Thomas Jefferson was the man who drafted the Declaration of Independence and was the third president of the United States. Jefferson was the third United states president. Coming from a very well educated family, Jefferson had the opportunity to have an interesting political career that would allow him to have great authority over the newly made country. From becoming a lawyer, to eventually become the third United States president, Thomas Jefferson would be one of the most important United States historical figures. Benjamin Bannekar who was a freed African American was a scientist and surveyor who wrote many works about his enslaved people. Bannekar’s viewpoints about slavery contradict those of Jefferson’s making a clash between two great minds. Analyzing these two men’s viewpoints about the controversial issue of slavery, examining the beliefs about these individuals, and determining what side has a more balance approach to these issues are discussed in this paper. Determining Jefferson view on slavery is a complex issue to many historians. He did not engage in the activity of buying slaves but did own some of his own in his plantation. Although, he owned 200 slaves on his Virginia plantation, he treated the slaves with dignity and respect. He considered them to be economic property in which they deserved the same kind of treatment any other individual would receive. Jefferson called slavery a “abominable crime” which, he personally believed would be the greatest threat to the new country. Jefferson belief that “all men are created equal”, contradict what some believe to be his real intentions were. In 1769 Jefferson help a member in the Virginia house draft a bill that prevented a manumission law from being enacted. This law would prevented slave owners from free their slaves. Jefferson believed, freeing slaves from their owners would cause violent uprising