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Thomas Jefferson: Differences Between Blacks And African Americans

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Thomas Jefferson addressed the differences between blacks and indians in order to justify the superiority of whites over the other races. Jefferson’s description of the difference in skin color, character, and mental/artistic capability especially emphasizes the racist undertone. Thomas Jefferson was a Republican who eventually went on to become President in the beginning of the nineteenth century. He frequently encountered issues with indians and blacks, which led him to identifying their differences. Skin color, was the most prominent distinguishing feature between them. Equality among the varying races was not a concept Thomas Jefferson encouraged. He ranked the races from best to worst. Whites were on top while indians followed next in the racial hierarchy because their skin tone mixed white and red. Blacks were at the bottom because their skin was purely black. …show more content…

Many places were suggested, including areas outside of the United States. These lands included northern, western, and southern frontiers held mostly by the Native Americans. Jefferson also introduced returning them to their native lands in the West Indies, specifically Africa. More problems seemed to be created with this proposal such as finding and purchasing the land. This proposition was written in 1801 and later in 1803 he suggested a similar plan for the Indian’s futures. Jefferson wanted the indians to either assimilate to the European culture or push them back past the Mississippi River. His plan to con the Native Americans out of their land involved trading with them until they were in debt and had to sell their land. With any chance of rebellion, Jefferson knew the strength of the Union could defeat the weak indians. In both letters, differences appeared, as well as important similarities that demonstrated Thomas Jefferson’s racism towards blacks and

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1. Pratt opposed reservations because Jefferson’s treaty agreement meant the Great River would be the border between them and the whites. Indians would be isolated and not a part of the American life. 2. Schools would “kill the Indian and save the man” by introducing them to the life of an American.

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Jefferson and Jackson were similar because many of their opinions often coincided with one another; for example, both wanted the central government to have small roles in state affairs, that the common interest of the people should be fulfilled, the federal government should only intervene with matters involving international affairs, and both believed in the common man while at the same time supporting the belief that all minorities and Native Americans should be moved to new lands in order for the white man to have it for themselves. Their dislike towards minorities was a common theme during their time as presidents. While this may seem primitive today, their belief in the common man (excluding elites) was progressive. Additionally, Jefferson

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Rather than forced Native American to leave their land, The president Jackson and the congress could develop some activities to share the outcome of gold with them. They could find and arrangement which could result to leave them on their land and share the outcomes of the exploitations of the gold and others natural resources.

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The Act led to an array of legal and moral arguments for and against the need to relocate the Indians westward from the agriculturally productive lands of the Mississippi in Georgia and parts of Alabama. This paper compares and contrasts the major arguments for and against the

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Jefferson did not believe that there would be a solution for both races to live and be treated equally in America. Jefferson states, “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.” He believed that blacks were animalistic, crude, alien and inferior to whites, therefore there was no way that both races would be able to live equally and together. This shows his pessimism and hopelessness of finding a solution for both blacks and whites within America.

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It started with Jackson promoting that the idea will benefit everyone; whites and Indians. This can be recognized in document F, “The consequences of a speedy removal will be important to the United States, to individual States, and to the Indians themselves…. It will separate the Indians from immediate contact with settlements of whites; free them from the power of the States; enable them to pursue happiness in their own way and under their own rude [simple] institutions. … What good man would prefer a country covered with forests and ranged by a few thousand savages to our extensive Republic, studded with cities, towns, and prosperous farms … occupied by more than 12,000,000 happy people, and filled with all the blessings of liberty, civilization, and religion? … We now propose to acquire the [land] occupied by the red men… by a fair exchange, and, at the expense of the United States, to send them to land where their existence may be prolonged and perhaps made perpetual.”

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Benjamin Banneker, Letter to Thomas Jefferson In 1791, Benjamin Banneker, a free African in Maryland, wrote Thomas Jefferson a letter regarding his thoughts on the slaved African Americans after Jefferson’s “all men are created equal.” In his opening paragraph, Banneker recalls the prejudice and prepossession against those who are the deepest dye. Although he is not under “tyrannical thralldom” or “inhuman captivity,” Banneker has brethren who are.

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It seems that Jefferson was in favor of right of conquest, and only put on an air of the inverse during his time as Secretary of State in order to gain favor as the United States’ Ambassador; however, later during his presidency, Jefferson did show his true colors with his plans for Native American displacement, and became one of the main

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The reason why Grant, the main character in one of Mr. Ernest J. Gaines’s best work A Lesson Before Dying, does not attend Jefferson’s execution is because he is afraid of seeing his lack in acting like a man with dignity and more importantly, seeing what all black men around them have become reflecting in Jefferson. In the short 250-paged novel, we come across a few common issues that still linger in today’s society; racism and diffidence, both in which the two main characters -Grant and Jefferson- suffer from. Self-doubt and uncertainty in oneself was frequently detectable, even in the 1930’s; how the white people portrayed the black and how little they made them feel was a big cause of it. Sadly enough, Jefferson shows that he was never

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The government of early America was not kind to people of any color besides white. The president at the time, Andrew Jackson, had spent many years in the army campaigning, taking Native American land and passing it on to white farmers. In the year 1830 he signed for the Indian Removal Act. This allowed the government to exchange Native American land east of the Mississippi for land in the west called "The Indian Colonization Zone. "

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White residents of the United States clashed with the Indigenous people on land, food, and rights, without a permanent compromise. In 1829, President Andrew Jackson proposes to move all Indigenous people within America’s current territory to reservations. After being pursued for nearly thirty years, the Choctaw and the Chickasaw tribes agreed for their removal. This would allow whites to live their civilized lives as the Indigenous people cast off their savage habits in remote reservations. President Jackson’s Case for the Removal Act shows that those of power and majority decide the terms of segregation.

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First of all, Native Americans were settled on a hotbed of natural resources which included oil and precious metals such as silver and gold. There was also much fertile land that would entice farmers and frontiersmen to move out west. On this land there was so much potential economic opportunity for farmers, cattle drivers, miners and many other occupations. The government developed the popular public misconception that the indians were misusing the land and that Americans had the right to take advantage of the opportunities that lie in the west. These ideas led to the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887 which authorized encroachment of Indian lands by the US government in order to divide up reservations and control Indian activity.

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Lastly, you could just remove them all and that seemed the most reasonable and necessary to Jackson. Move them somewhere al-state jurisdictional disputes or white settlers wouldn't get them or do any harassing. They could develop their own civilization at their own pace and wouldn't have to worry about United States laws. Not only was the government going to pay them for their lands they were also going to help them get established in their new place. I felt like removing the Indians would have been more suitable for them, because they were going to get help from the government and be able to create their own civilization.

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846 Words | 4 Pages

As Jefferson tried to decide on actually making this purchase happen, many questions came to mind beforehand. Some of these may have consisted as the following: What to do about Native Americans in the new

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“The Constitution and Slavery” pointed this out by stating that “Yet at the time these words were written, more than 500,000 black Americans were slaves. Jefferson himself owned more than 100.” This shows that even though Jefferson insisted on the idea of “all men are created equal,” some can say that he is a hypocrite. “How could somebody make such a statement while they are doing the same devilish act?” must have gone through the minds of those questioning Jefferson’s sincerity. Indeed, he did commit those acts.

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