Thomas Jefferson's Stand on Slavery

Paper Summary:

A slaveholder and a crusader for human freedom, Thomas Jefferson seems to be, at first, a man of obvious contradictions. However, Jefferson made many attempts on paper to express his feelings against the institution of slavery, but usually faced obstacles. These obstacles are analyzed in this paper, as well as the documents and proposals that Jefferson made to the government during his lifetime. A reference to his alleged love affair with a female slave is also mentioned in the paper.

From the Paper:

"The name Thomas Jefferson is, to many people, the embodiment of everything that stands for human rights and freedom. However, he was also a slave owner. This obvious contradiction can be explored by comparing the two sides to the man behind the name. He was indeed a crusader for the gradual emancipation of slavery, albeit a mostly defeated one. He once defended a man, whose grandmother was a mulatto, in court, saying, "Under the law of nature, all men are born free, every one comes into the world with a right to his own person, which includes the liberty of moving and using it as his own will." On the other side, he was also the owner of several large plantations and 200 slaves; this made him the second wealthiest man in his county and one of the richest men in Virginia. His lifestyle oftentimes somewhat went against his beliefs, but Jefferson always stuck by his human freedom ideals. Jeffersonian scholars have concluded that although Jefferson may have been flexible in his methods in the emancipation of slavery, he was always committed to his desire to see the demise of slavery."

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