48. Thomas Jefferson on Race and Slavery (1781) Source: Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia (Philadelphia, 1788), pp. 145-53, 172-73. No American of the revolutionary generation did more to shape prevailing views on race than Thomas Jefferson. His writings reflected a divided, even tortured mind. In Notes on the State of Virginia, written in 1781 and published a few years later, Jefferson ruminated on whether Black people should be considered inferior to whites. Although generally Jefferson attributed different peoples' varying degrees of civilization to environmental factors, he concluded that what he considered Black peoples' inferiority was innate. Jefferson made clear that he understood that slavery violated the principles of the Declaration of Independence he had written. He looked forward to the day when slaves would be emancipated. But, he insisted, once freed, they must be removed from the United States. Black people, in Jefferson's view, could never become equal members of the American nation. MANY OF THE laws which were in force during the monarchy being relative merely to that form of government, or inculcating principles inconsistent Chapter 7: Founding a Nation, 1783-1791 ces7v1/EPUB/content/7.5-chapter07.xhtml tv A MacBook Air Questions 1. What reasons does Jefferson offer for colonizing Black people outside the United States in the event of emancipation? 2. How does Jefferson describe the effect of slavery on the morals and behavior of white Virginians?

48. Thomas Jefferson on Race and Slavery (1781) Source: Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia (Philadelphia, 1788), pp. 145-53, 172-73. No American of the revolutionary generation did more to shape prevailing views on race than Thomas Jefferson. His writings reflected a divided, even tortured mind. In Notes on the State of Virginia, written in 1781 and published a few years later, Jefferson ruminated on whether Black people should be considered inferior to whites. Although generally Jefferson attributed different peoples' varying degrees of civilization to environmental factors, he concluded that what he considered Black peoples' inferiority was innate. Jefferson made clear that he understood that slavery violated the principles of the Declaration of Independence he had written. He looked forward to the day when slaves would be emancipated. But, he insisted, once freed, they must be removed from the United States. Black people, in Jefferson's view, could never become equal members of the American nation. MANY OF THE laws which were in force during the monarchy being relative merely to that form of government, or inculcating principles inconsistent Chapter 7: Founding a Nation, 1783-1791 ces7v1/EPUB/content/7.5-chapter07.xhtml tv A MacBook Air Questions 1. What reasons does Jefferson offer for colonizing Black people outside the United States in the event of emancipation? 2. How does Jefferson describe the effect of slavery on the morals and behavior of white Virginians?