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Article: The open question.(Thomas Jefferson's place in history)
- Article from:
- National Review
- Article date:
- December 31, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 National Review, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Is Thomas Jefferson finally getting his comeuppance? Forrest McDonald, reviewing Conor Cruise O'Brien's The Long Affair [NR, Nov. 25], seems to think so. The third President was a fellow-traveler of the French Revolution, and a racist. Besides, there is the story of Sally Hemings -- only alluded to by McDonald, but recounted by O'Brien. After Merchant and Ivory's Jefferson in Paris, Jefferson and his putative slave mistress have become the most famous interracial couple in America, next to O.J. and Nicole. The rural vote in the election of 1800 is finally coming in.
Are the winners overplaying their hand? First, some context. The 1790s have been called the Age of ...