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HIST 300: African American History (Slavery) > Thomas Jefferson > Flashcards

Thomas Jefferson Flashcards

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1
Q

What was Jefferson’s central dilemma when it came to slavery?

A

he hated slavery but thought blacks were inferior to whites

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2
Q

What was Jefferson’s personal involvement w/ slavery?

A

owned his own plantations

  • keeping men/women/children fed/bed was expensive
  • hated that his life depended on a system he despised
    (KH)
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3
Q

What did Jefferson’s dependence on slavery for his income make him see slaves as?

A

more like objects in financial calculations

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4
Q

What was evidence that Jefferson sought a way out of dependence on slavery?

A

trying to transform his laves into tenants

  • unfortunately financial considerations precluded actions
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5
Q

Where did Jefferson’s hate for slavery come from?

A

from system of politics he was mentally invested in

  • natural right philosophy was governing aspect of his theology
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6
Q

What was Jefferson’s take on the natural rights philosophy?

A

he thought of natural rights in the very literal sense

  • rights belonged to men as biological beings
  • rights are inherent + inalienable
  • to know whether certain men had natural rights one only has to inquire whether they’re human
    (RRT)
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7
Q

What was Jefferson’s thoughts on whether slaves were considered humans entitled to natural law?

A

thought slaves w/o question are human beings

  • knew they could never rightfully be enslaved
  • felt personal guilt for slaveholding (for depriving men of rightful liberty)
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8
Q

What was Jefferson’s take on the injustices of slavery?

A

not an injustice specifically to Africans but for any member of human species

  • did not see cruelty but injustice
  • recognized conditions of slavery as miserable but concern reserved for evil effects of slavery upon masters
  • not overly concerned about slavery’s effect on black men
    (DRN)
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9
Q

What events was Jefferson especially horrified/scared of?

A

possible slave revolts

  • wrote forebodings of coming takeover by slaves in the “Notes on Virginia”
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10
Q

What did Jefferson think about the rebellion that happened in St. Domingo?

A

troubled b/c he couldn’t condemn it

  • he was always receptive to revolution being used as a mechanism of change
  • foretold of complete expulsion of whites in Caribbean
  • St. Domingo merely the first chapter in domino of coming revolts to him
    (HFS)
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11
Q

What was Jefferson’s take on slavery at the Missouri Compromise?

A

adamant blacks should be free (fused obligation w/ future fact)

  • said white men must liberate black men in name of justice/black men would liberate themselves in blood
  • hitched fear of rebellion to antislavery cause
    (SH)
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12
Q

How was Jefferson’s take on slavery in his youth?

A

had urged VA to pursue gradual emancipation

  • wrote years later that VA wasn’t ready for this program
  • shrunk a large portion of his Notes on Virginia since it had strong antislavery expressions
    (WS)
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13
Q

How did Jefferson’s anti-black theory clash w/ his hatred of slavery?

A

had genuine doubts blacks had inherent fitness for freedom

  • firmly convinced blacks could never incorporate themselves into white society on equal terms
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14
Q

What were some of Jefferson’s outlandish beliefs about blacks?

A

thought they were “naturally” different in temperament + mentality + physicality (environmentalist argument)

  • required less sleep
  • adventurous not out of curiosity but out of an innate lack of fear
  • panic more than whites in the face of danger
    (RAP)
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15
Q

What did Jefferson think of the mental capacity of blacks?

A

equal in memory but not in reason to whites

  • have dull/unimaginative thoughts
  • surrounded by European thoughts/ideas but have rarely adopted them for their own
    (HS)
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16
Q

What was the one thing Jefferson believed blacks were more gifted at than whites?

A

music

17
Q

What does Jefferson think of the black artists who had rose to fame during this time?

A

did not prove blacks could be on equal footing w/ whites

  • dismissed Phyllis Wheatley’s poetry as elementary (not poetry)
  • says Ignatius Sancho best writer of blacks but still puts him at bottom when including white writers
  • suggest Sancho may not have written his work
    (DSS)
18
Q

What did Jefferson know about his environmentalist stance on blacks?

A

could make a case for black equality

  • thus went to great lengths to prove black’s lack of talent didn’t stem from their treatment under slavery
  • that they were just naturally inferior
    (TT)
19
Q

What did Jefferson use to back up his environmentalist stance?

A
  • said Roman/Greek slavery much worse than blacks slavery

- Roman/Greek slaves still had talent + demonstrable achievement
SR

20
Q

What sense did Jefferson feel was fully developed in both blacks/whites?

A

moral sense

  • took environmentalist stance
  • their disposition to theft that they’ve been branded is product of slave environment
  • slaves have been stripped of all rights to own
  • are they not justified in taking a little from someone who’s taken all from him?
    (TTSA)
21
Q

What was Jefferson’s philosophy on the moral sense?

A

moral sense just as part of a man as an appendage

  • to say blacks had moral sense meant Jefferson believed they had a soul
  • moral sense might be temporarily impaired by slavery but blacks must possess it
  • if blacks don’t have this they can’t be free (couldn’t even be considered human)
  • Jefferson did not make such a requirement for intellectual ability to qualify as human
    (TMIJ)
22
Q

What was the anti-slavery response to Jefferson’s questions about black intellect in Notes on Virginia?

A

Jefferson faced massive criticism

  • Gilbert Imlay said Jefferson’s findings meaningless since it was a comparison between free men vs slaves
  • Benjamin Franklin even said slaves environment limited their ability to acquire same social/intellectual traits as whites
  • William Pinkney said blacks/whites share equal facilities in mind/body
    (GBW)
23
Q

Why was support for black intellectual capability gaining steam in the 1790s?

A

sudden rush of blacks who provided example of white intellectual equality

  • Thomas Fuller known for mathematical capabilities
  • Benjamin Banneker publishing the Almanac
    (TB)
24
Q

What was Jefferson’s response to Benjamin Banneker’s accomplishments?

A

confused him

  • tried saying Banneker’s accomplishments were instance of moral eminence
  • this explanation did not provide sufficient enough to say blacks were naturally inferior intellectually
    (TT)
25
Q

How did the question of black intellect muddle Jefferson’s philosophy?

A

derived belief in human equality from Creator shaping them all to their own mold

  • couldn’t get over belief that blacks couldn’t be on the same intellectual plane as whites
  • thus suspected Creator didn’t make everyone equal after all
  • took environmentalist approach to deficiencies of Indians but said black deficiencies simply nature
    (CTT)
26
Q

What was at the core of Jefferson’s philosophy that blacks and whites could not be equal?

A

skin color

  • the most physical difference Jefferson could point to
  • white features were the ingredients of beauty
  • blacks were obviously less beautiful than whites
  • innately thought blacks more crude + whites more delicate
  • blacks more sexually animalistic
    (TWBIB)
27
Q

What became a common use of evidence for Jefferson that pointed to black inferiority?

A

ridiculous beliefs he passed on as scientific fact

  • picture of blacks as crude sensual beings always part of his argument
28
Q

How did women play an important part in Jefferson’s life?

A
  • father died young was surrounded by women
  • became very careful not to get to attached to women after the death of his wife
  • appeared threatened by deep emotional connection w/ women
  • had toxic beliefs about certain laws involving women
  • thinking women could use threat of rape against men (women threaten masculinity)
    (FBAHT)
29
Q

How does Jefferson’s takes on the sexual temptations of women play a part in his philosophy on blacks?

A
  • he was greatly concerned about blacks “lack of beauty
  • most of his remarks regarding sexual proclivity of blacks were specifically geared toward black women
  • surprisingly negative remarks given his relationship w/ Sally Hemming
    (HMS)
30
Q

Who was Sally Hemming?

A

slave owned by Jefferson who fathered several of his children

31
Q

What was Sally Hemming’s life like on the Jefferson plantation?

A

seemed to receive favored treatment

  • was strictly a house servant
  • all of the slaves freed by Jefferson were Hemings
  • none of her children retained as slaves in adulthood
    (WAN)
32
Q

What can one point to about Jefferson’s philosophy surrounding blacks now knowing his relationship w/ Sally Heming?

A

opinions could have simply been outward repressions of desires

33
Q

Why did Jefferson put such great stress on separating blacks/whites b/c of their physical differences?

A

mostly came from his perception of the world connected to views of opposite sex

  • regarded world of men very distinct from that of women
  • had predilection for bifurcating gender + race
  • would be seen in his political philosophy as well (ex: thought of political parties on two extremes)
  • felt there was no middle ground between Federalists vs Republicans
    (RHWF)
34
Q

How did Jefferson’s dichotic view to the world play into his philosophy on blacks?

A

ex: thought of Indians highly distinct from blacks
- Indians did not resemble whites in the slightest but perceived whites as degraded version of whites
- made three race system into a two race system
- Indians to Jefferson were noble + brave (came to their defense in the Notes on Virginia)
- were surprisingly good orators/writers compared to blacks
- had much better imagination than blacks
- said Indians were physically not inferior to whites (like blacks were)

  • actually had a somewhat environmentalist defense stance when it came to explain some Indian deficiencies
    (IMIWHSA)
35
Q

What was Jefferson’s perception of Indians?

A

wanted to “Americanize” them by bringing them into European society more

  • thought of Indians as “brothers” + Negros as “lepers”

HIST 300: African American History (Slavery) (8 decks)

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