13. The scandal had little effect on Jefferson’s Presidency
In his article revealing the existence of “Sally” and her alleged children, Callender wrote, “There is not an individual in the neighborhood of Charlottesville who does not believe the story…” There were many, and though the gossips repeated the tale across the country (and down through the centuries) many did not believe it. In the 21st century, various DNA tests yielded results which some experts claim prove Jefferson fathered children with his slave, Sally Hemings. Other experts viewing the same results arrive at the opposite conclusion. Abolitionists used the story during the antebellum period, citing it as proof of the amoral nature of slavery. John Adams maintained a profound silence on the subject, though the waning Federalist Party made much of the story. Yet it had little effect on Jefferson’s Presidency.
Jefferson kept the enslaved people at Monticello and Poplar Forest separate from the White House. No evidence exists, or at any rate has ever been found, that Sally Hemings or any other of his female slaves visited or worked in the White House. Jefferson occupied the White House in March, 1801. As a widower, he needed a hostess for those times when female visitors were at the house. He asked Dolley Madison to act as his hostess, to which she agreed. It was Mrs. Madison who completed the furnishing of the house and gardens during Jefferson’s presidency. The absence of slaves at Jefferson’s White House did much to allay the scandal triggered by Callender’s report, and subsequent events of his Presidency did still more. Yet the scandal remains, over two centuries after it first appeared in the American press.
Also Read: The Life of a Slave in Thomas Jefferson’s Home.