What Is Benjamin Banneker Letter To Jefferson

Benjamin Banneker, in his letter to Thomas Jefferson, offers a series of arguments against the institution of slavery through a respectful tone, religious condemnation, and historical references. The son of former slaves, Benjamin Banneker, is tired of his people being used as slaves when his country’s core beliefs consist of “all men…[being] created equal…with certain unalienable rights.” Abolishing slavery had not been taken into consideration at the time this letter was written, the United States had just been established, and the founding fathers wanted to test how the country was going to run. But Benjamin Banneker wanted a change in one of the country’s key economic pieces. Could reaching out to a political figure help? We’ll never know if Banneker’s letter to Jefferson swayed the slave advocate one way or the other. But what we do know, is that he maintained a logical and reasonable concept throughout the letter which is sure to persuade a man such as Jefferson. This persuasive letter begins with trying to put Jefferson in the shoes of a slave, and it does so by taking Jefferson down a not-so-distant memory-lane of a “State of Servitude” under the “British Crown.” But the letter quickly positively shifts in diction and reveals Banneker’s main persuasive idea that freedom is a “blessing of Heaven,”

Jefferson is known for his crucial role in the birth of the Declaration of Independence, and Banneker uses his own words against him. Jefferson is accused of “clearly seeing the injustices of a state of slavery” and having “apprehensions of the horrors of its condition.” A man of such values and a “valuable doctrine, which is worthy to be recorded and remembered in all succeeding ages,” could surely not be such a hypocrite to his own words,