being left alone to the strain of his own thoughts, of how to end such a “peculiar institution.”
Meanwhile, Monticello could not have existed without slavery, and his personal viewpoints of slavery were commonly shared by the majority of the population in the eighteenth century. Jefferson was not cruel to his slaves, however he was completely depending on them to make Monticello the magnificent mansion that it became during his lifetime. During the construction of Monticello, Jefferson took notes of a group of slaves digging the cellar of the great house in the dead of winter. Jefferson doesn’t not mention the ages of the young teenage slaves working in the cold of winter, but how much work could be accomplished during that specific weather …show more content…
At Monticello, he and his slave had a relationship built on trust. His personal slave, named Jupiter Evans, grew up with him at Shadwell, and then he was inherited by Jefferson when he left to attend William and Mary College. This relationship would last until Jupiter’s death in 1800. Wiencek studies Jefferson’s relationships with his slaves to reveal the trust and shared friendship, “As Thomas Jefferson had grown up alongside Jupiter, his grandson Jeff Randolph grew up alongside Jupiter’s son, Phil Evans, about two years older than he. Jeff said that Evans “was my companion in childhood and friend throughout life,” describing him as “small, and active, intelligent, much of a humorist.” Although slave and master, there truly was a friendship and bond among the Jefferson family to their slaves. They depended on each other, much as friends do today. If not for Jefferson’s slaves being loyal to him, he might have been found by the British, and hung. Furthermore, as the loyalty from being protected by his slaves, from British capture, fresh in his mind, Jefferson sits down to write “Notes on the State of Virginia,” in which ludicrous “twistifications”