Thomas Jefferson Hemings Diary Analysis

Thomas Jefferson did not believe in racial equality, and thought that blacks were intellectually inferior. However in one of the most important documents in American history is the Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson himself, he says ”We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by there creator...” Jefferson knew that his ownership of slaves contradicted his principles. What Jefferson wanted most was for slaves to one day be free, he wanted them to go back to Africa. He refused to grant freedom to his own slaves because of their significances to his wealth, but overall he condemned slavery.

In “Notes on the State of Virginia”, Thomas Jefferson decrees a few noteworthy notions. Jefferson writes that setting the enslaved people free will be problematic. He suggests that the slaves will never forget the torture, inhuman, and malicious treatment from the white colonizers, and they will seek revenge. This type of ideology is one of the reasons America tends to shy away from making black injustices headliners, or why America relentlessly searches for reasons to discredit a blatant act of violence against black people. It is the fear of Black people’s internalizing the “Deep rooted prejudices entertained by the whites; ten thousand recollections, by the blacks, of the injuries they have sustained;” that America (particularly white

Son of former slaves, farmer, astronomer, and author Benjamin Banneker in his letter to Thomas Jefferson in asserts that slavery is erroneous and should be discontinued. During this time period, slaves had no rights or freedom, slaves were property. Banneker was a slavery abolitionist, and wanted to help African Americans. Banneker adopts a respectful yet vexed tone in order to criticize and accuse Thomas Jefferson of being a hypocrite. Thomas Jefferson wrote the lines, “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”, but he himself owned slaves, so this describes he did not want liberty for African American slaves. Banneker is offended and vexed, judging Jefferson as a hypocrite. Banneker achieves his purpose of judging Jefferson through his prominent use of diction.

As Banneker pointed out earlier in the letter, Jefferson alluded to god in the Declaration of Independence and thus values God’s word. Thus when Banneker alludes to God once again, Jefferson is obligated to follow God’s word, in order to be consistent with his values. Thus he puts himself in the slaves’ shoes in order to have more compassion for the slaves’ plight, just as the quote said.

Throughout Jefferson’s notes, Jefferson goes on to explain that he understands that the very concept of slavery goes against his philosophy in which he instilled into the Declaration of Independence. As one of the father of our nation, we the people should expect our leaders to uphold certain standards when it comes to human rights of their vary nation. To quote our fathering document, the Declaration of Independence, “We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness…” This however, brings up the point on whether or not Jefferson viewed the African slaves as “all men.” In the excerpt from his notes, Jefferson discusses that he believes that slavery should not exist but he also believed that once a slave is free, he or she can no longer live in the same society as one who which they have slaved for.

Thomas Jefferson wrote “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal” yet, he held over two hundred slaves which would make this an extremely important example of the corruption Jefferson, will later go on to talk about in the following paragraphs. His childhood friend, Jupiter, was born a slave closely by his side while he was a young boy and later ended up being an owned slave by the Jefferson family. Jupiter was raised

In the article, Jefferson initially shows a concern for the African Americans. He expresses emancipating the slaves. He also suggested sending them to another country. Jefferson speaks on how all men are created equal and how slavery is not right.

Thus, no African American child would be born free in the United States. He or she would have been emancipated after he or she has reached the specific age, and then would have been deported to a colony away from his or her parents. Colonization in Africa allowed the two races to live and prosper separately, and notably with an enormous ocean that conveniently stretches many thousands of miles between the two continents. Jefferson believed it was crucial for this process to not only be gradual, but the colonization is truly what saved either race from annihilation. He continued to write, “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… will divide us into parties, and produce convulsions which will probably never end but in the extermination of one of the other race” (Jefferson 669). In his mind, this emancipation plan was the only way for the two races to survive successfully, because if they lived together then the inherent differences between the supreme white race and inferior black race would cause

The philosophies of Thomas Jefferson are often at odds with one another. On one hand, he looks to enlightenment ideals and writes of natural rights and equalities for all men in his drafting of the Declaration of Independence (more on Jefferson’s and the Enlightenment can be found here). He also proposes legislature that prohibits the spread of slavery to new states. However, his role as a slave owner contradicts his philosophy on liberty in a profound way. His book Notes on the State of Virginia represents the depth of his thought against black people as an equal race to whites, and he includes a breakdown for the reasons that he believes integration is not a viable alternative to the problem of slavery (the full content can be read half way down the page here). Then, there are the facts surrounding his personal relationship with his slave, Sally Hemings and the children he fathered with her. This contradiction of attitude and philosophy is directly related to Jefferson’s cultural influences having grown up surrounded by slavery as an acceptable way of life. He ultimately falls back on society’s view of black people as inferior to justify his way of life, and calm his fears of the possible violent ramifications of emancipating his slaves (this is a reference to slave revolts). For more on this topic see my complete work here.

Jefferson was educated under a doctrine that sought to perpetuate the slaves’ place in society as inferior. He argues that “the whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions, the most unremitting despotism on the one part, and degrading subjugation on the other. Our children see this, and learn to imitate it: for man is an imitative animal.”

Once Banneker has grabbed Jefferson’s attention with this flattering, he begins pointing out the hypocrisy of what Jefferson has professed about liberty and freedom in the past, and how it contradicts to the way blacks in America are being treated. One powerful way Banneker does this is by reminding Jefferson of “that time in which the Arms and tyranny of the British Crown were exerted with every powerful effort in order to reduce you to a State of Servitude.” This comparison of Britain’s tyranny to slavery allows Jefferson to almost place himself in Banneker’s shoes, and to relate to the struggles that blacks have faced. It also points to Jefferson’s hypocrisy because of what Jefferson was specifically fighting for. These were the natural rights of “ ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happyness’,“ and the idea that “ ‘all men are created equal’.” These are the exact same things Banneker is fighting for, and the fact that Jefferson was an advocate of these same ideas makes it impossible for him to disagree with Banneker. The direct quotes from the Declaration of Independence, which was written by Jefferson, gives Jefferson two options: one, to be called a hypocrite, or two, to support Banneker and his purpose. Since Banneker’s overall goal is to end

A passage from Thomas Jefferson’s draft autobiography says, “...Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate that these people [enslaved Africans] are to be free. Nor is it less certain that the two races [black & white], equally free, cannot live in the same government?” Jefferson is able to fathom that at that time and in that era, the African Americans and the Caucasians will not be able to live in the same government as the African Americans wouldn’t be very keen to how they’ve been treated for many years. Also, both whites and blacks have different and opposing views. Nothing would function right if they are in one government. Jefferson looks ahead when talking about them living in the same government and he also looks ahead when talking about what would happen if the slaves are freed. In a letter to Jared Sparks, Jefferson states, “There are in the United States a million and a half of people of color in slavery. To send off the whole of these at once, nobody conceives to be practicable for us, or expedient for them. Let us take twenty-five years for its accomplishment, within which time they will be doubled. Their estimated value as property, in the first place, (for actual property has been lawfully vested in that form, and who can lawfully take it from the possessors?) at an average of two hundred dollars each, young and old, would amount to six hundred millions of dollars, which must be paid or lost by somebody.” What he is saying here is that it will cost a lot of money and there will be debt if the slaves are freed all at once. Jefferson calculates the amount of years it will take for the slaves to be released and for it to not cost so much money. Six hundred million dollars is about $15,000,000,000.00 today. That is a lot of money which Thomas, and probably all of America, doesn’t want to lose. Jefferson looked into this topic and he knows

" This quote is a southern point of view. Ultimately, the colonists of the south viewed that owning slaves was at choice of the individual, and did not see anything wrong with it considering African Americans were capturing and selling their own race to the English. On the contrary, the colonists from the New England colonies abolished slavery before the southerners, and did not

At times, in order to pay some of his debt, Jefferson would have to part with his slaves. Thomas Jefferson was a big advocate for family unity. He would never sell individual slaves if it meant breaking a family apart. He would sell some slaves to purchase others as a “family” or one team. Thomas Jefferson was between a rock and a hard place, he needed the slaves to keep his head afloat. He would never mistreat his slaves, for he truly thought that all men were indeed created equal.

The 200 TV movie “Sally Hemings: An American Scandal” tells the story of the scandalous relationship between Thoma Jefferson and his teenage slave Sally Hemings. Their relationship began unexpectedly in Paris and grew quickly. Sally became accustomed to the life in Paris where she was free. Jefferson treated her to many fine things and an education. Soon they had to return to America.