Most scholarship about Jefferson focuses on his political theories or his actions as a statesman. He has left ample evidence of his accomplishments in the Declaration of Independence, Statue of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and by founding the University of Virginia. He preserved over 25,000 letters he received and kept copies of over 18,000 of his own letters. Historians tend to ignore his personal life given the scarcity of information about it and focus on the wealth of information about his professional dealings. Bernard Bailyn, a prestigious American historian wrote, Jefferson, "is all things to all men. He emerges now a culture-hero, a godlike luminous presence known only and in some misty way to be wise, good, and difficult to comprehend. The man himself, the personality, has vanished." *
Despite the prodigious amounts of primary sources left by Jefferson, he kept his private life strictly secret. He did not keep a diary, he burned the letters between he and his wife after her death. He refused to write an autobiography. A peak into Jefferson's private life began when Fawn Brodie wrote an article called the "Great Jefferson Taboo" in American Heritage in June 1972 about Jefferson's sexual relationship with a young teenage slaves, Sally Hemmings. This set of a firestorm of controversy. Many refuse to believe Jefferson, who has reached godlike status could have behaved in such a manner.
This movie depicts the more human, personal, and emotional side of Jefferson. It is well accepted that he did have an affair with Marie Cosway as depicted in the movie and it is increasingly accepted that Jefferson, our third president and author of the words "all men are created equal," had a long-term sexual relationship with one ( he owned several hundred) of his own slaves. Sally Hemmings who was young enough to be his daughter, and Thomas Jefferson had 5 children. Consequently, there are many Americans of African descent who are descendants of Jefferson.
The opening scene, when the reporter interviews one of the children of Hemmings & Jefferson, is historically accurate. The original reminiscences of Madison Hemings was published in Pike County Ohio Republican on March 13, 1873. The name of the article was "Life Among the Lowly, No. 1." Madison died 4 years after the interview.
The U.S. Federal Census of Huntington Township Ross County, Ohio for 1870 lists Madison Hemings, mulatto, age 65, born in Virginia, "This man is the son of Thos. Jefferson."
This movie also shows Jefferson as a statesman in the midst of the outbreak of the French Revolution. The French Revolution was partially inspired by our own revolution.
Links About DNA tests from Jefferson and Hemming's descendants:
Since most instructors are only asking for a short paper, it is best to focus on only one question.
SUGGESTED QUESTIONS TO ANSWER IN MOVIE REVIEW:
1. What criticisms did Jefferson have of the French monarchy and culture? How did they differ from his own republican values?
2) Was Jefferson truly dedicated to the proposition that "all men are created equal?"
3) Did Jefferson view the French Revolution in a positive or negative light? Did he see the outbreak of the French Revolution as a continuation of our own Revolution or as something radically different?
4) "Does Jefferson's treatment of Sally Hemmings establish his racism or his instinctive color blindness?"
5) What evidence of America's financial troubles can be found in this movie? Why did he go to Amsterdam? What response do you think the U.S. gave to Jefferson's request for pensions for French veterans of the American Revolution?
*Bernard Bailyn, "Boyd's Jefferson: Notes for a Sketch," New England Quarterly XXXIII (1960), 382.
Suggested Biography - Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History by Fawn Brodie