Benjamin Banneker: Letter to Thomas Jefferson

Explanation and Analysis of the Document

In the first paragraph of the letter, Banneker states that he is aware of the “liberty which seemed to me scarcely allowable” that he takes in sending a copy of his almanac and writing this letter to Jefferson, who was then in the “distinguished and dignified station” of secretary of state. Additionally, Banneker does not deny that it is an even further liberty since he is a black man and, as such, is generally looked down upon. However, he does write this missive to Jefferson, wherein he brings up issues of great significance. Taking a deferential tone for the entire letter, Banneker nonetheless makes sure the secretary of state knows where he stands.

After his humble acknowledgment of the freedom he takes in writing this letter, Banneker begins by reminding his reader of the well-recognized state of black people in America. They have been, for an extensive period of time, exploited, condemned, degraded, and regarded as incompetent in mental endeavors, considered more animal than human.

In contrast to the attitude that most white people have toward African Americans, both slave and free, Banneker reflects that he believes Jefferson to be a man “far less inflexible” and “measurably friendly.” Historians speculate that Banneker never read Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia or else he may not have tried to approach Jefferson in a letter at all. Nevertheless, Banneker certainly thought that such a man as Jefferson might be more disposed than most to helping black people in America. If, too, Jefferson were so amiable, then naturally he would match his disposition to his actions and help ease and erase, whenever the opportunity arose, the “train of absurd and false ideas and opinions, which so generally prevails with respect to us.”

Furthermore, says Banneker, if Jefferson believes that a “Father”—God—created all, he would also see that all, no matter what station, situation, or color, are human and thus capable of the same feelings and with the same capacity for intelligence. Because of this, all people are part of one family with that one Father, presumably a father who would not have any of his children exploited by the others. Later in the antebellum era, proslavery apologists began to rely heavily on the claim that Africans were descended from the son of the biblical Noah, Ham, who had been cursed. The story is from Genesis 9:18–29, where Ham sees that his father has gotten drunk and fallen asleep, naked, in his tent. He goes to tell his brothers, Japheth and Shem, who immediately walk backward into the tent, putting a robe between them to cover their father. When Noah awakens and hears what happened, he curses Ham’s son, Canaan, to serve his relatives. The descendents of Canaan were said by proslavery writers to be black-skinned, and, therefore, Africans were destined to be the slaves of the earth. At the time Banneker wrote to Jefferson, this argument had not gained the position it would later have.

In the next paragraph, the fourth, Banneker points out that if Jefferson agrees that there is one universal Father of all humankind, then he would also agree that it is his Christian—and human—duty to see to it that all forms of inhumane treatment to fellow human beings are stopped. Banneker can see that white people love their liberties, their rights, the laws that give them these rights, and themselves, and if they are really sincere about the value of all these things, then they should want no less for everyone else, particularly those who have been living in oppression and degradation.

Banneker writes that he is a black man and, by the grace of God, a free one, who does not have to experience the “inhuman captivity” of his brethren. As a free man, he has the privilege of partaking of many of the same liberties and rights that Jefferson has. He hopes that Jefferson realizes that his own freedom comes from the merciful hand of God, just as Banneker’s has.

In paragraph 6, Banneker reminds Jefferson of the time, still fresh in memory, since it had been so few decades ago, “in which the arms and tyranny of the British crown were exerted, with every powerful effort, in order to reduce you to a state of servitude.” He asks Jefferson to remember how the colonists felt, how they thought, and how they reacted to the tyranny of British rule. Did they not feel as if they were to be slaves to the British? Did they not see every move by Parliament as one step closer to that servitude, as one more trespass upon their rights as human beings? Did they not feel their own hopelessness to do anything and despair that things would be this way forever? Despite this, Banneker asserts, the colonists persevered, and they gained their freedom, with the “blessing of Heaven.”

Continuing in this same line of thinking, Banneker writes that Americans at this time felt “the injustice of a state of slavery.” Because they could not tolerate the present condition or the future possibility of living in such a state, Jefferson wrote these words in the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, and that among these are, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” The American colonists regarded themselves highly enough to make sure they would not be slaves to anyone and that “the great violation of liberty” would go no further. And yet even though there was a war fought over these words, over these ideas, these same colonies held enormous numbers of Africans in brutal and merciless bondage, using any means necessary to keep these men and women restrained. Banneker states that there is a contradiction demonstrated by people who rally around the statement “all men are created equal” but also publicly and vehemently deny an entire category of people those same unalienable rights. Abraham Lincoln, a politician from Illinois, would also point out this inconsistency in many of his speeches of the mid-1800s.

Not presuming to tell Jefferson, who supposedly already knew well, the “situation of my brethren” or to propose specific solutions to the problem of slavery, in paragraph 8 Banneker simply says that he thinks that a person should, as the biblical Job urged his friends (Job 8), “put your soul in their souls’ stead” and “wean yourselves from those narrow prejudices which you have imbibed with respect to them.” One might think that Banneker here makes an indirect barb at Jefferson’s notions (well-known even beyond his Notes) that black people were inferior to whites, particularly with regard to intellect. If, however, Jefferson and other whites could do as Job wisely told his friends to do, then perhaps they would feel some compassion toward those who were held in harsh servitude merely by reason of their skin color. And once they felt that compassion, no one would have to tell them how to act or how to progress regarding the question of slavery.

In closing the paragraph, Banneker explains that he had not intended to go into everything he had written about but that his caring for his fellow African Americans under bonds led him to do so at length. He hopes that Jefferson would forgive the digression and still accept the gift of an almanac, which had been the original reason for writing.

In telling Jefferson something about the almanac, Banneker observes that he is at an “advanced stage of life” and that he had “long had unbounded desires to become acquainted with the secrets of nature.” This indicates that he had been doing this type of study for a long time, and, even if he had never published any of his findings before now, he had not come to the calculations without some knowledge and experience. He takes a collegial tone here, as he shares with Jefferson that he had had many “difficulties and disadvantages” in taking up astronomical studies on his own, “which I need not recount to you.” Jefferson, as an amateur astronomer himself, would well know the complexities associated with the study and would recognize, too, the work that Banneker would have had to put in as a man who had had little formal schooling.

In the last full paragraph, he continues by commenting to Jefferson that the almanac had almost had to wait, since he had been spending so much time assisting Mr. Andrew Ellicott “at the Federal Territory.” This is Banneker’s allusion to his work on the plans of the capital city, which Jefferson would have realized, since he had recommended Banneker for the project. However, says Banneker, he had already told several printers in the area about his proposed almanac, so when he arrived home from the banks of the Potomac, he got to work on his calculations straight away.

Here, then, is the product, Banneker tells Jefferson, which he hopes will be accepted in the spirit it was intended. He has sent a manuscript, so that Jefferson not only could have an advance copy but also could see it in Banneker’s own hand. This appears to be a subtle acknowledgment that Jefferson might not take the almanac for Banneker’s own work unless he sees it written in the author’s own hand. As it happens, years later Jefferson wrote a letter to his friend Joel Barlow saying that he did not think that Banneker had come up with his ephemeris by himself, that someone had helped him substantially in his calculations. He also refers to Banneker’s letter, telling Barlow that he believed that it “shows him to have had a mind of very common stature indeed.” Even so, Jefferson’s letter in answer to Banneker’s does not appear to indicate this seemingly cynical view.

Banneker closes by acknowledging “the most profound respect” toward Jefferson. The respect Banneker speaks of rings throughout the letter, in the sincerity with which he writes, even as he criticizes the American custom of slaveholding and the contradiction it presents. The last part of the closing, “Your most obedient humble servant,” by no means should be taken as a statement of subservience. One of the points of Banneker’s letter was to dispel the assumption, to which Jefferson also seemed to subscribe, that African Americans were inferior to white Americans, and he suggests clearly that African Americans should not be subservient based on such a misconception. The phrase “your most obedient humble servant” was simply a common closing in formal letters at the time, and, in fact, Jefferson closes his own letter to Banneker using the same phrase.