President Thomas Jefferson signed into act a bill approved by
Congress to prohibit the importation of slaves into any port or place within the
jurisdiction of the United States. He drafted a Virginia law that prohibited the
importation of enslaved Africans.
In 1784, he proposed an ordinance that would ban slavery in the Northwest
Territories. He advocated the same plan of gradual emancipation. First, the
transatlantic slave trade would be abolished. Second, slave-owners would “improve”
slavery’s most violent features, by bettering living conditions and moderating
physical punishment. Third, all
born into slavery after a certain date would be declared free, followed by total
abolition. The unintended effect of Jefferson’s plan was that his goal of
“improving” slavery as a step towards ending it was used as an argument for its
perpetuation. Pro-slavery advocates
after Jefferson’s death argued that if slavery could be “improved,” abolition
was unnecessary.
http://www.monticello.org/site/plantation-and-slavery/thomas-jefferson-and-slavery
Congress to prohibit the importation of slaves into any port or place within the
jurisdiction of the United States. He drafted a Virginia law that prohibited the
importation of enslaved Africans.
In 1784, he proposed an ordinance that would ban slavery in the Northwest
Territories. He advocated the same plan of gradual emancipation. First, the
transatlantic slave trade would be abolished. Second, slave-owners would “improve”
slavery’s most violent features, by bettering living conditions and moderating
physical punishment. Third, all
born into slavery after a certain date would be declared free, followed by total
abolition. The unintended effect of Jefferson’s plan was that his goal of
“improving” slavery as a step towards ending it was used as an argument for its
perpetuation. Pro-slavery advocates
after Jefferson’s death argued that if slavery could be “improved,” abolition
was unnecessary.
http://www.monticello.org/site/plantation-and-slavery/thomas-jefferson-and-slavery