One hopes that the result of questions raised while touring would be a search for the answers later. Thus there are some facts I want to pass on regarding Thomas Jefferson. Did you know that though he held slaves himself, he believed slavery to be immoral? He tried, unsuccessfully, to pass a bill in Virginia to emancipate slaves there. In 1778, he proposed a ban that was passed to prevent further imporation of slaves into Virginia, and in 1784, drafted the Northwest Ordinance that prohibited slavery in any new states admitted to the Union from the Northwest Territory. This action effectively created the existance of a North and a South, and later increased the likelihood that a Civil War regarding slavery could happen, for it is easier for a region to fight against another with different views on the topic than for a group of dissenters to rise and organize from within a single entity. In 1807, he signed a bill abolishing the slave trade, helping to create further sentiment against the practice of slavery.
Now, lest we give the man too much credit, he never did free his own slaves, except a few favored ones very late in life, mainly for financial reasons, and he did regard them as a separate and inferior race. He didn't get it ALL right, you see! But he certainly set some things in motion that were on the right track.
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You're right on all counts. Your Washington DC trip sounded great! Other notes about Jefferson: he published what is now called the Jefferson Bible: essentially the New Testament without the miracles beause he thought of Christ as a wonderful teacher but wouldn't buy into anything supernatural. He had no religious affiliation, but became a Unitarian during his last year. He may havve also been a Freemason (as was Franklin)And the ideas contained in the Declaration of Independence came from his valet who tried to run away - twice.
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