Benjamin Banneker: Write's A Bold Letter to Thomas Jefferson — The Humanity Archive

On August 30, 1791 Thomas Jefferson responded to Benjamin Banneker's letter on the issue of slavery. It was short and polite. An excerpt from the article:

"THOMAS JEFFERSON’S RESPONSE
“Sir,
I thank you sincerely for your letter of the 19th and for the Almanac it contained. Nobody wishes more than I do to see such proofs as you exhibit, that nature has given to our black brethren, talents equal to those of the other colors of men, & that the appearance of a want of them is owing merely to the degraded condition of their existence both in Africa & America. I can add with truth that no body wishes more ardently to see a good system commenced for raising the condition both of their body & mind to what it ought to be, as fast as the imbecility of their present existence, and other circumstances which cannot be neglected, will admit..”