He was predicting the Civil War.
He helped abolish the slave trade, and wanted to expatriate Negroes to Sierra Leone Africa or other such places. Such a move would have been costly, but a lot cheaper than a war. He did not believe that freed Negroes and Whites would co-exist peacefully.
I wonder what he would have thought about the USA today, importing millions of people that will never be assimilated. Are we headed for war? Is there any plan that might avoid it?
I keep seeing articles on the spirit of the Declaration of Independence, and how we are still trying to live up to the vision of Jeffersona and Lincoln. Eg, see this. Not everyone realizes that Jefferson and Lincoln were very much opposed to the social and political equality of Negroes and Indians. They wanted to ship the Negroes to Africa.
When they said all men were created equal, they mean White Anglo Saxon Protestant law-abiding property-owning native-born adult citizens.
1 comment:
Roger,
The Quakers were warning people about what was going to happen if they didn't get rid of slavery long before Jefferson. Quakers outright told people they believed the practice of owning another person was evil. Allowing the practice to continue was a pragmatic political move without which the south would never have signed on to joining the country and fight the British. You can read about all the political fighting that went on over where to locate the nation's capitol due to the north and south already at odds over who would have the greater influence on the fledgling government's seat of power.
I think Jefferson's desires to have the black population sent somewhere else had more to do with historical precedent of how slaves act towards their former owners when they are suddenly set free after being treated badly. How would you feel and act towards someone who had beaten you or your parents?
Jefferson also had his eye on the economic viability of the former slaves trying to take care of themselves without the skills to do so. At the time, there really was no social safety net or funding to pay for one, so welfare on such a scale would have been impossible.
As for your protestant/anglo-saxon argument, America already had Catholics, Quakers, Jews, and many other religions present. The difference was, they wanted to be Americans.
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