Jefferson’s Complex Soul Thomas Jefferson was a very complex person, as a leader, father, and patriot. As a father he wrote to his daughter, Martha Jefferson, “It is your future happiness which interests me and nothing can contribute more to it (moral rectitude always expected) than the contracting habit of industry and activity.”(Jefferson’s letter to daughter) In this tense industrial means to work hard. So in this excerpt he is telling Martha to continue to work hard to achieve her goals and aspirations. This part of him especially contradicts the “slave-owner” part. This is because as he tells Martha to continue to do her work, and work hard, the whole idea of slaves is that they do the back-breaking work for you. This idea is proven in John Ferling’s book, Jefferson and Hamilton: The Rivalry that Forged a Nation. Ferling says, “...Jefferson refused to free his own slaves.”(Ferling 355) This being said, Jefferson refused to enforce industry, though as a father figure he encouraged it. …show more content…
This is contradictory to the fact that he had slaves because he clearly states that all people should be treated equally, but he had slaves and that is not equality. Though slaves didn’t get equal views on Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of happiness, it was still very influential on the land that is called America, The Declaration of Independence set them up to be something