I need evidence that debunks claim that Jefferson's a hypocrite?

Question

Many consider Thomas Jefferson a hypocrite because he wrote the DOI, which included "All men are created Equal", but owned slaves...What is some evidence of Jefferson's TREATMENT OF HIS SLAVES or his STATEMENTS MADE TOWARD AFRICAN AMERICANS living in the U.S. at the time that would debunk arguments that claim he IS a hypocrite??
Thanks for your advie.

I believe he was a hypocrite as well...But I have been asked to lay out supposed "evidence" that debunks that.

Answer 1

In order to understand this you need to remember not to look at history through the filter of modern sensibilities. Do not forget that a lot has transpired between then and now.

With this in mind you must understand the mind set of people back then. Many people thought of slaves to be less than human. Many felt they were unable to take care of themselves and needed to be cared for by their masters.

Without doing an entire paper for you, this is the approach you need to take. Even though it seems so obvious to us by modern standards that this is hypocritical, it was not so obvious in the eighteenth century. Although there were some who got it.

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Answer 2

get the documentary by ken burns about Jefferson.

Jefferson had to fight to get that clause into the DOI. Jefferson, even more so than most politicians, was an idealist. in theory he wanted a society where everyone was equal in every way. but in reality he knew that this would never occur in his lifetime. it is curious to note that he also never freed any of his slaves. there do appear to be contradictions between his values and his actions...and maybe in fact there were...

Answer 3

I hate to burst your bubble but even though I am an admirer of Jefferson he was a hypocrite. He not only kept slaves but paid a bounty to have run away slaves recaptured. Washington freed his slaves when he died but Jefferson did not. Any historian will have to admit that Jefferson was not a liberal person when it came to his slaves.

Answer 4

OK, as the previous have stated, he was an idealist who wasn't perfect and he was a hypocrite on this issue. When i was in debate, we frequently had to take the other side of an issue. I started by researching my true side of the issue, and tried to poke holes in the theories or "facts". Sometimes doing it that way really helps you to make your argument that much stronger.

Here is a really good website that discusses some of your concerns for you paper.

http://www.samsloan.com/monticel.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson#Jefferson_and_slavery

http://afroamhistory.about.com/library/bljefferson_slavery.htm

http://www.oah.org/pubs/magazine/earlyrepublic/fehn.html

Best of luck with your paper.