Monticello's Irony

Taking an anti-slavery political stance in the late eighteenth century was not of the popular opinion; however, Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence, did just that. The irony lies within the fact that Jefferson himself had slaves on his plantation Monticello, which causes one to wonder as if he really wanted the blacks to be free in America. On his plantation, he did not pay any of his slaves, or give them any compensation, besides room and board, that was different to how other whites treated their slaves. In Jefferson’s piece, Notes on the State of Virginia, he showcases his unpopular opinion that slaves should not be kept; rather, he suggests freeing them and allowing them to live in their own community—away from …show more content…
On his plantation Monticello, Jefferson did have slaves although he was opposed to the idea. When looking at Jefferson’s situation financially, it was a lot cheaper to keep the slaves rather than freeing them, paying for their passage back to Africa, and then having to hire help to take the place of the freed slaves. Also, even though he looked down upon the mixing of white and black blood, he encouraged the mixing of blood with the Native Americans. “Are not the fine mixtures of red and white, the expressions of every passion by greater or less suffusions of color in the one, preferable to that eternal monotony, which reigns in the countenances, that immoveable veil of black which covers all the emotions of the other race?” (Jefferson 669). Perhaps Jefferson believed that the mixing of Native American and white blood would Americanize the natives or lead them to live a more civil life; however, that was not an option for the blacks. Although Jefferson looked down upon the mixing of white and black blood, he had three children with a slave that worked for him after his wife had died. It was a belief of Jefferson’s that whites and blacks could not live happily together, yet he was happy enough with his slaves to have three children with one. Jefferson was a very liberal politician at this time period, yet he lived his life similar to everyone else—even if it went against his strong …show more content…
His measure on slavery was never put into action during his lifetime, but it would be in the future after slavery had split our country, as Jefferson had suggested it would. Even though he was against slavery, his life at home did not reflect that view because he had many slaves and even fathered slave children. Jefferson believed that blacks are inferior to whites because, on a biological level, they were created to be inferior, yet, the majority of the whites never allowed their slaves to learn or participate in acts to help their wellbeing, and due to this, the blacks must be sent away to their own community where they would be declared as