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To: H-NET/OIEAHC Electronic Association in Early American Studies <H-OIEAHC@H-NET.MSU.EDU> X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4807.1700 Delivered-to: h-oieahc@h-net.msu.edu Original-recipient: rfc822;john.saillant@vmh.cc.wmich.edu J.F. Saddler deduces from the political leanings of Sir William Blackstone that Thomas Jefferson likely would not have agreed with the great English legal commentator concerning the advantages of arming the general populace, which certainly is an inference that goes against the recent scholarship concerning the American influence of British Tories such as Lord Bolingbroke and his circle (to borrow a phrase). Having satisfied himself on that score, Saddler closes by saying, "I would challenge anyone to prove to me that Madison or Jefferson, rural aristocrats though they were, had even the slightest Tory sympathies." Perhaps Mr. Saddler will be persuaded of the error of his inference by the fact that in "Speech of Mr. Rives, of Virginia, on Retrenchment and Reform: Delivered in the House of Representatives of the United States, on the 5th February, 1828." (Washington: Green and Jarvis, 1828), at 18-19, William Cabell Rives noted that Jefferson had called upon Rives to institute military training for all students at the University of Virginia. Prof. K.R. Constantine Gutzman Department of History Western Connecticut State University
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