Thomas Jefferson Abolitionist

Franklin’s abolitionist society asked him to bring the topic of slavery to the

Thomas Jefferson was a man that made his reputation as a supporter of the American Independence. He was thought very highly off for the many things he wrote and wanted to achieve that he was appointed to write the first draft of the Declaration of Independence. In just about 3 weeks Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence, it was in this that he wrote about human rights and that everyone was created equally. Thomas Jefferson was picked for this job because he was respected for his writing and his thoughts. "brought with him a reputation for literature, science and a happy talent of composition.

Fredrick Douglass felt strongly about the effect of slavery on slaves. However, since he was himself a slave, his views were far from positive. In his autobiography he shows this too us several time, when the slave owners give holidays to the slaves and at the very beginning of his story when he is separated from his mother. The first is less clear than the second so we will begin with that one.

As Banneker addresses Thomas Jefferson, he compels him to realize the effect slavery had on slaves. He is concerned slaves are promised “inalienable rights” that are being stripped away from them. Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence and stated these rights diligently.

Frederick Douglass’s speech “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July”, discusses the irony of celebrating the freedom that slaves cannot enjoy. He delivered the speech in 1853, about a decade before the Emancipation Proclamation, to an anti-slavery society. He criticizes America and its privileged citizens for its selective freedom, where only a few people inherit the riches of the past, and how American slaves are not granted the same independence as their white counterparts. Celebration of this day, to Douglass, is “America [being] false to the past, false to the present, and… false to the future” (74). Seeing how people are content with the achievements of the past and allowing them to define the future while ignoring the injustice of his time, Douglass felt the need to cast off this attitude and express exactly how he views slavery.

Throughout Wesley’s argument he proposes multiple examples and how the slaves were being unjustified and showed the immorality of the subject matter. The structure of the passage was mostly questions and answers. He proposed a lot of controversial questions and answered them to what he perceived was correct. A main point that Wesley made was that when you are in war you should kill your enemy but you should never enslave them. Another main point that he makes is that being “wealth is not necessary to the glory of any nation but wisdom, virtue, justice, mercy, generosity, public spirit, love of our country.”

In other words, slavery has been in the world since civilization began. (History of Slavery) The first mention of slaves was in Genesis 9:25 when Noah states “he said, “Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers.” Noah wanted his youngest son to be the slave of one of his other sons.

The white man’s happiness cannot be purchased by the black man’s misery.” Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, or better known as Frederick Douglass, was an African-American who supported the abolition of slavery in the nineteenth century. Slave-born of an unknown father, Frederick Douglass taught himself how to write and read- even though it was a crime for black people to learn- and became one of the most eloquent orator, and writer during the nineteenth century. With his great passion of wanting to demolish slavery, he gained thousands and thousands of black people, and even white people, who supported him in the abolition of slavery. His antislavery not only reached the United States, but even Great Britain.

The most impactful portion of class thus far, has been the discussion regarding Thomas Jefferson and his often contradictory positions regarding his racial ideologies. Thomas Jefferson, has gained acclaim as one of the true pioneers of American culture, shown through acts such as drafting the Declaration of Independence, and completing a full transition into the office of the Presidency, serving as the 3rd president of the United States. Although celebrated for these feats, Thomas Jefferson also is recognized as one of the most contradictory in terms of his positioning on race. The discussion that ensued was one about his beliefs in abolitionism, while at the same time making political moves that showed an underlying dissention for Africans, and positioned an inferiority claim regarding their physical capacities and psychological capabilities. The conversation that took place was to whether Jefferson was for the abolition of slavery or against it.

On the one hand, the white community feels in some way that that blacks focus to much on race and not enough energy on fixing relationships and employment status. At the same time the black community hold a belief that race is still of constitutional importance to American society. Just like Fredrick Douglass stated in the last meeting of the American Antislavery Society, slavery never died. “Had slavery’s death come of moral conviction instead of political and military necessity; had it come in obedience to the enlightenment of the American people; had it come at the call of the humanity…of the slaveholder, as well as the rest of our fellow citizens, slavery might be look upon as honestly dead”. (Douglass, 1869)

Frederick Douglass was completely correct with the way he delivered his speech. He began his speech by questioning why he was chosen to give this speech. He mentions that he for one, is of a different color than the ones who were truly celebrating this occasion, “I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary” (Douglass). For him and his people this is not a day of celebration but a day of mourning.

However, while the republicans supported self-rule, they also endorsed the ownership of slaves. This is an obvious contradiction as demonstrated by the republicans wanted the federal government to lack authority over them; however, they approved the continuation of slavery. The majority of the supporters were southern landholders and laborers everywhere.

In spite of his popularity, his policies did little to improve the lives of working Americans. In 1796 Andrew Jackson was elected as Tennessee 's delegate to the United States House of Representatives. The next year he was called upon to fill the unexpired term of

Who do you think was our greatest president? Between Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson, I believe that Lincoln was the strongest. Lincoln managed to bring our nation through the Civil War, "one of the bloodiest and costliest in the Nation 's history" (Stone 6) with his "leaderhship, his commitment to values, and his strong moral fiber" (Stone 3). He used various strategies to survive the war, including having advisors from the opposite viewpoint to be aware of both sides of every issue. What Lincoln is remembered most for, however, is his efforts to abolish slavery, which are considered "his greatest contribution to the history of America" (Stone 5).

The author made this biography so that when you read it you read it you go "really I never knew that" or "I thought this happened because of this reason not because of that". For example on page 14 it talks about how when Thomas (Abraham 's father) was trying to relocate the family from Kentucky he claimed to have bought five other farms but were taken away because he never paid for them. That 's how they ended up in Indiana because he had the money to pay for a little house in the woods. This did actually surprise me because I thought that Abraham grew up in his home cabin with his mom and dad in Kentucky. Really he lived in Indiana with his dad