Just admire the dome
Here’s a bit of Bow-tie Guy telling Fox News how sad it is that Monticello guides talk about slavery instead of Jefferson’s interest in architecture.
Jefferson was an interesting guy, no question, but one of the most profoundly interesting things about him (in my view) was the yawning canyon between his revolutionary rhetoric and his utterly commonplace Southern gentleman exploitation of enslaved human beings.
Yes, very much so! He very specifically did not free his slaves during his lifetime, with a few rare exceptions, but rather engaged in what could be considered normal “trade” in humans in that era, and we’re not talking one or two persons here–he had up to 160 slaves at one point.
Given his central position in the formation of the USA and the establishment of our supposed principles of equality, it’s surprising how little this history is mentioned, I think.
Exactly. The right response to Monticello now would be “It’s about fuckin’ time.”
I think we have to understand how he was able to afford the architecture, taking advantage of slave labor. He clearly didn’t think of his slaves as fully human, because humans are deserving of liberty. Except for women.
Also. This is how the words and concept of woke and wokeism have morphed into a useful tool of conservative propagandists, to paint with a broad brush anything that liberals stand for as being part of that whole loony leftism.
We continue to hand them the brush, dipped in paint, and we shouldn’t be surprised that they paint out faces.
But…women weren’t humans! They were part of their husband, the part that took care of him and bore his children and raised them and kept her mouth shut. They were the part he got to do what he wanted to, including rape, and women were often beaten. Because they weren’t fully people. The best they would concede is that women were children who needed a lot of care.
It seems these ideas are not totally gone. Our legal rights don’t translate to actual rights all the time, and it isn’t unusual for people to assume a woman who is beaten deserved it. She is still considered the property of her husband in so many ways, now mostly unspoken but still having a very real chilling effect on female autonomy.
Absolutely. Having the fortitude to look into that kind of chasm without turning away often leads to profound insights not available elsewhere.
I suspect Mr. Tucker wouldn’t much like how much contempt Jefferson had for the Christian religion(s)… keep meaning to read “The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth”.