Thomas Jefferson was one of the founding fathers of our Nation, he helped drafted the Declaration of Independence, and eventually became the 3rd president of the United States. However, Jefferson was a contradiction in every sense of the word; despite the fact, he promoted individual liberties such as the freedoms of religion, conscience and most illogicality the freedom of personal liberty, he owned slaves and viewed Africans as inferior. His views on slavery and race are most prevalent in an essay he published in 1782 entitled Notes on the State of Virginia. Moreover, if a scholar or student carefully analyzes and critiques Jefferson’s essay they will be able to gleam irreplaceable insight into several concepts including; personal biases
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Personal biases can either strengthened or weaken a primary source from a historians point of view. For instance, Jefferson’s essay is strengthen by his personal belief and biases because he was connecting emotionally to the subject of slavery and race; thus, he was stating his opinion in an unbashful approach which allows the reader to know exactly how the author feels about the subject—without having to speculate the meaning behind ambiguous statements. An example of Jefferson’s bias being a positive attribute can be seen when he states: “… To our reproach it must be said, that though for a century and a half that we have had the races of black and of red men, they were never yet viewed by us as subjects of natural history. I advance it therefore as a suspicion only, that blacks whether originally a distinct race, or made distinct by time and circumstances, are inferior to whites in the endowments both of body and mind...” Although, his statement today would be viewed as uneducated and immoral—the reader does not have to question how Jefferson feels on the subject of race. A student can say with absolute authority that Jefferson viewed blacks as “half-humans” compared to whites. Moreover, a student can also see that despite “red skins” or natives being viewed as different as whites they were not completely …show more content…
If a student to does not completely understand how the concept of abolishing slavery and what in result it would do to them and their families was viewed by southerners—one only has to look at the overwhelm regard Notes was held to during the early 1800s. For instance, by analyzing statements Jefferson made in Notes such as: “… The whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions, the most unremitting despotism on one part, and degrading submissions. Our children see this, and learn to imitate it; for man is an imitative animal… For his cradle to his grave he is learning to do what he sees others do.” Jefferson is stating that southern will never be able to allow abolishment to happen because their children had seen how their parents and grandparents treated blacks; thus, they would continue the cycle and treat blacks the same—free or not. This quotes from Notes strengthens the worth of the essay because it causes the student to get a glimpse into how the southerners mind worked when regarding
Personal biases can either strengthened or weaken a primary source from a historians point of view. For instance, Jefferson’s essay is strengthen by his personal belief and biases because he was connecting emotionally to the subject of slavery and race; thus, he was stating his opinion in an unbashful approach which allows the reader to know exactly how the author feels about the subject—without having to speculate the meaning behind ambiguous statements. An example of Jefferson’s bias being a positive attribute can be seen when he states: “… To our reproach it must be said, that though for a century and a half that we have had the races of black and of red men, they were never yet viewed by us as subjects of natural history. I advance it therefore as a suspicion only, that blacks whether originally a distinct race, or made distinct by time and circumstances, are inferior to whites in the endowments both of body and mind...” Although, his statement today would be viewed as uneducated and immoral—the reader does not have to question how Jefferson feels on the subject of race. A student can say with absolute authority that Jefferson viewed blacks as “half-humans” compared to whites. Moreover, a student can also see that despite “red skins” or natives being viewed as different as whites they were not completely …show more content…
If a student to does not completely understand how the concept of abolishing slavery and what in result it would do to them and their families was viewed by southerners—one only has to look at the overwhelm regard Notes was held to during the early 1800s. For instance, by analyzing statements Jefferson made in Notes such as: “… The whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions, the most unremitting despotism on one part, and degrading submissions. Our children see this, and learn to imitate it; for man is an imitative animal… For his cradle to his grave he is learning to do what he sees others do.” Jefferson is stating that southern will never be able to allow abolishment to happen because their children had seen how their parents and grandparents treated blacks; thus, they would continue the cycle and treat blacks the same—free or not. This quotes from Notes strengthens the worth of the essay because it causes the student to get a glimpse into how the southerners mind worked when regarding