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Thomas Jefferson Influence On American Society

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Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson once said: “Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.” This quote is not just talking about any man, this quote is talking about one of the founding fathers of America, the third president of America, the draftsperson of the declaration of independence, its talking about the man who had a dream to free Americans from King George the 3rd and who successfully helped find the second richest country, The United States of America.
So, how did Thomas Jefferson influence American society differently than the previous two presidents of America? He cared about everyone, no matter how rich or poor they may have …show more content…
Jefferson was a major influence on the early American society as a whole but his views on slavery were very insincere. Slavery played an important role in the founding of America firstly, 'seasoned slaves' were an important 'cash crop' for Virginia, after cotton, wheat and tobacco. Jefferson himself believed that slavery was going to stump the revolution and would be 'the greatest threat to the new nation'. Jefferson, being a modest man believed in and supported the idea of slaves being colonized as he believed that slavery corrupted both the slave and their masters but he also had conflicting views, believing that the slaves wouldn't be able to live aside from their previous masters because they were inferior in intelligence than the average 'white man', did this make Thomas Jefferson racist towards the slaves? No, but he was prejudice and a segregationist "…blacks, whether originally a distinct race, or made distinct by time and circumstances, are inferior to the whites in the endowments both of body and mind." - Notes on the State of Virginia. He wanted to keep the slaves together in their racial groups away from their previous 'owners'. Jefferson may have these ideas because he was himself, a slave owner owning and selling hundreds of slaves throughout his life, inheriting his first 52 from his father at the age of 21. He was thought to of fathered six children of a slave after the death of his wife Martha Jefferson, allowing them all to eventually be set free - with the exception of two that 'escaped' while he was alive. Jefferson, being a highly perspicacious man easily influenced the new nation with the Act

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