It's from a book a few DUers know about. Went like this:
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“My, my,” mused Jefferson, “I hope the wine is as good that far in the future as it was when I was there.” That far in the future. The concept of the year 1860 being “far in the future” was, needless to say, rather novel to me.
“Oh, it is,” I assured him. “I have tried it. A huge plague befell, er, or rather, will befall the region in 1870, and most of the vines will perish. Only a very few will survive, but Bordeaux wine will live on, not only at home, but in California, Australia, South Africa, Chile, many places.”
“Fascinating, but please leave it at that,” Jefferson cut me off. “Remember, Robert, I can’t know any of this, and it would risk much if I were to let on by casual error that I did.”
“Sorry, sir,” I said. “I got carried away by the moment. About what I wanted to ask you…”
“Go on,” he prodded.
“There’s a woman there. In Bordeaux, I mean. I’ve fallen hopelessly in love with her. She speaks no English, and I can’t bring her to my world. To be with her, I would have to abandon my own world, with no recourse of return should I regret my decision, go to an era where creature comforts I take for granted do not exist, and I would have to gnash my teeth and keep silent about everything I know that is going to happen, every armed conflict, every cataclysmic world event. But I have waited all my life to feel this way about a woman, and I feel it is worth the risk. Am I crazy to contemplate this? Should I abandon the thought?”
Jefferson pondered. “I had only ten years with my Martha. She died before her thirty-fourth birthday. I was devastated. I must have spent three weeks inside a room in utter despair. Much later, I took up with someone that was completely illicit, at least in my day.”
“It’s all right, Mr. President, we all know about Sally Hemings, and don’t consider it a stain on your legacy at all.”
Jefferson looked stunned. “Really? You all know about Sally? Please don’t even tell me how. I don’t want to know. You can’t imagine what a scandalous thing this is in my time. Our country, then, has truly become the beacon of enlightenment we hoped--Franklin, Madison, the others.”
“Well, not entirely, I’m afraid,” I answered. “There are still strong, even violent forces of reaction that would bring the country back to the days when people were burned at the stake for such things. But they are a distinct minority, to be sure.” I didn’t want to get into the Texas School Board. “We even abolished slavery entirely in 1865.”
“It took that long? I failed in my efforts to get slavery abolished over the years, although I still hold some slaves myself to this day. Ironic, isn’t it? Many of us who were part of the beginning of this country envisioned abolishing slavery altogether by 1808. As president, I even signed a law back in 1808 banning the slave trade with Africa. Some of us had hoped to have slavery abolished by then, but we underestimated the resistance from the southern states, whose economies depended upon its continued existence. From what you say, it took far longer than any of us thought it would. I am glad to hear that it was finally done away with, although I imagine it had enormous economic consequences for the southern states. I’m sure some of them must have had a few objections.”
Oh, just a few, yeah. I didn’t comment on that.
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I always wondered how close to that a real conversation with Jefferson at age 75 would have been?
= new reply since forum marked as read
