Jefferson vs. Fitzhugh

After reading Thomas Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia, and George Fitzhugh’s points of view on slavery in the world, an interesting topic was discovered that many would think absurd. Is Thomas Jefferson a hypocrite? Without knowing outside facts, you would think that Jefferson was the “stand up” guy, while Fitzhugh was a confused individual whose twisted mental state left him completely convinced that the world should not continue without slavery.

After the class discussion, it became apparent that things were not necessarily as they appear. While Thomas Jefferson seems to be standing up against slavery, and conceptually working to make things right, he owns slaves for his own and discredits his own thoughts. How can someone work to make a point to improve the quality of living for these people, yet own slaves himself? This leads me to believe that Jefferson was working to impress others and make himself look good within his writing, yet couldn’t even back up his own point of view. Was Thomas Jefferson really the leader that the American public may think? As a President of our country and the principle author to the Declaration of Independence I never expected to find that his remarks and his actions would differ from each other to such an extent. I would hold a man of this magnitude to a higher level than Jefferson held for himself.

Fitzhugh was much different from Thomas Jefferson. His thoughts on slavery were that “Southern thought and Southern example must rule the world.” He was very outspoken in what in his mind were the qualities of slavery. Fitzhugh was able to solidly back up his perspective. He said “All kinds of slavery are right”, and showed that he believed it by speaking of the ways that it helped the community, as well as explaining that other races should be slaves if the “inferior race” were not already enslaved. He did not contradict his own perspective by describing the situation and doing the exact opposite.

I still believe that Jefferson did believe in his thoughts and had good intentions but it was too convenient for him to sway to the other side. Fitzhugh, on the other hand had an infinite number of flaws that left him with sick thoughts of the way that the world should work. Overall, I found Jefferson was a hypocrite, but Fitzhugh proved himself to be nauseating.

John Smith

I enjoyed readings by John Smith to be interesting. While I found much of A Description of New England hard to follow and understand, the class discussion clarified much of the writing for me. I found it interesting that John Smith seemed to have forgotten the reasons that made him leave England, and ended up treating others the same way that he was treated. Obviously this made him a hypocrite, and overall did not lead the way to change, but instead continued the problem. This showed that he was not necessarily a true leader, but was only hungry for control.

A Description of New England in my eyes was difficult to read, as I felt it was hard to understand. This was due to the language used and the way that it was written. In this work, Smith tried to manipulate people into believing that America was a great new world, where you could accomplish the unthinkable. In reality his goal was to attract people to colonizing America in order to accomplish his own goals, as well as his disgust for England.

The Generall Historie of Virgins was Smith’s writings of his near execution by the Indians. This writing was much more enjoyable to read, although I am not completely convinced of the authenticity of the story. It seems to me that because of Smith’s attitude and his need to be important, this story was probably more fabricated.

First Day of Class

The first day of class we have already had a great discussion on what comes to mind when we think of the south. When asked about what came to mind, I wrote about St. Simon’s Island, GA, where my girlfriend grew up. I visited the area with her a few years ago. This was my first real trip to the south, and it gave me many common perspectives of how many people from the class thought of the south. During my trip my two main thoughts of the south were “southern hospitality”, and racism.

Before you ever visit the south you hear the term southern hospitality. In my visit I learned exactly what this term meant. People of this area were much more outgoing and friendly than I felt I had ever experienced in the north. When I entered the local Chick-fil-A, I was greated by multiple people, whom gave me the friendliest greeting I could ever remember entering a fast food restaurant, or any other place of business. I immediately thought of the way that I was generally treated walking into a store or restaurant around Albany, and it didn't even compare to the friendly feeling I got walking into this fast food restaurant.

Racism was the other thing that initially came to mind, but I am still not sure if it was ever really a factor while I was there, or if I was just expecting it to be an issue. The only real racist factor that I felt I encountered were the confederate flags that were on what seemed to be every truck on the highway. I never really saw these around the area I was staying, but I know that when I was driving on I-95 from Jacksonville, Fl to St. Simon’s Island, Ga, every truck stop I encountered was packed full of confederate flags.

Overall these were the two main factors that I thought of from my experience in the south. Some day I would love to move to the south because of the easy going lifestyle people seem to live. Not that life is without stress in the south, but people of the area seemed to enjoy life more, and overall, smile more.