Anushk Gupta
Mr. Homan, p. 6
OSR #4
10/31/14
Slavery and Freedom: The American Paradox In the article Slavery and Freedom: The American Paradox by Edmund S. Morgan, it is professed clearly that the notion of American freedom contradicts itself due to the rights placed by the Americans on the slaves. This is seen in the beginning of the article when it talks about Jefferson’s controversy and paradox. Although Jefferson advocated freedom of all people, he himself kept slaves in his house. This is because he was only interested in his own benefit. As a planter from the South, he had gathered debt. The debt that was gathered led him to the need of slaves because he would not be able to pay off the debt without them. Another notion that the wise president said was that a country would be very good for tyranny if they did not have money or property. Jefferson’s words contradict himself because the slaves had no money or property in order to support their families or even themselves. Another point Edmund brought up about the paradox concerning Jefferson was that he did not like artisans because they were dependent on others in order to gain money and property. Although he did not artisans, he did like farmers because they were independent and earned their own money. This is key because Jefferson wanted to help the artisans but not slaves even though they were dependent. The article then goes on to talk about the start of slavery. Edmund says the key to the starting of slavery in America started in England due to a population boom. The boom led to a series of events which included unemployment, and
