Thomas Jefferson And Slavery
By debrakcarey
@debrakcarey (19887)
United States
July 5, 2012 12:46pm CST
Much is said about Thomas Jefferson's owning of slaves, but little is said about the grievance against slavery that he attempted to put into the Declaration of Independence.
The list of grievances Jefferson wrote to the King of England included this originally:
He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in a hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither....
Why was it removed? The southern states would not sign the Declaration with it included. If they did not support the Revolution as a unified body, it was doomed to fail. Jefferson recognized the wrongness of slavery, he included in the Declaration the assurtion that ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL AND ENDOWED BY THEIR CREATOR WITH INALIENABLE RIGHTS, thereby setting the stage for the eventual end to slavery. It was imperative that the Revolution succeed if men, white or black, were ever to know freedom & liberty as God intended.
Jefferson was a mortal man. He did things, as we all do, that he regretted later. In his will, he provided money to ensure the freedom of his slaves. He also in letters to friends (after leaving office) bemoans the fact that if he were to set them free during his lifetime they would suffer and be at risk for slavers to enslave them again. There is NO RECORD of him ever mistreating any of them. Much is said about his affair with one of his slaves, but NOTHING is published proving this was against her will. In fact, during the 'scandal' of this information being first published to Americans, her descendents were interviewed and family oral tradition is that she was offered her freedom and refused to leave him.
Why is it our schools only teach that he owned slaves? Why is it that nothing of his efforts to include in the Declaration, the grieveance against King George's support and active participation in the slave trade, are not taught to a generation of school children and the America people?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EH_qkouBL70&feature=player_embedded
5 responses
@WumpyPPancakes (117)
• United States
5 Jul 12
I am with you; I don't understand why schools won't introduce the concepts of interpretative information and discuss what went in with the Declaration of Independence.
Thomas Jefferson is an interesting individual. Although there are no records that he ever mistreated any of his slaves, he still owned them. I have to wonder if he included this in the Declaration because he wanted the slaves to be freed politically so he could free them. I can't recall what the book is, but there was a book written about Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings affair. Scholars believe that he loved her,k and that's why she continued being his mistress.
@debrakcarey (19887)
• United States
6 Jul 12
Ladybug, when interpreting history, or any other form of study about the past societies, it is important to NOT project your values into that society. Of course slavery is wrong, we all know that. And evidence is there to show that Jefferson did as well. People do things they regret later.
And koopharper, I didn't think of that bit of history. And from it we can see, that often people do things that are 'bad' to accomplish something 'good'. Thanks
@koopharper (7601)
• Canada
6 Jul 12
Oskar Schindler was a German business man who saved probably a thousand Jews during the Holocaust. They were forced laborers (slaves) in his factory. History views him as a hero. No it isn't exactly the same thing but I think you're judging Jefferson pretty harshly considering the society he lived in.
@ladybugmagic (3978)
• United States
5 Jul 12
I think the thing about Jefferson owning slaves was that it is possible to oppose slavery and practice what you preach by not owning slaves. I am glad he fought against it in some respect, but why proliferate it in another respect? It makes him just as bad.
@debrakcarey (19887)
• United States
6 Jul 12
Have you read any history of the era? And then, people change. People do things they regret but the consequences are still there.
It was near impossible to make a plantation profitable without slavery. Doesn't make it right, but it is an explanation for why a person who came to abhor the practice might have gotten started in it.
@ladybugmagic (3978)
• United States
6 Jul 12
You just highlighted how our founding fathers put profit before people.
Yes, people change. But I do believe, even 200 years ago, people had hearts enough to know slavery was wrong and abhorrent. I would not think they would actually need to go buy themselves a slave to prove it.
@debrakcarey (19887)
• United States
6 Jul 12
No, I am actually describing how the people of the time felt.
@flowerchilde (12529)
• United States
10 Jul 12
That was SO interesting! Parts of that I didn't know.. but other parts I assumed, and also assumed the educational stance was corrupt, which is a thoroughly sad state of affairs!
@debrakcarey (19887)
• United States
10 Jul 12
They said they could take over without even firing a shot. Hopefully we are not to late. Has a sleeping giant awakened in America? Will WE THE PEOPLE...have what it takes to stop this?
Time to start educating folks as to what is actually happening, and how to stop it. And THEN once we stop this onslaught, we need to send the control of our children's schools back to the parents and communities.
@debrakcarey (19887)
• United States
11 Jul 12
Well I am glad to be of help. 
and thank you for the link. I'd forgotten about Pol Pot. Who one bad dude. So, what I get from this link is it could always be worse. And lets hope it doesn't. 
and thank you for the link. I'd forgotten about Pol Pot. Who one bad dude. So, what I get from this link is it could always be worse. And lets hope it doesn't. 
@rodney850 (2145)
• United States
8 Jul 12
Debra,
C.L. Bryant is a black Baptist minister who has the conviction that the African/American community of today has traded the shackles of literal slavery for the slavery of entitlement that has been sold to them by the liberal progressives over the years. He has a documentary film that will be in theatres on July 27th and I believe it might just enlighten many people who have not thought of entitlement programs in this way.
@debrakcarey (19887)
• United States
9 Jul 12
I have been listening to and reading the thoughts of many black citizens of America that feel that way. I began being interested in this topic while I was dating a black man. He and I had some deep deep talks on this subject, and it was him who pointed me in this direction of thought. He felt very strongly that his 'people' were being enslaved by the manipulations of the Democrat party and white liberals to him, talked down to blacks by telling them the could make their lives and communitites better if only they had 'one more term'. lol
@koopharper (7601)
• Canada
5 Jul 12
Very interesting bit of history. In 1793 Upper Canada passed the Upper Canada Abolition Act the first anti-slavery legislation passed in the British Empire. The British Empire did try to suppress the slave trade and finally abolished slavery throughout the empire in 1834. As a Canadian I am proud of that.
@debrakcarey (19887)
• United States
6 Jul 12
How long did it take for the 'mother country' to follow?
@debrakcarey (19887)
• United States
6 Jul 12
lol, we elected a black president before you guys did. And right after the civil war, 21 African Americans served in the US House of Representatives during the period immediately after the Civil War, and 98 have served post-reconstruction. I might add, they were Republican. It was the Democrats that passed Jim Crow laws, and began the KKK to prevent blacks from voting for Republicans. It seems the greasy wheel gets the attention, the discrimination and racism is what was written about, but those who were NOT racist were many.
And as for it taking longer, yes it did. Physical enviroment might have had something to do with it. The crops grown in the south were very labor intensive. Not that that makes it right, but you have to look at all factors when you judge historical happenings. Canada just did not have those types of issues. And you also have to realize, it was not like Hollywood portrays it. Many slaves stayed on the plantations they had been enslaved on and worked for pay after the war because they had been treated well and thought they had a better chance of making a living. Again, doesn't make it right but it is a fact.
@koopharper (7601)
• Canada
6 Jul 12
Looks like forty one years. There were steps along the way of course. We can thank Governor Simcoe for pushing the issue as early as he did. Canada was probably one of the easiest places to get that rolling. There really weren't that many slaves here to begin with. It took you Americans a bit longer. As in the US discrimination and racism are still issues today.
