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Cotton Mather
Another of the five central figures featured in the book, Jefferson was born in Virginia to a wealthy slaveholding father named Peter. Jefferson inherited the plantation as a teenager when Peter died and went on to attend the College of William & Mary, where he trained as a lawyer. He was a relatively minor Virginia legislator during the Revolutionary Era but shot to prominence after being the primary author of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Jefferson spent his life neglecting to resolve his extremely self-contradictory political and philosophical positions, as his thought straddled both segregationist and assimilationist beliefs. He was an enslaver who wrote passionately about the importance of freedom and equality for all, and he promised abolitionists that he shared their desire to end slavery, but he ultimately delayed the question of abolition and thus facilitated the continuation and massive escalation of slavery. Kendi writes that after the death of Jefferson’s wife, Martha, Jefferson began raping an enslaved teenager in his captivity, 14-year-old Sally Hemings, with whom he had several children. Yet in public, he strongly denounced “amalgamation” and expressed highly derogatory (and nonsensical) opinions about Black people, such as their greater capacity for love and lack of sensitivity to pain. Jefferson was in favor of colonization (sending freed Black people to an African colony) because, despite his wavering support for abolition, he could not abide the idea of living among Black people as equals. He died on the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, July 4th, 1826.
Thomas Jefferson Quotes in Stamped from the Beginning
The Stamped from the Beginning quotes below are all either spoken by Thomas Jefferson or refer to Thomas Jefferson. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 9: Created Equal
Quotes
As a holder of nearly two hundred people with no known plans to free them, Thomas Jefferson authored the heralded American philosophy of freedom. What did it mean for Jefferson to call “liberty” an “inalienable right” when he enslaved people? It is hard to figure out what Native Americans, enslaved Africans, and indentured White servants meant when they demanded liberty in 1776. But what about Jefferson and other slaveholders like him, whose wealth and power were dependent upon their land and their slaves?
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The ambitious politician, maybe fearful of alienating potential friends, maybe torn between Enlightenment antislavery and American proslavery, maybe honestly unsure, did not pick sides between polygenesists and monogenesists, between segregationists and assimilationists, between slavery and freedom. But he did pick the side of racism.
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Chapter 12: Colonization
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On July 2, 1826, Jefferson seemed to be fighting to stay alive. The eighty-three-year-old awoke before dawn on July 4 and beckoned his enslaved house servants. The Black faces gathered around his bed. They were probably his final sight, and he gave them his final words. He had come full circle. In his earliest childhood memory and in his final lucid moment, Jefferson rested in the comfort of slavery.
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Thomas Jefferson Quotes in Stamped from the Beginning
The Stamped from the Beginning quotes below are all either spoken by Thomas Jefferson or refer to Thomas Jefferson. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 9: Created Equal
Quotes
As a holder of nearly two hundred people with no known plans to free them, Thomas Jefferson authored the heralded American philosophy of freedom. What did it mean for Jefferson to call “liberty” an “inalienable right” when he enslaved people? It is hard to figure out what Native Americans, enslaved Africans, and indentured White servants meant when they demanded liberty in 1776. But what about Jefferson and other slaveholders like him, whose wealth and power were dependent upon their land and their slaves?
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
The ambitious politician, maybe fearful of alienating potential friends, maybe torn between Enlightenment antislavery and American proslavery, maybe honestly unsure, did not pick sides between polygenesists and monogenesists, between segregationists and assimilationists, between slavery and freedom. But he did pick the side of racism.
Related Characters:
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 12: Colonization
Quotes
On July 2, 1826, Jefferson seemed to be fighting to stay alive. The eighty-three-year-old awoke before dawn on July 4 and beckoned his enslaved house servants. The Black faces gathered around his bed. They were probably his final sight, and he gave them his final words. He had come full circle. In his earliest childhood memory and in his final lucid moment, Jefferson rested in the comfort of slavery.
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Page Number and Citation:
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