Thomas Jefferson

TJ, UVA, and Historical Memory

November 28, 2015 in Uncategorized 2 Comments Tags: racism, Sally Hemings, slavery, Thomas Jefferson, Woodrow Wilson

I wonder how the University of Virginia, where I did my graduate work, is handling the current craze to obliterate the memory of all those, such as Woodrow Wilson, whom activists regard as racists.

What is the University going to do with Thomas Jefferson, slave owner? – one of the “loudest yelpers after liberty” who was also “a driver of Negro slaves” (Samuel Johnson). And not merely slave owner, but one who kept a mulatto mistress, Sally Hemings, his late wife’s half-sister. And one whose expensive tastes led him live far beyond his means, who therefore left an enormous debt, which his slaves (except Sally’s children) had to be sold to pay. But who founded the University, designed its buildings, enshrined religious liberty in the laws of Virginia, declared our independence, and doubled the size of the United States.

Human beings have a strong tendency to want to escape responsibility, and one way is by regarding their governors as flawless persons. Our presidents were all politicians, and had the characteristic flaws of politicians, especially narcissism and a tendency to exploit others. Catholics want to the Pope to be a sinless oracle, so they don’t have to weigh his actions and words, but accept them as the very actions and voice of God. But they are only men, not gods.

When I first visited Monticello, many decades ago, slavery was not even mentioned. Now there is also a tour that describes the life of those whose work supported Jefferson’s career. I think that is the proper approach. Along with memorials to Jefferson, there should be memorials to those mostly nameless slaves whose lives made Jefferson’s work possible. And a reminder that Jefferson’s failure to deal with slavery and put it on the course to extinction led to the worst war that America has ever had, in which brother killed brother.

Jefferson had written

“The whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions, the most unremitting despotism on the one part, and degrading submissions on the other,” and “I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever.” But he failed to act.

I am no fan of Woodrow Wilson. His policies in Central and Eastern Europe led to untold deaths and suffering that continues to this day. And I suspect that his advocacy of segregation in the United States was connected to his policy in Europe, a policy which encouraged ethnically homogenous states. But he cannot be obliterated from the history of Princeton. Photographs of the blacks who lost their jobs in the federal government and of the refugees his policies created in Europe could be added to his commemorations, to remind students of the complexity and ambiguity of history.

Refugees 1920

Also Princeton students there seem to have lost their sense of irony. They are proposing segregated living halls and programs to protest the legacy of a segregationist.

Thomas Burling the Cabinetmaker

February 12, 2015 in Burling, Uncategorized No Comments Tags: Burling chair, Genealogy, George Washington, Thomas Burling, Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Burling (1746-1831) was the son of Ebenezer Burling and Mary Lawrence. He was the first cousin of Effingham Embree the clockmaker, and may have made cabinets for the clocks. He was my wife’s fifth great grand uncle. He married Susanna Carter in 1767 and had numerous children.

He trained as a cabinetmaker under Samuel Prince.

Thomas quickly became known as one of the finest cabinet makers in North America. When the capital of the new United States was located in New York, Congress leased for George Washington the house at 3 Cherry Street, and furnished it, mostly from Thomas’s shop:

With the exception of the upholsterer’s charges, the greatest sum for furnishings was paid to Thomas Burling for “Mahogany Furniture,” which contributed to what Martha Washington called a “handsomely furnished house.” In total, Congress spent eight thousand dollars preparing the executive residence for the Washington family.

George Washington commissioned a special piece of furniture, an “uncommon chair,” from Thomas Burling.

The Burling chair at Mt. Vernon

On April 17, 1790, Washington paid New York cabinetmaker Thomas Burling £7 for this ingeniously-engineered “Uncommon Chair.” It combines the sleek, contemporary design of a French bergère en gondole (or barrel-back upholstered armchair) with a unique swivel mechanism that allows the circular seat to rotate on four bone rollers. Washington must have found the chair to be ergonomically pleasing, as he used it throughout his presidency and for the remainder of his life. Following his return to Mount Vernon in March 1797, he placed it in his study.

Thomas Jefferson liked it, and in 1790, on the same trip he pursed toothbrushes from Effingham Lawrence the druggist, he also had Thomas Burling make a similar chair.

The Burling chair made for Jefferson

The Burling chair in situ at Monticello

While serving as secretary of state in New York in 1790, Jefferson purchased a good deal of furniture from local cabinetmakers, particularly Thomas Burling, who had a shop on Beekman Street. In his Memorandum Book, Jefferson carefully recorded two payments totaling £143 to Burling in July and August 1790 but did not identify his purchases. Among other articles, Jefferson evidently acquired a sofa and a revolving chair.

Jefferson’s chair was mocked by the Federalists:

Although Washington eluded the enmity of the Federalist critic William Loughton Smith, Jefferson did not escape ridicule for his politics and his chair. Smith wrote, “Who has not heard from the Secretary of the praises of his wonderful Whirlgig Chair, which had the miraculous quality of allowing the person seated in it to turn his head without moving his tail?”

Burling retired in April 1802and turned his business over to his sons Samuel and William, but his furniture still survives and is prized in the antique market.