Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia (1787)
In response to a request for information from a French diplomat, Thomas Jefferson, then governor of Virginia, put in writing his ideas about his state. After working on the manuscript for several years, Jefferson eventually published it as Notes on the State of Virginia. Jefferson covered more than just institutions and geography. He also examined what he considered the future of the nation and its primary strengthfree, white landowners. Jefferson did not include African Americans in his vision of the new nation, at least not as citizens.
In Europe the lands are either cultivated, or locked up against the cultivator. Manufacture must therefore be resorted to of necessity not of choice, to support the surplus of their people. But we have an immensity of land courting the industry of the husbandman. Is it best then that all our citizens should be employed in its improvement, or that one half should be called off from that to exercise manufactures and handicrafts arts for the other? Those who labour in the earth are the chosen people of God, if ever he had a chosen people, whose breasts he has made his peculiar deposit for substantial and genuine virtue. It is the focus in which he keeps alive that sacred fire, which otherwise might escape from the face of the earth. Corruption of morals in the mass of cultivators is a ph¾nomenon of which no age nor nation has furnished an example. It is the mark set on those, who not looking up to heaven, to their own soil and industry, as does the husbandman, for their subsistance, depend for it on the casualties and caprice of customers. Dependance begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition. This, the natural progress and consequence of the arts, has sometimes perhaps been retarded by accidental circumstances: but generally speaking, the proportion which the aggregate of the other classes of citizens bears in any state to that of its husbandmen, is the proportion of its unsound to its healthy parts, and is a good-enough barometer whereby to measure its degree of corruption. While we have land to labour then, let us never wish to see our citizens occupied at a work-bench, or twirling a distaff. Carpenters, masons, smiths, are wanting in husbandry: but, for the general operations of manufacture, let our work-shops remain in Europe. It is better to carry provisions and materials, and with them their manners and principles. The loss by the transportation of commodities across the Atlantic will be made up in happiness and permanence of government. The mobs of great cities add just so much to the support of pure government, as sores do to the strength of the human body. It is the manners and spirit of a people which preserve a republic in vigour. A degeneracy in these is a canker which soon eats to the heart of its laws and constitution.
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It will probably be asked, Why not retain and incorporate the blacks into the state, and thus save the expence of supplying, by importation of white settlers, the vacancies they will leave? Deep rooted prejudices entertained by the whites; ten thousand recollections, by the blacks, of the injuries they have sustained; new provocations; the real distinctions which nature had made; and many other circumstances, will divide us into parties, and produce convulsions which will probably never end but in the exterminaiton of the one or the other race.-To thse objections, which are political, may be added others, which are physical and moral. The first difference which strikes us is that of colour. Whether the black of the negro resides in the reticular membrane between the skin and scarf-skin, or in the scarf-skin itself; whether it proceeds from the colour of the blood, the colour of the bile, or from that of some other secretion, the difference is fixed in nature, and is as real as if its seat and cause were better known to us. And is this difference of no importance? Is it not the foundation of a greater or less share of beauty in the two races? Are not the fine mixtures of red and white, the expressions of every passion by greater or less suffusions of colour in the one, preferable to that eternal monotony, which reigns in the countenances, that immoveable veil of black which covers all the emotions of the other race? Add to these, flowing hair, a more elegant symmetry of form, their own judgment in favour of the whites, declared by the preference of them, as uniformly as is the preference of the Oran-ootan for the black women over those of his own species. The circumstance of superior beauty, is thought worthy attention in the propagation of our horses, dogs, and other domestic animals; why not in that of man? Besides those of colour, figure, and hair, there are other physical distinctions proving a difference of race. They have less hair on the face and body. They secrete less by the kidnies, and more by the glands of the skin,which gives them a very strong and disagreeable odour. This greater degree of transpiration renders them more tolerant of heat, and less so of cold, than the whites. Perhaps too a difference of structure in the pulmonary apparatuys, which a late ingenious experimentalist has discovered to be the principal regulator of animal heat, may have disabled them from extricating, in the act of inspiration, so much of that fluid from the outer air, or obliged them in expiration, to part with more of it. They seem to require less sleep. A black, after hard labour through the day, will be induced by the slightest amusements to sit up till midnight, or later, though knowing he must be out with the first dawn of the morning. They are at least as brave, and more adventuresome. But this may perhaps proceed from a want of forethought, which prevents their seeing a danger till it be present. When present, they do not go through it with more coolness or steadiness than the whites. They are more ardent after their female: but love seems with them to be more an eager desire, than a tender delicate mixture of sentiment and sensation. Their griefs are transient. Those numberless afflictions, which render it doubtful whether heaven has given life to us in mercy or in wrath, are less felt, and sooner forgotten with them. In general, their existence appears to participate more of sensation than reflection. To this must be ascribed their disposition to sleep when abstracted from their diversions, and unemployed in labour. An animal whose body is at rest, and who does not reflect, must be disposed to sleep of course. Comparing them by their faculties of memory, reason,a nd imagination, it appears to me, that in memory they are equal to the whites; in reason much inferior, as I think one could scarcely be found capable of tracing and comprehending the investigations of Euclid; and that in imagination they are dull, tasteless, and anomalous. It would be unfair to follow them to Africa for this investigation. We will consider them here, on the same stage with the whites, and where the facts are not apocryphal on which a judgment is to be formed. It will be right to make great allowances for the difference of condition, of education, of conversation, of the sphere in which they move. Many millions of them have been brought to, and born in America. Most of them indeed have been confined to tillage, to their own homes, and their own society: yet many have been so situated, that they might have availed themselves of the conversation of their masters; many have been brought up to the handicraft arts, and from that circumstance have always been associated with the whites. Some have been liberally educated, and all have lived in countries where the arts and sciences are cultivated to a considerable degree, and have had before their eyes samples of the best works from abroad. The Indians, with no advantages of this kind, will often carve figures on their pipes not destitute of design and merit. They will crayon out an animal, a plant, or a country, so as to prove the existence of a germ in their minds which only wants cultivation. They astonish you with strokes of the most sublime oratory; such as prove their reasona nd sentiment strong, their imagination glowing and elevated. But never yet could I find that a black had uttered a thought above the level of plain narration; never see even an elementary trait of painting or sculpture. In music they are more generally gifted than the whites with accurate ears for tune and time, and they have been found capable of imagining a small catch. Whether they will be equal to the composition of a more extensive run of melody, or of complicated harmony, is yet to be proved. . . .
. . . The opinion, that they are inferior in the faculties of reason and imagination, must be hazarded with great diffidence. To justify a general conclusion, requires many observations, even where the subject may be submitted to the Anatomical knife, to Optical glasses, to analysis by fire, or by solvents. How much more then where it is a faculty, not a substance, we are examining; where it eludes the research of all the senses; where the conditions of its existence are various and variously combined; where the effects of those which are present or absent bid defiance to calculation; let me add too, as a circumstance of great tenderness, where our conclusion would degrade a whole race of men from the rank in the scale of beings which their Creator may perhaps have given them. To our reproach it must be said, that though for a century and a half we have had under our eyes the races of black and of red men, they have never yet been viewed by us as subjects of natural history. I advance it therefore as a suspicion only, that the blacks, whether originally a distinct race, or made distinct by time and circumstnaces, are inferior to the whites in the endowments both of body and mind. It is not against experience to suppose, that different species of the same genus, or varieties of the same species, may possess different qualifications. Will not a lover of natural history then, one who views the gradations in all the races of animals with the eye of philosophy, excuse an effort to keep those in the department of man as distinct as nature has formed them? This unfortunate difference of colour, and perhaps of faculty, is a powerful obstacle to the emancipation of these people. Many of their advocates, while they wish to vindicate the liberty of human nature, are anxious also to preserve its dignity and beauty. Some of these, embarrassed by the question "What further is to be done with them?" join themselves in opposition with those who are actuated by sordid avarice only. Among the Romans emancipation required but one effort. The slave, when made free, might mix with, without staining the blood of his master. But with us a second is necessary, unknown to history. When freed, he is to be removed beyond the reach of mixture.
Document Analysis
Why does Jefferson argue that the strength of the new nation lay in the hands of the small farmers?
How does Jefferson use the scientific ideas of his day to justify denying African Americans the rights of citizens?
Why does Jefferson argue that the strength of the new nation lay in the hands of the small farmers?
How does Jefferson use the scientific ideas of his day to justify denying African Americans the rights of citizens?
Jefferson argues that the strength of the new nation lay in the hands of the small farmer because he realizes that without the work and help from the small farmers, we would not have an industry of manufacturing, and supplying ourselves. Since the war with Britain was over, we needed to find new ways to produce many of our own products. Jefferson believed that without the farmers' help, we would not be able to trade with the other nations, and our economy would fail. Without a strong economy we would not have a strong new nation. He also believes that the farmers know what they must do to keep the government strong, "It is the focus in which he keeps alive that sacred fire, which otherwise might escape from the face of the earth."
Jefferson uses the scientific idea of his day to justify denying African Americans the rights of citizens because he uses their skin color to separate them from the whites and make them seem like less of a people, "Whether the black of the negro resides in the reticular membrane between the skin and scarf-skin, or in the scarf-skin itself; whether it proceeds from the colour of the blood, the colour of the bile, or from that of some other secretion, the difference is fixed in nature, and is as real as if its seat and cause were better known to us." He goes on to ask if that if of any importance to the colonists, and asks if that makes them any less beautiful than the whites. Jefferson goes on to describe other differences between the two races such as his idea that "they secrete less by the kidnies, and more by the glands of the skin, which gives them a very strong and disagreeable odour." Towards the end, he uses only negative things to compare them to the whites. I believe Jefferson starts out by standing up for the African Americans to first justify that he sees them as human beings, but then lowers them because he wants to justify why he has slaves. He wants people to see that they are human, but doesn't want them to stop treating them or having them as slaves.
1. Jefferson says that the strength of the nation's economy heavily depended on the farmers because they are the ones who culivate the land and with culitvated land, farmers can grow and sell goods and have a successful economy. He felt that farmers played a very important role in the economy's strength in the new nation.
2. Jefferson feels that because of the hereditary differences between light and dark skinned people, that dark skinned people shouldn't be granted the right to citizenship. He gives many examples to back his opinion, including the smell, color of skin, texture of hair, the way they pursue women, and th amount of sleep they get as in comparison to whites. Jefferson was indeed against slavery but yet he himself owned slaves. His writings partly show him sticking up for african americans but mostly he is defending himself and why he has slaves.
1. farmers are the ones who help make the land fertile. without them others wouldnt be able to eat the food they grew. thomas jefferson thought that without them, no one else would be able to live.
2. he said that "The circumstance of superior beauty, is thought worthy attention in the propagation of our horses, dogs, and other domestic animals; why not in that of man? Besides those of colour, figure, and hair, there are other physical distinctions proving a difference of race. They have less hair on the face and body. They secrete less by the kidnies, and more by the glands of the skin,which gives them a very strong and disagreeable odour. This greater degree of transpiration renders them more tolerant of heat, and less so of cold, than the whites." this means that he thinks that they are less supior than whites, but he also stuck up for them. then again he had slaves himself.
Jefferson argues that the strength of the new nation is in the hands of the small farmers because he believes that they are the foundation of the republic.He believes that this group represented the common people who would be interested in the welfare of all people.He believed that they would work for the betterment of the republic and not work against it. He believed that the small farmer would be satisfied with belonging to a republic and would not try to gain individual power for themselves. He states that other professions are more corrupt than the farmer is and that most of the city people do very little to improve or support the government.He states that the small farmer has the manner and spirit to support a republic.He also states that throughout time there has never been anything recorded in history of corruption among the farmers.
Jefferson uses scientific information of his day to argue that the African American is inferior to the white race in body and mind and therefore should be denied citizenship.Jefferson begins his argument based on the difference in the color of the skin of the African American.He states that the is not sure why the skin is dark but offers several possible scientific reasons such as it may lie in the reticular membrane in the skin or in the color of their blood.He sites differing physical characteristics such as less facial hair and the fact that they do not pass as much urine.He believes that they have sweat glands that are more active because they perspire more and give off a very foul odor.He states that they may have a different respiratory structure than the whites and notes that recent scientific findings have found the respiratory structure is a heat regulator in animals. In addition, he believes that they are inferior in reason because no African American could comprehend the works of Euclid.He also tells everyone that they have a dull imagination not only inferior to the whites but also to the Indians.
1. Jefferson realizes that farmers are much needed in the 'new nation'. He believes that they are the real people chosen by god "the labours of the earth" as he calls them. He also states "While we have land to labour then, let us never wish to see our citizens occupied at a work-bench, or twirling a distaff. Carpenters, masons, smiths, are wanting in husbandry: but, for the general operations of manufacture, let our work-shops remain in Europe." which he is saying that we much need people to make these goods but the farmers are more important to the struggling econemy. They are the ones they will help keep the nation alive for the time being. They can make and sell their own goods. They are the strongest and most stable industry.
2. Jefferson with question was against slavery. He in the beginning of his speach treats them as though they are human and should be treated as so but then goes on to basicly justify why they are inferior to whites and why he does not believe they should become citizens. "A black, after hard labour through the day, will be induced by the slightest amusements to sit up till midnight, or later, though knowing he must be out with the first dawn of the morning. They are at least as brave, and more adventuresome. But this may perhaps proceed from a want of forethought, which prevents their seeing a danger till it be present." In this segment he basicly talks about them like they are no higher than a prey out in the woods being hunted by preditors. He does not seem as though he gives them human emotions just instinct of a wild animal. But more torward the beginning of his argument he states "Is it not the foundation of a greater or less share of beauty in the two races?Is it not the foundation of a greater or less share of beauty in the two races?" basicly saying that how are we different other than skin, are they less beutiful because of it? So Jefferson was trying to get at that he was against slavery but was not for them becoming citizens and to protect himself for owning slaves himself.
1) Why does Jefferson argue that the strength of the new nation lay in the hands of the small farmers?
Jefferson was a strong activist for the "common people" of his time. He completely belived in the abilities of the working class and felt that the fate of the nation lay in their hands. This was especially true when it came to small farmers in the U.S.. The small farmers as a whole held a large amount of American land on which many of the crops and products were grown. Without the creation and cultivation of these products our economy during that time period would have been much worse off. He argued that the production of each of the raw materials are done best by small farmers.
2) How does Jefferson use the scientific ideas of his day to justify denying African Americans the rights of citizens?
It is a well know fact that the science of the late 18th century wasn't all that advanced by today's standards. However this was what Jefferson based the majority of his argument against the rights of African Americans. He believed that we were in some way biologically different whether it was from a certain pigment deep in the skin, blood, hair, glands, etc. To him this made them different than whites entirley and therefore they shoulddn't be alloted the same rights. Although he did argue against the rights of African Americans he did consider them human while many people of that day merely regarded them as property or less than human.
Jefferson argues that the strength of the new nation lies in the hands of the small farmers because they supply the food for everyone. Food is vital, in order to survive which is the obvious. Basically these little farmers keep everyone going. Without the crops there would be no society, because most people would perish. I suppose you could import some crops, but you never now how long that would take. Therefore it could not be considered a reliable source. Without the farmers, it would be hard as a nation to thrive. 2.
Jefferson uses scientific ideas during that era to justify denying African Americans the rights of citizens because apparently they are less than human. The color of their skin is darker than the average colonist living America which makes them seem less intelligent. Also because they have less facial hair, pass less urine, sweat more, sleep less and smell bad than the normal American at that time makes them unworthy of becoming a citizen. Plus they could never comprehend the work of Euclids. Jefferson tries to say that the only the thing the slaves can do is make harmonious music. Even the Native Americans are smarter. Since when are the Natives dumb? They only helped the pilgrims survive in during their first winter in the new world. Jefferson should have evaluated his scientific conclusions before writing about them. He also should have put himself inside the shoes of the slaves and the natives. Would Jefferson be so superior if he was sent to a foreign country not knowing the language and being told to either work or die?
Why does Jefferson argue that the strength of the new nation lay in the hands of the small farmers?
Jefferson argues that the strength of the new nation lies in the hands of the small farmers because they supply the food for everyone. Food is vital, in order to survive which is the obvious. Basically these little farmers keep everyone going. Without the crops there would be no society, because most people would perish. I suppose you could import some crops, but you never now how long that would take. Therefore it could not be considered a reliable source. Without the farmers, it would be hard as a nation to thrive.
How does Jefferson use the scientific ideas of his day to justify denying African Americans the rights of citizens?
Jefferson uses scientific ideas during that era to justify denying African Americans the rights of citizens because apparently they are less than human. The color of their skin is darker than the average colonist living America which makes them seem less intelligent. Also because they have less facial hair, pass less urine, sweat more, sleep less and smell bad than the normal American at that time makes them unworthy of becoming a citizen. Plus they could never comprehend the work of Euclids. Jefferson tries to say that the only the thing the slaves can do is make harmonious music. Even the Native Americans are smarter. Since when are the Natives dumb? They only helped the pilgrims survive in during their first winter in the new world. Jefferson should have evaluated his scientific conclusions before writing about them. He also should have put himself inside the shoes of the slaves and the natives. Would Jefferson be so superior if he was sent to a foreign country not knowing the language and being told to either work or die? OOps i dont think you can read the first post.
Why does Jefferson argue that the strength of the new nation lay in the hands of the small farmers?
Jefferson argued that agrarianism would create a happier and more content society for the nation and would therefore preserve domestic tranquility, ultimately preserving Americas strength. Since America had such a surplus of land that could support and sustain the people Jefferson states; Manufacture must therefore be resorted to of necessity not of choice, to support the surplus of their people. He believed that manufacturing and industrialization were not necessary unless in a country where there is a large surplus population, agrarianism is no longer practicable, and to preserve that country industry is forced on the people by necessity not of choice.
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How does Jefferson use the scientific ideas of his day to justify denying African Americans the rights of citizens?
Jeffersons hypothesis against African- American citizenship, lies largely that scientifically they were more suited to work than to think in the developing nation. Jefferson states; secrete less by the kidnies, and more by the glands of the skin, which gives them a very strong and disagreeable odour. This greater degree of transpiration renders them more tolerant of heat would be more conducive to working in the hot southern climate. He also says, A black, after hard labour through the day, will be induced by the slightest amusements to sit up till midnight, or later, though knowing he must be out with the first dawn of the morning. which exhibits another one of Jeffersons African working traits. In describing his perspective of the slaves mind he says that they are, in reason much inferior, as I think one could scarcely be found capable of tracing and comprehending the investigations of Euclid; and that in imagination they are dull, tasteless, and anomalous. which would exhibit traits of those not fit to make governmental decisions. Since (in Jeffersons view) they were inhabitants of a nation ruled By the People, giving people who were so inept in reasoning and decision making the rights of citizens, including the right to vote, would severely damage the nations leadership and weaken the country. Since they represented a good percentage of the souths population, this would pose a serious threat to the wealthy white plantation owners and merchants.
1. He argues this because he has seen the contrast in small farmers to the people who work in manufacturing and the like. He has seen the way manufacturing causes corruption among society and its people and wishes Americas source of manufactured goods and manufacturing for the most part remain in England.Since we have a great deal of land he believes we should focus on cultivating it and improving it.He feels that men of skill like carpenters need to help in farming because they are much needed there.In husbandry he believes that God favors it and that those who do are more apt to keep and uphold their morals.From this he argues that the proportion of all the other classes of people compared to small farmers in any state is directly related to the proportion of the amount of its bad parts to its good parts of society.Further he says that this is a good measure of corruption and thus shows that since you need honest people in a republic to make it flourish he concludes that small are these honest people.
2. He uses the common method of observation and utilizes scientific knowledge and experiments of his day to not only deny African Americans the rights of citizens but to show that they are a closely related yet different species.He first states that whites have a superior beauty to the blacks by using the same logic to that of animal breeders in which they breed partially according to the beauty of an animal.He references to an experiment in which a study was done on a part of the body called the pulmonary apparatuys which was found to regulate body heat and he believes that in conjunction their kidneys secrete less and their skin glands more to create in combination more sweat and odor.He also effectively relates them to an animal by arguing that they are made for labor.To him they seem easily amused, need less sleep than whites, have inferior reasoning capacity, are "dull, tasteless, and anomalous" in imagination, and have "plain narration" in their talk.He does however see that they are gifted in music but how much had yet to be proven.He supposes that the blacks were originally a different race or were changed by different factors over time and are inferior to whites in mind and body due to this.Since nature has given them less than the whites he argues that it will be harder to free them. Also, there are people who wish for their emancipation yet they dont wish for the blacks to mix with whites for fear of in a sense polluting white blood.In the end he sees it as, nature has made them inferior to whites and therefore cannot have the same rights for they are not capable of handling or using them.
1. Why does Jefferson argue that the strength of the new nation lay in the hands of the small farmers? Jefferson believes that farmers here on earth are the chosen people of god(if he had chosen people). In Europe, the lands were cultivated and the had no choice but to support the surplus of the people. In the new nation, the land grants the service of farmers, which will help our new nation to prosper.
2. How does Jefferson use scientific ideas from his time to justify denying African Americans the rights of citizens? Jefferson believes that African Americans are inferior to whites in issues involving the body and mind. According to Jefferson, slaves may have been born in America, may be educated, may have their freedom, but they still can't think on the level as a white man. He even attempted to compare African Americans to animals in the way they act. Your race determines if you are given the rights of citizens, according to Jefferson.
1 Jefferson argues that the strength of the new nation lay in the hands of the small farmer because it is there voice that will be gathered in the masses to make their government run. They are also a staple in reestablishing our economy through trade.. Without a strong economy we would not have a strong new nation. He also believes that the farmers know what they must do to keep the government strong, "It is the focus in which he keeps alive that sacred fire, which otherwise might escape from the face of the earth." They are very moral people.
2 Jefferson uses the scientific idea of his day to justify denying African Americans the rights of citizens because he uses their skin color and genetic differences to make them seem as if they were a different species. "I advance it therefore as a suspicion only, that the blacks, whether originally a distinct race, or made distinct by time and circumstnaces, are inferior to the whites in the endowments both of body and mind. It is not against experience to suppose, that different species of the same genus, or varieties of the same species, may possess different qualifications." He uses the statement that they are inferior to make treating them inferior sound just.
1. Jefferson recognizes the farmers significance to the new nation by highlighting the permanent and steady quality they bring to the economy. According to Jefferson, farmers are the chosen people. Not only that, but the ideal citizens. They are beyond corruption and what other civilians should strive to be. Even more so, the industry of the small farmers is just the remedy for an ailing economy. The stability and solidity they contributed to the nations economy was invaluable, and worth in happiness and permanence the industry of manufacture in the states. 2. Jefferson utilizes the scientific knowledge of his day to belittle and further deprecate the black population. His very meager attempts to cultivate understanding and some common ground as a people (between the whites and blacks) is tremendously overshadowed by his nitpicking of illogical characteristics as portrayals of black inferiority. Even though scientific knowledge of the time is no where near that of the modern age, the theories proposed in Jeffersons essay point to simple ignorance on the part of the former President. Either deliberate or idiocy, Thomas Jefferson leaves out completely the time and circumstance of the black population which would have undoubtedly rendered an effect on the most elementary of thought on the people. Jefferson ultimately feels that the intellectual and physical drawbacks of the black race will in the end be their main adversary in a push for emancipation and assimilation into a white society.
Jefferson says that they were the chosen people of God. They should keep their jobs toiling the ground rather than be brought out to do other jobs.He says that it would be sad when they would be brought from their honorably profession to work at a work bench or on a different craft.
He uses the differences in how the skin color is, how they act differently, and the elementary conclusions that they are inferior to white people to conclude that they are not the same species as whites, but the same genus.Thus when or if they are to be emancipated they should be removed so that they are not able to mix with the white race.
