Thomas Jefferson was quite the proverbial asshole

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Great find, Joe.

Comparision between Washington and Jefferson is particulary interesting. Not only, as mentioned in the article, Washington did free his slaves but from what I've been reading about him, he was doing everything to avoid harsh treatment of his slaves. For example there was only one instance he seek to bring back a runaway (didn't try very hard, ftr) and he felt very uneasy about separating slave families.

But Jefferson always had a good PR. In fact he was just full of s**t. 

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Following the Revolutionary War, a number of slaveholders in the Upper South freed their slaved. Just saying.

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His concerns of being financially destitute were always more pressing than his desire to free slaves...

That's because he was such a spendthrift, he usually was at the edge of being financially destitute.  In many ways, Jefferson was the Donald Trump of his age.  If it hadn't been for his political fame, he very likely would have ended up in debtors' prison.

Wasn't he rebuilding Monticello like every year?

Anyway, while I do understand economic concerns (Jefferson being too indebted to afford freeing his slaves), Tom wasn't particulary "kind" master as opposed to his overhyped "humanitarian" image.

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I never was a huge fan of the man for a variety of reasons (though I also had reasons to like him). This doesn't exactly subtract from the already insulting term I referred to him as, a Godless Communist.

I hope you meant that purely as an insult and not as a judgment of Jefferson's actual beliefs.

Insult, though he was quite left-wing compared to many at the time, and that's never good.

Go Elbridge Gerry yourself.

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I never was a huge fan of the man for a variety of reasons (though I also had reasons to like him). This doesn't exactly subtract from the already insulting term I referred to him as, a Godless Communist.

I hope you meant that purely as an insult and not as a judgment of Jefferson's actual beliefs.

Insult, though he was quite left-wing compared to many at the time, and that's never good.

Go Elbridge Gerry yourself.

That's the new substitution for f[Inks]? Or was Elbridge Gerry the moderator of real life 1800's?

Rather a death wish, considering his "record" as VP

But seriously, I have problems with thinking of Jefferson as particulary "left-wing" compared to his peers. Of course, there were "freedom of press", "freedom of religion" and "I believe in the people" stuff but that applied more or less to most of the Founding Fathers. On the other hand, Jefferson was an agrarian freak, affraid of industry and deeply attached to semi-feudal Southern way of life.

I guess I'm a Federalist.

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Given my location, I'm obligated to defend Jefferson.  I am now defending Jefferson.

Very eloquent and detailed defense we've got from you.