Correspondence With Jefferson Concerning Slavery
In 1814 Coles wrote a letter to his Albemarle County neighbor Thomas Jefferson, asking the former President to publicly work for an end to slavery in Virginia. Jefferson’s response has become a signal document in the study of Jefferson’s troubling and complex relationship with the institution of slavery. Jefferson unequivocally declined Cole’s request, advising his young associate to stay in Virginia to help in the long-term demise of slavery. Coles’ disappointment is clear in his return letter of September 26, 1814.
Coles was delayed again in fulfilling his covenant with freedom by a diplomatic trip to Russia (1816–1817) at the request of President Madison. Returning to America, Coles embarked on a second reconnaissance mission to the Northwest Territories (1818) and participated in the Illinois Constitutional Convention at Kaskaskia.
Read more about this topic: Edward Coles
Famous quotes containing the words jefferson and/or slavery:
“Do not bite at the bait of pleasure, till you know there is no hook beneath it.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
“Slavery is founded on the selfishness of man’s nature—opposition to it on his love of justice. These principles are in eternal antagonism; and when brought into collision so fiercely as slavery extension brings them, shocks and throes and convulsions must ceaselessly follow.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)