he apparently was unable to
consider, or put them aside for the time; taking it for granted, in a
careless way, that all must come well.

Thus as times changed, he changed with them. Laws, measures, customs,
men, that seemed useful and praiseworthy when he was a private
individual, appeared pernicious and wicked to the Secretary of State or
to the President. His life and writings are full of self-contradictions,
or rather of self-refutations, for he seems to forget that he had ever
thought differently. Men of sense modify their opinions as they advance
in years and in wisdom, but very few men of sense have held
diametrically different opinions on almost every important question that
has come before them.

Jefferson satisfied himself early in life that slavery was wrong,
morally and economically. On no subject has he expressed himself more
decidedly. When a very young member of the Assembly of Virginia, he
seconded Colonel Bland's motion to extend the protection of the laws to
slaves. Bland was treated roughly, and the matter dropped. From
Jefferson's original draft of the Declaration of Independence a long
passage on the iniquity of slavery and the slave trade was stricken out
by Congress. In 1778 he introduced a bill prohibiting the importation of
slaves into Virginia. Two years later he wrote the well-known pages in
the 'Notes.' In 1783 it was proposed to adopt a new constitution in
Virginia; Jefferson drew one up, and inserted an article granting
liberty to all persons born of slave parents after the year 1800. From
that time his zeal began to cool. He perceived that his views were
unpopular at the South. The 'Notes' had been printed for private
circulation only; when Chastellux asked permission to publish them in
France, Jefferson consented on the condition that all passages relating
to slavery should be stricken out.[A] Although he adopted so heartily
the most extravagant doctrines of the French Revolution on the natural
rights of mankind, among which liberty, equality, fraternity certainly
ranked first, he quietly ignored the claims of the American black to a
share in the bright future that was promised to the human race. The act
of Congress prohibiting the importation of slaves came into force in
1808. It was well received by slave owners, for it increased the value
of the homemade 'article.' Jefferson could safely approve of it. He did
so warmly. With that exception his silence on this great question was
profo