Hypocrisy In Benjamin Banneker's Letter To Thomas Jefferson

Arshad Chowdhury

Hypocrisy can be a funny thing. One never discovers the gravity of it, until far after the fact. One of the keen examples of hypocrisy can be seen through the seventeenth century all the way through the nineteenth century, in American slavery. Today many Americans feel guilty for the hardships the African Americans that were captured and forced to work like dogs for their ancestors. Benjamin Banneker, a distinguished man of many careers, happened to be the son of former slaves. In a letter written to Thomas Jefferson, shortly after the finalization of the constitution, Banneker wrote to unravel the paradox of Jefferson’s writing, in his lack of acknowledgement to Afro-American slavery. By manipulating diction, syntax, and pleas to Jefferson’s heart, Banneker adopted a respectful yet critical tone in order to help Jefferson discover it for himself.

At the start of the letter, Banneker retells the story of American Revolution. Banneker speaks about the “tyranny of the British Crown” in its efforts to “reduce [the

Banneker is a man who has a plethora of careers and accomplishments. He repeats the term “sir” as a means of establishing himself as an astronomer, a mathematician, a surveyor, and an author, not as “Benjamin Banneker, former son of slaves.” Banneker seeks to establish a level of mutual respect with Jefferson, to establish similarities between the two men. Both hard working men, and human beings. Banneker wants Jefferson to put himself in the souls of African Americans. Much like his previous strategy, Banneker wants Jefferson remember the equality between the two men. Banneker believes only through a shared empathy, can Jefferson truly realize the magnitude of hypocritical notions he has written in his so called "declaration of