In Paul Finkleman’s article “The Monster of Monticello”, he takes a critical look at the role Thomas Jefferson played in history, and at how he is viewed by today’s public. Finkleman addresses many of the, in his view, hypocritical things that Jefferson said and did. The author is attempting to persuade the reader that Thomas Jefferson was a “creepy, brutal hypocrite”.
The first point Finkleman poses is that Jefferson owned nearly 175 slaves. Many Founding Fathers did as well, but Jefferson’s case is different. He refused to free them after the Revolutionary War, while many of his fellow public figures did. This is especially hypocritical, according to Finkleman, because Thomas Jefferson famously wrote that “we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain, unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Jefferson refused his slaves these rights (page one, paragraph five).
Paul Finkleman addresses Jefferson’s behavior towards blacks, both slave and free. Jefferson sold slaves away from their families as punishment, which was seen as cruel even then. He proposed legislation to …show more content…
He uses Jefferson’s own words against him, as evidenced by the use of the Declaration of Independence. Finkleman describes many of Jefferson’s actions, and spins them in a way so as to persuade the reader into seeing Jefferson as he does. This fits the National History Day theme in one specific way. If I were to use this topic, my conflict would be the idolization vs. the demonization of Thomas Jefferson as a public figure. This is an example of a demonization of Jefferson. The compromise in this situation would be the general public accepting that public figures are not angels, nor are they monsters. They were real people with very real