Thomas Jefferson Notes On The State Of Virginia Summary

“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” Thomas Jefferson is arguably one of the most influential people to Virginia and the United States before and during the American Revolution. Jefferson had been a governor for Virginia during the American Revolution, he had wrote the Declaration of Independence along with four other notable American politicians, and served as a minister to France in 1785-1789. Without Jefferson the American Revolution most likely would have played out completely different and we could possibly be living a different life today.

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.

The quote delivered by the passionate and determined Benjamin Banneker states, “The present freedom and tranquility which you enjoy you have mercifully received and that it is the peculiar blessing of Heaven” (Banneker 10). As young man of parents who were both treated unfairly and living under the gates of slavery, Banneker expresses how those with freedom take it for granted and don’t realize what a blessing it truly is. He wants all slaves or people who are treated poorly to enjoy life of freedom and happiness that others get to savor. Thomas Jefferson was a United States Secretary of State and the former of the Declaration of Independence. He wrote words that have left a lasting impact in the Americas. Jefferson however did not

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.

Works Cited Sadosky, L. J. (2016). Jefferson, Thomas. Worldbookonline.com. Retrieved from http://www.worldbookonline.com/student/article?id=ar286800&st=thomas+jefferson#tab=homepage Thomas Jefferson. (2009).

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.”

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.

In the village of Hampton there was a man who goes by the name of Benjamin F. Butler who had in his words, “a large number of Negros, many of them are composed in a great measure of women and children who had fled thither within my lines for protection, who had escaped from marauding Rebels who had been gathering up able-bodied blacks to aid them in construction their batteries on the James and York rivers... (Doc A)” This may prove to us that Ben was a slave owner in Virginia possibly before the Civil War and during the Civil War. Ben had some questions on his mind about his slaves, “First, what shall be done with them? Second, what is their state and condition? Upon these questions I desire the instruction of the department. (Doc A)” He had many other questions about his slaves and how the way he was treating them, “... Are these men, women, and children slaves? Are they free? Is their condition that of men, women, and children, or of property, or is it a mixed relation? What has been the effect of rebellion and a state of war on their status? (Doc A)” Ben had his moments on his questions about the slaves and the events that are going on, but he had something to say to his questions in his head, “When I adopted the theory of treating the able-bodied Negro fit to work in the trenches as property liable to be used in aid of rebellion, and so contraband of war, that condition of things was

Thomas Jefferson viewed African Americans as inferior to the whites in the endowments both of body and mind. He wrote that maintaining slavery resembled holding "a wolf by the ear, and we can neither hold him, nor safely let him go." Jefferson cherished the federal union, which launched his fears about the preservation of republican society in regard to African Americans, he feared that the world's first democratic experiment would be destroyed by slavery. Jefferson thought that the emancipation of slaves on American soil would result in a large-scale race war that would be as brutal and deadly as the slave revolt in Haiti in 1791. But he also believed that to keep slaves in bondage, with part of America in favor of abolition and part of America in favor of perpetuating slavery, could only result in a civil war that would destroy the union.

Banneker criticizes the ethics of the white classicism and their apparent “ proper ideas: that have created misery and depression among his enslaved family. The author recognizes the slave community as “equal” with the white community; he believes that a small amount of “ respect to them” should be shown under the words Jefferson has advertized. By exemplifying the antithesis of the white man’s freedom and the slave’s imprisonment, Banneker discredits Jefferson’s “truths” about their God; the effects of Banneker’s previous critical remark are repaired by the acknowledgement of Jeffersons extensive “knowledge” which aids to the author's euphemistic one appeal, by complementing Jefferson’s intelligence, while respectfully disagreeing with his Declaration. Banneker presses on to reveal the true relationship between slaves and slave owners; he comes to the conclusion that slave owners are more dependent on their slaves in comparison to the slaves’ dependence on the slave owners. He believes that slave owners rely too heavily on the enslaved individuals and desperately need to “wean” themselves off of this apparent

Wilson opens his assessment of Jefferson by giving the juxtaposition of holding slaves and publicly being opposed to the practice. This opens the contradictory nature of analyzing Jefferson through the guise of our modern viewpoint that the best practice would be to free all slaves in order to further the goal of moving America out of the slave trade. Consequently, according to Wilson, the “emancipated slaves would enjoy little, if any, real freedom.” This delves deeper into Jefferson’s motives and explains why he would be hesitant to condemn a people, a people he cares for, to a baser existence. Furthermore, Wilson

Thomas Jefferson is responsible for not only the highest caliber of thought in the burgeoning United State of America, but also the lowest. Thomas Jefferson authored the Declaration of Independence which would become the basis for the principles of liberty and equality globally. However, Thomas Jefferson also authored a book titled Notes on the State of Virginia that would become the foundation for racist stereotypes throughout much of American literature. Renowned African American authors from that day forward were, and are still today, forced to confront the fallacious assertions that Thomas Jefferson makes in Notes on the State of Virginia. Both Frederick Douglass and Richard Wright are forced to address the stereotypes and lies Thomas

When he describes the “freedom” which Jefferson has “mercifully received” he is establishing a firm foundation of Jefferson’s present standing at that time. Jefferson is a white man who need not further fight for privileges as he already possesses them. Banneker describes Jefferson’s “apprehensions of the horrors” involving slavery, but goes on to examine how Jefferson “can be found guilty” of accepting the same practice of owning slaves that he outwardly protests. The final piece, with which Banneker’s accusatory tone demonstrates, is his supposition that Jefferson’s knowledge of this conflict is “too extensive to need a recital;” Banneker ends his purpose claiming that Jefferson will “need neither the direction of myself or others” in order to come to an acceptable resolution. Again, Banneker’s tone says everything within just a few

Even though freedom has been our nation’s identity for its entire existence, our nation has suffered “dark ages” when the freedoms of African Americans were repressed. During the period of slavery, African Americans were forced to labor under often cruel and gruesome conditions, for their white masters. Solomon Northup, a free man forcefully made a slave, describes his thoughts on slavery in his 12 Years a Slave:

The dichotomy of freedom and slavery in rhetoric and rise of the United States of America has long been an enigma, a source of endless debate for scholars and citizens alike who wonder how a nation steeped in the ideals of republicanism could so easily subjugate and enslave an entire group of people. The Chesapeake region was home to America’s great statesmen, men who espoused ideals of freedom and liberty from tyranny. Yet at the same time, these men held hundreds of men, women, and children in conditions of lifelong bondage. How then did this dichotomy arise? The dangers posed by indentured servants that became freemen resulted in the development of a system of African-descended chattel slavery in the Chesapeake, a system whose creation and continuance was aided by a continuum of racial thinking and racial prejudice aimed at Africans in Virginia.