I loved this quote he produced, as the idea that slaves were “unoffending” citizens of Africa shows on a mental political level he restores their humanity, instead of detracts from it. But people don’t exists only on one level and “the might of wealth can overcome the most noble sentiment.” (That’s a direct quote from me, trying to sound like Jefferson, LOL). I do believe he probably had six children with Sally to increase his wealth. Maybe not with the first one, but the idea began to grow on him. Each child was born a slave because they had a provable asset value more than the land. Enslaved humans were worth two to three times more than the land. He knew that, as seen by the great quote you picked show he consciously knew that slaves were a wealth generator and that he could borrow of the value of the slave to get more credit than he could borrow from his land. His rationalization to keep them enslaved probably grew with each birth from her that increased his wealth. His displayed good treatment and showing her off in Paris was more a PR stunt to show the Parisians he lived up to the ideas he studied and that America was ending slavery successfully. He was a diplomat, a nice way to say in good society he was acceptable to present. But he built Monticello from borrowed money off the value of slaves.
He also didn’t write the Declaration by himself and cribbed most of it. When I heard that idea I read the Virginia constitution passed by Madison and company in May 1776, and it read like the Declaration, with many of the key ideas coming from there. Not a surprise as these were ideas circulating and developing for decades. Rather was plumped up by the four older white Northern men staring over his shoulder, like Ben Franklin, because they needed a Southern slave owner to get “buy in” from the Southerners.
The lowland Carolinians were the richest group, had strong ties to the mothership, and would not be parting with their vast wealth continually increasing from the labor of slaves and the ownership of them. 4 Percent increase was a lot, from a world for the thousands of years before than experience a one percent increase in wealth per year. It shows the rich were getting richer off owning the slaves than selling the crops, and their mind shifted to capital ownership rather than merely what it produced. The lure of super wealth growth over normal wealth grown was to hard to resist and they couldn’t overcome as owners the immorality of owning humans. That obsession with super wealth growth is very American, and today keeps the minimum wage at 7.25 instead of 30 dollars per hour, where it should be when pegged to inflation. That difference from inflation is kept by owners, stealing the value of labor much like than. I would argue that immorality of owners has changed little, judging from Elon Musk or Bill Gates ability to earn over 120 billion dollars is asset value AFTER he retired. Does that make him any “better”? I hear no moral outrage from him over the this vast wage gap and complete failure to increase living wages, and instead see only his wealth rise by exploiting that difference.
Thus, I would give far more credit to the strategies who chose him to be the face of the Declaration and give him the cheat sheet to steal it from, than from Jefferson himself. He had an inspired flourish with language perhaps that added some sensible charm, but that is just the pretty flower froth my barista makes on my cappuccino. It brightens my mood but I will drink an ordinary one from Starbucks without lifting the lid to see the bubbles.
You’re continue great reflections and research on this topic keep developing my reflections. Thanks much again.