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Jefferson also conceived of the lower classes as literal waste, that needed to be bred and put to productive use, just like the animals and slaves he owned. He
by travmatt 10y ago
Jefferson also conceived of the lower classes as literal waste, that needed to be bred and put to productive use, just like the animals and slaves he owned. He wanted to import Germans to improve the breeding of the poor whites, because he, along with the other elites, considered them as inferior creatures.
Again, the founders idea of America was based on importing forced labor - the majority of early Americans weren't people 'fleeing religious persecution', they were slaves, indentured servants, convicts, and the rest of England's 'trash' that could either be forced or deceived into getting on a boat.
- aaron-lebo 10y agoDo you have any sources? I don't doubt you just unaware of those statements. Here's a more complex look at Jefferson's views: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1997/03/what-jefferson-helps-to-explain/376800/ https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1997/03/what-je...
- travmatt 10y agoThe book "White Trash" by Nancy Isenberg explores the class views of all the founders, she excerpts a small portion of her work here: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/book-party/wp/2016/06/23/a-cultural-and-political-history-of-white-trash-america/ https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/...
- narrowrail 10y agoThis is only tangentially related, but can you determine what was the highest percentage of the U.S. that was enslaved at a given point? My best approximation is the slave pop. topped out at 10% ~1861, which sounds like a lot less than "the majority."
- travmatt 10y agoMy assumption would be around there. Who said slaves were "the majority" of the country?