nstances of moral eminence so multiplied as to prove that the
want of talents observed in them, is merely the effect of their
degraded condition, and not proceeding from any difference in the
structure of the parts on which intellect depends[84]

In a letter to Banneker himself concerning the achievements of this
astronomer and mathematician, Jefferson said:

Nobody wishes more ardently than I do to see a good system
commenced for raising the condition both of their body and mind
to what it ought to be, as fast as the imbecility of their
present existence, and other circumstances which cannot be
neglected, will admit.[85]

A generation later he had, as this letter indicates, retained the
opinion that the possibilities of the Negroes were not necessarily
limited. To Henri Gregoire who had sent Jefferson a copy of his
_Litterature des Negres_, he wrote:

Be assured that no person living wishes more sincerely than I do
to see a complete refutation of the doubts I have myself
entertained and expressed on the grade of understanding allotted
to the negroes by nature, and to find that in this respect they
are on a par with ourselves. My doubts were the result of
personal observation on the limited sphere of my own State, where
the opportunities for the development of their genius were not
favorable, and those of exercising it still less so. I expressed
them, therefore, with great hesitation; but whatever be their
degree of talent it is no measure of their rights. Because Sir
Isaac Newton was superior to others in understanding, he was not
therefore lord of the person or property of others. On this
subject they are gaining daily in the opinions of nations, and
hopeful advances are making towards their reestablishment on an
equal footing with the other colors of the human family. I pray
you, therefore, to accept my thanks for the many instances you
have enabled me to observe of respectable intelligence in that
race of men, which cannot fail to have effect in hastening the
day of their relief.[86]

Writing to Joel Barlow about the same time Jefferson showed a
different attitude. He said:

Bishop Gregoire wrote to me on the doubts I had expressed five or
six and twenty years ago, in the _Notes on Virginia_, as to the
grade of understanding of the negroes. His credulity has mad