To see oneself as a target of a justified revolution: Thomas Jefferson and Gabriel's Uprising
Titel:
To see oneself as a target of a justified revolution: Thomas Jefferson and Gabriel's Uprising
Auteur:
Merkel, William
Verschenen in:
American nineteenth century history
Paginering:
Jaargang 4 (2003) nr. 2 pagina's 1-31
Jaar:
2003-06
Inhoud:
This essay examines Thomas Jefferson's response to Gabriel's Uprising, an abortive slave revolt of 1800 in Richmond. More specifically, it analyzes Jefferson's response to Virginia Governor James Monroe's request for advice concerning sentencing and postconviction relief of the rebels. It urges that Jefferson's counsel to deport rather than execute rebels followed naturally from his application of a branch of jurisprudence called criminal theory to the moral problem posed by white society's need to defend itself in the face of a justified insurrection. The argument builds on a letter Jefferson wrote to the jurist St. George Tucker in 1797 in the wake of the Haitian Revolution, and it maintains that Jefferson's use of the terms 'justice' and 'necessity' in the context of analyzing the putative criminality of rebels' and state officials' use of violence unmistakably signaled the relevance of criminal theory to Tucker, and to Monroe, who had been trained in the law by Jefferson. The essay argues that the impact of the Haitian Revolution on Jefferson's thinking has been generally underestimated, and that Gabriel's Uprising had far better prospects for success than are generally acknowledged. While not discounting Jefferson's racism, the essay suggests that his recognition that slave rebels' behavior was justified flowed from a commitment to principled, universally applicable legal theory, and that this commitment is not easy to reconcile with revisionist portrayals of Jefferson as essentially pro-slavery in outlook.
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