Summary Of American Paradox Alexander Boulton

Annotated Bibliography
Boulton, Alexander O. "American Paradox: Jeffersonian Equality and Racial Science." American Quarterly 47.3 (1995): 467-92. JSTOR. Web. 29 Sept. 2014.
In this source, Boulton analyzes how parts of the Declaration of Independence contradict Jefferson’s “scientific racism” presented in the Notes on the State of Virginia. He affirms, “The scientific theories that Jefferson sets out in the Notes on the State of Virginia are crucial to understanding his construction of both equality and race” (472). Specifically, Boulton’s insight on Jefferson’s emancipation plan showed Jefferson sought for colonization after emancipation because of this “scientific racism”. He believes that Jefferson thought, “… that a plan to end slavery

He covers various topics, but the one of most interest in relation to the topic Thomas Jefferson and his opinions on slavery is the section in which he directly addresses that issue. In the brief excerpt, Jefferson details the physical and morals differences between African Americans and Caucasians. Numerously throughout the document, he refers to them as inferior race with the difference between the two races, “fixed in nature” (669). With, “the improvement of the black in body and mind, in the first instance of their mixture with the whites, has been observed by everyone, and proves that their inferiority is not the effect merely of their condition of life” (671). This document as indicated in the footnotes was originally published privately, so therefore one can conclude that his true reflections on African Americans and slavery are presented in this source. All in all, this will be extremely useful in introducing specific direct quotations about Jefferson’s ideals on African Americans as a

Notes on the State of Virginia is Magnis’s basis for the exploration into Thomas Jefferson’s thinking; he uses this document as well as several letters between Jefferson and correspondents to establish his main point and organize his argument. In summary, his argument is Thomas Jefferson felt that African Americans were an inferior race physically and intellectually, and these feelings were translated into his political conduct. For example, he discussed thoroughly Jefferson’s emancipation plan to free the slaves in infancy over a 25 year time period while deporting them back to Africa to colonize there. This will leave the whites free on the inferior race, because Jefferson believed the two races could not govern together. Other examples include: his inaction of abolition plans during his time in office, his scientific opinion on African Americans, and his deprecation of African American’s intellectual capabilities. Magnis concludes his article with this line, “It is abundantly clear that Jefferson intended the United States to be a society of free White men because of his overwhelming prejudice toward Black, who he regarded as inferior in body and mind” (508). All of these analyses will provide usefulness in my paper, as they concede with my