September 1, 2013
PRESIDENT THOMAS JEFFERSON ACCUSED OF KEEPING SLAVE MISTRESS AT MONTICELLO
Richmond, Virginia (JFK+50) Today we have a tendency to believe that dirty politics was non-existent back in the days of our Founding Fathers, but 211 years ago today, September 1, 1802, President Thomas Jefferson was accused in the RICHMOND RECORDER of keeping a slave mistress at his home, Monticello, near Charlottesville.
But even then, it was just "politics as usual."
During President Washington's 2nd term increasing disagreements between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson eventually led to anonymous criticism from one side or the other in the press or on broadsheets.
In 1792, publisher James Callendar*, a Jefferson supporter, reported that the Secretary of Treasury was having an extra marital affair.
*James T. Callendar (1758-1803), a central figure in the political war between Federalist and Democratic Republican parties in the late 1700s, was born in Scotland.
He died from drowning in 3 feet of water in the James River allegedly too drunk to save himself.
A decade later Callendar, who by then was editor of a Federalist newspaper, The Richmond Recorder, became angry when he didn't get an appointment as Postmaster and, in response, published the story about Mr. Jefferson's slave mistress, Sally.
It is a fact that Thomas Jefferson had a slave named Sally Hemings** who had served as a maid to his wife Martha and after her death attended his daughter, Maria.
Although Jefferson himself never responded publicly to the charge, a DNA study in 2000 linked the 3rd President of the United States to one of Sally's children.
**Sally Hemings (1773-1835), born in Charles County, VA. the daughter of Susanna and John Hemings, an English sea captain, was chosen at age 14 to accompany Jefferson's youngest daughter, Mary "Polly" Jefferson, to Paris.
When the Jeffersons returned to Monticello, Sally became a domestic servant. She had six children after returning to the United States.
SECOND WORLD WAR BEGAN 74 YEARS AGO
Wielun, Poland (JFK+50) The Second World War began 74 years ago today, September 1, 1939, when German forces launched an attack on Poland.
The invasion began at 04:40 when the Luftwaffe or German Air Force made a bombing raid here on the town of Wielun.
Five minutes later, a German battleship opened fire on the Polish military transit depot in Dazig on the Baltic Sea.
Then at 08:00, German troops marched on Mokra.
Additional German attacks followed on the northern, southern and western borders of Poland.
Great Britain declared war on Germany on September 3, 1949 and
two weeks later, the USSR invaded Poland.
Monument to "September Veterans"
Southern Poland
Photo by Mark A. Wilson (2006)
PRESIDENT THOMAS JEFFERSON ACCUSED OF KEEPING SLAVE MISTRESS AT MONTICELLO
Richmond, Virginia (JFK+50) Today we have a tendency to believe that dirty politics was non-existent back in the days of our Founding Fathers, but 211 years ago today, September 1, 1802, President Thomas Jefferson was accused in the RICHMOND RECORDER of keeping a slave mistress at his home, Monticello, near Charlottesville.
But even then, it was just "politics as usual."
During President Washington's 2nd term increasing disagreements between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson eventually led to anonymous criticism from one side or the other in the press or on broadsheets.
In 1792, publisher James Callendar*, a Jefferson supporter, reported that the Secretary of Treasury was having an extra marital affair.
*James T. Callendar (1758-1803), a central figure in the political war between Federalist and Democratic Republican parties in the late 1700s, was born in Scotland.
He died from drowning in 3 feet of water in the James River allegedly too drunk to save himself.
A decade later Callendar, who by then was editor of a Federalist newspaper, The Richmond Recorder, became angry when he didn't get an appointment as Postmaster and, in response, published the story about Mr. Jefferson's slave mistress, Sally.
It is a fact that Thomas Jefferson had a slave named Sally Hemings** who had served as a maid to his wife Martha and after her death attended his daughter, Maria.
Although Jefferson himself never responded publicly to the charge, a DNA study in 2000 linked the 3rd President of the United States to one of Sally's children.
**Sally Hemings (1773-1835), born in Charles County, VA. the daughter of Susanna and John Hemings, an English sea captain, was chosen at age 14 to accompany Jefferson's youngest daughter, Mary "Polly" Jefferson, to Paris.
When the Jeffersons returned to Monticello, Sally became a domestic servant. She had six children after returning to the United States.
SECOND WORLD WAR BEGAN 74 YEARS AGO
Wielun, Poland (JFK+50) The Second World War began 74 years ago today, September 1, 1939, when German forces launched an attack on Poland.
The invasion began at 04:40 when the Luftwaffe or German Air Force made a bombing raid here on the town of Wielun.
Five minutes later, a German battleship opened fire on the Polish military transit depot in Dazig on the Baltic Sea.
Then at 08:00, German troops marched on Mokra.
Additional German attacks followed on the northern, southern and western borders of Poland.
Great Britain declared war on Germany on September 3, 1949 and
two weeks later, the USSR invaded Poland.
Monument to "September Veterans"
Southern Poland
Photo by Mark A. Wilson (2006)
