 | John C. Waugh - History - 2003 - 236 pages
...men, will never be obliterated; and every new irritation will mark it deeper and deeper." He said, "we have the wolf by the ears, and we can neither hold him, nor safely let him go."63 Had this great political prophet lived to see what was about to happen in Washington in 1850,... | |
 | Bryan-Paul Frost, Jeffrey Sikkenga - Philosophy - 2003 - 852 pages
...won. In addition, they feared for their fate at the hands of freed slaves. As Thomas Jefferson said: "we have the wolf by the ears, and we can neither hold him, nor safely let him go."4 And while they sought to place slavery in a restricted locale so that the "public mind" could... | |
 | R. B. Bernstein - Juvenile Nonfiction - 2003 - 290 pages
...faced an insoluble dilemma. He expressed that dilemma in memorable terms: "We have the wolf by the ear, and we can neither hold him, nor safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, and self-preservation in the other."6 For us, the faintest star of Jefferson's intellectual constellation... | |
 | R. B. Bernstein - Juvenile Nonfiction - 2004 - 258 pages
...In 1820, he wrote about this dilemma in memorable terms to the Massachusetts politician John Holmes: "We have the wolf by the ears, and we can neither...nor safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, and self-preservation in the other." Finally, Jefferson was haunted by the specter of debt, which overshadowed... | |
 | Thomas Fleming - Philosophy - 2004 - 280 pages
...freeing all his slaves if "a general emancipation and expatriation could be effected." But, he insisted, "we have the wolf by the ears, and we can neither hold him, nor safely let him go."4 As a liberal proponent of natural rights who owned slaves, Jefferson exposed himself, even in... | |
 | Noah M. Jedidiah Pickus - Americanization - 2005 - 280 pages
...than I would to relieve us of this heavy reproach, in any practicable way," Jefferson wrote in 1820. "But as it is, we have the wolf by the ears, and we...nor safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, and self-preservation in the other."20 EMANCIPATION WITHOUT CITIZENSHIP A minority of citizens disagreed... | |
 | John Channing Briggs - History - 2005 - 396 pages
...property, for so it is misnamed, is a bagatelle which would not cost me a second thought, if in that way, a general emancipation, and expatriation could be...think it might be. But as it is, we have the wolf by die ears and we can neidier hold him, nor safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, and self-preservation... | |
 | Brian Weiner - Political Science - 2009 - 258 pages
...slaves).43 Jefferson portrayed himself, as he did others in his position of slave master, as paralyzed: "We have the wolf by the ears, and we can neither...nor safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, and self-preservation in the other."44 Reports of slave uprisings inspired Jefferson to make dire predictions.... | |
 | Sean Wilentz - Biography & Autobiography - 2006 - 1114 pages
...lengths to end slavery "in any practicable way." As things stood, he wrote, "we have the wolf by the ear, and we can neither hold him, nor safely let him go. [J]ustice is in one scale, and self-preservation in the other." If he became maddeningly circumspect about slavery, with the fear... | |
 | Gregory Shafer - History - 2005 - 125 pages
...referring to slavery, Jefferson framed the issue in animal metaphors. "We have the wolf by the ear and we can neither hold him, nor safely let him go. Justice is in scale, and self preservation in the other" (Finkelman 177). Clearly, in his conception of Black people,... | |
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The cession of that kind of property, for so it is misnamed, is a bagatelle which would not cost me a second thought, if, in that way, a general emancipation and expatriation could be effected ; and, gradually, and with due sacrifices, I think it might... 
