Thomas Jefferson Quotes
The man must be a prodigy who can retain his manners and morals undepraved by such circumstances... [Slavery]
Jefferson was one of the early observers that the the institution of slavery corrupted and depraved the whites.
Thomas Jefferson, 1743-1826, 3rd President of the United States (Democratic Republican, VA), Notes on the State of Virginia, 1784
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
This moral statement from a New jersey Quaker abolitionist is not particularly noteworthy, However what makes this quote important is that Woolman traveled throughout the South preaching this as his main theme. At that time — before the American Revolution — he did so and was not attacked or intimidated; he was mostly ignored by the Southern authorities. At the time, the South was very confident of its ability to continue slavery. Years later, when the abolition movement grew larger and stronger, a Northern Quaker Preacher doing this not not escape with his life.
The Confederates had a strategy of obtaining material assistance, prestige and recognition from England during the civil war. Confederate diplomats reported favorable attitudes of English diplomats. However, Southern leaders were in absolute denial about and insensitive to the revulsion that most of Europe and the sophisticated nations felt about slavery at the time." 1st Viscount Lyons
The Southern propaganda regarding slavery of the Day was that the Negro prefers his state of slavery to which he is naturally inclined—that the responsibility and uncertainty of freedom are not suited to the Negro temperament. As we look back upon that time, it is hard for us to believe that any sane person would for a moment believe such nonsense, but the reality is that not only did Southerners convince themselves of this, but there were many in the North who accepted the argument.
It was then the practice of some men to engage in an attempted moral justification of slavery, including, in many cases, resorting to Biblical scripture and principles to argue that slavery was the will of God.
None was forthcoming. This letter is of great historical interest in that it shows the corrupting influence of slavery on all facets of society.
Southern secession and the Civil War This is one of the major quotations with which historians rebut the revisionist view that the Civil War was about States’ Rights or other economic factors.
The language was removed in the negotiations that followed Jefferson's draft.
Observation of the other fugitives in Canada
Brown was the richest man in Rhode Island and made much of his money in the slave trade. This quotation shows that slavery was not completely a North verses South split. Northerners like Brown for whose family Brown University was named, was as virulent supporter of slavery as the most ardent Southerner.
Although English, Cobett spent time in America and published a newspaper, The Porcupine Gazette, in Philadelphia. We was very conservative but on the issue of slavery his resembled a liberal point of view. He never used sugar, coffee, or rum because slave labor produced them. However, he advocated legally enslaving lazy people, blacks and whites, who would not work.
Thomas Jefferson was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He had previously served as the second vice president of the United States under John Adams between 1797 and 1801. The principal author of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson was a proponent of democracy, republicanism, and individual rights, motivating American colonists to break from the Kingdom of Great Britain and form a new nation; he produced formative documents and decisions at both the state and national levels.
