Thomas Jefferson enslaved hundreds of people and had six children with one of them, Sally Hemings, yet he also called the institution a "moral depravity" and ordered Congress to abolish the international slave trade.
In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson famously wrote: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” But Thomas Jefferson also enslaved some 600 people.
Jefferson’s words and Jefferson’s actions can be hard to reconcile. How can a man who believed that all men are equal also have owned slaves? How could a man who called slavery a “hideous blot” on the United States enslave other human beings until the end of his life?
Though Thomas Jefferson’s innermost thoughts about slavery are impossible to know, his words and actions during his life suggest that his relationship with the institution of slavery was complex. He was born into a slave-owning family, and would come to enslave hundreds of men, women, and children at his Monticello plantation in Virginia.
Yet as a young man, Jefferson pushed for the abolition of slavery and even penned a fiery tirade against it when he wrote the Declaration of Independence — though this passage was cut. During his presidency from 1801 to 1809, Thomas Jefferson brought enslaved people from Monticello to the White House, yet he also ordered Congress to abolish the international slave trade in 1806, calling it a violation of human rights.
Public DomainThomas Jefferson’s relationship with slavery was complex, though he ultimately owned some 600 enslaved people during his life.
Jefferson also argued that emancipating slaves quickly would not work because enslaved people were incapable of taking care of themselves. He suggested that there was no place for formerly enslaved people in the United States and that they should be deported to Africa or the West Indies.
Yet Jefferson also had a years-long secret relationship with an enslaved woman named Sally Hemings, a scandal brought to light by journalist James Callender. The exact dynamics of their relationship are unknown and, of course, as an enslaved woman, Hemings would have had little choice in the matter.
However, their relationship lasted four decades, and Sally Hemings gave birth to six children. Modern science has suggested that Jefferson is very likely the father of all six of Hemings’ children — and she was seemingly able to negotiate with him for their freedom.
Ultimately, Jefferson was someone who said he abhorred slavery but saw no easy way to end it. He once compared slavery in the United States to holding “a wolf by the ear” which could neither be held safely nor let go safely. And, in the end, upon Jefferson’s death in 1826, he left the solving of this problem to future generations.
The story of Thomas Jefferson’s relationship with slavery helps provide an insightful look at the history of slavery in the United States as a whole. Jefferson disliked slavery but benefited from it. He sought to gradually abolish it, yet participated fully in it. Today, we’ll probe the story of Jefferson’s words and actions regarding slavery, an institution that he called a “moral depravity” even as he enslaved hundreds of people.
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