Thomas Jefferson and the Notes on the State of Virginia

Thomas Jefferson and the Notes on the State of Virginia In The Notes on the State of Virginia, the author, Thomas Jefferson, talks about the differences between blacks and whites and explains why the two should live separate from one another. These differences include a number of physical as well as metal features that make the two different. Not only does Jefferson talk about why blacks should be separated from whites but he also talks about how in his opinion whites are more superior. Jefferson believed that blacks whites could not live together and that black’s should be emancipated because whites were superior. In the fourteenth chapter of The Notes on the State of Virginia, Jefferson talks about legislation for the emancipation and deportation of Virginia’s slave population. He says young slaves born after the proposed law should stay with their parents to a certain age then be brought up at public expense (Jefferson). At this stage they should begin to learn arts and sciences, until the age of eighteen for females, and twenty-one for males. When those ages are reached they shall become colonized. He later suggest sending them to present day Haiti with the necessities and declaring them a free independent people and offering them alliance and protection (Jefferson). Jefferson believed that blacks could not be incorporated with whites because of the many differences between the two races (Jefferson). According to him the two races are so different, they would separate into different parties and so much separation would occur that it would result in the extermination of one of them (Jefferson). He says there are many differences whether they be mental, physical, or moral. Some of the major differences Jefferson talked about were physical differences. The first one being perhaps the most obvious one and that is the difference in color, he says that white skin is superior in beauty to black skin, he also talks about physical features such as hair and

Cited: Bowman, David. Jefferson, libery, “racism,” and slavery. Berea College, January 2003.