How Does Jefferson Use the Master, Slave Relation to Construct His Notion of Individual Rights and His Notion of Liberty as Embedded Within a Constitutional and Popular Government, Essay Example

Thomas Jefferson’s exact views on slavery remain a point of contention in the academic literature. Jefferson has been known to have repeatedly condemned slavery, and thus the master and slave relationship as a whole, but at the same time remained ambiguous to the particular case of African-American slaves. Such an ambiguity suggests that Jefferson’s views on slavery can be distinguished in terms of the classical binary of theory and praxis.

Jefferson maintained the significance of a government founded on constitution and individual liberty. Jefferson’s famous words “that all men are created equal” suggest a radical commitment to a society that is free from any prejudice or exploitation. This commitment, however, remains compromised by Jefferson’s own views on slavery as explicitly evidenced by his own slave ownership. In this regard, Jefferson’s rejection of any master-slave power relation in favor of liberty is weakened by his own autobiography. Jefferson was the owner of an estimated one hundred and twenty slaves. How can one understand this apparent contradiction?

There is present in Jefferson a clear distinction between theory and practice. Theoretically, Jefferson supported liberty and a republican ideology that was radically non-despotic. At the same time, on the practical level his personal decisions suggest that he betrayed his own theoretical principles.

Accordingly, Jefferson can be said to advance a universal theoretical position that opposes slavery, but at the same time, he does not oppose slavery on a particular level. Therefore, Jefferson presents abstract justifications of universal rights and individual liberty, with such proclamations as “all men are created equal” that show his ideological inclinations. On the level of real praxis, however, his position can be said to be entirely different.