> If Jefferson believed that all men were created equal, and if he was opposed to
> slavery in principle, why didn't he free all his slaves himself?

This was easier said than done.  Jefferson could not free his slaves for both
financial reasons and as a matter of principle, i.e., because he believed it was
not a proper solution to the slavery problem.

1. The slaves themselves had grown up under that system, and many were hardly able 
to manage their lives on their own. Jefferson honestly thought that to turn them 
loose would be like putting children out on the street.

2. Having slaves to work large plantations was a part of the economy, and all 
owners of such plantations used slaves. Therefore, one could not compete in the 
same economy with others who had slaves. The most effective way to eliminate 
slavery was to do it on a national basis. The action of one individual slave-holder 
would have little or no effect on slavery as an institution, and it was the institution
of slavery that Jefferson sought to eliminate.

3. There were also legal restrictions on the freeing of slaves, or at least he 
apparently thought that there were. In a letter to Edward Coles (Aug 25, 1814), 
he wrote, "The laws do not permit us to turn them loose, if that were for their 
good." To Edward Bancroft he wrote (in 1789), "As far as I can judge from the 
experiments which have been made, to give liberty to, or rather to abandon persons 
whose habits have been formed in slavery is like abandoning children." Thus, he 
seems to have sincerely believed that simply freeing slaves was not the correct 
solution, and that the real source of this injustice was the institution of 
slavery itself. His overall solution to the slavery problem was to return the 
blacks to their African homeland or to some land where they could live as "a free 
and independent people," and to give them implements and skills to establish their 
own nation. He was strongly opposed by the Southern slave-holding states, however.

4. Jefferson also had inherited enormous debts, and the slaves and the monetary 
value they represented served as collateral for his debts, thus preventing him 
from freeing them, even if he wanted to. This, I believe, also prevented their 
freedom after he died, even though freeing them was his wish. After his death, 
his entire estate was sold to pay off his debts, although he did free five slaves
in his will.  As Bahman Batmanghelidj wrote in the book, "The Jefferson-Hemings 
Myth: An American Travesty":

"Jefferson inherited property, debt, and slaves.  Had he attempted to free his 
slaves, his creditors would have repossessed them immediately, because they were 
collateral for his debt."

5. Expanding on the previous point, it is my understanding that Jefferson's 
creditors could have forced the liquidation of Jefferson's estate during his 
lifetime, but did not out of love and respect for such a great man.  Given such a 
situation, it no doubt would have been taken as an enormous affront to their 
generosity had Jefferson taken a substantial part of his estate--the slaves under 
his care--and simply let them go. Given the laws, his financial situation, and 
the existing social customs, therefore, it would have been a totally dishonorable 
thing for Jefferson to free his slaves. Thus, he was truly trapped by the whole 
unsavory business. 

There are many other factors that enter into this issue, but as you can see, it 
is not a simple one. It is also important to remember that AT NO TIME DID 
JEFFERSON EVER DEFEND THE INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY! This is more than you can say 
about some of the Southern defenders of segregation, some of whom are serving in 
the Senate right now. Jefferson wrote five years before his death: 

"Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than that these people 
[blacks] are to be free. Nor is it less certain that the two races, equally free, 
cannot live in the same government. Nature, habit, opinion has drawn indelible 
lines of distinction between them." --Thomas Jefferson: Autobiography, 1821.

So, from his point of view, it was an enormous, awful problem, and he dealt with 
it as best as he could under the circumstances of the time and in the light in 
which he was able to view it.

The following paragraph was submitted to the website "Conversations on Morality and the 
Jefferson Bible." There was no other identification of the submitter other than 
the handle, "mellyrn," and we are unable to give proper credit for the points 
made. But it is well worth considering in reference to Jefferson and slavery. 


"I did not know about Jefferson's enormous debts. That being the case, he had to 
keep his slaves, and not because they were "somebody else's property." In his day, 
an owner could of course free any slave he pleased, but he could not do so just 
by saying "Go!" There was quite an amount of money involved.  Exactly what, 
escapes me, but you had to send a freed slave out with clothes and money. 
Effectively, you had to buy your own slave's freedom for him. If Jefferson was 
strapped, he could not have done that for more than a very few." 

For an excellent article from Atlantic Monthly on the question of Jefferson and 
slavery, see 
	"Thomas Jefferson and the Character Issue," by Douglas L. Wilson.