Coursera - History of the Slave South, Assignment 2

While Jefferson waxes rhetorical with observations about slavery and speculation about black physiology in the "Laws" section of Notes on the State of Virginia, the "Manners" section seems to give a snapshot of his actual judgement about slavery. He fears that the wrath of God will come down on the new Republic and observes "The spirit of the master is abating, that of the slave rising from the dust" (p 175).

Returning to the "Laws" section of the text, we see Jefferson's observations about the very nature of blacks. While our essay prompt mockingly refers to 'science', this was cutting edge science for Jefferson and his contemporaries and these were serious concerns of the day.  Jefferson proffers many differences between blacks and whites, not only "political", but also "physical and moral" (p 149). He argues that upon the emancipation of the blacks in the Republic, they should be given a fresh start in a new land and be replaced by white immigrants; they cannot be incorporated into the Republic due to "Deep rooted prejudices entertained by the whites" and "ten thousand recollections by the blacks of the injuries they have sustained" (p 149). He goes on to delineate ways in which blacks are different from (read: inferior to) whites in their most basic attributes. He remarks that they are less attractive than whites, their bodies process waste differently from whites, giving them a "strong and disagreeable odor" but also makes them "more tolerant of heat, and less so of cold than whites" (p 150).  Jefferson continues by stating that blacks require less sleep, use less forethought, and are more ruled by sex than romance than whites. In fact, he summarizes nicely for us his position when he says "In general, their existence appears to participate more of sensation than reflection" (p150).

The modern reader at this point is tempted to raise a query at this point - what about blacks who were not slaves, or who became free and gained an education?  Here Jefferson compares the idea of an educated black writer to a white one: "though we admit him to the first place among those of his own color who have presented themselves to the public judgment ....when we compare him with [a white writer] we are compelled to enroll him at the bottom of the column" (p 152). Jefferson does not waver from his theory of black inferiority, even citing examples of enslaved whites who were far "smarter" than his contemporary enslaved blacks in America, and under supposed far harsher conditions (p154). Clearly he does not support the idea that slavery itself is the problem here.

For Jefferson, the only way that the idea of emancipation could be entertained was by putting forth the idea of removing all freed blacks from the American (white) Republic. He again contrasts the American situation to that of ancient Rome:   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." (p 155).