Thomas Jefferson
"Throughout his entire life, Thomas Jefferson was publicly a consistent opponent of slavery. Calling it a “moral depravity”
1 and a “hideous blot,”
2 he believed that slavery presented the greatest threat to the survival of the new American nation.
3 Jefferson also thought that slavery was contrary to the laws of nature, which decreed that everyone had a right to personal liberty.
4 These views were radical in a world where unfree labor was the norm."
"At the time of the American Revolution, Jefferson was actively involved in legislation that he hoped would result in slavery’s abolition.
5 In 1778, he drafted a Virginia law that prohibited the importation of enslaved Africans.
6 In 1784, he proposed an ordinance that would ban slavery in the Northwest territories.
7 "
Now, is that to say that Jefferson didn't participate in Slavery? No. During his time he owned more than 600 slaves...But, I would say that he gave in to the times....
"The slave population in Virginia skyrocketed from 292,627 in 1790 to 469,757 in 1830."
How did Jefferson feel about slavery? What did he say about it, and what did he do about it?
www.monticello.org
George Washington
I never mean (unless some particular circumstance should compel me to it) to possess another slave by purchase: it being among my first wishes to see some plan adopted by the legislature by which slavery in the Country may be abolished by slow, sure, & imperceptible degrees.
-GEORGE WASHINGTON, 1786
Members of Washington’s wartime staff may have inspired antislavery sentiments. His young aides John Laurens and the Marquis de Lafayette both opposed slavery. After the war, Lafayette asked Washington to join him in purchasing a Caribbean plantation and freeing its slaves. Washington declined, but he praised the idea as “evidence of the benevolence of your heart.”
John Laurens developed a plan to recruit and eventually free a regiment of slaves in his home state of South Carolina. Washington approved of the idea, but the state legislature rejected it, fearing it could lead to a slave rebellion.
Washington also explored ways to reduce the number of enslaved people at Mount Vernon without selling them. Most ideas involved renting or selling land to finance an emancipation. He was unable to execute any of these plans during his lifetime.
Were it not then, that I am principled against selling negroes, as you would do cattle in the market, I would not, in twelve months from this date, be possessed of one, as a slave.
www.mountvernon.org
Both of these men were torn between the necessity of the time to own slaves, and the morality of owning another human being...It wasn't a perfect time, and IMHO, it is way too easy today to look around ones self, and think "why would anyone own slaves, when there is everything we could ever want at our fingertips...They fail to understand the demands of a newly formed nation, trade, economic, and laws of the time....Their devotion in helping at the very least plant the seeds of abolishing slavery need to be taken into account...
In fact, I would say that those today that are in the practice of advocating the tearing down these statues of our founders, are not expressly attacking these men per se, but rather attack the formation of the nation to begin with...That's the real rub.