Given all this discussion about Jefferson and slavery, I thought it might be worth noting another embarrassing irony of US history, the war for "liberty" of Texas. What was that really about? Well, the Texas independence movement was immediately triggered by Mexico abolishing slavery in 1830. It was the "liberty" to own slaves that the "Sons of Liberty" of Texas were seeking and achieved, at least for a few decades more. Barkley Rosser
-- Rosser Jr, John Barkley rosserjb at jmu.edu