Know Your Patriot: Thomas Jefferson
All the things we should know about America’s favorite patriots
This post contains sensitive content on racism. Reader discretion is advised.
“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.”
Thomas Jefferson
In this story are many disturbing quotes from our American patriot Thomas Jefferson, but this is still only a fraction of the horrid things he said in his too long of a lifetime. I’m only focusing on what he wrote about Black people and slavery in this story, but Jefferson may need to make a return in another story, so use the comments to share what else you think people should know about him.
This is a quote from The Jefferson Monticello organization on Jefferson’s views about slavery. “Throughout his entire life, Thomas Jefferson was publicly a consistent opponent of slavery. Calling it a “moral depravity” and a “hideous blot,” he believed that slavery presented the greatest threat to the survival of the new American nation. Jefferson also thought that slavery was contrary to the laws of nature, which decreed that everyone had a right to personal liberty. These views were radical in a world where unfree labor was the norm.”
Jefferson’s history and words have been taught in a way that preserved his legacy, at a time when most people now publicly agree slavery was wrong, but does this history accurately represent his words?
I think you might be able to guess.
(As a reminder I do not know these men. They are messaging a satirical Facebook profile of me as a conservative. I use their hatred of the left and liberals, to lure them into agreeing with what I want them to.)
No Gods No Masters Carve No Ones Face Into Our Mountains
(A conservative mantra)
Jefferson got away with his racist views in his time, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t challenged. Many people wrote him letters trying to explain to him just how wrong his view of Black people was. Benjamin Banneker, an African American scientist and mathematician, being one of them. He wrote Jefferson to challenge Jefferson on his racist views on the mental capacity of Black people. It did no good. Maintaining slavery was beneficial to Jefferson. Publicly decrying slavery as evil may have kept his conscious at ease, so he could continue doing nothing to actually help, actively participating in the enslavement, and writing about how inferior he thought Black people were.
But Jefferson wished he weren’t racist. If only.
“No body wishes more than I do, to see… that nature has given to our black brethren talents equal to those of the other colors of men.”
Sources:
Notes on the State of Virginia Thomas. Jefferson. : (
Thomas Jefferson and Slavery Nicholas E. Magnis
Jefferson’s Sensitivities Andrea B. Cariquist-Sagers
Reading the “Veil of Black” in Frederick Douglass and Thomas Jefferson Gabrielle Everett
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You should also read:
This is a new series about the founding fathers and other favorite American patriots. There’s a lot of overlap between all my series. This one, the guy can be horny, conservative, or both. (So many options.) Let me know some other people you think I should tell them about.
You are amazing as always. I look forward to more on the founding fathers. 🙂