Why did Thomas Jefferson own Slaves, yet called for anti-slavery legislation?

While reading the autobiography of Thomas Jefferson, I was awestruck at the fact that he attempted to introduce many anti-slavery legislations into the House of Burgesses. I find the fact that he proposed the legislations rather hypocritical, given the fact that he employed slaves on his estate called Monticello. It is believed by many historians that Jefferson had a sexual relation Sally Hemings with a slave who was in his employ. It is even believed that Hemings had a total of seven children, “who were noted for their resemblance to Jefferson.” (Wikipedia) Jefferson became an advocate for the slave population out of necessity, to defend the rights of his newly acquired family.



Early in Jefferson’s Career as a lawyer, he had the occasion to represent many of the people living in the Colony of Virginia, both white and colored with mixed success. “In 1770, he defended a young mulatto male slave in a freedom suit, on the grounds that his mother was white and freeborn. By the colony's adoption of partus sequitur ventrum, that the child took the status of the mother, the man should never have been enslaved. He lost the suit. In a case in 1772, Jefferson represented George Manly, the son of a free woman of color, suing to secure his freedom after having been held as an indentured servant three years past the expiration of his term. Once freed, Manly worked for Jefferson at Monticello for wages.” (Wikipedia) This shows that Jefferson was a man of the law, no matter what color the client may be.

Jefferson’s greatest influential dealings with people of color and interracial families came after the death of his Father-in-Law, John Wayles. “In the will of Wayles, Jefferson and his wife had inherited a great sum of land and also 135 Slaves which included Wayles’ mistress Betty Hemings, mother of Sally Hemings.” (Wiki) Because of the Wayles property, Thomas Jefferson became one of the biggest slaveholders in the Colony of Virginia. It also made Jefferson more aware of the struggles that slave families must deal with every day.

All of these events explain the reason that Jefferson remained a staunch advocate for slave rights. It also shows me that he wasn’t being hypocritical. He finally realized the immorality of slavery, and knew that in order to change the laws of slavery he had to go against his own beliefs and own slaves.