5823. NEGROES, Rights of.—
Be assured
that no person living wishes more sincerely
than I do, to see a complete refutation
of the doubts I have myself entertained and
expressed on the grade of understanding allotted
to the negroes by nature, and to find that in this
respect they are on a par with ourselves. My
doubts were the result of personal observation
on the limited sphere of my own State, where
the opportunities for the development of their
genius were not favorable, and those of exercising
it still less so. I expressed them, therefore,
with great hesitation; but whatever be
their degree of talent it is no measure of their
rights. Because Sir Isaac Newton was superior
to others in understanding, he was not therefore
lord of the person or property of others. On
this subject they are gaining daily in the opinions
of nations, and hopeful advances are
making towards their reestablishment on an
equal footing with the other colors of the human
family. I pray you, therefore, to accept my
thanks for the many instances you have enabled
me to observe of respectable intelligence in that
race of men, which cannot fail to have effect
in hastening the day of their relief.—
To Henri Gregoire. Washington ed. v, 429.
Ford ed., ix, 246.
(W.
1809)
