Primary Sources #1

"This Fourth [of] July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony."

- Frederick Douglas, What to the slave is the Fourth of July - Celebrates America breaking the chains of slavery of the British Empire. - Says that America is hypocritical while celebrating their freedom because they still have the institution of slavery. - We look at ourselves as a temple of liberty although only white landowning males have real liberty in this country, not slaves or women.

"I know of no such thing existing as an Indian monument."

- Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia - Jefferson talking down on the lack of historical Indian monuments as he was so fascinated with in Europe. Monticello being modeled after Greco-Roman architecture - Legitimizes treatment of Indians as they have no solid history that they are protecting like the white man. - Shows views that many Americans held that the Indians were a lesser and more primitive civilization than white men.

"And, considering the interest which every nation has in extending & strengthening the authority of reason & justice among the people around them, it will be useful to acquire what knowledge you can of the state of morality, religion, & information among them; as it may better enable those who may endeavor to civilize & instruct them, to adapt their measure to the existing notions & practices of those on whom they are to operate."

- Thomas Jefferson, private letter - Shows Jefferson's interest in the native tribes in the LA purchase and how easily it will be to assimilate them. - Interest in Empire of Liberty and manifest destiny to extend to the entire continent - Turns this around to be about strengthening of knowledge about the people around them and to be in the interest of the nation.

"But this momentous question, like a fire-bell in the night, awakened and filled me with terror. I considered it at once the knell of the Union. It is hushed, indeed, for the moment. But this is a reprieve only, not a final sentence. A geographical line, coinciding with a marked principle, moral and political, once conceived and held up to the angry passions of men, will never be obliterated; and every new irritation will mark it deeper and deeper."

- Thomas Jefferson, private letter - The MO Compromise will not heal the nation it will only divide the nation even further. - This brought the nation back into the slavery discussion and the issue if whether newly admitted states have the same rights as the colonies and could choose on whether or not to be a slave or free state. - This shows how divided the nation actually is on the issue of slavery when Jefferson says it will never be obliterated it was there even without a geographical line, it will be held up by moral and political views of men.

"But what is to restore order and safety on the ocean? The death of George III? Not at all. He is only stupid; and his ministers, however weak and profligate in morals, are ephemeral. But his nation is permanent, and it is that which is the tyrant of the ocean."

- Thomas Jefferson, private letter - Used to justify war with Great Britain comparing them to a tyrant - this is a response to British impressment on US sailors - Use of similar language to the American Revolution where they also framed the British as tyrants.

"This I now repeat, and will ever abide by. We indeed are always ready to buy lands but we will never ask but when you wish to sell...It may be advantageous to a society, as it is to an individual, who has more land than he can improve, to sell a part, and lay the money in stocks and implements of agriculture for the better improvement of the residue. A little land, well stocked and improved, will yield more than a great deal without stock or improvement. I hope therefore on further reflection you will see this transaction in a more favorable light."

- thomas Jefferson, private letter - Addresses Jefferson's want to buy more lands from Indians. - Suggests that Jefferson believes that Indians do not make good use out of their land and that he can make better use of it. - Tries to push natives in the agrarian direction instead of hunting and foraging so that they won't need as much territory.