In general, when it doesn't come to freedom of religion, diplomacy, or rhetoric, assume Jefferson was actually Mediocre.
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Replying to @loudpenitent @arthur_affect
I did, Arthur's suggesting that he was Terrible at even more than I thought
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Replying to @BootlegGirl @loudpenitent
Oh yeah he was incompetent at all kinds of shit as well as being a big old moral coward
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Replying to @arthur_affect @loudpenitent
He seems like the type that would be a Free Speech Atheist troll today
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Replying to @BootlegGirl @loudpenitent
There's the story of Benjamin Banneker, a celebrated Black polymath who helped Pierre L'enfant design Washington DC
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Self-taught at all kinds of stuff, built a clock by himself in his childhood (for those looking for modern parallels)
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The story goes L'enfant got fired from the DC project in favor of Maj. Ellicott so he tore up the original plans in a huff
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And Banneker was the one who helped Ellicott reconstruct them based on his memory of the originals
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Anyway when he was in what is now DC to work on the plans Jefferson got super excited and invited him to come to Monticello
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Said he wanted to meet the world's smartest Black man and talk about the future of race and so forth
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Banneker sent back a blistering angry letter saying he wasn't going to discuss anything until Jefferson explained his hypocrisy
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And how a man could write the immortal words "all men are created equal" but hold men in bondage
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Jefferson never replied to that letter. Months later he wrote to someone else "I'm sorry I never got a chance to meet Banneker"
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