What Was Jefferson’s True Outlook on Blacks and Native Americans?

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Document twelve titled “A Black Response to Colonization” (1817), talks about the response by blacks and the protest held to ensure they’re rights were not violated (Document 12, Page 141). Blacks felt attached to the lands their ancestors worked so hard to maintain. Document twelve emphasized the stigma placed by whites, that blacks were precarious and inept to society. But blacks being noble in heart did not want to leave the slave population behind. Blacks also felt that by abandoning them in Africa without education, and proper knowledge would lead back to the continuous servitude in which they’ve been victims to.

In conclusion, I agree with Ronald T. Takaki, who argues that Jefferson’s views of blacks and Natives were swayed by how he envisioned American society. Document-five talks about his comparisons of blacks and Natives. Jefferson conveyed that whites were superior in reason but the same in memory with blacks. He also expressed his outlook about the Natives and the clutches they would keep them in. Document-eleven conveys a powerful message expressed by James Forten on the vast differences in human rights. This document talks about the Pennsylvania legislature that considered barring the entrance of blacks, but Forten argued that it would violate their rights and the bill never passed. Lastly, document-twelve discusses the protest against a society called “American Colonization” created to send freed blacks to Africa against their will. But, having such an attachment to their lands blacks did not want to leave.

Works Cited

Hollitz, John Erwin. Thinking through the Past: A Critical Thinking Approach to U.S. History. Stamford: Cengage Learning, 2015. Print.

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