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Thomas Jefferson drafted the US Declaration of Independence, and was a particularly violent "slave owner" [1]. While context is important, it doesn't mean that

Thomas Jefferson drafted the US Declaration of Independence, and was a particularly violent "slave owner" [1]. While context is important, it doesn't mean that a document with an unsavory origin story should be ignored for that reason alone. [1] scare quotes indicate that I reject the assertion that anyone was ever "owned" by anyone else. Some people were violently imprisoned against their will, but never owned.

eternalban 6y ago
No issue with the content, just a meta fyi/?.
ozborn 6y ago
I had not heard that Thomas Jefferson was particularly violent in his slave holding vs other slave holders. A quick google search isn't informative either, do you have any source for that claim?
- rmrfstar 6y ago
  Henry Wiencek wrote a book about it. That particular work received intense criticism from other respected Jefferson scholars. It's a debate worth reading.
skissane 6y ago
I don't think it is just the authors of the US Declaration of Independence who were unsavoury, but also some of the things in the text itself. The most well-known aspect of its unpleasantness is the part about "merciless Indian Savages"; less well-known is its opposition to cultural rights for French Canadians ("For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province...") When Britain conquered New France, Britain promised that French Canadians would retain cultural rights, including the freedom to practice the Catholic religion, protection of the French language, and the continued use of aspects of French civil law in the legal system. It is that last aspect of Britain's commitment which the authors of the US Declaration of Independence found so offensive. (Strangely, when the US agreed to buy Louisiana from France 27 years later, the American objection to the French legal system appeared to have vanished, and Louisiana still partially uses French civil law to this day.)

eternalban 6y ago

No issue with the content, just a meta fyi/?.

ozborn 6y ago

I had not heard that Thomas Jefferson was particularly violent in his slave holding vs other slave holders. A quick google search isn't informative either, do you have any source for that claim?

rmrfstar 6y ago
Henry Wiencek wrote a book about it. That particular work received intense criticism from other respected Jefferson scholars. It's a debate worth reading.

skissane 6y ago

I don't think it is just the authors of the US Declaration of Independence who were unsavoury, but also some of the things in the text itself. The most well-known aspect of its unpleasantness is the part about "merciless Indian Savages"; less well-known is its opposition to cultural rights for French Canadians ("For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province...") When Britain conquered New France, Britain promised that French Canadians would retain cultural rights, including the freedom to practice the Catholic religion, protection of the French language, and the continued use of aspects of French civil law in the legal system. It is that last aspect of Britain's commitment which the authors of the US Declaration of Independence found so offensive. (Strangely, when the US agreed to buy Louisiana from France 27 years later, the American objection to the French legal system appeared to have vanished, and Louisiana still partially uses French civil law to this day.)