Jefferson on Slavery (1784)

Jefferson on SlaveryJefferson on Slavery (1784)(1784)

Facts about Jefferson:• Third President1801-1809

• Born: April 13, 1743 in Albemarle County, Virginia

• Died: July 4, 1826 in Monticello in Virginia

• Married to Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson

• Author: The Declaration of Independence

• He was supported by slave labor his entire life

• He purchased eight or more slaves while president

Jefferson on SlaveryJefferson on Slavery (1784) (1784)

• PREJUDICE ON BEHALF OF WHITES AND RESENTMENT FOR INJURIES SUSTAINED ON BEHALF OF BLACKS WILL FOREVER DIVIDE THE TWO RACES: “Deep rooted prejudices entertained by the whites; ten thousand recollections, by the blacks, of the injuries they have sustained; new provocations; the real distinctions which nature has made; and many other circumstances, will divide us into parties, and produce convulsions which will probably never end but in the extermination of the one or the other race. To these objection, which are political, may be added others, which are physical and moral.”


WHITES ARE PHYSICALLY MORE BEAUTIFUL: “The circumstance of superior beauty, is thought worthy attention in

the propagation of our horses, dogs, and other domestic animals; why not in that of man?”

The difference is fixed in natureColor

fixed in natureless hair of face & body

Stature—seem to be made for laborsecrete less by kidneys, more by glandsstrong disagreeable odormore tolerant of heat and less of coldrequire less sleep


• Bravery– Were they really brave or did they have no forethought, which kept them

from seeing danger.


• Love– More ardent after their females– Have more eagerness of desire than love

–“They are more ardent after their female; but love seems with them to be more an eager desire, than a tender delicate mixture of sentiment and sensation. Their griefs are transient. Those numberless afflictions, which render it doubtful whether heaven his given life to us in mercy or in wrath, are less felt, and sooner forgotten with them. In general, their existence appears to participate more of sensation than reflection.”

• Memory– Equal to whites

– “…in memory they are equal to the whites; in reason much inferior…”

• Imagination– Dull, tasteless and anomalous

• Arts– No trace of art, painting or

sculpture, only narratives, even though they had been exposed.


• Music– More gifted than whites in regards to tune & time, but no

evidence of composition of melody or harmony.

• Poetry– Regarding Phyllis Whately, her compositions

were below dignity of criticism. – Ignatius Sancho, approached nearer merit, but

his letters do him more honor. – “Among the blacks is misery enough, God

knows, but no poetry.”


Blacksare inferior to the whites in the endowments both of body and mind.

• “…though for a century and a half we have had under our eyes the races of black and red men, they have never yet been viewed by us as subjects of natural history. I advance it therefore as a suspicion only, that the blacks, whether originally a distinct race, or made distinct by time and circumstances, are inferior to the whites in the endowments both of body and mind.”


When compared to Roman slaves, who were white.

•Roman slavery was much more appalling, but the slaves were often the rarest artists.

•They excelled in science and were tutors for the master’s children.

Roman Slave medallionJefferson on SlaveryJefferson on Slavery (1784) (1784)

Slavery is harmful the to slave owners and their Slavery is harmful the to slave owners and their posterity: posterity: “The whole commerce between master and slave “The whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions, the is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions, the most unremitting despotism on the one part, and degrading most unremitting despotism on the one part, and degrading submissions on the other. Our children see this, and learn submissions on the other. Our children see this, and learn to imitate it…”to imitate it…”

The parent storms, the child looks on, catches the The parent storms, the child looks on, catches the lineaments of wrath, puts on the same airs in the circle of lineaments of wrath, puts on the same airs in the circle of smaller slaves, gives a loose to the worst of passions, and smaller slaves, gives a loose to the worst of passions, and thus nursed, educated, and daily exercised in tyranny, thus nursed, educated, and daily exercised in tyranny, cannot but be stamped by it with odious peculiarities.cannot but be stamped by it with odious peculiarities.


A detail from the cover of the booklet produced for the June 22-25 symposium on "Thomas Jefferson and Slavery" shows the U.Va. founder (left) and Isaac Jefferson, a slave who became a blacksmith and later overseer of Monticello in 1797. He was the only slave ever to hold this position there.

Slavery Damages the Moral Fiber of the Country:Slavery Damages the Moral Fiber of the Country:“With the morals of the people, their industry also is destroyed. For in a warm climate, no man will labor for himself who can make another labor for him. This is so true, that of the proprietors of slaves of a very small proportion are ever seen to labor.” “…I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep for ever; that considering numbers, nature and natural means only, a revolution of the wheel of fortune, an exchange of situation, is among possible events…”


http://www.michaelcosm.com/sub_feat/feat_jeff.html

Thomas Jefferson is believed to have fathered children with his slave, Sally Hemings

http://www.cnn.com/US/9905/17/jefferson.reunion/

Documents

Jefferson on Slavery (1784)