The Founding Fathers In Thomas Jefferson's Declaration Of Independence

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The Founding Fathers are remembered as the heroes of America. They are thought of as great leaders who were just and strong. Thomas Jefferson, born April 13, 1743, wais one of the most revered Founding Fathers and had a huge influence on this nation, however he was quite the paradox. Jefferson is fondly remembered as the author of the Declaration of Independence, a document which describes the importance of equality for all, yet Jefferson himself was a slave owner (“Thomas Jefferson Biography”). He holds a reputation for treating the Native Americans fairly, as he didn’t wage war against them, yet he manipulated them into giving him what he wanted (“American Indians”). Jefferson’s faults have been largely ignored and dismissed in an effort …show more content…
Jefferson wanted to give the appearance that he was using peaceful and fair negotiations to buy land from Native Americans but in reality, he used manipulation. Jefferson paid the tribes with annuities and used the annuity system to exploit the Native Americans. This system made the Native Americans dependent on government funds and when they refused to sell the government anymore land, Jefferson would threaten to not pay them the money from the last transaction. The Native Americans were now dependant on these annuities, thus forcing them to sell more land to the government (Oxford). This money was rightly the Native Americans’ in the first place, but Jefferson disregarded this, focusing simply on how to make things work in his favor, demonstrating his flawed leadership and racist beliefs. On top of this, Jefferson didn’t even pay the Native Americans a fair amount for the land. Jefferson generally paid less than one cent per acre “in exchange for land comprising half of modern Illinois, about one-third of modern Indiana, and parts of northern Ohio and Southern Michigan” (Oxford). Jefferson took huge chunks of Native American land with no where near equal compensation, paying them next to nothing for their homes and property, thus conveying his disconcern with anyone who wasn’t a white citizen of his
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