Jared Grubor

I agree. I don't think he really did anything he said. That's not a good trait to have, especially if you are the president and people look at you as their role model. If he thought slaves were so valuable and should be freed, why'd he continue to make them work for him? Maybe he really did think slavery should be ended, but deep down he couldn't let go of his lazy ways and decided it would be alright if he continued to have them.

I agree with you Jared, i think the only reason he talked about freeing slaves was becasue he was president and he did not want to look like a bad person, i also agree with you Caroline, he was supposed to be a role model to other people.

Chinazom, I disagree with your comment. Jefferson wrote his "Notes on the State of Virginia" just after serving as Virginia's governor and he didn't enter public service again until 1784, when he served as minister to France. I don't think that Thomas Jefferson wrote these observations in private to a Frenchman to look like a good person. The constitution was not even written yet when Jefferson made these observations and noted his proclivity to end slavery. It wasn't until 1800 that Jefferson was elected president--nearly sixteen years after he wrote "Notes on the State of Virginia." However, there is controversy because Jefferson did own slaves and did not free them at his death. Although he did free six of them in his will. It may be important to look at the condition of his slaves, some may not have wanted to leave as some of George Washington's slaves did not. There was of course, the use of Jefferson's slaves to build Monticello, but even then he had thought it a priority to give some of his slaves a good education. Especially in architecture, he taught his slaves, but perhaps for his own purposes did he do that. You make your own conclusions, but Thomas Jefferson I do believe had an aversion to slavery and felt the quite the same as other founding fathers in freeing slaves and sending them back to Africa. There weren't very many generations of slaves in America at the time and importation was still continuing, which made the founding fathers believe that slaves would be inclined to return back to Africa.