"For in a warm climate, no man will labour for himself who can make another labour for him. This is so true, that of the proprietors of slaves a very small proportion indeed are ever seen to labor. And
can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis,
a conviction in the minds of the people
that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath?
Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep for ever . . . ." -
Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVIII
5
"The whole
commerce between master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions, the most unremitting
despotism on the one part, and degrading submissions on the other. Our children see this, and learn to imitate it. . . ." -
Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVIII
6
"Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than that these people 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." - Jefferson's
Autobiography7