Riding that Train

I do not mean Jerry Garcia's train. It's my train of thought, that jumps the track and wanders off into meadows.

I recently checked out a couple of books about Thomas Jefferson from the library because I have some interest in his views and accomplishments. In my political naivete, I was surprised to learn that one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence seems to be a liberal.

So, I was reading the introduction to one of the books, reading about all of Jefferson's high-mindedness and philosophical ways, when the train ride began.

First I wondered if Jefferson had slaves (he did). I wondered when and how slavery in New England began. I couldn't imagine how one came about with the idea of using another being in such a way. I figured it was a situation that I don't understand because of the differing century, differing mores and values, or of incidents caused by extreme events. I thought, well, slavery must not have been a new idea to the colonists, if they found the practice acceptable, so I explored (Googled) the history of slavery and came up with historyworld.net. I'm not holding this up as a perfect example, but you can get a timeline and gist. It's a practice as old as time, brought about by population, war and indebtedness.

Jefferson is not the first revered figure whose principals regarding slavery have caused me to question the whole of his character. Moses was the first. It was monumental for him to lead the Israelites out of slavery, to help them find their freedom, only to turn around and enslave others. In Exodus, all those rules about servants sound like rules regarding slaves to me.

I'm going to have to stop the train there and build a platform, because you don't want me to get going on concubines, a subject of note in the era of both characters.

I'm thinking I will consider certain bits of the personae of Jefferson and Moses as valuable, disregarding the portions influenced by the time period and the human condition.