this was the occasion for a long and detailed and wrenching letter that carol randolph wrote describing this man in growing terms as a man of great courage and character. and it is in this letter randolph denounces what he calls the whole system as a hideous monster. he describes something that is based totally on terror and not at all on this notion of character. he had nothing bad to say about the slaves but described them as showing great courage in going off to death instead of trying to run away. to go back for a moment to the timeline, there are two basic benchmarks, events in jefferson's public life that i've looked at as displaying really his shift from one type of politician and planter to another. jefferson, the younger radical had written the terms of the ordinance of 1784 that would ban slavery in any new territory of the united states. this is what jefferson wrote. after the year 1800-beater slavery nor involuntary servitude. now, such a law would happen slavery and the timetable. those who helped -- had slaves would have had 16 years to figure a way out. the ordinance whic