28. The verdict on Thomas Jefferson’s legacy
Perhaps one of the more troubling aspects of this situation is that the man wrote words that we hold in such high regard, “that all men were created equal,” which contradicted the way he lived his own life in such an obvious way.
Contrary to the way he lived in his personal life, Jefferson used his platform to denounce the practice and institution of slavery for most of his lifetime. He actually submitted a bill to Congress to ban slavery in new territories as early as the 1780s—a full 80 years before the Civil War would decisively end it in the United States.