The Adamses on Sally Hemings

Abigail Adams

Thomas Jefferson was a powerful statesman who became Secretary of State only to resign his post because of his unwillingness to work in George Washington's Cabinet full of federalists. His goal was to become president but lost in votes to John Adams. He served as vice president to Adams but  could not help being disloyal to him. He became president and continued to rule with conviction and power. It was not surprising that he would have his way as well in his private life.

John Adams

John Adams: Now tell me exactly what you said to Jefferson.

Abigail Adams: I said to him that the one surprise was the nurse who had accompanied Polly …

John: You are speaking of the old nurse that took care of the girl?

Abigail: If you interrupt, I can’t tell you about it. Instead of the old nurse who was to attend the girl there was a servant girl of about 15 or 16 with Polly.

John: What happened to the old nurse?

Abigail: Let me tell you. I was told that the nurse was sick. Well this young servant girl’s name was Sally Hemings and she was 14, younger than I thought and not much older than Polly.

Now this Hemings girl, years later, was the subject of a scandal that you and I know about.

John: Yes Abigail, What did Captain Ramsay say about the arrangement?

Abigail: He said that young Sally would be of little service and that he recommended he take her back to Virginia. So I mentioned it to Jefferson that he would have to judge that for himself. Not wanting to appear to mind his business, I said that Sally seemed to get along with Polly and I guess that was good. As I reflected further on the matter, I thought that the young nurse might need more care than the child and might need some supervision.

John: And spending time with us, young Sally is the only slave to have ever lived under our roof.

Abigail: In all fairness to Jefferson, it was a difficult time for him. He had managed to stir up the waters of discontent in France, telling all who would listen that the American Revolution had come to Europe.

John: What do you mean “in all fairness?” If Jefferson’s life was in tumult, it was of his own making. That summer was a bloody one for the French people. I’m surprised he stayed on as long as he did. It wasn’t until September that he, with his daughters Patsy and Polly and the slaves Sally and James Hemings left Paris for Norfolk, Virginia.

Abigail: I learned later although it was none of my business that Jefferson personally bought Sally’s clothes and made certain that her chores were light. I tremble to think at what moment in that child’s life she had become Jefferson’s bed mate. Had it not been for James Callender we would not have known of the children she bore him.

John: I do not blame the child. At first she may have simply obeyed her master in doing his will.

I do blame Jefferson for taking advantage of a child and a slave who could not resist. Although it is not unknown for master and slave to have intimate relations, I think that a secretary of state and then a US president might have made better choices.

Abigail: When Jefferson’s wife died, he lived openly in Monticello with Sally Hemings as his housekeeper and companion. Not a single word did any of us learn from Monticello, from the other slaves or from Jefferson’s legal children about this scandal. "It was only when the Republican press attacked Callender for his 'apostasy, ingratitude, cowardice, lies, venality, and constitutional malignity,' Callender struck back in the Recorder on September 1, 1802, under the title The President Again: 'It is well known that the man whom itdelighteth the people to honor, keeps and for many years has kept, a concubine, one of his slaves. Her name is Sally. . . ''By this wench Sally, our President has had several children. There is not an individual in the neighborhood of Charlottesville who does not believe the story, and not a few who know it. ... The AFRICAN VENUS is said to officiate as housekeeper at Monticello. In subsequent articles Callender reported that Sally Hemings had five children.”