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Defending Jefferson: The Character Defense
Nelson Calero
[1] In today's world, if a man and a woman are involved in an interracial relationship, society generally accepts the union, but our Jefferson-Hemings controversy dates back to a time in which even the thought of a politician having an interracial love interest was too disgusting to imagine. When James T. Callender brought his Jefferson-Hemings story to life in 1802, he created a storm of bewilderment in the minds and hearts of the public. He managed to stir up commotion by excessively attacking both Jefferson's and Sally's characters. These exaggerations attempted to portray Sally as a primitive African jungle slut and Jefferson as a sleazy, morally corrupt monster. Defenders of Jefferson's character such as Jefferson scholar Dumas Malone in the 20th century and Jefferson's grand-daughter Ellen Randolph Coolidge in the 19th were put into a difficult situation. Masses that were emotionally swept by Callender's claims over the course of 200 years were going to be difficult to sway. These defenders utilized a set of tactics that both emotionally and intellectually manipulated the minds of the general public over Jefferson's character. Whoever could strike at the most emotions in such a widely publicized case had the most support.
[2] Most of Jefferson's primary attackers had a biased opinion of the man. Exploiting this bias was one tactic both Malone and Coolidge utilized in their defenses of Jefferson. James T. Callender, who was known to many as a skillful political hitman, stated that there was bad blood between him and Jefferson because Jefferson betrayed him. Malone described Callender as "an embittered journalist whose title as the most notorious and most unscrupulous scandalmonger of his generation, or indeed of any American generation, would be difficult to contest." By reminding the public of Callender's biased opinion and seedy reputation, Malone attempted to break some of the emotional blocks preventing the public from hearing another view. It was known that Callender held a deep hatred for Jefferson. The man wanted to make Jefferson seem like a monster in the public's eyes. Although we don't know whether the Jefferson-Hemings controversy is indeed truth or fiction, it's clear that Callender extended the truth to manipulate the story in his favor. Realizing Callender's stance prevented the public from believing the superfluous claims he made on both the story and the characters of Jefferson and Sally.
[3] Although Callender's claims were biased, political enemies of Jefferson as well as future abolitionists cherished and defended his story to keep the wheel spinning on their goals. The opposing Federalist party promoted Callender's claims because they suited them exceedingly well politically. Having such an embarrassment to the Democratic-Republican Party served as excellent leverage in the political campaign for the Federalist Party. The abolitionists also glorified the story in their attempts to end the slave trade. By extenuating Callender's story, the abolitionists used Jefferson as "a symbol of the brutalizing effect of the slave system on a high-minded man who himself opposed it." Needless to say, both the Federalist and abolitionists had a biased opinion on the Jefferson-Hemings controversy that obstructs one from attaining the whole truth on the matter. By revealing the ulterior motives of heavily attacking Jefferson's character, Malone allowed readers to finally make more educated judgments and intellectually ponder Callender's biased, emotion-swaying presentation on the controversy.
[4] Yet another tactic employed was Ellen Randolph Coolidge's attempt to play at a few heart strings by bringing in the family and touching on a very personal subject in order to defend Mr. Jefferson's character. Malone publicizes a letter that Coolidge sent to her husband regarding their grandfather's affair. Coolidge attempted to discredit the claims placed on Jefferson using a very powerful tool--an understanding of Jefferson's character that only a blood relative can own. Coolidge spoke of Jefferson's character very highly in her letter. She stated that the charges held against him regarding the selling of his colored children were in "utter disagreement with the general character and conduct of Mr. Jefferson." Jefferson was regarded by his grand-daughter as a kind and humane slave owner who was always considerate of the feelings and well-being of his slaves. Jefferson even went so far as to turn the other cheek if a slave who could pass off as white were to escape the plantation. Coolidge even stated that Jefferson knew the whereabouts of his captive slaves, "but they were left to themselves--for they were white enough to pass for white." Coolidge's status as a grand-daughter made her a beacon of knowledge that shone upon the somewhat mysterious nature of Jefferson's persona, and she was absolute in her views on Jefferson's character. How could such a man have made a slave his concubine? Jefferson couldn't bear to so much as punish a slave or sell them himself. Coolidge presented actions harming slaves a "moral impossibility" given Jefferson's character.
[5] Coolidge displayed Jefferson as a devoted family man in her talk about his later life--the portion of his life in which he was accused of fathering Sally's children. The following passage of speaks to her view on Jefferson's character and the controversy:
But he had a large family of grandchildren of all ages, older & younger. Young men and young girls. He lived, wherever he was at Monticello, and entirely for the last seventeen years of his life, in the midst of these young people, surrounded by them, his intercourse with them of the freest and most affectionate kind. How comes it that his immoralities were never suspected by his own family--that his daughter and her children rejected with horror and contempt the charges brought against him . . . so devoted to his daughters and their children, so fond of their society, so tender, so considerate, refined in his intercourse with them, so watchful over them in all respects, would be likely to rear a race of half-breeds under their eyes and carry on his low amours in the circle of his family.
These vivid descriptions were able to highlight family's importance to Jefferson. Coolidge likewise brought forth the opinions of his family and their similar bewilderment at the claims targeted at Jefferson. Jefferson's family would have realized if there was some sort of scandal going on in Monticello, since Jefferson surrounded himself with his family in the later years of his life, which, again, was the same time when the scandal supposedly happened. He could not have possibly had an intimate affair at the Monticello plantation, which also disproved the theory of him possibly having slave children. When Coolidge's letter finally became published, it allowed the public to reanalyze Jefferson because they themselves understood that the family knows a man better than the rest of the world does. The imagery of a loving, nurturing environment provided by Coolidge's letter allowed those reading this letter to view Jefferson in a different light, which allowed them to reconsider the monstrosity of a man that Callender created.
[6] Coolidge also "passed the buck" in several sections of her letter as another tactic that shifted the blame from Jefferson to another source. In part of her letter, Coolidge briefly spoke of the origins of Monticello:
The house at Monticello was a long time in building and was principally built by Irish workmen. . . . These men were known to have had children of whom the mothers were black women. . . . They were dissipated young men in the neighborhood who sought the society of the mulattresses and they in like manner were not anxious to establish any claim of paternity in the results of such associations.
In this passage, Coolidge established an interesting aspect of Monticello's slave population--many were mulattos. The white slaves people claimed to have seen around the Monticello plantation could have simply been the descendants from the initial white-slave interactions. On top of that, Coolidge brought forth the idea of false claims of paternity -- a way for a slave to gain pride. It was common practice in those times for slaves to take up the name of their slave masters. Coolidge questioned whether a mulatto at Monticello was actually Jefferson's or one of the many other descendants of white-slave interaction. And thus she questioned whether Madison Heming's claims were legitimate or just an attempt to make a name for himself.
[7] Finally, Coolidge further passed the buck to a man named Col. Carr in this quote from a Peter Carr: "The old gentleman [Jefferson] had to bear the blame of his [Peter's] and Sam's (Col. Carr) misdeeds." Coolidge unequivocally stated that it was the general impression that all of Sally's four children were fathered not by Jefferson but by Col. Carr. Spoken thus, Coolidge made an adamant statement with high, almost absolute certainty on the topic on the matter and even went so far as to call out Carr's character.
[8] Ultimately, Callender's damage has been done. As long as those who believe in Jefferson's innocence, those who see him as a hypocritical pig, and those who lie somewhere in between keep the argument going, we may never see the end of this controversy. Disproving the charges that Callender set forth against Jefferson's actions and character may be impossible but combating them certainly isn't. Malone and Coolidge's tactics against Callender finally allowed the public to peek into the minds of both the Jefferson defenders and his opposition and to also develop an intellectual understanding of both sides of the story. Who knows if Sally really did give birth to Thomas Jefferson's children? Who knows if the two shared any form of love? We don't know a lot of truths regarding the matter, but because of that fact we also don't know whether to believe Callender's judgment on Jefferson's character and for that we can credit the successful tactics employed by both Malone and Coolidge.
