Master of the Mountain: Thomas Jefferson and His Slaves

On February 7, 2013, Henry Wiencek delivered a Banner Lecture entitled "Master of the Mountain: Thomas Jefferson and His Slaves." Is there anything new to say about Thomas Jefferson and slavery? The answer is a resounding yes. Master of the Mountain, Henry Wiencek's eloquent, persuasive book—based on new information coming from archaeological work at Monticello and on previously overlooked or disregarded evidence in Jefferson's papers—opens up a huge, poorly understood dimension of Jefferson's world. Wiencek's Jefferson is a man of business and public affairs who makes a success of his debt-ridden plantation thanks to what he calls the "silent profits" gained from his slaves—and thanks to a moral universe that he and thousands of others readily inhabited. Henry Weincek, a nationally prominent historian and writer, lives in Charlottesville.(Introduction by Paul Levengood) The content and opinions expressed in these presentations are solely those of the speaker and not necessarily of the Virginia Museum of History & Culture.