The conduct of Thomas Jefferson towards his concubine Sally Hemings would land him in jail if it happened today. Below are some highlights – or lowlights – of that controversial relationship. It dogged Jefferson and his legacy in his lifetime, and across the centuries into the present.
A Founding Father Whose Concubine Was His Dead Wife’s Lookalike Sibling
Thomas Jefferson (1743 – 1826), the Founding Father and leading member of the committee that drafted America’s Declaration of Independence was a complicated man, to put it mildly. On the one hand, he penned some of the most stirring words in advocating freedom, liberty, and equality. Jefferson’s phrase in the Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” has moved and inspired idealists for centuries. On the other hand, Jefferson pursued his happiness in a hilltop plantation, Monticello, leading a life of luxury that was only made possible by the labor of hundreds of chattel slaves.
Thomas Jefferson also had a creepy relationship with his slave, Sally Hemings (1773 – 1835) – although calling it a “relationship” might be misleading: today, it would be considered straightforward rape. Sally Hemings was a slave, kept in bondage by a brutal system in which violence, including deadly violence, was used to coerce its victims and secure their compliance. She had as much choice in submitting to Thomas Jefferson’s sexual demands as does a modern kidnapped victim, who finds herself chained for years in some psychopath’s basement.
A Concubine, Not a Companion
Even if she had not been a slave, there would still have been something super creepy about the age disparity between Sally Hemings and the famous Founding Father. Thomas Jefferson was forty four old when he began to sleep with Sally. She was all of thirteen or fourteen years old. Even if she had been a willing participant, it would be considered statutory assault today: children that young simply lack the maturity to consent. Another layer of creepiness is that Thomas Jefferson’s child concubine was also his dead wife’s sister and lookalike. Sally Hemings was the daughter of a slave woman and John Wayles, Thomas Jefferson’s father in law. That made her the biological half-sister of Jefferson’s wife, Martha Wayles Jefferson (1748 – 1782).
Sally, who was nine when her half-sister died, bore a striking resemblance to the deceased Martha, and the resemblance only increased as she grew. Jefferson missed his dead wife, so when her lookalike sister was thirteen or fourteen he slept with her. In short, Thomas Jefferson getting it on with Sally Hemings would be an epic scandal if it had happened today, hitting just about every icky button there is. Pedophilia? Check. Incest? Check. Violence, coercion, and rape? Check, check, and check. Adding another layer to it all is that Jefferson fathered six children upon Sally, and kept them as slaves. He eventually got around to freeing his children, but he never freed his concubine: Sally Hemings was still Thomas Jefferson’s slave when he died in 1826.
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Some Sources & Further Reading
Bear, James A. Jr. – Jefferson at Monticello (1967)
History Halls – Politicians Who Couldn’t Keep It in Their Pants: Thomas Jefferson
Monticello – Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemming: A Brief Account
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