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[Clansgian AT wmconnect.com]

> All very true, but Grant did repay his creditors and had sold other  
> possessions to do so, if he 
> saw Jones as simply another possession, why draw the line there.

Because as slave property, Jones was unique among his possessions.  If he 
manumitted him, Jones was immeditely beyond the grasp of Grant's creditors 
but it 
cost Grant nothing to do so.  The rest of his possessions he was going to 
lose anyway.  

Most of his debts were eventually paid, true enough.   But recall that even 
after having been president, he was so broke that Samuel Clements had to 
publish Grant's memoirs at Clements' own expense and basically did so as a 
tribute 
to Grant without profiting much from it himself.   </HTML>