Hypocrisy In Thomas Jefferson's Work

Our Founding Fathers R Elitist Bigots So It’s Our Civic Duty 2 Deport Straight White Males The very use of the word, “men” in Jefferson’s famous line illustrates his views on society as a whole- that rights should be reserved only for land-owning, educated white men. Thomas Jefferson was quite the paradox. Throughout his life, he acquired utmost of 600 slaves, and was an elitist, highly educated man; quite contrary to the majority of the American people who were poor and mostly without even a base education. An example of his hypocrisy is plain in the fact that he helped to create the 3/5th compromise. This was enacted during the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and only counted slaves, who made up a great sum of the population, as 3/5th

Virginian Luxuries ridicules white men who have sexual relations with their slaves and abused men and women, including Thomas Jefferson, who is known to have had children with one of his slaves. Slavery encouraged this wrongful practice, and it would have been thought that the very man who claimed all men were equal would not have done such a thing. Sadly, slavery only continued to be more and more popular and he did little to stop it, obviously having had such strong ties to the lifestyle. Alas, women’s rights and slaves’ rights were not recognized until far later, with the 13th amendment officially abolishing it long after Jefferson had passed away, and the 19th amendment granting white women the right to vote (black women were still highly discriminated against through means such as poll taxes, etcetera.) Although Thomas Jefferson’s words lay the foundation for progress, he himself was a hypocrite. He owned around 600 slaves and even sexually exploited them. He signed hateful acts into being such as the 3/5th compromise, and did little to help recognize women’s rights. Although it is true that his views were not uncommon at the time, to have had such a radical statement and not put it into practice proves him to be a mere elitist who doesn’t truly represent the interests of the people of the United States of America. His ideals for the country were vastly different than