He was part of America's fight for freedom and equality. But did his enlightened principles outweigh his participation in a great injustice?
Search Thomas Jefferson vs. History.
Order! Order! Hey, it's one of the guys from Mount Rushmore. Ahem. This is Thomas Jefferson, the founding father of the United States of America and the primary author of the Declaration of Independence.
The document that established America as a democratic republic on the principle that all are created equal. If by "everyone" you mean white male property owners. At the time Jefferson was writing, one-fifth of the population of the colonies were enslaved.
Surely he could not be expected to single-handedly overturn the institution of slavery?
Couldn't he have written it in the declaration?
It wasn't that simple, Your Honor. Jefferson was one of five authors, and the document had to be ratified by the Continental Congress. He added a clause opposing the slave trade, but the state delegates removed it.
Nevertheless,
Jefferson recognized slavery as an immoral institution and condemned it throughout his life. But Jefferson's words never matched his actions!
As governor of Virginia, he did nothing to change the state's slave laws. And in his personal life he enslaved more than 600 people.
Furthermore, he believed that black people were intellectually inferior who, if freed, should return to their native countries. Frankly, there is no argument that Jefferson did anything important to combat slavery. That is true, Your Honor.
But Jefferson played an important role in religious,
financial and gender equality. He led the charge for the separation of church and state, ended government funding for the Anglican Church in Virginia, and paved the way for our modern understanding of religious liberty.
Jefferson also drafted laws that weakened the power of inherited wealth and emphasized state-funded education for boys and girls. All worthwhile improvements, but you're avoiding the core issue here.
None of this benefited enslaved people or Native Americans,
and it is absurd to argue that Jefferson was pursuing equality when his policies often harmed non-white groups. Policies such as authorizing the military to exterminate local communities during the Revolutionary War.
Objection!
Those north-western tribes were mixed with the British. In times of peace, Jefferson did his best to avoid conflict with Native Americans and believed they could be equals to whites.
"Could be equal"?
Hear for yourself!
Are you defending his efforts to forcefully assimilate indigenous communities? Jefferson's recommendations also formed the basis of the Indian Removal Act years later.
Recommendations?
Why not the law?
Thomas Jefferson served as a diplomat and secretary of state before being elected vice president under John Adams in 1796.
Jefferson argued that states should have the power to nullify federal laws they deemed unconstitutional—an argument some southern states would make when they seceded from the Union 70 years later. I think it's a bit unreasonable to lay the entire Civil War at Jefferson's feet.
In addition,
his defense of states' rights was affected by the president's overreach of the central government. As part of Adams' preparations for war with France, he signed legislation that tightened restrictions on immigrants and limited criticism of the government.
Jefferson was just trying to protect the public.
And eventually his efforts were so popular that he was elected as the next president. A dubious victory. He won only because states were allowed to count enslaved people in their population without giving them the right to vote.
This system gave enslaved people in the states additional voting power in the Electoral College until the Civil War. Regardless, Jefferson was a popular president.
He worked to prevent the country from taking on too much debt, and successfully led America through the Napoleonic and Barbary Wars.
In addition, he dramatically expanded the territory of the country through the Louisiana Purchase. where he once again failed to prevent slavery from taking hold. Let me remind you that President Jefferson signed the Slave Importation Act in 1807.
And yet he continued to enslave people already on American soil,
including his own flesh and blood. forgive me. After his wife's death, Jefferson began an affair with his half-sister and maid, Sally Hemings.
Jefferson fathered six children with Hemings and kept the entire relationship secret, publicly denouncing the figure of black Americans.
Jefferson freed several members of the Hemings family, including Sally's children—despite enslaving more than 600 people, refusing to free anyone else, Jefferson freed only 10. . Five during his lifetime and five in his will—all members of the Hemings family.
Even I have to admit, it seems indefensible.
That is true, Your Honor. Despite pursuing what he believed to be equality, Jefferson failed to uphold his ideals. Ultimately, he was a man of his time—living in an economy that depended on exploitation and slave labor.
This is hardly a defense when many of Jefferson's contemporaries opposed slavery and took action to abolish it. Even if some people considered him a great man in his time, he is not necessarily an icon for us. Well, I hear Mount Rushmore has a troubled past too.
Can we judge historical figures by modern standards?
And what are the responsibilities of powerful people in the future? Answering these questions is part of putting history on trial.
0 Comments