by Michael T. Heath

Created on: April 11, 2010   Last Updated: October 14, 2010

Take Tom Off The Pedestal

Thomas Jefferson of Virginia should be known for more than the words "All Men Are Created Equal."  He was more than an early American president; significant beyond the Louisiana Purchase and other accomplishments we give him credit for. His book, 'Notes On The State of Virginia' laid the groundwork for an unhealthy chunk of the racism we've experienced in the world because he took the time to pretend to be a scientist in it. Countless generations accepted his fallible treatise that Africans - the slaves he owned, bedded and sold - were naturally inferior to 'whites'. It is a dubious legacy. People as diverse as the KKK and Adolph Hitler have referred back to Jefferson's work to justify mistreatment of people since the day it was published.

It's not only the fact that Jefferson believed (and promoted) the theory that black Africans were from another race, but how he lived his life. He had a long-term 'affair' with one of his slaves, Sally Hemmings. I place the word affair in quotes because I don't wish to dignify his actions towards Ms. Hemmings as consensual. He owned her body and soul, and though he freed some of his slaves upon his death, he never freed her. She was as much his to toy with as my car is for me. He could force her to have carnal relations any time he chose; he could sell the offspring produced by such a union any time he felt like it; Hemmings was simply property, albeit attractive and warm. 

Why is it important to us in today's world to examine and criticize Jefferson through the lens of modern society? Well, we still talk about Jesus, don't we? Nearly every schoolchild in America reads the Declaration of Independence, trying to winnow a bit of understanding from words centuries old. And like the thoughts of Jesus, Jefferson's concepts still influence our society to this day. We fought our bloodiest war over racist ideology: the Civil War (or, as some Southerners refer to it - 'The War of Northern Aggression'). In Vietnam we lost over 50,000 soldiers, and nearly every family was touched by either the direct loss of someone or the aftereffects of that war. But our current population is vastly larger than it was back in the 1860's, when over 700,000 Americans died. In those days, with a fraction of the number of people we have now, such tremendous losses couldn't help but breach each city, town and hamlet on our map. We paid the ultimate price for racism back then, whether North or South, slave-owning

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