Creating the United States

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Jefferson Defends Human Equality

Jefferson Defends Human Equality (27)

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Thomas Jefferson had a strong belief in the equality of Native Americans and European Americans and admitted the potential for the equality of African Americans. In this letter to the  Marquis de Chastellux of France, Jefferson asserted that “I believe the Indian, then, to be in body and mind, equal to the white man,” and that “blackmen” would be equal to whites if they were “equally cultivated.”
Thomas Jefferson had a strong belief in the equality of Native Americans and European Americans and admitted the potential for the equality of African Americans. In this letter to the Marquis de Chastellux of France, Jefferson asserted that “I believe the Indian, then, to be in body and mind, equal to the white man,” and that “blackmen” would be equal to whites if they were “equally cultivated.”