Thomas Jefferson Contradictions

Thomas Jefferson is commonly known to be a contradiction. Whether it is on the idea of slavery or on the idea of Indians, Jefferson seems not to just pick one view. This contradiction may be due to the different identities of Southerners, Virginians, and Americans. Southern identities can be part of where Jefferson describes the nature. The same goes for Virginia. American identity is definitely seen throughout his book Notes on the State of Virginia. Jefferson primarily focused on a unity of these multiple identities based upon race, nature, and properly organized society.

Thomas Jefferson mentioned attributes of common ideology in regard to race. Race includes African American Slaves and American Indians. By commonly ideology it means that

African Americans according to Jeffersons work are mentioned to be ‘inferior’ to whites. That means they are not on the same status as whites. Jefferson describes African Americans as “ in memory they are equal to whites; in reason much inferior, one could scarcely be found capable of tracing and comprehending the investigations of Euclid; and that in imagination they are dull, tasteless, and anomalous’. He seems to be stating that many African American Slaves are less because they do not understand common scholarly stories. This can be considered an regional belief that is common throughout most of the colonies. Several people that it is there fault for the way they are. African Americans slaves are not able to study these works due to the circumstances American’s put them in. Jefferson at one point mentions that they should be sent back to their original…… For the American Indians, Jefferson hints that they are inferior to whites too. Jefferson in his writing describes his fascination with the Indians. He had a lot of interactions with Indians when he was a little boy. At times, he claims how wonderful their voices of the Indians are so majestic. Jefferson seems to admire the Indians yet he contradicts this. Thomas Jefferson did believe that Native American’s can adopt European ways and become more civilized like many Americans. Americans throughout years tried to