Forgive me if you’ve heard this from me before. I’ve accused Thomas Jefferson of pushing forward the forced breeding and rape of enslaved people to enrich himself and other Virginia plantation owners while saying it was out of concern for human rights. Others have argued that Jefferson ended the international slave trade in America in 1808. They claim his intent was the gradual elimination of slavery (which didn’t end for over 50 years). Only one of these things can be true. The theory that Jefferson meant well would require you to think he was stupid, and I’ve never heard any of his supporters claim that.
As much as Jefferson was a politician, he was also a farmer. In his Farm Book, edited by Edwin Betts, whose name will come up later, Jefferson provided detailed information about his farm operations at Monticello and his private retreat at Poplar Forest. He recorded the purchase and sale of farm equipment, itemized the birth and death of slaves, recorded the yield of crops, and kept a close watch on profits and losses.
The Constitution ratified in 1788, contained a clause, Article One, Section Nine, prohibiting a ban on international slave trading for at least twenty years.
Clause 1 Migration or Importation
The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person.
Those twenty years came up while Jefferson was President, and he ended the international slave trade on the first day possible: January 1, 1808. He set the process in motion in December 1806 in an annual message to Congress.
“I congratulate you, fellow-citizens, on the approach of the period at which you may interpose your authority constitutionally to withdraw the citizens of the United States from all further participation in those violations of human rights which have been so long continued on the unoffending inhabitants of Africa, and which the morality, the reputation, and the best interests of our country have long been eager to proscribe.”
Jefferson’s plan to end the international slave trade was planned out more than a year in advance. While he spoke of ending human rights violations against the “unoffending inhabitants of Africa.” He had no such concerns for the Africans or their descendants already on American shores. His concern couldn’t have been human rights; I assert it was only about economics.
Virginia plantation owners and those of Maryland and Delaware were struggling. They hadn’t rotated crops, and the yields from tobacco were decreasing. The climate was too cold for sugar, rice, and indigo to do well. They reached a point where they had excess enslaved people and were driven to sell some further South.
When Jefferson ended the international slave trade in 1808, America’s overall need for slaves increased due to labor requirements, especially for cotton, in the southernmost states. By ending the international slave trade, the demand for domestic-bred enslaved people increased along with the price. Virginia slaveholder’s assets greatly increased. Thomas Jefferson knew that would happen, or he was stupid.
That Jefferson was aware of the value of slaves was made clear in a letter he wrote to George Washington urging him to invest in slaves and see a 4% increase in profitability.
“I consider a woman who brings a child every two years as more profitable than the best man of the farm; what she produces is an addition to the capital, while his labors disappear in mere consumption.” Thomas Jefferson
Unless he was stupid, and nobody is suggesting he is. Jefferson knew that the demand for more enslaved people would be met by ensuring that enslaved women birthed enough babies to meet production demands. This wasn’t left to chance or “natural increase,” as some historians like to say. Long before Henry Ford used the assembly line technique to manufacture cars, some slaves were organized against their will into breeders and bucks and forced to mate to produce children. Others were raped to both satisfy the whims of the master and produce a flanker product of light-skinned slaves to work in the master’s house and brothels. Either Jefferson knew all this would occur, not only planning for it but personally benefitting, or he was stupid. I’ve never believed he was stupid.
Historians have cleaned up his records, so we can’t rely on them. The aforementioned Edwin Betts covered up letters showing teen boys working in the nailery at Monticello were often whipped to increase productivity with Jefferson’s knowledge. That wouldn’t match his image as a benevolent master.
Many justify his “relationship” with Sally Hemings that began when she was 14 and he was 44. They suggest it was a romance, but given the age and power differential, the fact he owned her and could do as he wished with not only her but most of her extended family. Given the circumstances, could it be anything other than rape? The one family member Jefferson no longer owned was her older brother Martin, whom Jefferson sold after an argument around the time of Sally’s birth. Sally wouldn’t have remembered her brother but would have known what Jefferson was capable of.
You can believe that Jefferson had every reason to know what would happen after ending the international slave trade and did it anyway or that he was stupid and the legacy of forced breeding and rape was an unforeseeable circumstance. I know which I believe.
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This post was previously published on MEDIUM.COM.
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