Dead Presidents

First of all, I can’t believe there is a firestorm over this.  A lot of things are up for debate, including what Jefferson’s racial views were, but there is no way that anybody can ever convince me that Jefferson did his slaves a service by not releasing them and allowing them to live on their terms.  That’s the most paternalistic, racist, stupid argument that I’ve ever heard. 

A couple of final notes about this.

According to bobbysplayhouse:

The emancipation proc. was a military strategy, that is why he was able to pass an executive order. It did not free the slaves in the union, just the slaves in the south which one could argue was out of his jurisdiction so it really had no effect on the union itself. It was just an updated version of the slaves as contraband. Jefferson could not sign such a thing in VA and if he did im sure he would of been punted from VA in a heartbeat. So you seriously missed the boat on this one.

second, jefferson was not cruel to his slaves as you as making it seem. He would pay his slaves is they had an abnormally hard day and so forth. He took care of them gave them time off, clothes, feed them well… yada yada. Not saying slavery is a good thing either. As far as slaver-holders went Jefferson was the “nicest.” 

third, jefferson mulled this over on countless occasions. If he freed them they would most likely get hired back to do the same job and suffer from layoffs. He couldn’t afford to hire them back full time either. So he figured it was best to keep them.

*Cough* i think you may have overlooked a part of Jefferson’s correspondence with coles:

But in the mean time are you right in abandoning this property, and your country with it? I think not. My opinion has ever been that, until more can be done for them, we should endeavor, with those whom fortune has thrown on our hands, to feed and clothe them well, protect them from all ill usage, require such reasonable labor only as is performed voluntarily by freemen, & be led by no repugnancies to abdicate them, and our duties to them.

Im not slavery is completely 100% justifiable but the way you treat the subject does not do justice to Jefferson or the time period. Historical context is key for historians.

Yes, the Emancipation Proclamation was a military strategy, but it wasn’t the reason Lincoln was able to issue an Executive Order.  That’s one of the tools of the Presidency.  The President doesn’t have to be at war to issue an Executive Order.

Jefferson didn’t need an Executive Order or the permission of Virginia or anyone to free his own slaves at Monticello.  I understand that it appears that Jefferson didn’t beat his slaves.  But you can’t say that he wasn’t “cruel” to his slaves.  The very idea of slavery is cruelty and de-humanizes an entire people.  He sold slaves.  He bought slaves.  He put notices in the newspaper offering rewards for his runaway slaves.  You said that “as far as slave-holders went Jefferson was the ‘nicest’”.  THERE IS NO NICE WAY TO OWN SLAVES.  HOW CAN THAT NOT BE UNDERSTOOD?  IT IS SLAVERY.

Now, as for the correspondence from Jefferson-to-Coles that I “overlooked”?  Do you not realize that Jefferson calls human beings “property” in that paragraph.  THAT IS THE ISSUE.  Human beings can not and should not be property.  Jefferson’s entire belief system was built on the idea that life is for the living, and people should be allowed to determine their own path in life.  That’s not something that I am interpreting or making up.  That is a fact.  It is why Jefferson supported the American Revolution (and the French Revolution).  Yet, you’re giving Jefferson credit for being a paternalistic man who owned human beings because, as he points out in that paragraph, they’re not quite ready to live their own lives.  You know why they weren’t ready?  Because they were property to Jefferson.  I hate that I have to go here, but to Jefferson, the slaves were basically livestock that he could talk to and fuck.

The last thing I want to say is that neutralangel made a post and I love his stuff, appreciate his support, and agree with him on everything he posted except for one thing:

I’m reblogging this again because I’m not sure my post earlier was formatted properly and made it seem as though I was like, “YEAH ALL THESE PEOPLE LOVE THE SLAVERIES.”  In fact, only two of them do. They are justifying Jefferson’s ownership of slaves by saying, basically, that he thought it was a pretty bad idea otherwise.

I am absolutely certain that bobbysplayhouse and revocate-animos are not supporters of slavery.  They know it was evil.  They love Jefferson and they don’t quite understand Jefferson’s views, which is okay, because there’s a lot to love about Jefferson and a lot that we don’t understand.  I’ve probably read every word Jefferson ever wrote, and he’s still a paradox to me and always will be to all of us historians.

Debate is good, discussion is healthy.  If someone doesn’t understand something, I hope that I can help, just as I hope I can realize when I am misguided about an issue.  There cannot be debate, however, on the degrees of slavery.  As I wrote the other day, very few things are certain in this world but there are no nice ways to kill somebody and no good ways to own slaves.