JEFFERSON, VOLNEY, BANNEKER, PAINE
Purity resides in poetry. Not in reality.
Gold has impurities . As does water.
Learning that Thomas Jefferson had translated Count Constantin Volney's book, THE RUINS OF EMPIRES, into English had a profound affect on me.
Why? Because Volney's work was one of the earliest in the modern era to state directly that the Egyptians were black people.
Why? Because Jefferson's "Query XIV," in his 1785 classic NOTES ON THE STATE OF VIRGINIA discounts the capacity of black people to do science, mathematics, philosophy, which the ancient Egyptians' African forebears invented, and bequeathed to earth.
Why? Because then-Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson, in his reply to famed black astronomer/surveyor/ naturalist/ farmer, Benjamin Banneker 's acerbic 1791 letter, which decried Jefferson's caustic calumniation of Africans' mental capacity, Jefferson was not only gracious, he proved to be salutary.
Jefferson sent Banneker's carefully prepared "ephemeris" --lunar and solar calculations affecting earth's tides, seasons, rains, eclipses--to Jefferson 's learned French colleague for an assessment of its astronomical calculations . His favorable comments on Banneker's work culminated in its publication.
Previously, Banneker's publication attempts, for what would later be a 6 years' cycle, known as "Almanac and Ephemeris for Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, and Pennsylvania," had been refused.
Thus, Benjamin Banneker's epistolary initiative had not only borne good fruit. But it had, just as importantly, demonstrably refuted Jefferson's unbecoming and wholly racist "Query XIV" in his person.
But, back to "purity." Mr. Jefferson was anything but the pure racist. This may be inferred just by reference to his translation of Count Volney's work on black ancient Egypt's enduring legacies,; by his reply to Mr. Banneker missive and by his sedulous send-off of Banneker's ephemeris to France, which enabled its publication.
That said, when I read "Query XIV," I definitely got a palpable sense that Jefferson was writing this against his own will, as though he was beholden to a secret, cabalist bond of some kind, which pained him even as he wrote. I sensed desuetude, morbidity. However, I did not annotate as I read , so I was later unable to find, much less to finger, the exact tell-tale passages imparting this.
Jefferson was not pure to be sure. No one is. Or ever was. "No, not one." But, the alloy of man, any man, black or white, has much within itself to redeem, even a seeming, tormented soul of our third U. S. President Jefferson from Monticello , Virginia, to the world.
One other thing about Jefferson. It is often asserted, and widely assumed, that he wrote the original Declaration of Independence.
However, based on my readings of Thomas Paine's COMMON SENSE pamphlet of January 1776, I must join with those who aver that Paine was its author, and editor, not Jefferson ! Jefferson was responsible for Paine coming to America with his rhetoric, however .
Owing to limited familiarity with the life and works of Count Volney, or his interaction with Thomas Jefferson, I have attached a link to him here.
Purity resides in poetry. Not in reality.
Gold has impurities . As does water.
Learning that Thomas Jefferson had translated Count Constantin Volney's book, THE RUINS OF EMPIRES, into English had a profound affect on me.
Why? Because Volney's work was one of the earliest in the modern era to state directly that the Egyptians were black people.
Why? Because Jefferson's "Query XIV," in his 1785 classic NOTES ON THE STATE OF VIRGINIA discounts the capacity of black people to do science, mathematics, philosophy, which the ancient Egyptians' African forebears invented, and bequeathed to earth.
Why? Because then-Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson, in his reply to famed black astronomer/surveyor/ naturalist/ farmer, Benjamin Banneker 's acerbic 1791 letter, which decried Jefferson's caustic calumniation of Africans' mental capacity, Jefferson was not only gracious, he proved to be salutary.
Jefferson sent Banneker's carefully prepared "ephemeris" --lunar and solar calculations affecting earth's tides, seasons, rains, eclipses--to Jefferson 's learned French colleague for an assessment of its astronomical calculations . His favorable comments on Banneker's work culminated in its publication.
Previously, Banneker's publication attempts, for what would later be a 6 years' cycle, known as "Almanac and Ephemeris for Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, and Pennsylvania," had been refused.
Thus, Benjamin Banneker's epistolary initiative had not only borne good fruit. But it had, just as importantly, demonstrably refuted Jefferson's unbecoming and wholly racist "Query XIV" in his person.
But, back to "purity." Mr. Jefferson was anything but the pure racist. This may be inferred just by reference to his translation of Count Volney's work on black ancient Egypt's enduring legacies,; by his reply to Mr. Banneker missive and by his sedulous send-off of Banneker's ephemeris to France, which enabled its publication.
That said, when I read "Query XIV," I definitely got a palpable sense that Jefferson was writing this against his own will, as though he was beholden to a secret, cabalist bond of some kind, which pained him even as he wrote. I sensed desuetude, morbidity. However, I did not annotate as I read , so I was later unable to find, much less to finger, the exact tell-tale passages imparting this.
Jefferson was not pure to be sure. No one is. Or ever was. "No, not one." But, the alloy of man, any man, black or white, has much within itself to redeem, even a seeming, tormented soul of our third U. S. President Jefferson from Monticello , Virginia, to the world.
One other thing about Jefferson. It is often asserted, and widely assumed, that he wrote the original Declaration of Independence.
However, based on my readings of Thomas Paine's COMMON SENSE pamphlet of January 1776, I must join with those who aver that Paine was its author, and editor, not Jefferson ! Jefferson was responsible for Paine coming to America with his rhetoric, however .
Owing to limited familiarity with the life and works of Count Volney, or his interaction with Thomas Jefferson, I have attached a link to him here.
