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The notes of the state of virginia thomas jefferson analysis
Douglas's slavery experience
What aspect of slavery does Fredrick Douglas bring to light
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Jefferson and Douglass: Notes and Narrative
Thomas Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia is a strange and weedy document. Like any literary work of historical importance, its textual terrain can be viewed and interpreted in various ways depending on context and point of view. To Jefferson admirers, Notes reads like a clear-eyed statistical treatise of demographics and topology with occasional philosophical flourishes of the first water produced by one of the most highly cultivated minds of the American Enlightenment. To others, Notes reads like a pseudo-scientific swamp of odious comparisons, racial bigotry and specious rationalizations that would seem in some ways to presage “Mein Kampf.” or the minutes of a Klu Klux Klan meeting.
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man who wrote in the Declaration that the equality of mankind “is self evident” also wrote in the Query XIV section of the Notes that African-Americans could never claim a “share of beauty” because they are not sufficiently hirsute and because of the “eternal monotony” of their skin color and the “immovable veil of blackness” they posses (Thomas Jefferson, 148). Moreover, the “Master of Monticello” derided the slaves who were the foundation of plantation as lacking in intellectual capacity with having no real emotional depth. What’s more, because of an apparent kidney condition, they urinated less and sweated more “which gives them a very strong and disagreeable odour (148)” Such was the racial climate that Frederick Douglass was born into, eight or nine years before Jefferson’s death on the fourth of July in 1826.
In Slavery and the Founders, Paul Finkelman quotes John Hope Franklin as pointing out that Jefferson’s theories about race “became indisputable dogma within a decade after his death (Slavery and the Founders, 110). Even if Douglass had not read Jefferson words directly he would, by the time he became associated with Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, have been likely aware of David Walker’s Appeal in Four Articles in which Walker ask, in apparent reference to the Notes, has not “Mr. Jefferson declared to the world, that we are inferior to the whites, both in the endowments of our bodies and of minds? (Walker, …show more content…
12).” In many ways, the incidents in the Narrative serve as Douglass’ answer to the racist ideology as propagated by Jefferson in the Notes. Two examples of birth and death will illustrate this point. Let’s begin with conception. Douglass states that his mother was black and his father was white and, not only white but, it was whispered, the plantation-master. That the author of the Narrative was uncertain of his exact paternity (or, famously, uncertain of his exact age) reinforces Douglass wry proto-ecocritical comment that “[g]enealogical trees do not flourish among slaves.” In any case, by the simple fact that Douglass’ father was white, we see that it was not “oranootans”, as Jefferson asserts, but rather the Caucasian males that lusted after black women. Indeed, shades of Sally Hemmings both in terms of skin-color and apparitions must have abounded on the Jefferson estate. When Douglass speaks of his mother in the Narrative, it might seem, at first glance, to lend credence to Jefferson’s notion that for blacks the “numberless afflictions” of daily life “are less felt, and sooner forgotten with them.” Indeed, Douglass writes of his mother’s death almost stoically: Never having enjoyed, to any considerable extent, her soothing presence, her tender and watchful care, I received the tidings of [her] death with much the same emotions I should have probably felt at the death of a stranger (Frederick Douglass, 3). Yet this passage is an example of Douglass rhetorical genius.
By describing the negation of filial affection in this way, Douglass actually creates an affirmation of an abiding and deep emotional attachment to his mother – albeit in absentia. On a subliminal level, the reader (or oratorical audience) actually visualizes a Madonna and child tableau in which the infant Douglass does indeed enjoy the “soothing presence”, the “tender and watchful care” of maternal love (my italics). By creating this visual in the reader’s mind and then moving forward to explain that it was “a common custom” to separate mother and child, Douglass highlights the unnatural brutality of slave culture in a way that tables and statistics (like those used by Jefferson in Notes) never could. Furthermore, in response to Jefferson’s notion that afflictions “with them… are soon forgotten”, we only have to cite Douglass’ testament retold in “My Bondage and My Freedom” in which he elaborates on the special connection that humans, as well as all mammals and primates, eco-critically speaking, have with
maternity: It has been a life-long, standing grief to me, that I knew so little of my mother; and that I was so early separated from her. The counsels of her love must have been beneficial to me. The side view of her face is imaged on my memory, and I take few steps in life, without feeling her presence; but the image is mute, and I have no striking words of her’s treasured up. (Frederick Douglass, xx) In the sphere of pastoralism, it is with no trace of irony that Jefferson’s opines in Query XIX with a philosophical flourishes that: Those who labour in the earth are the chosen people of God…Corruption of morals in the mass of cultivators is a phaenomenon of which no age nor nation has furnished an example. (Jefferson, 175) That the “chosen people” laboring in the earth on his behalf were his slaves seem not to have germinated in the brain of the great thinker. In his sublime faith in the virtues of the soil, the slave-master of Monticello left rooted in the American psyche a type of pastoralism in the form of a mythic version of agrarian governance: a nation of farmers versus a nation of commerce and manufacture. It is an ideology that echoes down into our own times where we find competing versions of the “real” American: the heartland versus the city. For Jefferson, the city was the center of vice; for Douglas the city was salvation. In the narrative he writes: “A city slave is almost a freeman, compared with a slave on the plantation.” He is much better fed and clothed, and enjoys privileges altogether unknown to the slave on the plantation. There is a vestige of decency, a sense of shame, that does much to curb and check those outbreaks of atrocious cruelty so commonly enacted upon the plantation. He is a desperate slaveholder, who will shock the humanity of his non-slaveholding neighbors with the cries of his lacerated slave. In this statement we find the seeds of a rhetoric that would feed the growth of the great northern Black migration of the twentieth century. Douglass is indeed eloquent in response to the dehumanization of Blacks as expressed in Jefferson’s Notes. But claiming the privileges and dignities of freedom and enjoying all the opportunities of an urbanized existence were goals not unexpected in ex-slaves especially in someone of Douglass obvious talents and ambition. However, assuming that Douglass did indeed read Jefferson’s Notes, I’d like to propose, as a final point, that Jefferson makes a statement that I believe would have rile the proud Douglass to the extreme. In the infamous Query XIV, Jefferson writes of the Native Americans who he calls “Indians”: They astonish you with strokes of the most sublime oratory; such as prove their reason and 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...” As perhaps the most famous speaker of his day, universally renowned for his “sublime oratory,” reading this invidious comparison, Douglass must have sustained a spiritual body blow more excruciating and deep than any overseer’s lash -- for it struck at the core of his livelihood, intellectual attainments, and leadership in the abolitionist movement. But as with his confrontation with Covey, Douglass fights back and produces a freedom document in his Narrative beside which the Notes on the State of Virginia seem but a “plain narration.”
Two Founding Fathers, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, both discussed their views of aristocracy. The two disagreed on this subject, as they did on many others. In summary, Adams seemed to be more open to aristocracy, as long as it is controlled, while Jefferson rejected pseudo-aristocracy, he believed that natural aristocracy can and should be a result of government.
The American ideals in regards to freedom along with other human rights are not unique to the United States. In fact many of these freedoms and other rights found within the American declaration of independence were in fact copied from the Englishmen John Locke who wrote extensively on the subject nearly a century before the declaration even came into existence. John Locke was many things throughout his life mainly a philosopher and was also heavily involved in politics and psychology. This is evident throughout Locke’s writings. One of his most renowned works is his Second Treatise of Civil Government in which he discusses his views in regard to the state of nature, why people form governments and the benefits they gain from doing so, along with analyzing the extent of parliament’s
Throughout much of my life I was a slave to the white man. I was, however, luckier than most. I was able to become a freeman, and have since dedicated my life to the abolition of slavery and oppression in this country. This oppression lives on because of the hypocritical nature in which this country's founding fathers, including you, outlined their independence. Many times throughout your most patriotic document, The Declaration of Independence, you contradict yourself and the ideas that are presented. It appears that the ideals you present are only for those with a white skin such as yours. All other people, for example the American Negro, are not even considered people in your white wigged world. We are only property to be bought and sold accordingly, with no regard for our families, friends, or personal beliefs. These are aspects of life that you and I both fought for, but are reserved only for you.
Thomas Jefferson, a slave owner himself, originally wrote in the Declaration of Independence that all slaves should coexist with society, but he ended up revoking his opinions. Notes on the State of Virginia, written by Thomas Jefferson was a story that had conflicting ideas about African Americans and their role in society. During Jefferson’s time period, whites often regarded African Americans simply as slaves, or even a different species altogether. Slaves were regarded as culturally, physically, and mentally different from their white counterparts. Americans started to become dependent on their slaves, which made them want to keep their dominant relationship even more than before. Jefferson believed
Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were the last living individuals from the first American progressives who had confronted the British people and manufactured another political group in the previous provinces. Then again, while they both trusted stock in vote based system and life, freedom and the quest for joy, their conclusions on the best way to accomplish these standards separated after some time. Later, serving two presidential terms, Jefferson and Adams each communicated to outsiders their appreciation the other and their longing to recharge their friendship. Adams was the first to end the hush; he sent Jefferson a letter around the time of new year’s, in which he wished Jefferson numerous great new years to come. Jefferson reacted with
Douglass then goes on to describe how slavery and his mistress husband’s beliefs alter her demeanor, for example, he writes about her “tender heart became stone, and the lamblike disposition gave way to one of tiger-like fierceness.” He
“Jeffersons Influence on the United States -Program No. 35.” VOA Learning English. n.p. n.d. Web. 25 March 2014.
Religion plays a central role in this debate and provides many points of contention. As recognized by Walker, Jefferson’s attempt to consolidate his thoughts on race with his religious views become problematic to his arguments, providing Walker with a basis to challenge these views while advocating
Thomas Jefferson is a well-known and respected man of American History. He was a legislator, president, a father, a spouse, a widow, an inventor, a plantation owner, and a slave owner. Many people fail to acknowledge the fact that, much like his fellow citizens, Jefferson too was a slave owner himself. In his life, he made so many accomplishments and strides of progress in the early days in favor of America, perhaps it is hard or unthinkable for some to believe that he was just an average man of his times. Similarly to many men of the time period, Jefferson also had sexual relations with one of his slaves. This relationship was reflective and consistent with Jefferson's views on slavery which were that of an abolitionist of sorts.
America, a land with shimmering soil where golden dust flew and a days rain of money could last you through eternity. Come, You Will make it in America. That was the common theme of those who would remove to America. It is the common hymn, the classic American rags-to-riches myth, and writers such as Benjamin Franklin and Frederick Douglass had successfully embraced it in their works.Franklin and Douglass are two writers who have quite symmetrical styles and imitative chronology of events in their life narratives.
According to Douglass, the treatment of a slave was worse than that of an animal. Not only were they valued as an animal, fed like an animal, and beaten like an animal, but also a slave was reduced to an animal when he was just as much of a man as his master. The open mentality a slave had was ...
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, brings to light many of the social injustices that colored men, women, and children all were forced to endure throughout the nineteenth century under Southern slavery laws. Douglass's life-story is presented in a way that creates a compelling argument against the justification of slavery. His argument is reinforced though a variety of anecdotes, many of which detailed strikingly bloody, horrific scenes and inhumane cruelty on the part of the slaveholders. Yet, while Douglas’s narrative describes in vivid detail his experiences of life as a slave, what Douglass intends for his readers to grasp after reading his narrative is something much more profound. Aside from all the physical burdens of slavery that he faced on a daily basis, it was the psychological effects that caused him the greatest amount of detriment during his twenty-year enslavement. In the same regard, Douglass is able to profess that it was not only the slaves who incurred the damaging effects of slavery, but also the slaveholders. Slavery, in essence, is a destructive force that collectively corrupts the minds of slaveholders and weakens slaves’ intellects.
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave details the progression of a slave to a man, and thus, the formation of his identity. The narrative functions as a persuasive essay, written in the hopes that it would successfully lead to “hastening the glad day of deliverance to the millions of [his] brethren in bonds” (Douglass 331). As an institution, slavery endeavored to reduce the men, women, and children “in bonds” to a state less than human. The slave identity, according to the institution of slavery, was not to be that of a rational, self forming, equal human being, but rather, a human animal whose purpose is to work and obey the whims of their “master.” For these reasons, Douglass articulates a distinction between the terms ‘man’ and ‘slaves’ under the institution of slavery. In his narrative, Douglass describes the situations and conditions that portray the differences between the two terms. Douglass also depicts the progression he makes from internalizing the slaveholder viewpoints about what his identity should be to creating an identity of his own making. Thus, Douglass’ narrative depicts not simply a search for freedom, but also a search for himself through the abandonment of the slave/animal identity forced upon him by the institution of slavery.
In fact, women had to carry with the pain of having their children wrenched from them. Women were forced to be “breeders” they were meant to bear children to add to their master’s “stock”, but they were denied the right to care for them. It was not something unusual to happen to these women it was considered normal. The master didn’t believe the female slaves had feelings, or the right to ruin their merchandise. It was also not unusual for the plantation master to satisfy his sexual lust with his female slaves and force them to have his children. Children that were born from these unions were often sold to protect the honor and dignity of the slave owner’s wife, who would be forced to face the undeniable proof of her husband’s lust for “black women.”
At first glance, the book “my bondage and my freedom by Frederick Douglass appeared to be extremely dull and frustrating to read. After rereading the book for a second time and paying closer attention to the little details I have realized this is one of the most impressive autobiographies I have read recently. This book possesses one of the most touching stories that I have ever read, and what astonishes me the most about the whole subject is that it's a true story of Douglass' life. “ Douglass does a masterful job of using his own experience to expose the injustice of slavery to the world. As the protagonist he is able to keep the reader interested in himself, and tell the true story of his life. As a narrator he is able to link those experiences to the wider experiences of the nation and all society, exposing the corrupting nature of slavery to the entire nation.”[1] Although this book contributes a great amount of information on the subject of slavery and it is an extremely valuable book, its strengths are overpowered by its flaws. The book is loaded with unnecessary details, flowery metaphors and intense introductory information but this is what makes “My Bondage and My Freedom” unique.