Thomas Jefferson and Slavery

Abstract

Thomas Jefferson's most enduring legacy is the American Creed, the belief expressed in the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence that declares men created equal; that they endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights. These sentiments have been the vision in the struggle to create an egalitarian, multiracial society in the United States. However, the author of this passage believed fervently that all persons of African descent should not be permitted to reside in the new republic unless they were enslaved. Throughout his life, Jefferson maintained that if freed, the former slaves must be colonized outside of North America to Africa or the Caribbean Islands. He based this imperative on his belief that the Blacks are inferior to the whites in the endowments both of body and mind (Jefferson, 1787/1954, p. 143).1 I will develop my analysis of Jefferson's racist thinking based primarily on his writings, and substantiate it with a summary of his political behavior with respect to slavery and freed slaves. Nature intended me for the tranquil pursuits of science by rendering them my supreme delight, he wrote in 1809 (Lipscomb & Bergh, 1905, Vol. XII, pp. 258-260),2 but a review of Jefferson's major published work, Notes on the State of Virginia (1787/1954), indicates that Jefferson was not rational and scientific when he