Investigating Jeffersons Definition of Equality - Essay Example

English November 28, Investigating Jefferson’s Definition of ‘Equality The Declaration of Independence by Jefferson is an eighteenth century document that stands as a sacred scripture to the American civil religion. This public document, along with Lincoln's Gettysburg Address (O’Brien), bound the people of America together in political and religious union. Jefferson's Declaration of Independence draws its philosophical concepts largely from the eighteenth century Enlightenment Period, from the works of Thomas Hobbes, Jean Jacques Rousseau, and, most particularly, John Locke. This document later on inspired the revolutionary efforts of the Americans and promoted their views and values regarding to the concept of a new nation. Declaration of Independence also played a pivotal role in many revolutions around the world, which occurred after American revolution.        Jefferson's document is popularly regarded as being fundamental in stating the rights of citizens. Americans, even today, believe that the phrase "all men are created equal" stated in the document is their fundamental right, and the document itself is the foundation for American equality. But Declaration of Independence (O’Brien) largely addressed to the American society and depicted only the moral rights of white free men. The rights of freedom and equality remained a dream for the women, Native Americans and African Americans of the eighteenth century American society. This paper is based on the Thesis Statement that Jefferson's Notes on the State of Virginia and Declaration of Independence depict his understatement of the African race.        The central theme of Jefferson's Declaration of Independence itself is against the African race that existed in America. Jefferson, as his central theme, holds that the purpose of the Government is to secure the rights of its ‘men’. In his Declaration of Independence, Jefferson explains that a Government gets its power from "the consent of the governed" (Jefferson) and it is entrusted with the duty of protecting the rights of its citizens. He adds that, if a Government fails in this purpose, it becomes the right of its citizens "to alter or abolish" the government.        Jefferson is a representative of the eighteenth century society of white American men. He was raised according to the infiltrating morals and values of the patriarchal society. According to the moral beliefs of the eighteenth century, in which Jefferson was born and lived, practicing slave holding and being dependent on slaves and slave labor were not morally wrong. Jefferson, who inherited the fortune of slave holding, did not free the slaves even after declaring his thoughts on "equality and freedom”. Though Jefferson identified slavery as morally wrong and emancipated for the freedom of slaves and abolition of slavery in his Notes, he continued this practice till his death. Jefferson, by calling his slave population as ‘blacks’, exposed his thoughts against racial integration. Though Jefferson is believed to be in favor of general emancipation, he considered slaves as sub-human and "inferior to the whites in the endowments both of body and mind" (Voelker 2).       Though Jefferson holds the rights of a man for freedom and equality, we can see contradictory remarks about African race in his Notes and Declaration. Jefferson holds that "all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" (Jefferson). In Declaration we see him decrying slavery as a "“cruel war against human nature itself,” which violated “sacred rights of life and liberty”. He called slavery an “abominable crime,” a “moral depravity,” a “hideous blot,” and a “stain” that distorted “what nature had bestowed on us of her fairest gifts" (Boyd). But in Notes he held fast to his views that they are in "memory … equal to the whites; in reason much inferior... [and] in imagination ... dull, tasteless, and anomalous” (Jefferson & Waldstreicher 177). He was also against the racial integration which is reflected in his view that the slaves can only be gradually emancipated. He emancipated only a few slaves, much lighter in complexion, to the society of the whites. He contradicts himself by identifying slavery with more and more blackness in Notes and by calling for their equality, freedom and emancipation in Declaration:        Jefferson’s phrase “all men are created equal” is inconsistent with his beliefs and his life. Jefferson, though feeling that “all men” were morally equal, in fact, was referring to the various economic sects within the society of the whites. The wealthy whites secured respect and power when compared to the poor whites. By stating that “all men are equal” he was stating his opinion that all white men, irrespective of their culture and economic backgrounds, were morally equal and that it is their right to "to alter or abolish" the government which failed to secure their rights of freedom and equality. Jefferson, even while declaring “equality and freedom’, held fast to his beliefs that blacks, Native Americans and women were not culturally, physically, or intellectually equal to white males. Though Jefferson voiced against the practice of slavery, racism against blacks and slave holding were the accepted social norms of the day, which is explicitly indicated by the practice of slavery by Jefferson himself.        Jefferson's oft-repeated phrase that "all men are created equal" (The Meaning of Thomas Jefferson’s Phrase ‘all Men are Created Equal’ para.1) did not have any reference to the African race held as slaves by the eighteenth century America. These "black" people were the negligent part of the American society who was seen merely as a property. For Jefferson and the other Founding Fathers, the phrase "all men” meant all 'property-owning white males'. Jefferson's principles of political freedom and natural justice were in fact limited only to the male whites. Women and the Blacks were referred to as 'property' by the patriarchal white society of the eighteenth century America.        The term 'equality', as defined in the Declaration of Independence, states that "people are of equal moral worth, and as such deserve equal treatment under the law" (The Meaning of Thomas Jefferson’s Phrase ‘all Men are Created Equal’ para. 3). This, in turn, can be re-read as follows: [free white men] are of equal moral worth, and as such deserve equal treatment under the law. The Jeffersonian word 'people' stands for its much narrowed version, i.e., 'free white men' and this, in turn, gives new social distinctions, which are free men vs. slaves, men vs. women, property owners vs. debtors, etc. The term 'legal equality', as depicted in Declaration of Independence, therefore, is limited to free white men. Declaration of Independence, though on its periphery, stands for the equality and freedom of humankind, it primarily addresses the free white men of the eighteenth century American society, who were distinguished from each other culturally, occupationally and economically. Both women and African Americans were considered as ‘property’ by the patriarchal society. Jefferson, who was born and brought up as per the values and traditions of patriarchal society, therefore, stood for the moral and legal equality and freedom of all property-owning free white men of the society.        Jefferson, who identified poor white men as equal to wealthy white men, defined the degrading system of slavery with blackness. By calling his slaves as ‘blacks’ and by referring them to as ‘inferior’ to whites, he underlined that racial integration of blacks in to the society of whites was not desirable and, hence, pointed out an alternate plan of gradual emancipation and resettlement (Declaration). His observation, as per which blacks were "inferior to the whites in the endowments both of body and mind" (Wilson para. 25), clearly denied the rights of freedom and equality for the African race in America in the eighteenth century, that was suffering from the evil system of slavery.                           Work Cited Boyd, Julian P. Declaring Independence: Drafting the Documents. The Papers of Thomas Jefferson. Princeton University Press. 1950. Web. 28 Nov. Jefferson, Thomas. In Congress: The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America. USHistory.org. 1776. Web. 28 Nov. Jefferson, Thomas & Waldstreicher, David. Notes on the State of Virginia: with Related Documents. Bedford/St. Martin’s. 2002. Web. 28 Nov. O’Brien, Conor Cruise. Thomas Jefferson: Radical and Racist. The Atlantic Monthly. 1996. Web. 28 Nov. The Meaning of Thomas Jefferson’s Phrase ‘all Men are Created Equal’. McGraw Gill. 2003. Web. 28 Nov. < http://mattbrundage.com/publications/jefferson-equality/> Voelker, David J. Thomas Jefferson on the African Race: 1781. Notes on the State of Virginia. 2006. Web. 28 Nov. < http://www.historytools.org/sources/Jefferson-Race.pdf> Wilson, Douglas L. Thomas Jefferson and the Character Issue. The Atlantic Monthly. 1992. Web. 28 Nov. Read More