Thank you to everyone who supports these projects on Patreon. I wouldn't be able to devote so much time and so many resources to one video otherwise. I'm trying to make the best work I can and the donations really do make it possible. If you'd like to chip in and support me, check out www.patreon.com/rchapman. Video notes below: I've been trying to figure out how much evidence to provide on screen for what I say in the video. In the past year or so I've shifted towards showing evidence pretty continuously throughout the entire video. But then it seems like if there are only a few claims left with no evidence shown, and people single out those claims and believe I made them up. Showing evidence for literally every claim, I think, would be exhausting to watch, so I'm not sure how to solve that. For this one, I saw a number of people single out the section where I said according to my research, slavery persisted in the South because white Southerners didn't want to work outdoors in hot climates, and say it's absurd and I made it up. To explain why I constructed that section the way I did, I thought 1) it's not a key point for the piece, and 2) it's common sense. So I thought I'd give the audience a break on reading text for that section. I also showed some supporting text from Gordon Wood on how the philosophy of labor was shifting in both the North and South at the time. I figured that was enough, and if people were intrigued or skeptical on that point they could research it on their own. To address it here I'd start by asking: how else would you explain why the further south you went, the more adamant people became about keeping slavery? Why were those same people so work avoidant compared to people in the North? Why was the Deep South so firm on slavery, while the North gave it up within a generation? I'm curious if people have alternative explanations, because while researching for this piece I literally did not come across one. Every source that covered it said the same thing: climate. That was also the prevailing take when this was all happening. Perhaps some quotes from primary sources will do. In 1804, when senators were debating whether to restrict the importation of slaves into Louisiana, GA rep Jackson said: 'Gentlemen from north & the east do not know that white men cannot endure the heat of a vertical sun - they cannot cultivate and raise a crop of rice - negroes are necessary for that country.' and 'a white man cannot cultivate three acres of rice, and yet Georgia is not so warm as Louisiana. You cannot prevent slavery - neither laws moral or human can do it - men will be governed by their interest, not the law...' Jefferson himself in Notes on the State of Virginia: 'in a warm climate, no man will labour for himself who can make another labour for him,' after saying blacks are 'more tolerant of heat, and less so of cold, than the whites.' Some people also seem offended by my use of 'alleged' when talking about Jefferson and Sally Hemings, apparently because they thought it should be treated as fact. From what I can tell the evidence does strongly support the claim that Jefferson fathered children with her. The DNA test only says it was a Jefferson male (of which there were about ten at Monticello) who fathered one of her kids, but Jefferson was with Sally every time she probably conceived, which is considered strong evidence. Generally speaking, there was significant pushback/skepticism from the academic community in the '90s when Annette Gordon-Reed published 'Thomas Jefferson & Sally Hemings,' which was the work that got this conversation seriously going. The pushback was mostly based on the fact that Jefferson hardly ever mentioned her in his writing (I think 4 times in about 18,000 letters), that it seemed out of character for him to keep his children as slaves, that people around Jefferson hardly mentioned her, and that we know so little about Sally. Then the DNA test came out, and Gordon-Reed published 'The Hemings Of Monticello,' which basically said Jefferson's behavior step-by-step indicates he had a relationship with Hemings, and his silence on her is consistent with behavior of other white male Virginian slaveowners, and that people around him would also understand to keep quiet about her. Now most professional opinion (that I've read) does conclude that he fathered children with Sally, but I still thought it would be wrong to treat it as fact, knowing it's a controversial subject, and knowing I wasn't going to take the time in the video to go through all this. So I just said 'alleged' and left it to the comments in case people disagreed or were offended. Hope that cleared things up. I've seen a couple people flag Ben Franklin's anti-slavery activity to refute what I said about none of the Founders 'risking their careers' to end slavery. Franklin's activity was at the very end of his life, which meant 1) he wasn't risking his career over it, and 2) his activity was after the crucial time window I was talking about in that section, when slavery was being widely debated and the defense of it hadn't solidified. I also didn't claim that the Founders literally said nothing about the abolition of slavery. Only that in the years that crucially mattered they didn't press the issue. They overwhelmingly focused their efforts on other issues, like the formation of the union/constitution, diplomacy, and freedom of religion. From my research, in those years Jefferson was actually the most outspoken against slavery of them all (he attempted three major instances of it afaik), but he cared far more about other issues (like freedom of religion), and his 'anti-slavery' stance also came with his highly impractical deportation clause. Last note - many comments say it was Jefferson's debt that prevented him from freeing his slaves. I have never seen a professional make this claim. The reason why is because Jefferson said what he would do with his slaves if he ever got out of debt. He said he would improve the living conditions of his slaves. Not free them. Also he lived an extravagant lifestyle, for example constantly hosting guests and serving fine wine from around the world, and taking on huge expenses trying to turn Monticello into basically his dream home. He didn't live as someone trying to get out of debt in order to free his slaves. In short, the claim doesn't make sense if you study him. - Ryan
Some Black people today are red pilled that White society overall is superior (AK NATION NEWS) .. never to claim EVERY White is superior to EVERY Black. One book I'm reading that's from the 1980s says African Black people have no doubts that they could never have created the technology or social order that Whites create. They also aren't ashamed or offended by the topic. Only Africans _educated_ in White universities learned to manipulate White guilt, he explains. I have not had direct experience with Africans. I did read a story about a group of students at University of Nigeria who lynched (not hanging) a student, killing him, over accusations he stole a laptop. That was about two months ago. Look it up. That's Scientific Maximum Shishi. At least one South African Black woman published a video of herself asking White people to come back and run their country, because their electricity and everything else is collapsing.
I hope you make 10x what a college professor teaching American history makes… not that I wish those ol guys ill. But you are a genuine Prof. Thanks for your erudition, sensitivity to the issue, and concise presentation of very complex issues
John Adams was also a product of his times. John and Abigail were given a slave as a wedding present, which they refused to accept. Both of them, and particularly Abigail, worked their small farm throughout their lives and their wealth and properties steadily grew, while Jefferson spent his life squandering inherited wealth and living on the backs of his slaves. Despite his narratives for freedom and liberty. Observing the lives of these two founders definitely provides insights into human nature. Pity that the Adamses are not better remembered.
Jefferson’s insolvency is usually related to his indulgence in politics to the expense of his farm’s management. What is the evidence he squandered money?
Not even mentioning Sally Hemings was also an interesting choice. A good historian would address the flaws in his thesis-this is the first video from this channel I’ve seen but *something* tells me he’s just a partisan hack pretending to intellectualism… Edit: Yes, I know he mentions Hemings in passing at one point. If anything that makes it worse because he clearly knows about the whole situation but ignored it in this video specifically Jefferson the slaveholder!
The more I hear about Jefferson, the more I think the Epic Rap Battle (ERB) guys got him pegged correctly. A man of principles that didn't risk his economic standing to live up to those principles. Having Frederick Douglass point these things out was brilliant.
To be fair, even great men of high principles can stumble when it comes to the well-being of their kids. He loved his kids, and as much as he hated slavery, he wasn't willing to risk his kid's wellbeing.
According to one scholar I watched give a lecture on C-Span there is a draft of the Declaration that has in Jefferson's hand "life, liberty and property." On that draft, the word "property" had been struck through, and above it, in John Adams hand was the phrase "pursuit of happiness." Jefferson may have personally copied out the final version of the Declaration, but he is not it's sole author.
Most accurately, Adams should be credited as the editor of that document. Franklin I would wager would have been the one who understood the Court of St. James the best, and would have known what would and would not get the attention of the king and Parliament. His job was to be the wise owl telling how to make them listen. Adams I suspect was there to keep Thomas on the ball: “We cannot use that phrase, Tom. The counter argument would be that we are all propertied men and they could build a case that the colonists who have most whine the loudest. What is in it for everybody else that has been afflicted with the machinations of George III? “ Adams was the most mulishly stubborn, most out of his gourd when angry, and was the most cantankerous son of a bitch in Independence Hall. He was also a shade better at lawyering than Tom, largely because to him there was nothing he liked better than an argument. (If he had an all out loud fight with Abigail on his wedding night,the world should not be surprised: for John, that was his idea of foreplay. ) Adams made a rousing speech, the content of which is lost to time, just a few days before the vote. There was a thunderstorm outside. Independence Hall would have been darker than usual as this is a time before kerosene or electric lightbulbs. I am sure the effect of rolling thunder and blasts of lightning would have set up quite a show that only added to Adams's speech. It certainly helped with the final push. (Jefferson hated to speak in public, because he had a higher pitched voice than most men, and a slight lisp. At the time his wife was very ill due to miscarriage, so his mind was elsewhere.) Adams unfortunately got in his own way a lot with an uncontrollable temper and a bit of a sour exterior. He was hypercritical of others and not Mr. Friendly, unless you were a woman (he would not dare be as big of an asshole in front of a lady: women were too tender to be subjected to his usual grousing and grumping in his eyes.) For many years, no one knew there was a much nicer side to him that he kept hidden. One of his grandsons or great grandsons, one of those was the one to publish the letters between his wife and himself; his diary came later. It is one of the reasons why he did not get the credit he was due until much later than Jefferson. (Note: many scholars believe he had some sort of metabolic disorder, and possibly was bipolar as well. There were episodes during the Revolution where he would become incredibly sick: he literally would work to the point of collapse. In the play 1776, the opening number has a whole chorus of men singing for John Adams to sit down. In reality, they should’ve been singing, “Lay down, John, lay down!!”😊😊)
@@marykatherinegoode2773 Jefferson was the more articulate and better writer than the others. He was tasked with creating the document. Franklin and Adams acted primarily as critics and advisors and thus made only a few notable alterations. Most of the document that was submitted to the Congress was Jefferson's original text. It is there that the problem of hashing out the exact language and what should or should not be included took place.
The Sally Hemings story is also complex. Her father was the white owner of the plantation belonging to Jefferson’s father-in-law. Her mother’s parents were also a white father, black mother. So Sally and Jefferson’s wife were half sisters, looking very much alike. Upon becoming Jefferson’s wife, she took Sally with her to assure her sister would never have to work in the fields. Having suffered at the hands of her own step-mother, when dying she begged Tom to swear he would never put a step-mother over their children. He so swore. His children with Sally all looked very white. He educated the boys in a trade, the girls in the arts and graces expected of ladies. As each reached adulthood, he sent them west in a wagon with the tools of their trade-quite similar to how he wrote liberated slaves should be sent off. Of these children only one retained and passed down the memory that Jefferson was the patriarch of their family. It’s thought the others married white partners out west and never revealed who they were. It was more important for their children to be considered fully white than to be known as Jefferson’s grandchildren by a black woman. The one family who kept the black identity claimed for over a hundred years that they were descended from Jefferson. Historians declared them hoaxers. In the 1990’s at last DNA tests were run, their DNA and that of Jefferson’s known descendants through his daughter’s line, the Randolphs of Virginia. It was a match. Think of it: many of Jefferson’s descendants thrive in America today and don’t even know the author of the Declaration is their ancestor.
The DNA test only showed that one of Sally Hemming's children, her son Eston, had Jefferson family connections, and his descendants were not the branch that had had claimed this. Because Jefferson had no sons, the DNA results could not prove that Thomas Jefferson was Eston's father. He, or any one of his nephews might have been. Also, to answer the question put forth in the title of this video, Jefferson could not have freed all his slaves, because, when he died on the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of independence, Virginia law would not allow it. Slaves were considered chattel property, and were thus subject to sale to pay off a decedent's debts. Jefferson was a brilliant man, but had extravagant tastes, and many creditors who had to be paid out of his estate. before those slaves he had freed in his will could actually receive their bequests. His heirs barely kept Monticello briefly before having to sell it off.
@@charlesyoung7436 You buried the lead here. Yours is, indeed, another way to literally answer the question posed by the posted video. It is often pointed out that George Washington freed his slaves while Thomas Jefferson did not, but Washington had more discretion than Jefferson in this matter, not only because Jefferson was in debt while Washington was not, but because the laws had changed between the deaths of Washington and Jefferson, restricting the right of a master to free his slaves in his will. Jefferson's daughter, in fact, freed slaves as instructed by her father outside of his will because freeing them in his will would have invited his creditors to challenge the will.
@@mnfowler1 Jefferson was able to free his slaves. The law only required that the free slaves would have to leave Virginia. I think it is total nonsense to make money by participating in slavery, and then to pretend that you are now in debt if you free them. You created that situation.
@@isaacclark9825 You are correct on the first point - the newly freedpeople would be required to leave the Commonwealth without explicit permission from the county of residence... but I believe the issue with the slaves being a part of the mortgage of the land was that if TJ sold the land to pay his many debts, the slaves would have been sold with the land, as they were part of the collateral on the debts. They were not held in title as separate property (something to that effect anyway)
why no mention of Tadeusz Kosciuszko donating his estate to Jefferson to buy the freedom of however many slaves it would afford and TJ pocketed the money?
@@2MinuteHockey not the only thing left out. I guess not everything could be included, but it is interesting what made it in and what did. Jefferson was a complicated human. His words and actions seem irreconcilable at times. He did things like promote and sign the Act Prohibiting the Importation of Slaves, but still of course, profited from his own slaves. I suppose it is up to us to weigh both the good and the bad for ourselves.
@@Boethius411 sounds like "altruistic capitalism" of 1800s where he did what was "right" and profited by means that were obviously wrong. kinda like if the largest land owner in a monopoly pushes for land development/sale moratoriums
@@2MinuteHockey as opposed to communist altruism in the 20th? You know, like collectivising everything down to 8 acres and sending all the kulaks to the gulag for hoarding grain? From each according to their ability eh comrade?
@@2MinuteHockey You mean Thaddeus Kosciuszko? You do know he had multiple wills and because of the disputes the money never even made it to Jefferson, right? Pulaski never gave money to Jefferson.
why no mention of Casimir Pulaski donating his estate to Jefferson to buy the freedom of however many slaves it would afford and TJ pocketed the money?
After 5 minutes of watching this video, I'm not sure whether I'm joyfully surprised by its thoughtfulness and nuanced perspectives, or saddened by the very fact that this makes it so utterly unique on RU-vid (or among *any* discussions of political topics nowadays). Thank you!
you gotta look harder, there's a lot more thoughtful and nuanced content on youtube than corporate TV, i promise. you can find post grad dissertation videos from places like harvard and multiple hour lectures from oxford and the like on here as well as plenty of independent people who do good work. edit: no joke, my recommendations are brimming with similar content
Amazing the way you tell this story -- heart wrenching story -- with text on the screen. And you highlight each passage as you read it. Producing this video must have taken weeks and weeks. It must be part of a life-long labor. I really admire your work!
How about "filthy RAPIST"? In an act of unfathomable cruelty, blackmailed Sally Hemmings into staying his slave by holding her (THEIR) children HOSTAGE. Hero worship is for FOOLS. Take the good with the bad but DON'T make excuses when your hero is a louse. CRUELTY is NEVER anything but CRUELTY, now, then or EVER.
The real question is, who gets to be nuanced and for what purpose? We have decided that Hitler or Idi Amin, for example, should never be nuanced, but that the founding fathers be seen as "great but flawed" men. Why? I enjoyed the video and believed that this information should be widely taught albeit I did not agree with everything said. For the average Black American, however, I suspect that this video was just a bit too "nuanced."
@@drandrewm It's impossible to disregard all nuance, we just choose when to and when not to focus on it, and for good reason. It feels wrong if I pointed out that MLK cheated on his wife, or that Nazi Germany _did_ have amazing scientists. But other nuances feel totally legitimate to point out. I think that's the harder question to think about. *Both sides are also just reacting to the others reaction at this point, so it always seems unnecessarily intense. We live in a clown world
@@drandrewm "We have decided that Hitler or Idi Amin, for example, should never be nuanced" Andrew, have you seen Ryan's video on Nazism? IIRC, it is more thoughtful than the typical treatment of Hitler and the Nazis.
@@QuixEnd Take the idea that Jefferson was relatively more benevolent than the usual slave holder...that's beyond "nuance" to the point of being propaganda, and it was unnecessary. But, there are people who "needed" to hear Ryan say this for reasons I still don't understand.
@@BS-vx8dg I haven't, but my point was aimed at American sentiments overall. Thomas Jefferson was a great American thinker, but he was also, extremely wealthy (via inheritance), which made him entitled, at times cruel, opportunistic, and hypocritical. His ideas about black inferiority were a personal convenience, but the effects were severe and long lasting. IMO I was actually fine with the post overall, but it seemed like Ryan was more than happy to recount select propaganda. (eg) TJ broke up families like all slave holders, especially when he needed money. Ryan suggested that TJ hired cruel overseers because the nice ones were in short supply (really?). I had a long conversation with a historian at Monticello about 10 years ago. He indicated that many visitors are often insistent (some to the point of being belligerent) that he tell them that Jefferson was "good." It seems like Ryan understands this dynamic and played to it a little. To be clear, I like and follow Ryan and will continue to watch his channel, and more importantly, will continue to appreciate the conversations his videos generate.
Jefferson, like most of us, was faced by a moral dilemma. On the one hand, he could see the injustice inherent in the institution of slavery, yet he benefitted economically from it.
That’s called being a coward. Jefferson could have done the right thing, but he *chose* not to. With such a clear decision, all this talk about his apparent internal conflict is laughably shallow.
To say that every “pale” person hated labour and wants slavery as a scheme to avoid hard work ignores the fact that every one except the richest 2% of the population had to do hard labour.
It’s a little more nuanced than that. Slave ownership was wider than 2% iirc, BUT, the stereotypical plantation owner (plantar class) _was_ that Uber wealthy class that was well on its way to becoming feudal lords in the south. The larger percentage of slave owners would’ve had maybe one or two slaves that they worked alongside with. The true villainy in the south was the rich planters who, had the south not lost, likely would’ve reduced their fellow whites into positions little better than the slaves because they were in the process of buying up all the land to expand plantations. I’m not exaggerating when I say the south was well on its way to feudalism built on slave labor.
I'm skeptical that the anti-slavery passage being left in would've caused slavery to end sooner. I feel like it could've just as easily caused the entire revolution to fail or even caused the south and north to end up as different countries.
That is part of why that section was removed. It was a risky passage. It it was allowed to stay then the US would have been more ready to end the practice sooner but there was serious risk involved.
And if the revolution failed the slaves would be freed sooner. The British Empire engaged in anti-slavery legislation long before post-revolutionary America.
@@drmodestoesq Maybe... . Or maybe the British, seeing the density of the black population in Southern regions, would have employed Jefferson's process of education and relocation. The British could see that the American Colonies were potentially the most valuable holding of the Empire. Sudden and dramatic disruption would not be in their interest.
@@drmodestoesq Bullsh!t. Britain promoted slavery in all of its colonies and trade partners until long past the point when they claimed to oppose slavery. Britain nearly intervened on behalf of the Confederacy to keep its supply of cheap cotton flowing.
@@reasonablespeculation3893 or you know just admit America was founded on awfulness and trying to get out of it with speculation is pretty silly. Like the English were literally on an anti slavery bend like most of the world. Why would they conveniently be as evil as Americans when it comes to slavery specifically?
Seems to me Jefferson was a brilliant idealist, a hyper pragmatic man with deeply held rational beliefs, and a man who was prone to compromise his own rational thought when his self interests where on the line. Not much different than many people today.
Agreed, Jefferson's ideals at least should be celebrated and he should be remembered for them as well as for the bad stuff. We can't let the slave owning and treatment of slaves like Sally Hemmings to overshadow the good parts, at least not completely.
Excellent job. Thanks especially for the extensive use of primary resources. This is an excellent example of how history ought to be taught and learned.
Although I was an avid American history enthusiast growing up, I had only a rudimentary understanding of Jefferson, that is until my father gave me the book 'American Sphinx' by J. Ellis. When I finished it my father asked my opinion, all I could say was that Jefferson was a very complicated and conflicted man, he smiled and said "Yes, he was". Also, I just finished 'Washington, A Life' by Chernow, (a most excellent book btw) and found that Washington was of the same thread as Jefferson, they were both men of their times. Excellent video! Your videos should be required viewing in classrooms. Thank you!
The difference is that Washington freed his slaves while Jefferson kept his and probably had a gRapey relationship with one of them in particular. If Tommy J had followed Washington’s example there would be far less moral condemnation.
Thomas Jefferson enjoyed living a grand lifestyle, which was far and away above his means. He left his surviving family with great debts. His slaves were sold off to pay thise debts. His extensive library of books were also sold to pay his debts. Actually everything was sold off and it was still not enough to cover his debts. His surviving grandson who "inherited" Jefferson's estate, paid on the debt the rest of his life.
Yeah, when looking at these historical people, you have to keep in mind that slavery had been a worldwide institution for thousands of years. Arabs did it. Africans did it. Asians did it. Europeans did it. It was everywhere. It was the West that mostly eradicated slavery, though it still goes on in parts of Africa and the ME.
Switch on ur brain...u dont have to be a rocket scientist to determine that slavery isnt good...ppl in ancient Greece knew that and i guarantee u that 99% of slave owners knew that too.Jefferson was just hypocrit and/or had tiny balls to stop doing what he believs is wrong. U must admit this simple FACT with neccessity or just admit that Jefferson was stupid like a chicken not being able to find whats right to do knowing that slavery is wrong😂😂😂
I appreciate your arguments for why we need to see Jefferson in the context of his times, still I am amazed by the fact that a man so enlightened could not come to the simple conclusion that he must free those he keeps in bondage and encourage others to do the same.
Humans are complicated creatures, sometimes we cannot see the truth right in front of our own eyes. I dont think he was a bad man, in fact I would say he was a good man, but he was a man of his time, and that comes with many problems.
The necessity of freeing everyone as quickly and as fully as possible is and was, _logically,_ a *simple* conclusion. But this wasn't an *easy* conclusion to get at in those days, considering that no other known society, in the entire history of the world until that point, had ever reached it. A completely new idea may require some serious mental rearrangements, and I think that's clearly such a case. Sometimes, being able to see a simple truth can be very difficult - and especially so for seeing it for the first time ever.
Our problem with the likes of these men that seemingly knew what was right but still went with the “flow” of their time is whether we should celebrate them today or simply regard them as products of their time, without judging them with the ideas of today. I cannot blame Jefferson for being born in a time of ignominious darkness but I am ambivalent about considering him great or venerable, even.
For history nerds, we don't see it as celebrate or condemned. We see a flawed man who has done great things all the while enslaving people. An act that even him growing up in the South knew was wrong. celebrating him isn't an endorsement or free pass on everything he did. Just recognition of certain aspects and achievements that are relevant to us today
This poses the question back to us. Do we go with the flow of society when it suits us, and only talk about ideals when it does not? Knowing "the right thing to do" is immaterial and pointless. There is only *doing* the right thing (not once or twice, but consistently) - or not.
I highly recommend reading the entire screenshots throughout this video. Some of the unread passages are important, such as Jefferson's repeated assertions any differences he did note were quite possibly a result of their terrible education, unfortunate position, etc. Given the time period, this seems quite an honest position to take - noting the differences but providing a rather progressive explanation for those differences.
Exactly, the context as to why Jefferson felt this way is often (as in this video) overlooked. What else was he supposed to think of a uneducated slaves who couldn't read or write. Critics of Jefferson and the Founders also severely downplay their fears of a race war, Americans in the early 19th century were all well aware of what had occurred in Saint Domingue and did not want that repeating here as well.
It wasn't progressive, he was conservative. There were (largely working class) movements to end slavery all over the world. Ending the slave trade was a question that could get MILLIONS of people in places like England to sign petitions (which also happened). The reason we think it's "progressive" is because rich men's writing dominates our understanding of the time period. Poors always knew slavery was wrong. Good people always knew it was wrong.
Jefferson was a filthy rapist who, in an act of unfathomable cruelty, blackmailed Sally Hemmings into staying his slave by holding her (THEIR) children HOSTAGE. Hero worship is for FOOLS. Take the good with the bad but DON'T make excuses when your hero is a louse. CRUELTY is NEVER anything but CRUELTY, now, then or EVER.
Forgive me, Ryan. I saw the topic and, knowing its complexity and its capacity for stirring contemporary passions, doubted that you could successfully navigate the choppy waters. But once again you have proven to be *the* master at creating commentary that any open minded person on any side of this issue will respect. Beautifully done (as usual).
Don't know if sarcasm or not but the dude is just reading books and articles on the internet and summs them up for stupid/lazy people who don't read books and need a half hour summary for everything like school kids. You're worshipping him like a god and even start your comment with a apology and a justification. Seek help.
Ryan, you are an excellent writer and an even better presenter. Because of how my brain is wired, it is hard for me to focus for very long, but you do such a good job that you make it easy to consume.
A very good and balanced review. My personal feelings on the subject tend to emphasize how radical the enlightenment ideas were in this regard. The culture in which a person grows up in forms the deepest and most immutable set of filters through which we view the world. It is a rare and special person who can challenge these filters, even to a limited degree in himself, let alone encourage others to do the same. It is easy for us to condemn slavery. It is far more difficult for us to challenge or condemn elements of our current culture, like the still prevalent belief in human superiority. In the vein of "judge not, lest you be judged", I refrain from judging people like Jefferson, because I seriously doubt I would have been better than him in the same circumstances. That is simply highly unlikely.
I try to take the same approach you take in evaluating historic people like the founders. I remind myself these people are dead and can’t address the critiques of modern day people. However, at risk of going off subject, I really hate John C. Calhoun. He sounded like an A-hole. He deserves much more contempt than Jefferson, in my personal opinion.
@@AngelaMastrodonato actually straight up fuck John C. Calhoun he had zero redeeming qualities and the only thing he ever did was "WOW I LOVE SLAVERY!!!!!!!!"
Incorrect, slavery was waning in the south, until the cotton gin was invented, thus gave renewed life to slavery, to pick cotton in the sun. It was true that the cotton gin reduced the labor of removing seeds, it did not reduce the need for enslaved labor to grow and pick the cotton. While more industrialisation through mechanical machines reduce slavery In fact, the opposite occurred in demanded labour when it came to cotton. Cotton growing became so profitable for enslavers that it greatly increased their demand for both land and enslaved labor.
I had no idea about Jefferson's writing on racial differences. Thank you. I think a good analogy for such in modern day is buying products and clothing made by slave labor in Asia. It is a terrible thing, but is really hard to live without buying such.
It's also easy to ignore if you're not a factory owner or one of the workers. Out of sight, out of mind... Slavery was only a thing (in the US) for the wealthy, and even then it was only (mostly) a southern plantation owner wealthy thing. This was an extremely small portion of the population. Obviously, a lot of people had opinions on it from either side, but like today, we still want our cheap cotton t-shirts, so how are we supposed to stop something that's beyond our control? Do we protest, or do we accept that some people have a shitty life? Or maybe we even support giving people a life that may be somewhat better than they would have otherwise had? Is both nuanced and simple. It simply shouldn't happen, but since it does happen, there's a lot to consider.
@@n0madtv Excellent observation. The institution of slavery, forced, brutal oppression of workers is alive and well. It just takes subtle forms, and we all survive on it at the expense of human dignity. The rulers have so much control how we think and act. It takes lots of life experience before the reality hits.
Thrift stores are a great way to avoid contributing your money to worker exploitation in Asia (unfortunately, we all have phones as well.) But there are also bulk stores that sell misprints or slight but not very noticeable hiccups in clothes manufacturing for discount.
As a 70 year old Black man, deep hot rage against the hypocritical injustice of this country is as much a part of me as my color. As a human, I know self interest has, and may always, trump all other considerations. This has been evidenced in Hans J. Morgenthau's 1949 publication, The Primacy of the National Interest, and more recently, Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers Revisited experiment exposing the unanimous resolve of 75 Wharton School of Business seniors to maintain their privilege even when confronted with the unfairness it entails. This may be the honest summation of Jefferson's life. I don't know if the actual can ever be overcome by the ideal.
It's sad that your videos get so little views, comparatively speaking. Your content is of the highest quality. I hope this channel gets the exposure it deserves!
Well done. This is how the subject should be taught in high school history. It highlights the push and pull between ideals and reality and the difficult decisions our founding fathers had to make while presenting an honest picture of the contradictions and flaws they (like every other human being) possessed and the context of the time. Though none of it was new to me, it was a well presented. I'm curious, how do you choose your subjects?
Well said- nuance is the key word, but far too many lack the patience to incorporate into dialogue, much less school curricula, where it is much needed.
It would be easier to forgive Jefferson’s slaveholding, had he not made it so clear that he knew it to be immoral and evil and continued to hold slaves anyway. Hypocrisy of this magnitude is truly evil, and Jefferson’s many virtues and accomplishments do not change this.
Notes on Virginia pointed out that Jefferson was a massive racist. And that spread his racist ideas over the whole country. Thanks for pointing that out.
You take people from west coast tribal Africa, and are surprised that they don’t immediately grasp current European mathematics, science and philosophy, in their ample downtime during cotton picking. Like seriously what was he expecting?
So for simplicity, he was into the idea of abolishing slavery when it was viewed as acceptable by his peers in college, but when it was inconvenient to his indulgent lifestyle/political aspirations, he changed his stance
I just found this channel and am so happy I did. I've been asking these kinds of questions about kinds of governments and you explain everything so thoroughly. I will be joining now. Hope to be able to join Patreon soon. Thank you so much!!
The great irony of the American Revolution is that it was the Loyalists led by John Graves Simcoe, the first governor of Upper Canada, who passed the first laws to end the slave trade in 1791 in what later became Canada.
@GMAngelone ah yes Haiti, maybe the best remembered revolutionary French genocide in history. Leftist- genocide can be a good thing, if it frees slaves. Also how do you suppose Haiti would look today if it were still under French rule? Whatever, freedom comes at a price, the price of which is barbecue today. Progressive history is so messed up.
@@koschmx you're right screw Haiti. Those people were meant to live in chaos and anarchy. In all seriousness, I have no clue what European lies you're referring to and genuinely am curious. Could you elaborate please.
Excellent video on a complicated topic! Thanks! I especially like that you actually show the pages of text from which you are quoting, with the relevant sentences highlighted in yellow; and that down in the corner you show the book from which they are taken. After seeing this done just once, it is amazing to me that every history-related RU-vidr doesn't do it. Again, thank you for an excellent video!
It is a shame that such a thoughtful and thorough examination of a topic should be so rare - but it is. Thank you for providing food for thought without rancor or bias. You are a treasure.
19:46 here you are a bit wrong. By the end of his life Benjamin Franklin has begun to openly campaign for the abolition. From the National Archives website: > Franklin did not publicly speak out against slavery until very late in his life. As a young man he owned slaves, and he carried advertisements for the sale of slaves in his newspaper, the Pennsylvania Gazette. At the same time, however, he published numerous Quaker pamphlets against slavery and condemned the practice of slavery in his private correspondence. It was after the ratification of the United States Constitution that he became an outspoken opponent of slavery. In 1789 he wrote and published several essays supporting the abolition of slavery and his last public act was to send to Congress a petition on behalf of the Society asking for the abolition of slavery and an end to the slave trade. The petition, signed on February 3, 1790, asked the first Congress, then meeting in New York City, to "devise means for removing the Inconsistency from the Character of the American People," and to "promote mercy and justice toward this distressed Race."
@@Matt-kt9nm the timeframe is a bit wrong, but at 19:40 you can hear him saying “ultimately none of the founders risked their careers to end it [slavery]”. Edit: corrected the quote
Hi, I'm aware of Franklin's anti-slavery activity. In the video I said 'none of them risked their careers to end it,' quoting from a Jefferson bio. The crucial period that I was talking about was in the 1770's and early-mid 1780's, when the abolition of slavery was being seriously debated and the South hadn't hardened in their defense of it. Franklin missed that window. Also speaking out at the very end of his life isn't risking his career.
@@realryanchapman It's good to see you deep in these replies. You are to be commended. You have generated great discussion and dialog on this topic. I really appreciate what you've been doing.
Hello Ryan. This is David from Australia. I’ve just discovered your channel. Thank you so much for your research and your balanced, thoughtful, and respectful presentation of each topic. It’s helped me as a part-time university tutor in social welfare. There’s a lot of hysterical stuff on RU-vid. You clearly make an effort to be objective, and honest when the research is unclear or inconsistent. Regards and sincere thanks.
One of the lines you skipped over from Jefferson’s letter is very important. 12:59 Jefferson acknowledges that even if it is so that blacks have inferior intelligence to white men, that this has no bearing whatsoever on whether or not they have rights. He said “ Isaac Newton was superior in understanding, he was not therefore lord of the person or property of others”
I just got my bachelors in history a few months ago but have been in a funk of disinterest. Finding and watching your videos has got me excited again. Thank you, you're you're doing important work.
Excellent video. Though it leaves one with a complicated set of feelings and ideas. There are so many different hands that are to be consider: the ideals of liberty, the practical ramifications of freeing the slaves, the self interest, the fact that most with power would have slaves, the creation of a new form of government, the brute realities of the time. There really is a lot to think about.
Whenever I watch your videos I like to think if there are extra points to include. You always beat me to it, like mentioning the cotton gin. Keep up the good work.
Such a great video. Our flattened understanding of history is not only toxic in 2023, but I'm also always surprised that people tend to flatten it in the first place when the truth is always so much more interesting and helpful than the dogma.
Too many are guilty of distorting history to believe it is an excuse for what they advocate for. The tragedy in all of this is that part of the Enlightenment Age was coming into understanding the qualities of being a person. The Founding Fathers mainly understood to be human you inherit flaws, yet there was an idealism about giving people the liberty to learn of their mistakes to help improve their lives to become morally sound. Self responsibility was a driving force for this new age; however, we are in a time where too many are quick to give in to avoid sustainably be an individual. And there is little push back for those who have the authority to correct this as if anything it give excuse to take more power from the people.
The history profession is more sophisticated than ever. Only partisan hacks with an axe to grind are flattening our collective understanding-looking at you, DeSantis.
Aaron Burr lived in such times and didn't own slaves. He also advocated for equality with women and that's why he's not glorified in American mythology and villainized as shooting Alexander Hamilton, who got a Broadway show in his name, when he was the elitist and against the everyday citizen.
Just like we barely give Thomas Paine more than a mention of him of his book, but never the ideas, when going over the history of our revolutionary past.
As I understand? It was because his first memory was of being served by slaves, he was born into a family that owned slaves and raised in a slave owning society as well as being bad with money. So it's more surprising that he spoke out about slavery than that he didn't free his slaves. Not that it make him being a slave owner much better (especially in the context of the whole Sally Hemmings thing), but it does make it more understandable.
An excellent assessment of Jefferson that captures and explains the contradictory and dichotomous nature of the human condition. What an ace of an historian!
Realistically, very few of us retained much of what we were taught in school as children. As adults we are more interested in learning about what we are curious. my point is we are too quick to blame schools, especially public schools.
Reflecting on this piece, I find myself thinking about how hard it is for people-including me - to sacrifice our luxuries for the sake of preserving the environment. We know what causes pollution, yet we still drive, fly, drink bottled water, and keep our homes the perfect temperature all year long. Why should we suffer while our neighbors do not?
Because the environment can be seen as an amorphous harm based on our individual actions. Owning, whipping, and raping another human being is in your face harm and not an esoteric exercise of thought.
With regard to the environment. I'd say the average individual in the Western world is really a captive of the larger industrial and corporate interests at play. You personally or even your entire household could go carbon neutral for the rest of your lives and all of that would be undone by the activities of any single oil company in a matter of seconds.
@@brianfox771 and I'm sure the same argument could be advanced that for one to release their measly 11 slaves would have zero effect on the larger evil of institutional slavery.
The plantation business model came to depend on essentially zero cost labor (slaves, more accurately viewed as assets that were purchased and had resale value). As the demand for their output grew (eg cotton), the was no way that plantation owners would willingly shift to a paid labor model.
Neither farm labor or domestic labor were covered by New Deal era Federal Minimum wage laws. It’s always cheaper to do sharecropping than anything other than slavery. Slaves raised the food, built the buildings, and made their clothes and all household textiles, and raised the cash crop.
This video missed a key contextual fact: the laws of Virginia, while allowing for emancipation by will or written instrument, did not allow those slaves to go free until all the slaveholder's debts were settled. And Jefferson was up to his eyeballs in debt. Even the sale of his personal library to Congress didn't get him out of debt. Moreover, freed slaves were required by law to leave the commonwealth within 12 months of being freed; otherwise the state could reenslave and sell them. The legal deck was heavily stacked against emancipation.
History is so messy when u study it, and it takes tons of research to put together a video like this. Not just the textbook history. But a deep dive on Jefferson and his nuanced beliefs in a strange time in American history. An uncertain future lay ahead, and with the benefit of hindsight, we sit in outer chairs and judge men who were creating a country from scratch. Based on fairly new principles that had yet to be truly tried in earnest in any country. Great video and arming ones self with nuanced facts is what every student of life needs.
This treatment is reasonable, honest, and well researched. The work put into this and the product created is much appreciated and sorely needed in our current politically polarized environment.
It seems to me he consciously pushed things in both direction to such a degree the necessity to end slavery could not be denied. His approval of slavery was simplistic, and motivated by economics, but his comparing the potential for upward mobility among Blacks to that of whites was nuanced and filled with humanity in his writings. The ever evolving lasting power of our Constitution that's brought about so much change that's legacy.
Its very important to view the Enlightenment as a series of events that occurred over a 300 year period . Each group of people slowly obtained human and democratic rights over those 300 years . While at William and Mary , Jefferson studied John Locke , Issac Newton , Adam Smith Jefferson was a major figure bringing the Enlightenment ideas to America . .
@@BS-vx8dg Commenting on a video (as well as liking it) are forms of engagement that the RU-vid algorithm takes into account when determining which videos to promote. More comments and likes means it's more likely other people will see it
This is a truly excellent, well documented and balanced discussion of Jefferson and slavery. While Jefferson had sincerely held concerns about increased conflict and violence if slaves were freed, I agree with Ryan that the main reason he did not free his slaves was self interest, pure and simple. He was addicted to his life style and property that could not be maintained without slaves. The idea that he would free the slaves and then do what, relocate to a two bedroom condo in Philadelphia? That was not going to happen.
one of the smartest men this nation had the pleasure of bearing. I do feel for Jefferson because it is clear he knew slavery was wrong, however he was so ahead of his time, social pressures gave in and he was unable and unwilling to do anything about it. Another reason he was so rigidly unwilling to emancipate was due to his standing in Virginia. It’s suggested in Jon Meacham’s The Art of Power that had he been a northerner, we wouldn’t be having these discussions now. I’m baffled that public opinion has turned against such a man as Jefferson without even attempting to understand context of the time and place in which he lived
Extraordinary effort. Should be an assignment in high school and college American history classes. The essence of good historical analysis is the ability to cut oneself free of one's own time and see the world as our forbears saw it. This requires deep knowledge of the past and a kind of intellectual fluidity that is rare. This lecture demonstrates both qualities in abundance.
Did I miss the part where Thomas Jefferson was massively in debt and slaves were part of the mortgage of the land? Also he did free at least 7 slaves... 2 by deeds and 5 in his will.
@@user-md3wm7vu1f He freed Robert Hemings and James Hemings by deeds in the mid 1790s... both adult males... so not his kids... Here is the exceprt from his will related to manumitting five slaves - Madison and Eston (named in the will) both born to Sally Hemings, and one or both claimed Jefferson as their father - "I give to my good affectionate and faithful servant Burwell his freedom and the sum of three hundred Dollars to buy necessaries to commence his trade of painter and glaser, or to use otherwise as he pleases. I give also to my good servants John Hemings and Joe Fosset their freedom at the end of one year after my death and to each of them respectively all the tools of their respective shops or callings and it is my will that a comfortable log house be built for each of the three servants so emancipated on some part of my lands convenient to them with respect to the residence of their wives and to Charlottesville and the university where they be mostly employed and reasonably convenient also to the interest of the proprietor of the land: of which houses I give the use of one with a heritage of an acre to each during his life or personal occupation thereof-I give also to John Hemings the service of his two apprentices Madison and Eston Hemings until their respective ages of twenty one years at which period respectively I give them their freedom and I Humbly and earnestly request of the legislature of Virginia a confirmation of the bequest of freedom to these servants with permission to remain in this state where their families and connections are as an additional instance of favor of which I have received so many other manifestations in the course of my life and for which I now give them my last solemn thanks.
I think you contradict yourself : Jefferson called slavery a “moral depravity” and a “hideous blot," That means that he was not a "product of his time" since he had morally progressed compared to the average morals of the time regarding slavery .. The fact that he continued to hold human beings as property his entire adult life also shows that for personal reasons he was not be able to give up his privileges... most ;likely he did not want to sacrifice his own comfortable life.. From this perceptive we might understand better his motives ... and thoughts .
I love that youre so nuanced in the way you present so many difficult topics. Im gonna subscribe to your patreaon so i can support this kind of mentality in these divided times
what is even interesting is that one of Jefferson's friends Kosciuszko, offered that his holdings in the USA be sold and the proceeds used to free and educate Jefferson's Slaves
I think that your assertion that the "climate" was the reason that the US kept slavery after the 18th century is extremely naive at best and dangerous at worst. You have to remember that the enlightenment was bolstered by capital owners who wanted to increase their personal profits (rather than be subjects of royalty), and the upper class capital owners in the US were no exception. This goes for capital owners in both the North and the South--Slavery was a profitable institution in the South because slaves produced raw materials for a low cost, and white commodity owners made their living by selling their goods to the North. It was also a profitable institution in the North, because the ample supply of raw materials from the South ensured that the textile industry could increase their profit margins by lowering production costs. Though the upper class in the North may have thrown around the idea of emancipation because of their education in enlightenment-era philosophy, it was not an institution that they seriously considered eliminating until it became unprofitable for business transactions. In addition to bolstering the economy, slavery also produced a racial hierarchy in the US that served the interests of the upper classes. Racism ensured that the lower classes would not unite and turn against the richer capital owners, even if they had a new legal document that "provided equal rights" to them. The Declaration of Independence seems to be a rather progressive document until you notice that it was primarily a means of securing sovereignty rights over the profits produced by capital owners in the colonies. The only way they could keep all of their profits was by asserting that King George didn't have any sort of divine lineage, and that therefore he didn't have a claim over the profits that they felt they produced outright. By creating a document that asserted the rights of commoners, they were essentially trying to demote the monarchy from its divine status by stating that "actually, all men are equal and God-given rights don't just belong to the King." If they didn't do this, they would have no other logical rationale for opposing the king and the British parliament on their policy decisions related to taxes and the de facto British ownership of goods produced by the colonies.
Chattel slavery came late to the British colonies of America in relation to other empires, and it was outlawed only a few decades after other European nations did. The Transatlantic Trade was outlawed in the UK and US simultaneously in late 1807 (Jan 2 1808). The UK abolished slavery in their colonies in 1838 by the 1833 Act, but not in colonies ruled by their state corporation The East India Company. In doing so the UK Treasury bought the slaves and freed them...aka paid the owners for loss of property. This is only three decades before 1862 and 1865...plus the US made it unconstitutional and also unconstitutional to reimburse slave owners. It was only two decades after the East India Company relinquished and were recompensed for their chattel slaves in the 1840s. It wouldn't be till the late 1880s that chattel slavery ended in Cuba. We tend to have a provincial way of seeing the world as if we are in a vacuum...invented our sins and held them beyond all reason and time.
@@STho205 Okay so the fact that the British empire adopted chattel slavery "late" doesn't excuse the fact that it happened. And it also doesn't change the US's reasons for keeping it. While chattel slavery may have been adopted late by the British, it was likely that you were better off as a slave in either the Spanish or Portuguese empire. It was observed even in colonial times that British chattel slavery was unusually cruel compared to slave institutions in Latin America. Both were terrible, of course, but British colonies did not legally protect the family institutions of slaves, nor were there ways for slaves to set themselves free. To a certain extent, slaves in Spanish and Portuguese colonies were able to preserve aspects of their previous African culture, whereas in Protestant colonies, any slave that didn't assimilate would be punished or killed. Because of the Spanish policy of mestizaje, there were varying degrees of servitude that a black person could be afforded, all the way up to "free black person." This was not the norm in British colonies, where slaves were brutally repressed and expected to be totally subservient to all white people regardless of class. So while slavery as an institution lasted longer in Spanish and Portuguese colonies, it was largely due to reforms in the slave code that allowed slaves marginally more freedom. (And, let's place emphasis on the word "marginally," because slavery in Latin America was still abhorrent.)
@@TheForeignersNetwork Africans created modern chattle slavery and did the actual kudnapping. It happened. If inexcusable then they must be damned first... Or you could grow up and see this objectively in the context of history, instead of throwing a tantrum like anyone in your direct memory of generations practiced it...ie grandparents, gg, ggg, gggg. IOW don't fight wars already won.
@@STho205 No one was holding a gun to Europeans' heads telling them to buy slaves. Slavery is bad wholesale, whether it was Africans doing the slaving or white people. Also, there's historical evidence to suggest that European powers regularly pit African nations against one another in order to grease the wheels of the slave trade--They were active participants in the deterioration of the continent as a whole, and they would later use that to their advantage when searching for raw industrial materials. In any case, the fact that you think I was having a "tantrum" is very telling and a little bit silly. If you can't have a nuanced discussion about slavery then I think you should probably go elsewhere, because I'm not going to entertain banal or racist arguments used by apologists.
@@STho205it’s interesting how Brits are taught about slavery. It always starts with their interdicting and stopping the Slave trade in the Atlantic. Britains to the rescue right, but what they are not taught is for 125 years prior the Brits slave trade was bigger than all the other European powers combined. Also not told is Britain imposed forced labor in the colonies after closing the transatlantic trade. How much space is there between slavery and forced labor, And when did Britains end forced labor? At the end of WW2. If there is such a thing as karma I wouldn’t even change planes in England.
Thank you for this thoughtful, and intellectually honest appraisal of Jefferson's attitudes. He has long been a hero of mine, as he should be for every American. I do have to ask you to consider that it was not simply "Southerners" who changed the grudging tolerance for slavery held by most Americans into a strong support and advocacy for its spread. That change also happened as a result of politics. A small oligarchy of plantation owners in the southern colonies became fabulously wealthy after the invention of the cotton gin.. They poured money and support into the Democratic party, and as a result, the Democratic Party began to advocate for slavery as a positive good, and worked to expand legalized slavery into the territories, and even into Northern states that had expressly outlawed it! This had nothing to do with 'climate' or 'lazy' white people... this was political action by a wealthy elite to protect their source of income. This political action was well understood at the time, and resulted in the breakup of the Whig party in the 1840's and the founding of the first anti-slavery party- the Republicans. The Civil War was the result of the Democratic party refusing to allow the Republican candidate to appear on the 1860 ballot in most southern states they controlled. When that candidate, Mr. Lincoln, won the election, the Democratic party in the south chose treason and succession over accepting as President a man who had pledged to keep slavery out of the new territories in the West. The typical "Southerners vs. Northerners' analysis is very superficial, and does not really explain the situation... I look forward to your future videos- as you seem to be honestly in search of a deeper understanding of history... thank you for your work.
The idea that Southerners, unlike Northerners, we're lazy and didn't want to work in the hot sun and therefore embraced slavery is nonsense. Slavery died out in the north because the crops grown there, primarily wheat, barley, oats, etc., required heavy labor at only two points during the growing season, planting and harvesting. It was simply more economical to hire paid labor for those two relatively short periods. Rice and indigo which were grown in the south required heavy labor throughout the entire growing season making the cost of purchasing, housing, feeding, care, and oversight of slaves economically preferential to free paid labor.
Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln shared the same point of view when it came to the emancipation of slavery and their thoughts about freeing slaves, having them live with Caucasians here in the U.S.A. 🇺🇲.
Love this content, I completed Benjamin Franklin: An American Life, and it went over some of how Benjamin's view on race and slavery adapted over the years and he was also coming up at the same time as enlightenment. It is sad to learn that things that seemed to be progressing in the 1700s halted or went backward during the 1800s. Jefferson had a great influence on USA and his conflicting views show how others likely disagreed on slavery and race at the time. I am interested in a Jefferson biography on audible someone had mentioned American Sphinx which is on there.
The idea that slavery persisted because southerners didn’t want to work under the hot Sun seems implausible and over simplistic. Poor farmers must have done it themselves and wealthy people never do the manual labor themselves, they always find a way to get others to do it (usually wages)
"The idea that slavery persisted because southerners didn’t want to work under the hot Sun seems implausible and over simplistic." This was the single line in this video that didn't sit well with me. But perhaps the notion has validity and could have been phrased better. I think it *is* true that the upper reaches of Southern society were disdainful of work in general, but yeah, the hot sun thing just sounded a bit off.
@@Sadistic_Rage Agreed. I wasn't questioning the factual basis, I was merely concerned that that "fact" did not deliver enough bang for the potential cost.
Seems implausible and oversimplistic because it is. I think he was trying his best to not change topics on the video, but the situation at the time wasn't that straightfoward.
It is a great irony. To become an expert on the enlightenment , first Jefferson required the conditions which allowed him to study, observe, write and eventually become a founder. Those conditions were to enslave others to create the wealth to allow him to indulge in his philosophy
Think of the number of Americans who know they're too fat, know that it's causing them problems, but still maintain the lifestyle that made them unhealthy. You can know a thing is wrong, know that it's causing profound damage, and still rationalize having other more immediate priorities. For people who were actually enslaved, slavery was a daily tragedy. For people who owned slaves, it was a type of human behavior that had been around for thousands of years before they were even born. If they were relatively kind masters (relative to psychopathic masters) they could probably view themselves as being enlightened progressives even though compared to the liberty they demanded for themselves, what they were doing was abominable. Guilt needed time to corrode apathy. A critical mass of Americans had to be convinced that slavery was not just a thing to be abolished, but a thing that they were willing to kill and die to abolish.
I dated a girl from Nigeria and when we went there to visit her family they had a houseboy. He worked, he was like 10. They were paying for his schooling, feeding him well, and when it came time that he became an adult they were either going to pay for his college or set him up in some kind of business. This kid was massively better off than 85% of kids his age. We take all the social safety nets that make child labor bad practice for granted. For most of history being a houseboy in a nice home was something parents aspired to for their child. We just live in a society where no one starves, every kid goes to a school that makes sure that they are fed and we don't understand subsistence living where every member of a family works.
Exceptional work. I want to especially thank you for using so many primary sources. This is a great illustration of how history should be taught and studied.
3:04 Be careful referencing David Hume as it can be interpreted that in that exact extract he implies his opinios upon the equality of white people. He is know for having racist thoughts as written by himself on his essay "Of the national characters" in 1753 where Hume writes: "I have a tendency to suspect that the blacks and in general all the other species of men (because there are four or five different classes) are naturally inferior to the whites".
Jefferson could have easily freed his slaves whether during his lifetime like Robert Carter III did or posthumously like Washington did. The reason he didn't is that he had massive debts and to him, it was more preferable to have slaves fund his book and architecture addiction and luxurious lifestyle rather than actually tighten his belt and make himself financially solvent so that he could free his slaves.
He did it for his own self interest, he knows that history would remember what kind of person he was so for appearances he did things to make sure he was seen as a monster but still in his private life he was one
Infinite thanks for your work!!!! all and every single of your videos are amazing. I am an engineer who never liked history but only inclined to learn about math and sciences... Lately I have picked interest in politics, and therefore history. your videos started to appear on my feed and what a surprise I can stop watching them, they are incredible, your work is fantastic, I wished you would have been my history teacher...
In a sense it's almost amazing that slavery was ever banned. In any regard, this country has clearly never really come to terms with the issue, as white supremacy and white nationalism are still very active and influential movement to this very day.
I think I have to disagree with you on this. Nearly everyone (emphasis on nearly) understand the evils of slavery. We live in a post enlightened world. What's causing the so called "white nationalism" in this country is no more of a push back against the vehement blame and and unjust guilt of past history placed on people in the present. We all need to understand that our history has faults, but we need to learn and understand that we can't change the present to make up for the past.
@@TheCrayonMan529 WRONG we can make up for the past, in court that is what damages is for. but the deep seated racism of america simply refuses to ,make the physical amends {reparations or even the promise of 10 acres and a mule} for the unconstitutional and illegal discrimination against Black CITIZENS , AFTER the 13 amendment!!!!!
“Why Jefferson didn’t free THE slaves” and “Why didn’t he free HIS slaves” are totally different questions. While this video did a good job answering the former I’m not sure it answered the latter.
I was utterly blindsided that your "underlying cause" for the increase of slavery in the south was that sun and skin tone line. That is so blatantly absurd. If the north had the types of industries (crops) more compatible with the institution of black slavery, it would have been more common up there. You even mention the cotton gin much later, which made the cost benefit of importing slaves dramatically more appealing to existing and would be plantation owners. The same thing was still happening earlier, as Virginia became better at growing their cash crop, tobacco, slavery became MORE appealing, not less. It is that negative reinforcement between labor efficacy and capitalist motive that makes slavery so heinous to begin with. There has never been any force more able to spread and proliferate an institution faster than the profit motive. Mercantilism, Imperialism, and American black slavery all are linked in that way. . In your defense of Jefferson (as that's what this video clearly is) you cite someone else's false denigration of other early American figures, dragging their names down so Jefferson does not look so bad in comparison. I can say with a huge degree of confidence that Thomas Paine did indeed "risk his career" to end slavery. Writing and publishing an essay entirely dedicated to convincing people to end the institution. Thomas Paine was such a stubborn radical, that the "Founding Father" drove away all the other founding oligarchs, and of the only 6 people that attended his funeral, 2 were black. . Once again, I find one of your videos to be in the ambiguous grey of either intentionally lying to your audience out of some strange ideological conviction, or you do such sloppy work/research as to blindly repeat the harmful falsehoods of others. . To be clear, your use of "alleged" children, and your failure to mention the age of Sally Hemmings, is too far. There is an entire page on Wikipedia dedicated to the Jefferson-Hemmings stuff as a starting point. Hemming's genetic line continued into the modern era. With the DNA evidence and travel+birth logs, we have the evidence to clearly, unambiguously, know that Jefferson did father children with a minor that he owned as property. Only the most fringe Jefferson defenders refute that, and they seem to be your primary source. Hard not to see this video as apologetic propaganda. Wild that your primary evidence to claim Jefferson was a "benevolent slave owner" was that he did not personally whip them (seriously!?). Hence why your denial of the reality of what he did to Hemmings is doubly gross.
How does that explain Ohio, Indiana and Illinois? They were agricultural economies, that banned not just slaves but black people from entering those states.
You know I heard him say that nonsense and thought “man! maybe Joseph Gobbles son crawled out of that bunker back in ‘45 and made it to America?” Great presentational form pushing total BS. Newsmax will make great use of this guy.
i'm 79 this month. when my aunt was alive and my dad had died, i asked her to tell me something about their childhood. she told me of when her dad had beaten mine and then stomped on him as he laid on the ground. my aunt told me even at the moment she was telling me the story, she put her hands over her eyes so she wouldn't see her brother, who was her hero, being beaten and stomped on by their dad. after beating my dad my grandfather would prance around like a rooster, so proud, he was king of the house. times change. behavior changes.
@@olivergilpin i my dad was an immense improvement over his. same with my mother, all though she was insane at times. the thing is that each generation, if given the chance, evolves to a better person, parent. but it can be reversed. we can go backwards. as in republicans wanting to increase the age for voting to 25. they fear the evolution going on. they do want to reverse the positive awareness of the young voter.
To say he employed child slaves in nail factories doesn’t account for context at all. For one, being a slave in those days was more like working for minimum wage today, just without getting to choose your job. Your food, shelter, clothing, and healthcare were all covered by your “boss” and the jobs you did would likely be safe and simple because slaves were expensive and it would be less financially detrimental to lose a day laborer than to lose a slave. Also, this wasn’t a time and place where kids could just sit around all day playing video games. They had to work one way or another to help their family out. Working in a factory was seen as a much safer job than working in a mine or on a railroad. Even today despite all the naysaying about “sweat shop” factory jobs, the overwhelming majority of people in third world nations choose factory jobs over field jobs when given the choice. For most of the founding fathers their slaves were inherited with their family estate, they were costing them more money than they were worth to keep around, and many refused when offered the chance to be released. Being a northern slave was seen as a better life than being a free laborer
The public of the 1790s was composed of people who could read and afford a newspaper. In the south, this was comprised of landowners, who also presumably had slaves. When this came to a head in 1860, an election was virtually fought over this. When the south lost, they never really conceded this issue, and 150 years later, it is still a divisive topic. Considering that 90% of the electorate never had slaves even in that time, it seems that the only reason the dirt poor whites of the south wanted slavery to continue was that it kept themselves off the bottom rung of society. I think a similar mentality exists towards the emancipation of women even today.
Alliances of poor whites and blacks got suppressed rather vigorously. The slave owning elite played both against each other quite deftly most of the time.
If your self interest is more important than the freedom of a human, then you cannot claim, or it cannot be claimed, that this person maintained that ideal.
A modern version of this is most people in developed countries today aren't actually against child labor because they get many of their clothes from Bangladesh sweat shops. So it's really just being against child labor in developed countries that they're actually against while outsourcing child labor to developing countries is acceptable.
@@varunrajesh6516 That feels like a false equivalency. So you’re saying Thomas Jefferson couldn’t simply not do all the things he did with his slaves? Just, you know, live wealthy with no slaves? Free them if he believed they were so equal? I’m not sure “buy from elsewhere” or “make your own” for clothing is a valid retort since there are many more complex pressures causing people’s behaviors today (e.g., people living below the poverty line and asking them to buy ethically sourced clothing.)
@@juniperlovelace5262 It is a false equivalency in the sense that there are more and better justifications for buying clothes from child labor in sweatshops than owning slaves. I simply think it's analogous as how we view buying clothes made from child labor is how everyone before the 1770s saw owning slaves. To address your point, I'd put it like this (not as a perfect equivalency but as an analogy of actions and outlooks between two periods of time). Slave owners back then could do what they did without slaves and pay all their workers and still be rich. But they'd be less rich. So they choose the slave owning route. Wealthy clothing executives could have their clothes made under humane conditions with more than dirt pay and still be rich. But they'd be less rich so they choose the inhumane child labor route. It is important to realize that during Jefferson's time, the amount of slave owners who owned plantations was as small of a percentage of the total population as wealthy clothing executives who use child labor today.
@@varunrajesh6516 I agree with you! But that’s the point! It’s immoral nonetheless. Unless, you support allowing executives exploit labor offshore under inhumane conditions? As for your last point, in order for that to be relevant, you’d have to show that the percentage of slave owners relative to the world population was NOT close to the percentage of CEOs doing that in relation to the rest of the world population. Without this information, your point is meaningless.
@@varunrajesh6516 There's a huge difference between participating in a system which includes the suffering of others and being a direct controlling factor in this suffering. The person who owns the sweat shop and those who buy its clothes are not the same. Far less one who buys clothes through a chain of distribution which may have included the sweat shop with out direct knowledge of the purchaser. I mean this is the very silly end of the no ethical consumption meme used as apologea for abuse.
In reading some of that Kentucky law you referenced while it was onscreen, the one forbidding the emancipation of slaves by the legislature in the Kentucky State Constitution, it references "without compensation". That is how Britain abolished slavery, outlawing it in 1820, it was "stopped" when the Parliament bought the freedom of all slaves in the UK and emancipated them having outlawed buying or selling slaves in 1820 in the empire. In theory. I believe getting to that point (emancipation by purchase and law) took about 30 years. If correct then slavery had ended in the UK (I am sure it was uneven) as of 1850, over a decade before the US Civil War began. I wonder which approach was more expensive?
I'm only a couple of minutes in, but it's important to point out that many people, like Quakers, were outspoken against slavery even before Jefferson was born. People back then, like today, had the capacity to think for themselves about issues of their time. Yes, slavery was the "norm" in many ways in Jefferson's time, but that doesn't mean people at that time didn't have the capacity to see if for what it was and how cruel and inhumane it was. If Jefferson was afraid of a "race war" and that was his reason for not releasing his slaves, why would he state publicly for years that black people were inherently worse than whites? Maybe it was because he ultimately didn't have an issue with the structure of his life and the profits he could claim using slave labor. Seems like the obvious conclusion.
He was a very complex man. So much that he wrote is very inspiring but so much of the way he lived is difficult to understand in our 21st century mindset. I think the enlightenment was such a fascinating time.
Even at the time he was castigated for the apparent hypocrisy-that’s *why* we have so much evidence on what he thought about slavery, he was constantly trying to justify it in his letters. I think that’s the most poignant point, that the same man who wrote “all men are created equal” spent decades defending his right to keep men unequal.
The way you described the southern plantation owner is really the same description of corporate America today but instead of having to take care of the workers it slowly has transitioned to no be if it’s and no pensions so unless you have money you are screwed. Off to work you go!!
History is just that, history. It is the past, no one can change. What happened yesterday, we can only learn from it for tomorrow. Looking at us today and looking at these folks just 200 years ago, I would say we have made significant progress and should be proud. Does not mean that we should not always strive to change and improve, but we have come along way baby.