Reply #2: interesting questions [View All]

[artfan]

yes i also see a conflict and jefferson himself struggled with this problem in his writings he often argued against slavery while he kept slaves. i wish i could pass it off as him being a person of the times in which he lived but the question of slavery was a hot topic even at this time. washington freed his slaves because he felt it was wrong to speak of slavery and hold slaves. in brief my personal answers are

1 he should be revered as a founder of liberalism but understood he was more a man of ideas than action.

2jefferson was of two minds on the slavery issue his writings often were antislavery. he argues both sides of the issue. i think social conditioning did play a role in his position but i also think that the value of the slaves was also and issue. most of his slaves came from his wife and i wonder if he was just too weak to give up the personal comforts of having slaves or if he considered the slaves his childrens property and he needed to keep them as their legacy.in my opinion it is a wash he was weak,wrong and a hypocrite on the slavery issue but he ideas regarding independence etc. set the foundation to elevate many people

3no, it is a factor but to say he was just a person of his time is making excuses for behavior that he himself was not comfortable with


i wish that he had freed his slaves and opposed slavery it would have made him much more heroic in my eyes. i want to be able to defend him because i admire his mind but it glaringly obvious he was wrong when it came to slavery.