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About this quote

What does it mean?
Jefferson argues that enslaved people should be free but cannot coexist with whites in the same government.
In plain terms
He believes black people must be freed but cannot live equally in the same nation.
What can you take from it?
Conflict between justice and perceived racial incompatibility.

Where it applies

  • policy debate
  • historical analysis

Putting it to work

  • study historical contradictions
  • address racial inequalities

Questions to consider

  • How should historical prejudice be understood today?
  • What lessons exist in conflicting historical views on race?

Another view

This view reflects the prejudices of the era and is historically contested.

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