We have been discussing in AP recentally, the fact that Thomas Jefferson controdicted himself often. One of the most well known controdictions is his apparent views on slavery and the equality of all humans.

He writes in the Decleration of Independence that all mean are created equal, but at the same time, owned slaves.

There are also rumors that he slept with his female slaves, and may have even fathered some.

Ill open up this as a poll, and a dicussion. What were his real views on Slavery?

By today's standards he is hypocritical, which is unfair. When John Brown raided Harper's Ferry in a Qixotic crusade to end slavery, he was viewed as a nut. Today he's a hero. If 200 years from now abortion is viewed in the same way that slavery is viewed today, would it be fair for history to judge pro-choice people as evil. Nope.

PS - I hope in 9 years when you become conservative you are still as passionate, intelligent and involved.

Around the same as Washington's. While his personal philosophies disagreed with the practice, the entire economic stability of the nation relied on slavery. The influx of new free workers looking for money and the loss of an entire industry would have completely demolished the United States. Again, practicality meets philosophy. As his personal owning of slaves, I'm pretty sure he had very few(and he actually lived on a farm, unlike almost every other founder who just had a really fricken big house), giving an excuse to him they were also almost family(or maybe they actually were :D), his excuse, I don't know. His actions in office contradicted some of his personal beliefs, again because his personal beliefs couldn't hold up when he had to look over thousands of people.

Thomas Jefferson seemed to jump all over the place about his views on slavery. I know from past studies that he had an affair with one of his house slaves named Sally Hemmings. When it comes to the amount of children he had by her, this seems to be an area that is highly debatable by almost every historian and florensic expert in the nation. Although he did manage to give many speeches against slavery, he failed to free his own slaves after death (in his will) due to many large debts that he failed to pay off before dying. For reference purposes, take a look at a book called "Thomas Jefferson, An American Controversy by Annette Gordon Reed" This is only one of many books that tries to cover almost every area of his life.

That Jefferson slept with at least one of his slaves and fathered children is not rumor, it is fact supported by DNA evidence.

Science isnt always 100%, but Ill take it on this one.

I have noticed that Jefferson seemed to only be a walking controdiction. An early flip flopper? lol.

That Jefferson slept with at least one of his slaves and fathered children is not rumor, it is fact supported by DNA evidence.
It's not fact. It was either him or his brother.

We watched a video on Jefferson today in class done by that Burns guy that does all the historical documentries.

It goes against some of the things people have been saying about him. It said he was a deeply religious man for starters.