Despite its wide formulations owing to which the Bill of Rights seemed to include all groups of Americans, it did omit women, Native Americans and black citizens. The letter offered to analyses covers this kind of exclusion of the black citizens form all the human and civil rights that were granted by the Bill of Rights. The topic of the letter touches upon the ultimate violation of the unalienable human rights of the black citizens of the US.
On August 19, 1791 a letter was written by Benjamin Banneker to Thomas Jefferson. There are numerous questions, which are to be considered to give some kind of objective evaluation of the above mentioned historical event, which is to be viewed in from different points of view.
In 1791, the author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, was praised to be one of the most prominent politicians, political philosophers being in the office of the first Secretary of State. Not for nothing did he later become president of the newly formed country.
The issue of Thomas Jefferson attitude to slavery is among those items, which continue to raise heated debates and remains the ground of constant speculations. It is often said that Thomas Jefferson used to have hundreds of his own slaves. At that time, slaves were not merely simply bought, often they were forcefully taken away, even kidnaped from their home country in Africa (Falconbridge).
Among his deeds aimed at improving the state of African-American slaves were frequent advocacy remarks, which can be taken from his letters to reputed American politicians, heading the campaign of prohibiting the slave importation in Virginia. In the President’s position, he made efforts to criminalize the international slave trade.
Overall, Jefferson perception of slavery was quite revolutionary and favorable within the framework of the 18th century realities of life in the USA. Thus, it may be concluded that he was the proper person to address with the kind of advocacy, which was made in the 1791 letter.
The sender of the letter
Benjamin Banneker was the kind of man who managed to succeed despite his race and age. He was a free person, since the status of freedom depended on the mother. He was a respected mathematician and one of the designers of Washington, D.C. His position allows us to assume that his voice would not have been simply neglected, as it could have happened to any other African-American of that time.
The letter
The tone of the letter is highly respectable. In the first two paragraphs, the author describes the prejudice prevailing in the world toward people of his origin (Banneker). He explained that the general recognition of Jefferson being less racially prejudiced and even advocating the right of African-Americans was among the main reasons of his writing the letter. In his sentiment Benjamin Banneker appeals to Thomas Jefferson’s Christian faith, common sense and beliefs in justice and truth. This was also similar to the arguments Richard Allen also used against slavery, calling it a “hateful in the sight of God” (Allen). He mentions the legislation drafted by Jefferson, which is to take into consideration the rights of those who are less privileged. He emphasizes the same position of oppression from the British Empire, which is to his mind comparable with the one African-Americans encounter (Banneker). To this extend the reminiscence of the resent threat of freedom should have made the utter injustice of African-Americans enslavement more tangible to Jefferson. Benjamin Banneker then points out to the unspeakable hypocrisy of the white Americans proclaiming the horrendous violation of their rights and freedoms by the British and whereas the status of enslaved Americans is even worse. In Jefferson’s proclamations of “all men are created equal” enslaved Americans do constitute men, what make him bear the yoke of the responsibility for the thralldom of his men. However, even when creating the constitution, the founding fathers, including Jefferson were no blind to the fact that they are not actually allowing everyone to be equal.
In fact, Jefferson was a proponent of the ban of slave trade. He himself believed in a kind of intellectual and physical superiority of whites to blacks. In this respect, the fact of Banneker’s sending a copy of the popular astronomical almanac the author of which he was, had to serve the purpose of manifesting his achievements, which were the best counterargument to Jefferson’s theory of the black’s intellectual inferiority.
In a short period of time Jefferson sends a response. He highly appraises the work of Banneker. To assure of his repudiation of the racial prejudices promises to send them to the French Academy of Science. By saying a lot, Jefferson in fact said nothing on the matters, which Banneker raised in his letter. It may be understood that the skill and genius of Banneker’s presented itself to Jefferson as a mere exception, rather than a rule. Based on Jefferson’s reply to Benneker, it is obvious that he did not have must interesting in abolishing slavery at that moment. He replied like a true politician - lots of words about basically nothing.
The document is important as the evidence of the long standing social debate on the abolition of slavery. It presents the paradox of that time - the understanding of human rights, which excluded considerable number of human beings and equality, which applied only to particular types of individuals. Commitment to private property rights of the majority of the American statesmen proved to be incompatible with the core human values, since it required the preservation of the status quo of the slaves being part of their property. Moreover, those politicians who came from Southern states not only failed to improve the condition of the enslaved black Americans, but also offered resistance to the development of emancipation. The society at that time was separated and the problem of slavery was subordinated to the greater goal of the national unity.
Furthermore, the developments in anti-slave policies like prohibition of the slave trade could be interpreted more widely than simply as an attempt to humanize the circumstances in which enslaved Americans had to survive. Setting boundaries of the import of slaves served the purpose of securing the demand on the inner market of slaves, which allowed Virginia and Maryland slaveholders to raise prices. That makes obvious the fact that the prohibition of slavery in the Northwest simply expanded the slavery rendered in the Southwest. Consequently, there were still powerful political forces rooting for slavery that kept both the north and the south focused on not abolishing it just yet.
The following conclusion may be drawn. The letter Benjamin Banneker wrote to Jefferson exposes the origins of the anti-slave and human-right movement in American politics. However, judging from the response neither the statesmen, who were primarily slave-owners themselves, nor the society were ready to accept the progress in views. Banneker represents the beginning of that movement of the fighters for an inalienable human right and the literal interpretation of the term equality marked in the Constitution, which we know today. It is thanks to Benneker, that such people made a stand for the freedom of African Americans. Just as Benjamin Rush had argued about the need of all kids to go to school (Rush), just so had many like Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks fight for the freedom they deserved.
Work Cited
Banneker, Benjamin. Benjamin Banneker Letter To Thomas Jefferson. 1791.
Rush, Benjamin. "To the Citizens of Philadelphia, and of the District of Southwark and the Northern Liberties." The Independent Gazetteer, March 28, 1787, as quoted in Lyman H. Butterfield, ed., Letters of Benjamin Rush (Princeton. N.J., 1951), vol. I, pp. 412-15
Falconbridge, Alexander. An Account Of The Slave Trade On The Coast Of Africa. London: N.p., 1788. Print.
Allen, Richard. "To Those Who Keep Slaves, And Approve The Practice". Ushistory.org. N.p., 1794. Web. 13 Feb. 2016.
