The Correspondence of Thomas Jefferson
By Subject
AFRICANS / HISTORY OF
I have received the favor of your letter of August 17th, and with it
the volume you were so kind as to send me on the "Literature of
Negroes." Be assured that no person living wishes more sincerely
than I do, to see a complete refutation of the doubts I have myself
entertained and expressed on the grade of understanding allotted to
them by nature, and to find that in this respect they are on a par
with ourselves. My doubts were the result of personal observation on
the limited sphere of my own State, where the opportunities for the
development of their genius were not favorable, and those of
exercising it still less so. I expressed them therefore with great
hesitation; but whatever be their degree of talent it is no measure of
their rights. Because Sir Isaac Newton was superior to others in
understanding, he was not therefore lord of the person or property of
others. On this subject they are gaining daily in the opinions of
nations, and hopeful advances are making towards their
re-establishment on an equal footing with the other colors of the
human family. I pray you therefore to accept my thanks for the many
instances you have enabled me to observe of respectable intelligence
in that race of men, which cannot fail to have effect in hastening the
day of their relief.
to Henri Gregoire, 25 February 1809
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