Friday, October 3, 2008
The contradiction between Jefferson,s idea regarding slaves
We know that President Jefferson wrote our constitution and said " all man are created equal", also Jefferson,s ideology was that blacks and whites could never coexist in America because of "the real distinctions" which "nature" had made between the two races. He also believed that blacks are inferior than whites and blacks have low IQ. He also owned slaves and treated them cruelty. Knowing all this, wasn,t his ideas contradict each other? Was he really meant all man created equal to all races or he was only refering equality to white man?
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I think it would be a contradiction. If all of the information is true (we should always take that into consideration with books on history) if it is all true than I would say that he definately had some conflicting feelings of what was right and what would benifit certain aspects of the new country.He certainly had a lot on his plate as a President, a lot of pressure to help create a country and to help it prosper. I do not want to excuse any of his behaviour, but the times should always be considered. I also believe what he did in helping to create this country doesn't really have a very large affect on it today, this is not the country the founding fathers wanted, and whether or not it is their fault is irrelevant. America is getting weaker and it has nothing to do with Jefferson. I would like to comment on something Raj said in class, he made a remark about how in school they teach us that these men in history were all great men. I was never taught that, I was taught what they did to help the country or how they helped end a war. I get the notion that there are people who like to put down our history and want to act like it is not very good. I am proud to be an American and I am proud of our history and I thank men and women who helped this country.
ReplyDeleteI think hat Jefferson had some racist thoughts reguarding the mental capacity of African Americans, but he also seemed to recognise that their lives were equally valuable. I think that when Jefferson said that all men are created equal he recognised the value of life for all people. Jefferson simply had some ignorant views reguarding the capabilities of all men. I wonder if the lack of tolerance reguarding his views among his peers played a role in these contradictions in beliefs.
ReplyDeleteI don’t see why people celebrate Jefferson he was a sexist, racist, slave trader, who thought that all white land owning elite men are equal. Not only did he most likely not mean to include people of any, in his mind, “inferior” race, he focuses exclusively on men. People forget about how women were mistreated in history as well. African American men got their civil liberties and freedoms from the constitution before women did. If a country in modern times discriminates against one race it is an outrage, however women are mistreated in so many countries and people say that’s just their culture. “Do not forget the ladies” Jefferson’s wife wrote him while he was at the constitutional convention, but women get forgotten all the time, and are discriminated against just like racial minorities are.
ReplyDeleteI would like to take this opportunity to apologize if I have misrepresented men like Jefferson who played a vital role in shaping our history. My desire is for us to critically examine what has been presented to us as The History. It is important to understand the history of race relations at its core. Many of our illustrious and memorable presidents have played important roles in establishing and shaping the history and the nature of race relations that we have inherited. It is not prudent for us to condemn history, rather it is essential that we understand our history in its totality to avoid operating on assumptions.
ReplyDeleteAmerican history since the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons has been a history of diversity and multiculturalism. But our orientation to history has always been through the eyes of the victors and the powerful. They have often neglected to present the all encompassing history of America for various reasons. I am hopeful that all of us will venture to study about all aspects of our history so that we are better informed about our diverse traditions (though much of it has been silenced over the years).
Our history is what it is and I am hopeful that we will critically examine it and not accept it as a tour de force. Let’s be proud of it, simultaneously be willing to examine its greatness and flaws so that we will continue to move forward without committing the same transgressions.
We can not judge men and women of history by one point of view. Saying that Jefferson was all bad is simply false. Jefferson had bad qualities like anyone else and like anyone else he had good qualities as well. We should all try to remember that if we lived back then we probably would have seen slavery and indentured servitude as a normal thing (maybe with the exception of Raj) We probably would not have seen slavery and thought that it was disgusting. We should consider the times, what people knew and did not know, there whole way of life and way of thinking were much different from ours. I am not saying that they were right, but that they deserve to be judged fairly not irrationaly. Ian
ReplyDeleteYes, I think that Jefferson did contradict himself, but we all do. Like Raj said he needed to justify himself in thinking that it was ok for him to have slaves by thinking that they weren't as smart as him. Even though he did think it was wrong, he still had slaves because he knew he needed them. He did treat some slaves better than others and did have relations with them.
ReplyDeleteI think that he also thought that blacks and whites could not coexist because he knew that there would be strong prejudice, sterotyping and discrimination against blacks if they staying in the US when they were free (which is what did happen). It may not have been that he thought that blacks were so dumb that whites would always have the advantage, maybe he just wanted to send them somewhere that they could start new; without the majority's prejudice.
I believe that Jefferson was trying to think of the population being built, but at the same time felt guilty. In "A Different Mirror," it seemed like Jefferson felt guilty but didn't say anything about slavery because his hopes were that others would think it was wrong and everyone would agree that slavery was wrong.
ReplyDeletethe whole " all man are created equal" talk was directed to white "men" only. its obvious to us that he contradicted himself, but back then he didnt. was he a racist? heck yea...! but still the guy had to think like that, he had to own slaves, he had to be a sexist, because that was the mentality back then. the sad part about all this is that they dont teach us those things in history classes. overall jefferson did great thing for this country and we cant deny that, but at the same time we have to present all sides of the story...period.
ReplyDeleteJefferson probably felt insecure and conflicted about the choices he made. We all do that at some time or another. He meant to say all men are created equal but wasn't brave enough to live it out. He was stuck in an ethnocentric world view as many of us are.
ReplyDelete