Editing Joseph Ellis (section)

====Thomas Jefferson====
{{main|American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson}}
In his book ''American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson'' (1996), Ellis explored the character and personality of Jefferson, and his many contradictions.  He emphasized how important privacy was to him, and how the president and statesman preferred to work behind the scenes in politics, through letters, meetings and discussions over dinners. Ellis noted Jefferson's success in this style.

In relation to one of the major questions about his private life, whether Jefferson had a liaison with his slave [[Sally Hemings]], Ellis suggested that evidence was "inconclusive." His deep analysis of Jefferson's character led him to conclude that the statesman did not have the liaison.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.mtholyoke.edu/offices/comm/vista/0002/ellis.shtml| title=Joseph Ellis: Putting History in Perspective| publisher=mountholyoke.edu| year=2000| access-date=2006-08-04| archive-date=March 15, 2007| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070315001103/http://www.mtholyoke.edu/offices/comm/vista/0002/ellis.shtml| url-status=dead}}</ref> Specifically, Ellis says in the appendix to ''American Sphinx:''
<blockquote>Unless the trustees of the [[Thomas Jefferson Foundation|Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation]] decide to exhume the remains and do [[DNA testing]] on Jefferson as well as some of his alleged progeny, it leaves the matter a mystery about which advocates on either side can freely speculate... This means that for those who demand an answer the only recourse is plausible conjecture, prefaced as it must be with profuse statements about the flimsy and wholly circumstantial character of the evidence. In that spirit, which we might call the spirit of responsible speculation, after five years mulling over the huge cache of evidence that does exist on the thought and character of the historical Jefferson, I have concluded that the likelihood of a liaison with Sally Hemings is remote.<ref>{{cite news | first= Joseph | last= Ellis | url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/jefferson/cron/1996sphinx.html| title="Appendix:Note on the Sally Hemings Scandal" From "American Sphinx", pp.303-307| publisher=pbs.org|year=1996| access-date=2006-08-04}}</ref></blockquote>

{{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?114618-1/american-sphinx-thomas-jefferson ''Washington Journal'' interview with Ellis about DNA evidence identifying Thomas Jefferson as the father of one of Sally Hemmings's children, November 7, 1998], [[C-SPAN]]}}
On November 5, 1998, Dr. Eugene Foster and his team published the results of [[Y-DNA]] analysis of Jefferson male-line descendants (he had no known male descendants but Y-DNA is passed on virtually unchanged through direct male-line descendants) and descendants of others reputed to be associated with him. Foster reported that DNA results showed a match between the Jefferson male line and the descendant of [[Eston Hemings]]. Given that and other historical evidence, they concluded that Thomas Jefferson was the father of Eston and probably of Sally Hemings' other children.<ref name="PBS">{{cite news | url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/jefferson/cron/| title=Frontline: Jefferson's Blood: The History of a Story| access-date=2006-08-04}}</ref> The study showed no match between the Carr line, named by two of Jefferson's grandchildren as the father(s) of Hemings' children, and the Eston Hemings descendant, disproving the major alternative to Thomas Jefferson as father.<ref name="PBS"/>

In interviews on ''[[The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer]]'' in November 1998 and Frontline's ''Jefferson's Blood'' in 2000, Ellis made public statements about his change of opinion following the DNA studies, saying he believed that Jefferson had a long-term relationship with Sally Hemings.<ref name="Newshour">{{cite news|url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/white_house/july-dec98/jefferson_11-2.html |title=Online Newshour: Thomas Jefferson |publisher=[[PBS]] |date=November 2, 1998 |quote=It's not so much a change of heart, but this is really new evidence. And it—prior to this evidence, I think it was a very difficult case to know and circumstantial on both sides, and, in part, because I got it wrong, I think I want to step forward and say this new evidence constitutes, well, evidence beyond any reasonable doubt that Jefferson had a longstanding sexual relationship with Sally Hemings.  Even though the match is only with one of the Hemings' descendants, Eston Hemings, it's inconceivable that Jefferson, who was 65 when Eston was born, would have made a one-night stand here. I think this is a longstanding relationship. When it began and what the character of the relationship is we probably can't know easily or at all. But it was, without question, an enduring one. |access-date=August 4, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060502081313/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/white_house/july-dec98/jefferson_11-2.html |archive-date=May 2, 2006 }}</ref><ref name="ellisfront">[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/jefferson/interviews/ellis.html "Interview: Joseph Ellis"], ''Jefferson's Blood'', 2000, PBS-Frontline, Quote: "We don't know for sure when Jefferson's relationship with Sally Hemings started. The DNA testing that has been done was done on the Eston Hemings line. Eston was born in 1805. It does seem that Jefferson had a long-term relationship with Sally Hemings."</ref>