by Derek Allison

Created on: August 30, 2008

The American polymath Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) was one of the authors of the Declaration of Independence and the third President of the United States. He was also a prominent slave-holder who asserted his conviction that Negroes were an inferior race to whites and yet, paradoxically, was outspoken in his belief that slavery was immoral and should be abolished.

In his 1787 work, Notes on the State of Virginia, Jefferson argues that it is "doubtless" that the existence of slavery in the United States has a dangerous and destructive influence on the morals and manners of the American people, especially children (Jefferson, 1787, p.96). He states that the relationship between master and slave is characterised by "unremitting despotism" and "degrading submission" (Jefferson, 1787, p.96). For him, the institution of forced enslavement undermines the notion that all men are created free by God, and this has the effect of making the liberty of the nation as a whole insecure by removing its "only firm basis" (Jefferson, 1787, p.96).

Jefferson warns the people of America that until they abolish slavery they are liable to face God's judgement and his justice will entail their loss of liberty (Jefferson, 1787, p.96). He worries that the large numbers of enslaved Negroes in the country combined with "supernatural interference" by God might result in a revolution, "an exchange of situation" between the whites and blacks (Jefferson, 1787, pp.96-97). Jefferson senses that a change in public opinion regarding the validity of slavery has already become noticeable; especially since the American Revolution and everything it represented (Jefferson, 1787, p.97). He predicts that "under the auspices of heaven" this change in opinion will result in the emancipation of those enslaved (Jefferson, 1787, p.97). He only hopes that this will be with the consent of the dominant, white population "rather than by their extirpation" (Jefferson, 1787, p.97).

Jefferson then goes on to argue that "the blacks, whether originally a distinct race, or made distinct by time and circumstance" are physically and mentally inferior to the whites (Jefferson, 1787, p.102). Further, this inferiority constitutes a "powerful obstacle" to the possible emancipation of Negro slaves (Jefferson, 1787, p.103). In addition, he identifies political factors which, upon emancipation, will combine to divide the population along racial lines and "produce convulsions" which will only end "in the extermination" of either

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