Problem: More than any of this country’s founding figures, Thomas Jefferson illustrates the central paradox of early American history: that slaveholders could wage a revolution and create a republic in the name of equality. This reading aims to explain that paradox by making connections between Jefferson’s views on race and his theories about republican society.
Setting: This section explains Jefferson as a product of the Enlightenment and gives
background on the environment in which Jefferson developed his views on race and
republicanism.
Investigation: Your main job in this paper is to understand Jefferson’s ideology regarding American society, how his views on Black people and indigenous people differed, and how the main essay’s argument connects these two sets of views. How were Jefferson’s views regarding Black people and Native Americans connected to his plans for and fears regarding republican society? Why was Jefferson able to imagine a republican future for indigenous people but not Black people?
Sources:
Source 1 argues that Jefferson’s racial views cannot be understood apart from his
republican ideology. Takaki believes that Jefferson believed the moral purity needed to
uphold a republic required a homogeneous population of virtuous (self-restrained),
independent (landowning) men, which he postulated that indigenous and Black people
could not fulfill.
Source 2: reveals Jefferson’s views on the differences between Black people and
indigenous people. Jefferson fancied himself an enlightened thinker, but he reveals
himself to be a terrible, terrible excuse for a scientist.
Sources 3-8 deal with indigenous people. Do Sources 3 and 4 suggest that the United
States is adhering to treaty terms? How much does the letter of Source 5 support the
idea that Jefferson’s racial views influenced his policies toward indigenous groups? To
what extent does the treaty in Source 6 reflect Jefferson’s ideas about indigenous
people and his ideas in Source 5? What impact did Jeffersonian policies have on
indigenous people, according to Source 7? What familiar rhetoric does Tecumseh use to mobilize indigenous resistance in Source 8?
Sources 9-12 deal with Black people. How is Jefferson’s colonization plan in Source 9
influenced by his views on Black people? What might Jefferson say about the arguments for and against emancipation in Source 10? To what extent did republican ideals influence the author of Source 11? Compare the author of Source 12’s reasoning about Black inferiority to Jefferson’s reasoning on the same subject.
Paper Topic: Write a paper around two pages long (500 words or more) answering the
central question for this assignment: How did Jefferson’s racial ideas about indigenous people and Black people serve his dream of an agrarian republic?
Why did Jefferson imagine a republican future for indigenous people but not Black people? Students should not take Jefferson at his word, but rather assume that his racial views are NOT a genuine reflection of serious study. Instead, think what Jefferson wanted for the United States, and consider how Jefferson’s racial views served his ideas on the preservation of republican society.
What did Jefferson gain from each racial group, in reality, and in his imagination of what they were capable of? Be as specific as you can.
