Argumentative Essay

Thomas Jefferson's primary goal was to craft a new nation, an American democracy, where people could live free from tyranny. All of his actions were consistent with this principle. A quick glimpse at this multifaceted man leads one to see the slave owner against slavery, the strict constructionist who violated the Constitution to obtain the Louisiana Territory, or the anti-factionist who imposed the Embargo Act of 1807 on a democratic nation. However, upon a thorough evaluation of his own words, his thoughts, hopes, and fears regarding this developing democracy, one will conclude Jefferson was far from a conflicted intellect, politician, man, or racialist. In fact, he was quite content in his beliefs and morals. He knew exactly what he planned to accomplish for the United States, and he realized the importance of compromise in the development of those ideas. In his own words, "Every man cannot have his way in all things. If his opinion prevails at some times, he should acquiesce on seeing that of others preponderate at other times. Without this mutual disposition we are disjointed individuals, but not a society" (WTJ, Ford 8:76).

In examining the writings of Thomas Jefferson, it is quite clear that time and time again his words are twisted and used out of context. Indeed, it may seem that Jefferson was a man of many contradictions, but he was not. His thoughts and actions were consistent, but there were times when he was constrained by the external realities that his position in life, politics, and time placed on him. The most significant external factors that cause Jefferson to appear conflicted are the issues with race and the Embargo Act of 1807.

Additionally, Jefferson feared that, if slavery were suddenly abolished, blacks could not live among whites harmoniously. A common fear was that if blacks were freed, they would ban together in an insurrection against whites. There were more than 200,000 slaves in the United States in the early 1800s, so this was a rational fear for slave owners to have. The fact that Jefferson believed that whites and blacks could not live together peacefully is made evident in his Notes on the State of Virginia:

Deep-rooted prejudices entertained by whites; ten thousand recollections, by the blacks, of the injuries they sustained ... and many other circumstances will divide us into parties and produce convulsions which will probably never end, but in the extermination of one or the other race (WTJ, Bergh 8:380).

Thomas Jefferson thoroughly believed that people, given time, could and would come to accept a free and equal America. He reasoned that when a new principle is forced on the masses, they are prone to reject it; however, when the same principle is eased on the population, it is more readily accepted: "A good cause is often injured more by ill-timed efforts of his friends than by the arguments of its enemies. Jefferson made many attempts to lessen the slave population in a slower manner in hopes that people could become accustomed to an America ...