Jefferson believed that blacks and whites were very different. He said that he believed that blacks were originally their own race and became distinct by time and certain circumstances. According to Jefferson blacks came from their own species but were from the same general genus that is the human race. He said that blacks were inferior to whites in mind and body. This can be said to mean that whites were possibly better looking people or that they were more fit. It could have been said to mean that whites were smarter than blacks because they had an education that the blacks did not have. Jefferson did not believe blacks were men. “Men,” was said to be referred to as only white men. Samuel Eliot Morison says in his book; “In his views (Jefferson) blacks were not men.”
The possession of individual rights was mainly determined by one’s race or skin color. Blacks had no rights early on in the 1700s but began to become free in the early 1800s. A wealthy white male had all rights; he was allowed to do what he wanted so long as it was just. A black man was free and eventually gained simple rights due to the belief that the United States was violating human rights.
I do not believe that expatriation could have been a helpful solution to the problem of slavery in America. I believe this because if the slaves would have gone to Africa they would be gone, but there is no saying that the lazy southern farmers would not have brought in slaves from other places. They would have gotten so used to not having to work that they would not be able to start working again. I think that they would possibly keep indentured servants as permanent slaves or enslave poor people. I’m sure that expatriation would not solve the problem of slavery, at least not immediately.
As I stated in the beginning, Jefferson’s view changed greatly throughout the course of his lifetime. Later in his life he began to appreciate black people more because of all their hard work. Also, he realized that blacks were the same as whites in that they were to be given human rights and that the people of the United States had been violating their rights from the very beginning. Jefferson also saw that blacks were men, and that really God created all men equal, black and white.
Thomas Jefferson certainly lived an intriguing life. He lived during a time where slavery was legal. He lived during a time when slavery began to die out. Jefferson was part of the reason why blacks are free today. Although his beliefs shifted throughout the duration of his life he ended on the good side, the side that was just. He began to believe that all men are created equal with a literal meaning.
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