Thomas Jefferson’s Contribution to Ending the Slavery

“Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that is justice cannot sleep forever, “written by the great Jefferson Thomas in his Notes on the state of Virginia. Jefferson Thomas was the third American president. He grew up in Virginia. He wrote his legislative plan as Notes on Slavery, which would expected to help to end the slavery completely on the land. He was against the slavery in his entire life. In his Notes, he pointed out the physical characteristics, which exists between black and other races and also called it distinction between two races. He called the black inferior over whites. He believed the white man had a strong moral sense than the black man. Throughout his entire life he was opponent the slavery and called it “moral depravity. He also proposed the ordinance that would help to ban the slavery. His views on slavery are contradicts in different aspects.

“I advance it, therefore, as suspicion only, that the blacks whether originally a distinct race or made distinct by the time and circumstances, are inferior to the whites in the endowment both of body and mind”, these are the words of Jefferson in his note on slavery. On one hand he publically declares the equality in his Declaration of Independence but on the other hand he called black inferior over whites by physical and intellectual characteristic. He used humiliating words to differentiate the two races. In his Notes he expressed his believes on biological and physical difference and also called it biological danger of race mixture. His expressed the blacks are less talented than whites. He called black and white two different nations. He had strong believed that the black and whites are two different nations. After meeting with the freed black slaves his thoughts about inferiority changed.

“The unfortunate difference of color and perhaps of faculty, is powerful obstacle to the emancipation of these people”, Thomas Jefferson quoted his Notes on Slavery. Although he spent his whole life to end the slavery but he was against the mix marriages. He viewed mixed marriages between black and white as a mixing of blood. He condemned and considered this as a crime against the nature. For this purpose, he proposed relocate project to remove all the blacks from the continent and repopulated to distant area. On the other hand, he had private love affair with Sally Heming one of his slave. Six of her children fathered Jefferson. He tried to abolish the slavery but in reality its figures embedded.

In American revolution time, Jefferson was actively participated to proposing legislation which he anticipated would help to remove slavery completely from US. He suggested an ordinance to ban the trade of slavery. His own slavery figures increased over the period of time and reached to six hundred till his death. At his plantation home Monticello in Virginia, slaves were used in planting and harvesting the crops. This provide the measure proof of his conspiracy opinion publicly and privately. He opposed the slavery publicly but directly benefits from it privately. Although he made different legislation but meanwhile getting entertained from the slavery in different ways.

In his Notes his main focus was freed the slave. Despite being a slave holder, he constantly opposed the slavery. He called slavery a “moral depravity” and against the “law of nature”. His family problems, his debts and lifestyle could not allow him to free his slaves. He freed only seven of his six hundred slaves, two during his lifetime and five in his will. Basically his friends and himself were afraid that the end of slavery would cause a civil war throughout the south and north. His own six children from Sally Heming were not freed in his life time.

Jefferson emphasizes that slavery is immoral and wrote many letters to his political friends to motivate them to free the slaves., but indirectly insisted them to continue it. He pointed out the difference between the slaves and masters was so great that they cannot co exits together. As he called African inferior race, he felt that they required parental care and therefore it was upon the whites to take care of inferior race. He indirectly expressed the importance of master over the slaves. He desperately talked about the commitments but questioned on his contradiction raised when he could not able to full fill his commitments.

It is important to recognize the Jefferson’s contribution to ending the slavery, even though his personal views are full of contradiction. He was influential to the banning of slavery trade. He put uncountable legislative efforts to end the slavery from the land. The liberty of black would cause civil war on the land. He had tried to free the slaves from the private slave owners. Despite his all efforts, controversy and contradiction found when we talk about the slavery. He wrote what he believed but some of his deeds reflects that he had not completely put the dedication to abolish the slavery.