Thomas Jefferson
...hy, “Commerce between master and slave is despotism. Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than that these people are to be free. Nor is it less certain that the two races, equally free, cannot live in the same government. Nature, habit, opinion has drawn indelible lines of distinction between them.” He here claimed that slavery was wrong, but he held slaves of his own. He was as well racist with his idea that blacks and whites could not coexist with a different relationship. Blacks were meant to be free, but in their own separate area separated from whites. He was truly hypocritical and wrong concerning these facts and ideas, but one must remember the time period and location of Jefferson before judging him for his views. He was born and raised in Virginia, a slave state, and taught from childhood that slavery was both necessary for economical reasons and morally correct because blacks were considered animals. We know now that those ideas were wrong, though considered right at the time. Jefferson was simply a man of his times, current in the schools of thought. In addition to this, he was accused of being a “Virginia firster.” He spoke of Virginia as “his country” even when he was representing the United States abroad, but what can one say about that? It’s human nature to make things personal. He lived in Virginia; it was his home. He represented the United States, but being from a specific area, and more acquainted with its areas and ways, this is what the United States was to him. It wasn’t as if he had presided in each of the states and was able to incorporate all of the qualities of the country combined. He of course thought of his home first, when making decisions. Its natural for peop...