08-25-2017, 11:02 AM
(08-25-2017, 10:59 AM)Belsnickel Wrote: At the time, slaves were not considered to be men. They were chattel in this country.
Edit to add: Jefferson did see black people as inferior to white people. He said as much in his book Notes on the State of Virginia. He even laid out in some detail why he saw whites as superior. This wasn't uncommon in the day and for a century after, even among abolitionists. There were many people that wanted an end to slavery as they saw it as unjust and immoral, but they still believed the black race to be inferior (and some didn't want them around once they were freed).
My understanding of the phrase as written by Jefferson was it did include them, however various versions were modified in southern states to say all free men. Maybe he did mean that, but it is curious that the southern states threw a fit about it if the large assumption was that it did not include slaves.
Edit to edit: Historian John Chester Miller laid out that Jefferson did actually seek to end the slave trade with the statement. It is kind of a weird dynamic to own slaves, but to also want to eliminate it. Kind of an "I'll eliminate it but I want everyone else to otherwise I am staying with the norm" idea. While he may have felt white people were better it does not mean he can't think they were equal in requirement of certain rights. Many people feel that rich are better than poor, but those same people wouldn't say the poor don't deserve certain rights. It really is a complex, but interesting subject.
