Faulty Logic: Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson’s speech to Congress was most likely the greatest piece of propaganda that I have ever read. He shares his knowledge in hopes of receiving action to support his ideas. Jefferson is undoubtedly a talented speaker, but that’s not to say the forms of faulty logic were used in his speech. His speech is made up of his complaints on the British control that is over the colonies. He shares his, mostly negative, opinions of the British government, which he constantly refers to as the pronoun ‘he’. The amount of opinion and emotion that is involved in the speech is his first mistake of faulty logic. He should have given one opinion and then a fact to support it, but instead Jefferson let out all of his feelings before giving a single source to back them up. It was a lazy opener for the speech because it made him appear unprofessional. Besides the single perspective opener, the speech was actually very well prepared and conducted. Jefferson had plenty of facts to support his opinions. He claimed that the British government made the colony leaders uncomfortable for discussions, which resulted in the leaders just agreeing with whatever they said because they were unprepared. The British also ignored the complaints from the colonists, cut off their trade, and gave them obscene taxes (Jefferson 123). From what I have learned in history class, all of these statements sound about right. The British government eventually came unconcerned with the colonists and really only used them to make a profit. They would use their raw materials and crops to make money. When the country became deep in debt, they ordered the American colonists to pay taxes to help relieve them. Jefferson even says, “He [the British government] has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people” (Jefferson 124). It was very unfair, so Thomas Jefferson took a stand to make things right for the colonists. At the time, Jefferson would have been considered the perfect example of a renaissance man. He was an inventor, lawyer, and a botanist among many other titles. In fact, he is considered the writer of the Declaration of Independence. Although it was edited by others, the ideas were mostly his own. His words have proven to stand the test of time. His speech in front of Congress, however, still holds one piece of faulty logic. Jefferson’s words and actions proved to be contradictory towards each other. During his speech, Jefferson says, “We hold the truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” (Jefferson 122). He firmly states that all men are created equal, but, during this time, all that really means is that all white men are created equal. The “Before You Read” section on Thomas Jefferson shares and interesting fact with readers. It talks about how Jefferson disagreed with the idea of slavery, yet he had slaves of his own. Again, I understand that slavery was very common at this time in American colonies, but one would think that Thomas Jefferson, a highly respected and intelligent man, would live life by the statements he makes.

Jefferson, Thomas. "Declaration of Independence." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 122-125. Print.