It does not come from when he was Secretary of State. It is a written quote from his "Notes on the State of Virginia" which was published in and Specifically this quote can be found in Query 14 of those notes.
Thus your statement that Benjamin Banneker's famous letter to Jefferson was specifically in response to this quote from Jefferson is also not correct. Banneker's letter was sent in , about 10 years after Jefferson wrote those words. I suppose it is a truth too well attested to you, to need a proof here, that we are a race of beings, who have long labored under the abuse and censure of the world ; that we have long been looked upon with an eye of contempt ; and that we have long been considered rather as brutish than human, and scarcely capable of mental endowments.
Sir, I hope I may safely admit, in consequence of that report which hath reached me, that you are a man far less inflexible in sentiments of this nature, than many others ; that you are measurably friendly, and well disposed towards us ; and that you are willing and ready to lend your aid and assistance to our relief, from those many distresses, and numerous calamities, to which we are reduced. Now Sir, if this is founded in truth, I apprehend you will embrace every opportunity, to eradicate that train of absurd and false ideas and opinions, which so generally prevails with respect to us ; and that your sentiments are concurrent with mine, which are, that one universal Father hath given being to us all ; and that he hath not only made us all of one flesh, but that he hath also, without partiality, afforded us all the same sensations and endowed us all with the same faculties ; and that however variable we may be in society or religion, however diversified in situation or color, we are all of the same family, and stand in the same relation to him.
Sir, if these are sentiments of which you are fully persuaded, I hope you cannot but acknowledge, that it is the indispensable duty of those, who maintain for themselves the rights of human nature, and who possess the obligations of Christianity, to extend their power and influence to the relief of every part of the human race, from whatever burden or oppression they may unjustly labor under ; and this, I apprehend, a full conviction of the truth and obligation of these principles should lead all to.
Sir, I have long been convinced, that if your love for yourselves, and for those inestimable laws, which preserved to you the rights of human nature, was founded on sincerity, you could not but be solicitous, that every individual, of whatever rank or distinction, might with you equally enjoy the blessings thereof ; neither could you rest satisfied short of the most active effusion of your exertions, in order to their promotion from any state of degradation, to which the unjustifiable cruelty and barbarism of men may have reduced them.
Sir, I freely and cheerfully acknowledge, that I am of the African race, and in that color which is natural to them of the deepest dye ; and it is under a sense of the most profound gratitude to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, that I now confess to you, that I am not under that state of tyrannical thraldom, and inhuman captivity, to which too many of my brethren are doomed, but that I have abundantly tasted of the fruition of those blessings, which proceed from that free and unequalled liberty with which you are favored ; and which, I hope, you will willingly allow you have mercifully received, from the immediate hand of that Being, from whom proceedeth every good and perfect Gift.
Sir, suffer me to recal to your mind that time, in which the arms and tyranny of the British crown were exerted, with every powerful effort, in order to reduce you to a state of servitude : look back, I entreat you, on the variety of dangers to which you were exposed ; reflect on that time, in which every human aid appeared unavailable, and in which even hope and fortitude wore the aspect of inability to the conflict, and you cannot but be led to a serious and grateful sense of your miraculous and providential preservation ; you cannot but acknowledge, that the present freedom and tranquility which you enjoy you have mercifully received, and that it is the peculiar blessing of Heaven.
This, Sir, was a time when you cleary saw into the injustice of a state of slavery, and in which you had just apprehensions of the horrors of its condition. And now, Sir, although my sympathy and affection for my brethren hath caused my enlargement thus far, I ardently hope, that your candor and generosity will plead with you in my behalf, when I make known to you, that it was not originally my design ; but having taken up my pen in order to direct to you, as a present, a copy of an Almanac, which I have calculated for the succeeding year, I was unexpectedly and unavoidably led thereto.
Jefferson's response to Banneker. I thank you sincerely for your letter of the 19th. I have taken the liberty of sending your almanac to Monsieur de Condorcet, Secretary of the Academy of sciences at Paris, and member of the Philanthropic society because I considered it as a document to which your whole colour had a right for their justification against the doubts which have been entertained of them. I am with great esteem, Sir, Your most obedt. Scott W. He was also a regular attender at Quaker meetings and an abolitionist who gained fame and recognition for his contributions to science and his prescient correspondence on multiple subjects, including race, with key intellectuals of the time.
Banneker was born to a freeborn African American mother, Mary Banneky, and a West African father, Robert, who had bought his freedom from enslavement. He was raised in Baltimore County, Maryland, on a acre tobacco farm. His grandmother, an Irish-born former indentured servant, taught him how to read and write, and Benjamin continued his studies for a time alongside white and black classmates at a small Quaker school.
As the oldest of four children, Banneker took over the farm when his father passed away in , but he continued to educate himself and garnered local attention and fame by building a clock out of wood that kept perfect time. One of the brothers, George Ellicott, was an amateur astronomer and lent Benjamin the necessary books and telescope to acquire proficiency in the science of astronomy.
He employed Banneker as his assistant on this project. Banneker was also working on another project in , namely constructing an astronomical almanac. He also explained to Jefferson in the covering letter that he see for example [ 3 ] I have had to gratify my curiosity herein through my own assiduous application to astronomical study, in which I need not recount to you the many difficulties and disadvantages which I have had to encounter. His letter makes a strong plea against slavery and Jefferson replied that he wished to see the position of black people improved.
Although strongly opposed to slavery, Jefferson also believed that, because of racial and intellectual differences, black and white people could not live together peacefully. This attitude may well explain why Jefferson wrote after Banneker's death:- I have a long letter from Banneker, which shows him to have had a mind of very common stature indeed. The letter from Banneker most certainly does not suggest that at all, rather it suggests quite the reverse, namely that to have achieved what he did with all the difficulties which were in his way, he must have had a mind of quite remarkable stature.
A copy of Jefferson's letter to Condorcet is in the Library of Congress. Banneker published Almanacs until He dedicated them to the cause of equality and peace and the Almanac contains the correspondence between Banneker and Jefferson. Banneker's accomplishments extended into other realms as well, including civil rights. In , Jefferson was secretary of state and Banneker considered the respected Virginian, though a slaveholder, to also be open to view African Americans as more than slaves.
Jefferson quickly acknowledged Banneker's letter, writing a response. Banneker's outspokenness with regard to the issue of slavery earned him the widespread support of the abolitionist societies in Maryland and Pennsylvania, both of which helped him publish his almanac.
I thank you sincerely for your letter of the 19th. I have taken the liberty of sending your almanac to Monsieur de Condorcet, Secretary of the Academy of sciences at Paris, and member of the Philanthropic society because I considered it as a document to which your whole colour had a right for their justification against the doubts which have been entertained of them.
I am with great esteem, Sir, Your most obedt. Never married, Banneker continued to conduct his scientific studies throughout his life. By , sales of his almanac had declined and he discontinued publication. In the following years, he sold off much of his farm to the Ellicotts and others to make ends meet, continuing to live in his log cabin.
On October 9, , after his usual morning walk, Banneker died in his sleep, just a month short of his 75th birthday. On Tuesday, October 11, at the family burial ground a few yards from this house, Benjamin Banneker was laid to rest. During the services, mourners were startled to see his house had caught on fire, quickly burning down.
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