Conservative. Idaho. Software engineer. Historian. Trying to prevent Idiocracy from becoming a documentary.
Email complaints/requests about copyright infringement to clayton @ claytoncramer.com. Reminder: the last copyright troll that bothered me went bankrupt.
"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." -- Rom. 8:28
Amen! I often try to check out internet quotes--especially those quotes that seem to run counter to what I'd expect a given person (often Thomas Jefferson) would say.
It can sometimes be rather challenging to hunt down the source of something! Or even find a repetition of a given quote!
Of course, sometimes, if I can't find a quote quickly, I'll give up--but I'll still keep a measure of distrust for that particular quote.
That almost as good as the Kevin Butler ad on the Ps3 price drop: "Don't believe everything you read on the internet. That's how World War I got started."
"The moral character of Jefferson was repulsive. Continually puling about liberty, equality, and the degrading curse of slavery, he brought his own children to the hammer, and made money of his debaucheries."
According to Sandburg's biography of Lincoln, the Macomb Eagle (a Democrat paper) reprinted this quote in 1860, and attributed it to a Lincoln speech of 1844. Lincoln repudiated it as a forgery, and stated his admiration for Jefferson as the author of the Declaration of Independence.
Many sources now ascribe it to Alexander Hamilton. Yet that ascription seems very improbable to me. The accusation that Jefferson fathered children on a slave woman was not made until 1802, and it seems unlikely that Hamilton would have raised this issue in the two years left of his life.
Furthermore, the claim was that he begat these children on Sally Hemings, whose eldest possible child could have been born in 1790; too young to have been sold by 1804, when Hamilton died.
Yet this quote is cited in numerous places on the Net.
You've done the right thing, Rich. People looking for that quote will find it HERE and see that it can't be true. Not to mention, Jefferson did not sell Hemings' children. In fact, he seems to have sold slaves for the purpose of keeping families together, when neighbors moved west, and it would have broken up slave families that crossed plantation lines.
There seem to be only a very few slaves sold otherwise by Jefferson--usually because they were discipline problems--and Jefferson was noted for being quite reluctant to use physical punishment.
Furthermore, one of the things cited as evidence of his paternity is that all of Hemings' children were either freed by Jefferson, or allowed to "escape" with his connivance. (He also petitioned the Virginia legislature to exempt them from the law requiring emancipated slaves to leave the state.)
Incidentally, the Eagle's "quote" adds that one of Jefferson's children was recently (i.e. in 1844) sold in New Orleans. This of course makes it impossible for the full quote to be Hamilton's.
One of my pet peeves is this quote, often attributed to Mark Twain (obviously by people who've never read anything he wrote): "Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” (*gagging sounds*)
Didn't I read a recent refutation of the assertion that Jefferson fathered children by Sally Hemmings? It seems there was some DNA evidence that was pretty conclusive in showing his current "descendants" aren't really that at all.
Hang on to your books. In Orwell's "1984" history is constantly rewritten to suit the daily propaganda. Books are not always reliable, but misinformation via interweb takes unreliability to a level that Orwell could only imagine.
Touche!
ReplyDeleteAmen! I often try to check out internet quotes--especially those quotes that seem to run counter to what I'd expect a given person (often Thomas Jefferson) would say.
ReplyDeleteIt can sometimes be rather challenging to hunt down the source of something! Or even find a repetition of a given quote!
Of course, sometimes, if I can't find a quote quickly, I'll give up--but I'll still keep a measure of distrust for that particular quote.
What are the funds you are in favor of? Munis?
ReplyDeleteThat almost as good as the Kevin Butler ad on the Ps3 price drop: "Don't believe everything you read on the internet. That's how World War I got started."
ReplyDeleteI believe it was Mark Twain who said.
ReplyDelete"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and the Internet."
Of course he was paraphrasing Benjamin Disraeli and might have been mistaken in the attribution.
Hilarious! But I think you mean "profound" not "profund."
ReplyDeleteDaniel Webster
LOL!!!--Mark Twain
ReplyDeleteShakespeare had the answer.
ReplyDelete"Dude, that is so messed up"
ReplyDelete- Plato
"The reports of my death are dead-on."
ReplyDelete- Mark Twain
Consider this quotation:
ReplyDelete"The moral character of Jefferson was repulsive. Continually puling about liberty, equality, and the degrading curse of slavery, he brought his own children to the hammer, and made money of his debaucheries."
According to Sandburg's biography of Lincoln, the Macomb Eagle (a Democrat paper) reprinted this quote in 1860, and attributed it to a Lincoln speech of 1844. Lincoln repudiated it as a forgery, and stated his admiration for Jefferson as the author of the Declaration of Independence.
Many sources now ascribe it to Alexander Hamilton. Yet that ascription seems very improbable to me. The accusation that Jefferson fathered children on a slave woman was not made until 1802, and it seems unlikely that Hamilton would have raised this issue in the two years left of his life.
Furthermore, the claim was that he begat these children on Sally Hemings, whose eldest possible child could have been born in 1790; too young to have been sold by 1804, when Hamilton died.
Yet this quote is cited in numerous places on the Net.
What to do?
You've done the right thing, Rich. People looking for that quote will find it HERE and see that it can't be true. Not to mention, Jefferson did not sell Hemings' children. In fact, he seems to have sold slaves for the purpose of keeping families together, when neighbors moved west, and it would have broken up slave families that crossed plantation lines.
ReplyDeleteThere seem to be only a very few slaves sold otherwise by Jefferson--usually because they were discipline problems--and Jefferson was noted for being quite reluctant to use physical punishment.
"Never call 'Rocket Screen' inside your 20"
ReplyDelete-from "Stuff Jefferson Said" (3rd edition)
Re Jefferson and Hemings:
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, one of the things cited as evidence of his paternity is that all of Hemings' children were either freed by Jefferson, or allowed to "escape" with his connivance. (He also petitioned the Virginia legislature to exempt them from the law requiring emancipated slaves to leave the state.)
Incidentally, the Eagle's "quote" adds that one of Jefferson's children was recently (i.e. in 1844) sold in New Orleans. This of course makes it impossible for the full quote to be Hamilton's.
One of my pet peeves is this quote, often attributed to Mark Twain (obviously by people who've never read anything he wrote): "Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” (*gagging sounds*)
ReplyDeleteDidn't I read a recent refutation of the assertion that Jefferson fathered children by Sally Hemmings? It seems there was some DNA evidence that was pretty conclusive in showing his current "descendants" aren't really that at all.
ReplyDeleteHang on to your books. In Orwell's "1984" history is constantly rewritten to suit the daily propaganda. Books are not always reliable, but misinformation via interweb takes unreliability to a level that Orwell could only imagine.
ReplyDelete