Jefferson Notes on the State of Virginia and Race
Thomas Jefferson, a man who penned the words, "All men are createdequal," was a slave owner. To many, this is an inconceivablecontradiction-a hypocritical blasphemy against truth. However, Jeffersonwas ultimately a man of his times, mired in the social and politicalclimate of his day-a day, when slavery was a simple, if not repugnant, factof life. But how, exactly, did Jefferson feel about racial difference andthe justification of slavery' The answer can be clearly found in his work, At the time of its writing, Jefferson's Notes was an importantdiplomatic document. Jefferson knew that the country desperately needed tohave the support of various European nations if it was to successfullybreak free from the grasp of Great Britain. However, he worried that theimage of the United States would be tarnished if the notion that itsIndians had been conquered and enslaved. For this reason, he wrote, "Aninhuman practice once prevailed in this country of making slaves of theIndians. (This practice commenced with the Spaniards with the first
(138) The reader sees from this statement, that Jefferson not only fearedand expressed his fear of reprisal from the long suffering slaves, but hebelieved that there was a "real distinction which nature has made," almosta God-given difference that justified the continuation of slavery. Indeed, the fact that Jefferson is considered to be the fatherof the Declaration of Independence is especially troubling in light of hisviews. Indeed, Jefferson not only justifies the continuation of theinstitution of slavery in his writing, but he refers to a "doom" scenario,where, were slaves to be freed, the cumulative injustices inflicted uponthem would be revisited upon the whites in retaliation. From his cradle to his grave he islearning to do what he sees others do. Although it is true that he was a product of his times, thereremains a significant grain of immorality in continuing theenslavement/imprisonment of an entire people out of fear of legitimateanger. "(61) Thus, Jefferson was keenly resolute in denyingthat the United States was responsible for enslaving American Indians-andhe not only vigorously denied this fact, but shifted the blame onto theoriginal Spanish explorers. Our children see this, andlearn to imitate it; for man is an imitative animal. (162) In short, Thomas Jefferson believed that there was a real physicaland social difference between white and black that was too profound tobridge. Perhaps, Jefferson should have added to his famous "all men arecreated equal," and continued, "but how we treat them is another story. Not only was the situation and position of black slavesdifferent, but it was far more dangerous to the survival of the countrywere it to be abolished. Further, heasserts: Why not retain and incorporate the blacks into the state, and thussave the expense of supplying, by importation of white settlers, thevacancies they will leave' Deep rooted prejudices entertained by thewhites; ten thousand recollections, by the blacks, of the injuries theyhave sustained; new provocations; the real distinction which nature hasmade; and many other circumstances, will divide us into parties, andproduce convulsions which will probably never end but in the exterminationof the one or the other race. However, this begs the question-what of theblack slaves-the very ones he kept on his plantation' To Jefferson, theanswer was clear. However, the complete injustice in that belief is striking.
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