Thomas Jefferson

When many people think of Thomas Jefferson, they usually think of him as the 2nd president and the creator of Declaration of Independence. He was the one who wrote about equality for all men, and that they are all created equal, each having the same rights for freedom and the pursuit of happiness. This is one of our greatest documents, and what shocks me the most is that the founders of this country chose a person that contradicted these beliefs to write it. We get this impression that he is a guy all for freedom, when in fact if you look at his family portrait, you clearly see people of both races. Now, who's to say whether or not they are valid relatives or not, the point is he was promoting freedom while at the same time he contradicted his writings by his actions. I don't think it was uncommon at that time to have slaves, but to have kids and marry a slave during that time period seems to us a little out of the ordinary. I think he believed that people would all have the same rights, but that maybe the timing was off, maybe at that time he could not put forth these details into the Declaration of Independence. But, also when I look at the photo, I tend to think that maybe some of those people who claim to be related to him, might not be. It is very well possible that it could be a hoax, designed to portray Jefferson as someone who was not writing truthfully to his own beliefs. It has always been my philosophy not to judge a person until we get to know them, so in conclusion I would like to say that this picture could bring up controversy, but that we should not judge Thomas Jefferson's character based on this photo alone. We must also look at the way the document and the person who wrote it had an impact on our life.