A-2 THOMAS JEFFERSON AND HUMAN RIGHTS (MUST-DO)

Last updated almost 4 years ago

3 questions

Instructions

READ EXCERPTS FROM THE TRANSCRIPT OF "THE FOUNDING CONTRADICTION: THOMAS JEFFERSON'S STANCE ON SLAVERY" (https://www.npr.org/transcripts/884634146) AND COMPLETE THE TASK ASSOCIATED WITH EACH EXCERPT.

Required

A-2 THOMAS JEFFERSON AND HUMAN RIGHTS (MUST-DO)

Last updated almost 4 years ago

3 questions

Instructions

READ EXCERPTS FROM THE TRANSCRIPT OF "THE FOUNDING CONTRADICTION: THOMAS JEFFERSON'S STANCE ON SLAVERY" (https://www.npr.org/transcripts/884634146) AND COMPLETE THE TASK ASSOCIATED WITH EACH EXCERPT.

The United States has its own set of founding myths and its own set of contradictions. One of the most striking unfolded in 1776 at a house on the southwest corner of 7th and Market Streets in Philadelphia. That summer, 33-year-old Thomas Jefferson rented rooms at this house. While he was there, he wrote the document that would formalize America's split from Britain - the Declaration of Independence. It says, we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal...

And yet, even as he was writing these inspiring words, Jefferson was attended on by a slave. He was a 14-year-old boy named Robert Hemings. Jefferson, in fact, owned hundreds of slaves. He fathered six children with an enslaved woman.

Required

Thomas Jefferson has been criticized as being a hypocrite for writing the words "all men are created equal" in the Declaration of Independence, while at the same time owning thousands of slaves.

Imagine you were arguing that Thomas Jefferson was a hypocrite and needed specific evidence to prove this.

Check off the TWO pieces of specific evidence from this excerpt that you believe best support this argument.

The story of Jefferson and the story of slavery in the United States are deeply intertwined...

Jefferson told his grandchildren that his earliest memory was of being handed up on a pillow to an enslaved person, as his family was making a move from his boyhood home of Shadwell to Tuckahoe plantation. And so making this journey with his siblings and his parents, Jefferson was carried by an enslaved person. And so he says that that was his first memory.

And, of course, slavery continued to play an important part in his life throughout his childhood. When he turned 21, he inherited 5,000 acres and a number of slaves. About a decade later, following his marriage, he received another two plantations and even more slaves.

Required

Thomas Jefferson has been criticized as being a hypocrite for writing the words "all men are created equal" in the Declaration of Independence, while at the same time owning thousands of slaves.

Imagine you were arguing that Thomas Jefferson was a hypocrite and needed specific evidence to prove this.

Choose two pieces of specific evidence from this excerpt that you believe would help you support this argument. Copy and paste each piece of evidence into a separate box.

Required

This assignment has been all about Thomas Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence...but Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence in 1776, which is 89 years before the Civil War ended...so why are we talking about Jefferson now?

Think about what we know about the end of the Civil War and how this might all relate back to Thomas Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence. In the space below, explain why even though Thomas Jefferson died 25 years before the Civil War started, the words he wrote in the Declaration of Independence will play an important role in the time period after the Civil War.

Your answer should meet ALL of the following criteria:
C - Clarity (the meaning of your answer is easy to understand)
R - Relevance (the answer is a direct response to the question being asked)
A - Accuracy (all the information is correct)
P - Precision (enough specific details are included to make the response exact)
S - Significance (nothing important is left out)