Thomas Jefferson Declaration Of Independence Analysis

How could Thomas Jefferson believe in his own words in the Declaration of Independence, but still own slaves? To anyone this seems to be a moral contradiction due to the views and ideas that he represented throughout his life. But it was a grey area that Jefferson seemed to be stuck in due to inherited family debt, and conflicting personal views that would forever follow him. As a person with Deontological values, it’s hard to accept and understand a leader who doesn’t practice what he preaches, and in not so many words is a hypocrite. I believe that a person’s morals and values directly reflect their character, and what they represent.
As a leader in the 1800’s, his public ideas and values helped build the very foundation that our country …show more content…
Some historians have rallied to his defense, acknowledging that he owned slaves but arguing that he was a product of a different culture. Behavior that we would now condemn was an accepted part of Virginia's plantation economy. Gordon S. Wood, a distinguished historian of the American Revolution, insists that it makes no sense for modern critics to condemn figures like Jefferson for failing to free his slaves. Such statements suggest a threshold of success that no eighteenth-century revolution could possibly have attained, and tell us more about the political views of the historians who make such statements than they do about the American Revolution. Jefferson’s moral views deserve a closer look, they describe the man as flawed, contradictory, and all the while preserving the fundamental core of what our nation is built on. Like all of our leaders, Jefferson was not morally perfect. However, we must still recognize and celebrate the areas in his life where he excelled morally, particularly his persistence on democratic ideals and freedoms. After all, it would be by his words of freedom and his claims of universal rights that former slaves and segregated people in the United States would fight for their own civil and democratic rights over a hundred years later. Jefferson’s failure is …show more content…
Looking back, I’m not sure of how I would’ve handled this situation with the beliefs I have today. Jefferson was a true product of the times, and despite how he felt inside, there was a big public influence to push him in the other direction. With being in a political position of power they have to usually abide with the majority rule. The majority were not bound by a slave ownership co-op while being unable to buy their way out of the deal. The only solution I could think was to offer liberties to his slaves so even with ownership they still had a source of freedom like he was trying to