Thomas Jefferson

541 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: How did slavery impact america

Thomas Jefferson
When Americans think of pillar s of freedom in early American history Thomas Jefferson has to come to mind. He wrote the declaration of Independence stating “all men are created equally.” This equality was regardless of wealth, birth, or status, further the government is not a person’s master but the other way around. Still Jefferson owned hundreds of slaves all his life. Why was there an inconsistency with what he said and what he practiced in his own affairs? While he abhorred slavery he still believed that blacks were inferior to whites both physically and mentally. In essence his owning slaves was in eye a bit of charity to the them.
Jefferson wanted to abolish slavery. He included in the declaration of Independence “a stinging indictment of George III for trafficking in slavery”, however congress edited this out of the declaration after Georgia and South Carolina objected. Later as President he outlawed the further importation of new slaves to the country. The trade continued anyway but in the black market. Still the question remains why did Jefferson not free the slaves he already had? In addition, while other slave owners such as George Washington freed their slaves upon their deaths Jefferson only freed seven of his slaves. Why did he not follow Washington’s example? He never intended the “free men” to include women, blacks or Indians. While he disagreed with the idea of slavery he did purchase about 20 slaves, many times to unite a couple. However appallingly, he also purposely bought women as a means to grow his slave work force through reproduction. According to the website Monticello.org , Jefferson did not believe that a freed slave would be able to support and care for themselves in ...

... middle of paper ...

...g. He thought he was doing his slaves a favor.

Works Cited

Kennedy, David & Cohen, Lizabeth. The American Pageant. Boston, MA: Wadsworth, 2013. Print.
Malone, Dumas. “Thomas Jefferson, A Brief Biography”. Monticello.org. Thomas Jefferson Foundation. 1993. Print. 9 March 2014. http://www.monticello.org/site/jefferson/thomas-jefferson-brief-biography “Thomas Jefferson Biography” Biography.com. A+E television networks LLC. 2013. Print. 9 March 2014. http://www.biography.com/people/thomas-jefferson-9353715 Selfa, Lance. “Slavery and the origins of racism” Isreview.org. International Socialist Review. December 2002. Print. 10 Dec 2014. http://www.isreview.org/issues/26/roots_of_racism.shtml “American President: A Refercene Resource” Millecenter.org. University Of Virginia. 2013. Print. 10 March 2014.
http://millercenter.org/president/jefferson/essays/biography/print

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of Hope And Heritage: Myth, By Thomas Jefferson

    658 Words  | 2 Pages

    Jefferson idea to abolish slavery was only ever theoretical; in fact he could not even live without slavery in the end. He always emphasized that “however bad it was for slaves, the institution was somehow worse for white” (Finkleman 257) he believed that the institution negatively affected whites and the white

    Read More

  • Thomas Jefferson: A Man of Two Faces

    676 Words  | 2 Pages

    "We are told by his biographers, and apologists, that he hated slavery with a passion. But since he participated fully in the plantation slavery system, buying and selling slaves on occasion, and because he could not bring himself to free his own slaves, who often numbered upward of 200-250 on his plantations, one has to either question the verity of this passion or speculate that it was merely the abstract idea of slavery that he hated." (Smedley 189) Thomas Jefferson was always aware of the fact that slavery would soon one day be abolished but he made no efforts during his lifetime to accelerate the process. Jefferson was a wealthy plantation owner and politician that would speak out about slavery on a regular basis but would still employ slaves for his own use.

    Read More

  • The Watsons Go to Birmingham, by Christopher Paul Curtis

    2133 Words  | 5 Pages

    Taylor, Keeanga-Yamahtta. "Civil Rights and Civil Wrongs: Racism in America Today."International Socialist Review Online November-December.32 (2003): n. pag.ISReview.org. International Socialist Organization. Web. 07 Dec. 2013. .

    Read More

  • The Relationship Between Abraham Lincoln And James Oakes

    862 Words  | 2 Pages

    Clay had a unique perspective on the abolishment of slavery. Henry Clay wanted to slavery to be abolished within the early United States, but his motives leaned more towards have these slaves returned to their original countries, thus making them unable to become citizens of the United States. A large number of citizens in the north supported this ideal because they felt it was an effective way to eliminate slavery and remove the possibility of these enslaved men becoming apart of their society. Abraham Lincoln had a strong moral compass that he used to determine decisions on most of the major issues he encountered. He believed slavery to be morally wrong and had difficulty comprehending how people were able to justify its morality. Lincoln was disgusted by the treatment that took place in slavery. He believed that if one to remove the moral obligation within slavery and the mere realization of its cruelty, there are no there reasons to inhibit the expansion of it. At this particular time, slavery was an exceptionally prominent source of income, giving those who owned the most slaves, the most wealth. Because slavery produced such a resource of income, Lincoln knew that if given the opportunity, slavery would only increase.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Edmund Morgan Slavery And Freedom The American Paradox

    219 Words  | 1 Pages

    Edmund Morgan, based on his article "Slavery and Freedom: The American Paradox", would agree that Thomas Jefferson was not conscious of his contradicting words and actions being hypocritical. Morgan states "They were all slaveholders and remained so throughout their lives" despite the fact that they were "the most eloquent spokesmen for freedom and equality in the entire United States" (The American Paradox, pg. 6). Jefferson himself stated that "I am miserable, till I shall owe not a shilling" (The American Paradox, pg. 8), which proves his obsession with debt, and that men can only be free if they had land on which to support themselves. Jefferson was also against artificers because "they were the instruments by which the liberties of a country

    Read More

  • The Vast Influence of Thomas Jefferson

    689 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Jeffersons Influence on the United States -Program No. 35.” VOA Learning English. n.p. n.d. Web. 25 March 2014.

    Read More

  • The Concept Of Presentism In Douglas L. Jefferson And Paul Finkelman

    1026 Words  | 3 Pages

    His writings show how he truly views slavery. In the first document, found in the Declaration of Independence, he claims that King George III is violating the rights of Africans by taking them and selling them into slavery elsewhere in the world. In the last document, written to Holmes regarding the Missouri Compromise, he states how people would be happier having a greater surface for the slave trade. This is a perfect example of how Jefferson was hypocritical; he simply contradicted himself. Although these documents were written forty years or so apart, I believe that it is still important to note his hypocrisy. This is mainly because Jefferson owned slaves throughout this entire time

    Read More

  • Lincoln-Douglas Debate

    925 Words  | 2 Pages

    Abraham Lincoln's position on slavery was the belief that the expansion of it to Free states and new territories should be ceased and that it eventually be abolished completely throughout the country. He believed simply that slavery was morally wrong, along with socially and politically wrong in the eyes of a Republican. Lincoln felt that this was a very important issue during the time period because there was starting to be much controversy between the Republicans and the Democrats regarding this issue. There was also a separation between the north and the south in the union, the north harboring the Free states and the south harboring the slave states. Lincoln refers many times to the Constitution and its relations to slavery. He was convinced that when our founding fathers wrote the Constitution their intentions were to be quite vague surrounding the topic of slavery and African-Americans, for the reason that he believes was because the fathers intended for slavery to come to an end in the distant future, in which Lincoln refers to the "ultimate extinction" of slavery. He also states that the men who wrote the constitution were wiser men, but obviously did not have the experience or technological advances that the men of his day did, hence the reasons of the measures taken by our founding fathers.

    Read More

  • Equality In The Declaration Of Independence

    743 Words  | 2 Pages

    “All men are born free and with equal rights, and must always remain free and have equal rights,” (Thomas Jefferson) This is the famous statement made by Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence. He is being extremely hypocritical here considering he himself owned a near two hundred slaves. The slaves are still owned and treated as ‘property’. Thomas Jefferson did not have care for the slaves. The equalities discussed in the Declaration were not aimed to all men, they were aimed at specific white men. Frederick Douglass a former slave excellently asks in reaction to Jefferson; “Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us?” What he means by “Us” is African American, it could also mean slave considering he was one. It is just so perfectly put because it is obvious the beliefs of Jefferson were not extended to African American’s or slaves. He continues on rather sarcastically “confess the benefits”, this is important because there was very little benefits. (Frederick Douglass, 1852,

    Read More

  • Thomas Jefferson's Presidency

    1137 Words  | 3 Pages

    http://americanhistory.about.com/od/thomasjefferson/a/tj_lapurchase.htm>. Kindig, Thomas. A. The "Thomas Jefferson" Thomas Jefferson. Independence Hall Association, 4 July 1995.

    Read More

  • Thomas Jefferson and Monticello

    866 Words  | 2 Pages

    A person’s house can show you a lot about that person. In my own room you would probably find that I have a big appreciation for books, but don’t you wonder what the inventor and third president’s house showed you what he was like? Thomas Jefferson was a very important man; however, there are many more sides to him than you think.

    Read More

  • What Were Thomas Jefferson's Major Accomplishments

    1000 Words  | 2 Pages

    Thomas Jefferson was one of the most prominent figures in his time, for he helped build the United States government to what it is today. In 1782, six years after the Declaration of Independence which he co-wrote, Jefferson wrote Notes on the State of Virginia. In there he explains “some of the most important reasons why emancipation never received serious consideration in southern legislatures”. Although Jefferson was an advocate of “individual liberty, he was also a slaveowner”, but believes that slavery is not right. The first idea proposed is to “emancipate all slaves born after the passing act”. This means that all slaves that were born after the act will live with their parents until “the females should be eighteen, and the males

    Read More

  • Thomas Jefferson

    738 Words  | 2 Pages

    President Thomas Jefferson 1801 - 1809. Thomas Jefferson came into presidency with the intention of limiting the size and power of the central government. His success and failures in accomplishing this goal were many. Thomas Jefferson was America’s third president in reign from 1801 – 1809, once tying in the presidential race with Aaron Burr, where the decision was made by the House of Representatives to choose Jefferson, whom they thought was less dangerous than Burr.      As president he was the first to be inaugurated in Washington, which was a city he had helped to plan. President Jefferson's inauguration was probably the start of the changes in government.

    Read More

  • Frederick Douglass Ten Thousand Recollection

    665 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Query XIV from the “Notes on the State of Virginia”, which was part of our reading from an earlier lecture, Thomas Jefferson engages the question of “Why not retain and incorporate the blacks into the state” once they are freed. Put another way, the question becomes” why ex-slaves once freed must be colonized (e.g. kicked out of the country). The first reason he gives is: “Deep rooted prejudices entertained by the whites;” in other words, plain old racism. A second answer is more relevant to our reading of Frederick Douglass. Jefferson writes ominously about the “ten thousand recollections, by the blacks, of the injuries they have sustained.” The unstated suggestion is that “the blacks” once freed will exact a heavy (one might add, just) revenge

    Read More

  • American History: 1800s and Up

    1257 Words  | 3 Pages

    Washington, George."Washington's Farewell Address 1796." Yale Law School Avalon Project, 2008. Web. 12 Sept 2013.

    Read More

More about Thomas Jefferson

Open Document