[quote=""Michy""]
As to the reasons Jefferson sought a relationship with her -- well, my guess would be simply that sometimes testosterone trumps even the highest ideals.

[/quote]
Ain't that the truth!
[quote=""MLE""]This got me thinking about the relationships of women and men in power in general. I think we get so hung up on the race issue that we put it in a separate class, which it isn't. Despite current angst about it, black and white are just people, acting and reacting like people.
for instance, why would Sally Hemming's relationship with her master be different than that of a poor woman with a nobleman? in Medieval times, they were in much the same position as an owner of black slaves, but nobody insists that a relationship between the lord and a poor woman could only have been forced because 'she wasn't free to choose'.
People want to impute to an eighteenth century woman feelings that will support their personal views. I can only guess the odds, and I'm guessing them the other direction.[/quote]
Could a lord in the middle ages sell of a family to another lord? Granted my Medieval history knowledge isn't as strong as my American stuff but I cannot recall this happening. And how often did those lords mingle with some farmer girl out in the fields? If you had a house slave you were with them constantly. They were there in your face. Even if they were a field hand you'd have more interaction with them.
[quote=""Matt Phillips""]Actually I think we can infer a few things about the nature of their likely relationship based on circumstantial evidence.
And historians say Jefferson's relationship with Sally lasted 38 years, until his death, when she was about 53. If Jefferson wanted nothing more than a sexual liaison with a woman who couldn't say no, wouldn't he have found another, younger slave at some point in those 38 years? (That's not to say it's impossible he slept with his other slaves, but serious allegations of other liaisons have never been made, to my knowledge.) Also, Jefferson gave the Hemings children special treatment and eventually freed them all, the only slave family for whom he did that.
MLE brings up another interesting angle on the racial dimension. An interesting tidbit in that vein is that some of the Hemings descendants integrated into white society (Sally was probably 3/4 white), including one who became a Union general in the Civil War, while others remained in the black community.[/quote]
Guilt could have made him free them. One doesnt have to think it was a warm fuzzy moment. But we dont know. And we can speculate either way. Maybe he also just wanted them gone. The stain of his sins can go somewhere else.
I personally dont think it was a union out of love but one out of convenience. She was there, she was a half sister, she may have reminded him of his wife and he was lonely and horny. It was easier for her to go his bed then it was for him to go out and find another woman.
If I could have passed for white back then I would have too! Common! Who wouldn't have? Its a lovely thought that we want to hold onto our identity but if my identity could get me killed or raped and get me crappy housing and everyone hated me or looked down on me then I'd fake it, or pretend I was someone else. If I was "white" my life would be better with more opportunities. If I was "black" my life would suck. Hmmm, going with the better life here.
The thing is people will take away what they want between this relationship. there is great debate on it. Like MLE said we all look at it differently depending on our views.
As for Sally, who knows. I find it interesting that there is no written record. No journal? None. Hmm. So, I wonder if she was illiterate. Very interesting, and telling if this is true. One of the smartest men in the world, who loved reading kept his slave uneducated.