Nearly 20% of Trump Fans Think Freeing the Slaves Was a Bad Idea

[Bucky]

13. Actually no, Jefferson put in a phrase blaming the slave TRADE on the crown, which was BS

Slavery itself Jefferson had little problem with, obviously. At times he said he might free his slaves, but he never did. As he got older, in his 40s & 50s, he grew increasingly vehement in his defense of the institution that supported his way of life.

Jefferson did try to blame England for encouraging the slave trade, which he objected to because it involved kidnapping new groups of free people and denying them their liberty. But like most Virginians, he also knew that importing new slaves undercut the profit margin of upper South slaveholders selling their extra slaves further south to the Carolinas & Georgia.

He did oppose turning the Ohio and Kentucky into slaveholding lands, but his rationale was fear that allowing slaves in might discourage whites from moving into those territories.