The definitive enquiry into the Jefferson–Hemings controversy.
The case that Thomas Jefferson fathered the children of his slave Sally Hemings is often presented as settled fact. In 2001, the Scholars Commission found that the question is very much unproven, and a near-unanimous majority came to the conclusion that other explanations were more likely.
The main conclusions.
01
What the DNA evidence actually showed.
The 1998 DNA analysis published in Nature was crucial in forming the public view that Jefferson fathered Eston Hemings. But the analysis only narrows the candidates to around 25 Jefferson men, seven of them of whom could have been at Monticello around Eston’s conception. The lead scientist of the DNA report co-operated fully with the commission’s inquiry and agreed that the test could not distinguish Jefferson from his other male-line relatives.
02
The “proof” of Jefferson’s presence at Monticello.
Jefferson appears to have been at Monticello during most or all relevant conception windows, which some commissioners considered the strongest evidence against him. The report counters that his return also drew relatives and visitors — including paternity candidates that were perhaps more likely than Jefferson — to the estate. It rejects the William & Mary statistical study for making unreasonable assumptions; on the commission’s own assumptions, the DNA-based probability that Jefferson fathered Eston falls below 15 percent.
03
Unreliable testimony.
One of piece of evidence used against Jefferson is an 1873 newspaper article purporting to be the testimony of Sally’s son Madison Hemings. The commission questions this account: some details could not have been personally known, resemble in language earlier discredited attacks on Jefferson, or conflict with surviving records. It also notes that Sally Hemings and her other children left no recorded allegation of Jefferson’s paternity. The report therefore regards the statements as seriously flawed rather than decisive evidence.
04
A stronger alternative candidate.
The commission does not conclusively identify Eston’s father, yet considers the circumstantial case for Jefferson’s younger brother Randolph substantially stronger. It cites Randolph’s contact with Monticello’s enslaved community, a possible visit near Eston’s conception, family oral history referring to an “uncle,” and the overlap between Randolph’s widowerhood and Sally Hemings’s childbearing years. The report concludes that relatives’ visits and other testimony make Jefferson’s paternity uncertain.
05
The central conclusion
The commission unanimously concluded that the allegation was not proved by the evidence it reviewed. The conclusion of twelve of its thirteen members ranged from serious skepticism to near-certain rejection of the allegation; one found Jefferson’s paternity of Eston somewhat more likely than not.
Read the full summary.
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An Innocent Man: Thomas Jefferson and the Sally Hemings Fiction
A film from examining how the allegations against Jefferson became accepted as fact. It reinforces the commission’s central case: the DNA evidence did not identify Thomas Jefferson, and the surviving historical record leaves stronger alternative explanations.
“The question … is an issue about which honorable people can and do disagree.”
— Scholars Commission report, summary