In the New Yorker...

[serious crayons]

Looks like those reports of Lincoln owning slaves that were his wife's are controversial, though.

[Jeff Wrangler]

I'm afraid I had to read FRiend Lee's post a couple of times before it got through my thick skull that she meant going back in time to George Washington, not Abraham Lincoln returning to Washington. D.C.

Mary Todd Lincoln's family, the Todds, were prominent in Kentucky and slave holders. I never heard anything about Lincoln personally owning slaves, so I can't comment; maybe that goes along with the rumor that he was gay because he shared a bed with his law partner when he was a young lawyer. Anyway, Mary Todd Lincoln had relatives--I think a brother or brothers (I didn't check)--who fought for the Confederacy. (I really don't understand how that marriage came about. Considering her family's prominence, Mary Todd was definitely marrying "beneath herself" when she married Lincoln. Maybe her family already suspected that she had emotional problems and thought it best to marry her off to an unknown lawyer from Illinois, where she and her problems might be inconspicuous.)

George Washington definitely owned slaves before he managed to marry Martha Dandridge Custis, who, I guess by the standards of Virginia at that time, was a stinking rich widow.

(Jefferson wrote those words in the Declaration of Independence. James Madison wrote the Constitution. Of course, Jefferson was referring to free White male property owners over the age of 21.)

[Front-Ranger]

Maybe her family already suspected that she had emotional problems and thought it best to marry her off to an unknown lawyer from Illinois, where she and her problems might be inconspicuous.)

That sounds like a definite possibility.

George Washington definitely owned slaves before he managed to marry Martha Dandridge Custis, who, I guess by the standards of Virginia at that time, was a stinking rich widow.

I forgot about that. He did grow up on a Southern plantation, after all.

(Jefferson wrote those words in the Declaration of Independence. James Madison wrote the Constitution. Of course, Jefferson was referring to free White male property owners over the age of 21.)

Thanks for correcting my garbled memory.

[Front-Ranger]

Continuing my rereading of back issues, in the April 14 "Talk of the Town" I read that "more than 100 people have died in 23 U.S. aviation incidents in 2025." And that was back in April! Ten days later, Newsweek updated the information, saying there were 250 incidents.Since then, I could find no information on Google. We live in the age of the Internet, but it appears that information can still be suppressed!

[Jeff Wrangler]

Today I read David Sedaris in the June 30 issue. Doing so reminded me again of how much he reminds me of James Thurber.

[serious crayons]

I'm afraid I had to read FRiend Lee's post a couple of times before it got through my thick skull that she meant going back in time to George Washington, not Abraham Lincoln returning to Washington. D.C.

Ohhh, I misread it, too. Then I googled it and found that there've been at least a few (probably false) claims that Lincoln's wife had slaves and he sold them at some point, though perhaps not until she died. That doesn't sound very Lincolnesque to me. Especially because even in some cases presidents who owned slaves freed them rather than profited on their sale. Still, freeing them suggests that they knew in their heart of hearts that slavery was wrong but were too used to having the help while they were alive.

It's amazing how hypocritical some of the Founders were. What??! National leaders are never hypocritical, are they?? 

But that they could live with statements like "all men are created equal" while also owning humans suggests to me that they had completely accepted the idea that Black people were inferior beings and not entitled to the same rights and freedoms, that slavery was their proper role in life. We're just lucky that they stated the noble sentiment in vague language, rather than "all land-owning white males were created equal," or things like the Civil Rights Act would have been even more difficult to get through.





 

[Jeff Wrangler]

Ohhh, I misread it, too. Then I googled it and found that there've been at least a few (probably false) claims that Lincoln's wife had slaves and he sold them at some point, though perhaps not until she died. That doesn't sound very Lincolnesque to me. Especially because even in some cases presidents who owned slaves freed them rather than profited on their sale. Still, freeing them suggests that they knew in their heart of hearts that slavery was wrong but were too used to having the help while they were alive.

Do you mean "Washington" here?