| | The one man who did more in the fight for realizing individual rights, the one man who was more of a father to American freedom, the one nation, who thanks to this man, was founded on the concept of individual rights... wasn't perfect when judged by modern standards, so what!
Bill, like I said, you are technically correct, but because you ignore the historical context, you damn Jefferson in a way that is unfair and more than distasteful. The majority of the people living the South at that time believed that blacks were an "inferior race" - not as the prejudice or bigotry it would be today, but as the 'scientific' belief prevalent in that day. And, remember that Jefferson was effective in ending international slave trade - outlawing it during his time as president (1804).
Like Fred wrote, "Jefferson lived in an age of slavery as common commerce and his beliefs should be evaluated in that context." How should this man be viewed by history - as a fierce, brilliant, innovative defender of individual rights who put his life and fortune on the line, or as a hypocrite?
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I get really sick of all of the bashing of the founding fathers. I'd like to see what these critics would have risked had they been born into those times.
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Take a look at what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence. [unknown source on this data unless otherwise noted]
Thomas Jefferson served as the wartime Governor of Virginia (1779–1781), barely escaping capture by the British in 1781. The British seized Monticello, his home, along with another plantation which Jefferson owned on the James River. British troops destroyed all his crops, burnt his barns and fences, drove off the cattle, seized all usable horses, cut the throats of the colts, and after setting fires left the plantation a smoldering, blackened waste. Twenty-seven slaves were also captured to which Jefferson later replied.. "Had he carried off the slaves to give them freedom, he would have done right." [Wikipedia on Jefferson]
Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died.
Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned.
Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured.
Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.
They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.
What kind of men were they?
Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists.
Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated, but they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.
Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.
Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly.
He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.
Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.
At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt .
Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed.
The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.
John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished.
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