Thomas Jefferson's Racist Views Analytical Essay by JPWrite

The paper introduces the background context of the work, which was written in 1780 when Jefferson was governor of Virginia, to a Frenchman asking for information about the new nation. The paper cites the work to contrast Jefferson's views of Indians and of Blacks. It argues that Jefferson defended Native Americans precisely because they were native to America and did not want them to be used as an example to deprecate the continent. The paper argues that, in comparison, he denigrated African-Americans because he was trying to justify his proposal of staged emancipation. In conclusion, the writer finds that Jefferson's views were neither hypocritical or contradictory, but were driven from his same vision of the white man having the responsibility to affect the emancipation.