Thomas Jefferson: the Man, the Myth, and the Morality

        Thomas Jefferson was a man of the greatest moral character who has been


  excoriated routinely over the last 30 years by historical revisionists


  and presentists. His commitment to America and his vast contributions to


  the framing of society as it is today are overlooked in favor of base


  analysis of his character that, while not flawless, is that of a morally


  upright person who has deeply held convictions and lives by them.


          Jefferson was born to a prominent family of Virginia tobacco growers.


  Plantation life is based largely around the work of slaves, so Jefferson


  was surrounded by them from the time of his birth in 1743 until the day


  he died. One of the harshest criticisms of Jefferson comes from the fact


  that, while he vehemently opposed slavery, was indeed a slave owner


  himself. As historian Douglas L. Wilson points out in his Atlantic


  Monthly article “Thomas Jefferson and the Character Issue”, the question


  should be reversed:


  “...[T]his was of asking the question... is essentially backward, and


  reflects the pervasive presentism of our time. Consider, for example,


  how different the question appears when inverted and framed in more


  historical terms: How did a man who was born into a slave holding


  society, whose family and admired friends owned slaves, who inherited a


  fortune that was dependent on slaves and slave labor, decide at an early


  age that slavery was morally wrong and forcefully declare that it ought


  to be abolished?” (Wilson 66).


  Wilson also argues that Jefferson knew that his slaves would be better


  off working for him than freed in a world where they would be treated


  with contempt and not given any real freedoms.


          Another way that Thomas Jefferson shows his moral character is in his
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