. Jefferson wrote many letters, kept careful records, read extensively on farming and agriculture. If the testable portions of Madison's interview can be shown to be false, why would someone accept those portions for which no supporting evidence exists.

The other suspects are also reviewed. While there are many who came out and defended Mr. Jefferson (his daughter, grandson, friends, his overseer), no one defended his nephews, Peter and Samuel Carr. And the Carrs are reported to have admitted it.

In chapter 5, Fiction Masquerading as Fact, Mr. Dabney dissects Mrs. Brodie's book, sometimes almost line by line, showing that much of her account is wrong and a great deal of the rest is hard stretched speculation. The treatment may seem harsh to some, but books published as "history" should be accurate. Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate Portrait belongs in the romance novel, not the history section of the book store or library.

Despite it's publication prior to the DNA testing, this remains an excellent summary of the documentary evidence surrounding Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings. Anyone interested in a more recent treatment should consider In Defense of Thomas Jefferson by William Hyland which covers this material and the 1998 DNA results. Reasonable people can still reach different conclusions, but as the author concludes in his final chapter the charges are unproved and unprovable.

Note to a previous reviewer: Virginius Dabney was a man. He was a longtime Virginia newspaper editor and died shortly after "The Jefferson Scandals" was published. He was unquestionably a sincere gentleman and passionate in his defense of Jefferson's honor and purity. He didn't live to see the definitive DNA evidence that confirms the Sally Hemings relationship. The consistent denials of the affair by Jefferson apologists, in my opinion, involve more than a tinge of racism. These same scholars have no problem affirming Jefferson's liaison with Maria Cosway, who was probably much less virtuous than Sally Hemings. It is entertaining, however, to read Dabney's book with Fawn Brodie's back-to-back. We eagerly await an up-to-date Jefferson biography that fully explores the new evidence.

The current DNA testing apparently links SOME MALE of the Jefferson line with the African female. American historians have consistently indicated that there are several candidates for who that male could have been, given the known opportunities and timing.

Importantly, it does NOT 'prove' that Thomas Jefferson himself fathered any child by this female. For those who understand the most basic concepts of DNA and genetic inheritance, it is obvious that TJ cannot be shown to be the 'paternity' until and when his own DNA is tested, if ever.

Put another way: NO -- as a result of the latest DNA testing -- it has not ever been 'proved' that TJ fathered any child by Sally Hemmings, nor ever had any relations with her. Until his own DNA is tested -- if ever -- that story remains a spurious conjecture, if not slander.

This book was mostly an okay one except that she was a bit repetitous and extremely harsh on Fawn Brodie's book Thomas Jefferson:an Intimate History. I have not read Brodie's book but from how Dabney puts it, it is rubbish, lacking in evidence, untruthful, and just plain nonsense. You almost got the sense that she didn't really like Brodie for more than just her book. Some of Dabney's sarcastic comments are quite funny, if not a bit harsh at times. But it is an intersting book if you like history and Thomas Jefferson.

The Jefferson/Sally Hemmings story has recently been accepted as fact. Before you accept Fawn Brodie's account (which re-fueld this 200 year old speculation) or the TV movie which recently told a highly inaccurate version, please read Dabney's smart little book. Dabney takes on Brodie point by point. I don't claim to know the truth of what, if anything, went on between Jefferson and Sally... But frankly, nobody else knows either. All these accounts are speculative at best. I am not a fan of Thomas Jefferson. Still, it seems wrong to trash him with a scandal two hundred years old that can't be proven one way or the other, inspite of DNA testing.

Note to the last reviewer concerning her note to the previous reviewer. This book was revised to include the DNA evidence, and if looked at closely, the DNA evidence reveals a common male ancestor, which might have been Thomas Jefferson, but might also have been his nephew as Dabney and others have argued all along.

I believe it was Thomas Jefferson myself, and we may yet prove it, but to say that the DNA tests proved this is fallacy.