Thomas Jefferson
Conflicting Legacy on Slavery and Manumission
Thomas Jefferson, an iconic figure in American history and the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, is often scrutinized for his complex stance on slavery. While he is primarily known as a slaveholder, it is vital to explore his early endeavors and evolving beliefs concerning manumission, the emancipation of slaves.
In 1769, during his tenure as a member of the General Assembly, Jefferson played a pivotal role in influencing an elder colleague to propose the emancipation of slaves. He later documented in his autobiography that he had “made one effort... for the permission of the emancipation of slaves,” an effort that regrettably met rejection.
During his nascent legal career, Jefferson represented Samuel Howell, a man of mixed race who had been placed in servitude under the stipulations of a 1705 Virginia law. This law dictated that a child born out of wedlock to a white woman and a person of African or mulatto descent would be bound to the churchwardens until reaching the age of 31. A subsequent amendment in 1723 expanded this to include the children of such individuals. Samuel Howell’s case was a poignant example. His grandmother had been bound to servitude, and at 18, she gave birth to an out-of-wedlock daughter who, at 19, gave birth out of wedlock to Samuel Howell. Jefferson argued that the law should not apply to the third generation. However, the court ruled against Howell. Though this case did not directly concern slavery, Jefferson’s argument posed a significant question about whether a child’s status as free or enslaved depended on the condition of the mother. Jefferson also made a profound declaration, asserting that “under the law of nature, all men are born free, every one comes into the world with a right to his own person...”
After practicing law for approximately eight years, Jefferson retired in 1774. Shortly thereafter, he authored a document entitled “Summary View of the Rights of British America," which he submitted to the first Continental Congress. In this document, Jefferson presented a meticulous legal and historical argument asserting that British Americans were entitled to all the civil rights of British citizens, which had been established through the long conflict with the English crown. Of particular note, he condemned the institution of the slave trade, expressing that “The abolition of domestic slavery is the great object of desire in those colonies...and to the rights of human nature, deeply wounded by this infamous practice.” It is essential to highlight that the Continental Congress, in the same year, imposed a ban on imports and exports with Great Britain, which included the slave trade, in a strategic move to pressure a rescission of the Intolerable Acts.
Jefferson also drafted a proposal for the new Virginia Constitution in 1776. Regrettably, this proposal was not adopted. However, it contained a pivotal clause stating, “No person hereafter coming into this country shall be held within the same in slavery under any pretext whatever.”
In 1776, Jefferson authored the initial draft of the Declaration of Independence. This draft originally contained a passage condemning King George III for perpetuating the institution of slavery. It stated, “He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere.” Regrettably, Georgia and South Carolina objected to this language, leading to its removal from the final draft.
In 1782, Virginia enacted a crucial law that allowed for the general right of manumission without requiring approval from the governor or Council. This was a significant step forward. However, many Virginians opposed this law and launched a vigorous, though ultimately unsuccessful, campaign to repeal it in 1785.
When Jefferson left Congress and returned to the Virginia legislature, he was appointed to a committee tasked with revising colonial laws. However, the committee retained existing laws concerning slavery and made no reference to future emancipation. Jefferson explained in his 1821 autobiography that “it was found that the public mind would not yet bear the proposition, nor will it bear even at this day. Yet the day is not distant when it must bear and adopt it, or worse will follow. Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate tan that these people are to be free.”
Jefferson also mentioned in his autobiography that in 1778, he had introduced a bill to prevent the “further importation” of slaves. “This passed without opposition, and stopped the increase of the evil by importation, leaving to future efforts its final eradication.” He later recorded this act in his memorandum, titled “Services To My Country,” as one of his significant contributions: “the act prohibiting the importation of slaves.”
