In Jefferson’s first draft of his Declaration which he presents to a “candid world,” he was not using his language as medium to display his own morality but the morality of the colonists’ cause against Britain. He understood that slavery could be used as a platform to preach a higher morality. Jefferson assumed the newly established country would at least rhetorically be founded on ideas of justice and equality. He wanted to create a enlightened nation with “freedom,” and “liberty” as the foundation of its establishment. The Revolutionaries, rather then incriminate themselves, chose to omit Jefferson’s point on slavery from the final draft. Nevertheless, it appears that Jefferson understood the inconsistences involved with the peculiar institution and the colonists fight for “liberty.” This public …show more content…
In 1791, Jefferson received a letter from Benjamin Banneker, a black mathematician, questioning his inconsistent stance on slavery. Jefferson replied to Banneker in a terse response, with the hope he had in the future of the black race, while evading the question. Jefferson forwarded this letter to a French Philosopher Marquis de Condorcet, an avowed proponent of human rights. He refers to Banneker as a “very respectable mathematician.” Moreover, he notes Banneker’s “elegant” solutions to geometrical equations. However, in a letter sent a few years later to Joel Barlow, an American politician, Jefferson alludes to the fact the Banneker’s achievements were not his own doing. Instead of praising the freeman, he reduces his intellect as something “very common.” This shows that Jefferson was capable of choosing framing his opinions on slavery to suit himself and his audience. Furthermore, the inconsistent responses uphold the idea that Jefferson was in conflict with himself in regard to his philosophical approach to