- More on Henry Wiencek, whose book, Master of the Mountain: Thomas Jefferson and His Slaves, is now available. Annette Gordon-Reed (Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Hemingses of Monticello) comes to Jefferson’s defense. She writes that Wiencek misunderstands a great deal and what he thinks is new, is not. Basically she says the book cannot be trusted. See Slate,
Jefferson Was Not a Monster
(19-Oct-2012).
The Dark Side of Thomas Jefferson: Rebutted
Jefferson biographers express astonishment that the apprenticeship with Wythe lasted five full years, 1762 - 67, at a time when almost no one studied law for more than two. Patrick Henry studied not more than six weeks,
or so at least he told Jefferson, and Wythe for one was so convinced of the inadequacy of Henry’s training he refused to sign his license. Jefferson’s years under Wythe, years of virtually uninterrupted reading, not only in the law but also in ancient classics, English literature, and general political philosophy, were not so much an apprenticeship for law as an apprenticeship for greatness.
Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History (1974)