And while they ate the delicious figs, they would pass the slave quarters on Mulberry Row. The man who said of slavery 'This abomination must end' was the owner of about 150 slaves. The monumental man had monumental flaws. ... If you want to understand this country and its people and what it means to be optimistic and complex and tragic and wrong and courageous, you need to go to Monticello. Walk around the house and the gardens. The linden trees might be in bloom, filing the air with their delicious perfume. Maybe you will lie down under a tree and fall asleep thinking about life, liberty and the pursuit of everything.
