Master Jefferson: Defender of Liberty then Slavery

"His public words have inspired millions, but for scholars, his private words and deeds generate confusion, discomfort, apologetic excuses. When the young Thomas Jefferson wrote, 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,' there's compelling evidence to indicate that he indeed meant all men, not just white guys."

"But by the 1780s, Jefferson's views on slavery in America had mysteriously shifted. He formulated racial theories asserting, for instance, that African women had mated with apes; Jefferson financed the construction of Monticello by using the slaves he owned — some 600 during his lifetime — as collateral for a loan he took out from a Dutch banking house; and when he engineered the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, Jefferson pushed for slavery in that territory. By 1810, Jefferson had his eye fixed firmly on the bottom line, disparaging a relative's plan to sell his slaves by saying, 'It [would] never do to destroy the goose.'"