It's unconfirmed if their relationship was sexual but it seems possible -- and marriage would've been illegal at the time and a scandal
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Replying to @arthur_affect
But Stevens and his rumored "common-law wife" Lydia Smith weren't analogous to Jefferson as Hemings -- he never owned her as property
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Replying to @arthur_affect
He would've had to keep their relationship secret but he did always demand his family and colleagues treat her with respect
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Replying to @arthur_affect
Addressing her as "Mrs. Smith" (she was a widow) and not "Lydia" or "girl"
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Replying to @arthur_affect
He fully included her and her children by previous marriage in his will
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Replying to @arthur_affect
In the film they imagine him presenting the 13th Amendment to her as his present and his apology for never marrying her
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Replying to @arthur_affect
Of course he was still a congressman and she was still a housekeeper -- their relationship would not have been unproblematic by any means
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Replying to @arthur_affect
But that's what trying to have a relationship in such a system would look like; there are confirmed stories of ppl in such situations
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Replying to @arthur_affect
Note the reasons ppl thought Stevens and Smith had a relationship -- he treated her "disturbingly" like an equal -- don't apply to Jefferson
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Replying to @arthur_affect
If I remember right Abigail Adams worried about her as a young girl in his house when he was in France, like she got a weird vibe
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It seems pretty clear Jefferson used Hemings as a proxy for his dead wife and to me that's the opposite of romance
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