“
by nature, and to find that in this respect they are on a par with ourselves . . . whatever be their degree of talent it is
no measure of their rights. because S
r. I. 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, & hopeful advances are making towards their reestablishment on
an equal footing with the other colours of the human family . . .
”
Several references occur to Jefferson and the
Notes on Virginia
with the criticisms of George Imlay in his
A Topographical description of the western territory of North America
, 1793, notably on pages 36-39, 212, 255, 260, 262. Jefferson is also listed with the Americans in the
Dédicace a tous les hommes courageux qui ont plaidé la cause des malheureux Noirs et Sang-mêlés . . .
In a letter to Joel Barlow, dated from Monticello, October 8, 1809, on a diatribe of Grégoire against Barlow, Jefferson wrote:
“
. . . he [Grégoire]
wrote to me also on the doubts I had expressed five or six & twenty years ago, in the Notes on Virginia, as to the grade of
understanding of the negroes, & he sent me his book on the literature of the negroes. his credulity has made him gather up
every story he could find of men of colour (without distinguishing whether black, or of what degree of mixture) however slight
the mention, or light the authority on which they are quoted . . . as to Bishop Gregoire I wrote him, as you have done, a
very soft answer. it was impossible for doubt to have been more tenderly or hesitatingly expressed than that was in the Notes
of Virginia, and nothing was or is farther from my intentions than to enlist myself as the champion of a fixed opinion, where
I have only expressed a doubt. S
t. Domingo will, in time, throw light on the question.
”
For a note on Grégoire see no. 1388.
Grégoire refers to George Imlay. Actually his name was Gilbert Imlay (c. 1754-1828?); he was born in New Jersey, and fought in the Revolutionary War on the loyalist side. His A Topographical Description of the Western Territory of North America was first published in London in 1792.
