About the Jefferson quote, it’s a bit out of context. Remember, he was talking about backwoods tribesmen further beat down with slavery. After this and many other observations of the slaves, some of them positive, he says, “To justify a general conclusion, requires many observations ... where our conclusion would degrade a whole race of men from the rank in the scale of beings which their Creator may perhaps have given them.” He worries about being wrong in judgment of blacks.
Thank you for that. It is the truth that I wish to understand.
I know that the father of the Democrat party, Thomas Jefferson owned slaves; and that the father of the Republican party, Abraham Lincoln, freed slaves.
I am not a Republican, and have always considered Jefferson to be an exceptionally brilliant man. This country certainly owes much of its greatness to him.