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Influence Of Thomas Jefferson's Views On Slavery

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In the 18th to 19th century, slave institutions were dominant in America. The most afflicted people were the Africans and the African Americans. However, not everyone supported the idea of slavery in such a first-class nation. Some were against it, and they struggled to ensure that the inhuman act was stopped. Thomas Jefferson was against the institution of slavery in America. His personal views can be well traced from notes and letters he sent to various leaders. For one, Jefferson was against slavery because he believed that all men were created equal. No man is superior than the other, and hence slavery was an inhuman act that set the victims to pain and torture. He thought that white man was just as equal to black man and there should be no difference in the manner that the two are treated. In his reply letter to Mr. Benjamin Banneker on August 30, 1791, he expressed how a black man has equal talent as a white man (Letter to Benjamin Banneker). None of these individuals should live in degraded conditions. Color does not justify slavery of the Africans and African Americans. To Jefferson, the institutions of slavery were a source of division. The white men intended to retain and enslave black men in American so that they would save the …show more content…
Though the slave population gradually increased to 1830’s, he stood firm to ensure that the act came to an end. His opinion on the institution of slavery never changed, he strongly opposed it. One of the significant efforts he made was to discourage cultivation of crops that heavily depended on slave labor, for instance, tobacco plantations. He knew that if such crops would be replaced with plants that did not demand intensive labor, such as wheat, rice, and wine grapes and slavery would end. His prediction that slavery would cause division came to pass in the year 1861 when the fight against slavery caused the bloody civil

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