Benjamin Banneker’s Letter to Thomas Jefferson, 1791

Prior to the publication of his first almanac, Benjamin Banneker decided to send a pre-publication manuscript to Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, along with a cover letter.  He felt if Jefferson were to see the fine work accomplished by a black man, it might lead to Jefferson re-visiting his personal stance on slavery.

For two weeks, Banneker labored over the letter, and on August 19, 1791 he read his handwritten letter for the last time and sealed it into a package with the manuscript, directing to Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State.

In subsequent editions of almanacs Banneker produced in later years, he opted to reprint his letter to Jefferson. For that reason, we have it in its entirety.  The letter is worthy of reprinting in full. Banneker’s respect, his reasoning, and his humble appeal are quite compelling.  The spellings are as they appeared in the original letter:

Maryland, Baltimore County Near Ellicott’s Lower Mills, August 19, 1791

Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State

 

Sir, I am fully sensible of the greatness of that freedom which I take with you on the present occasion, a liberty which seemed to me scarcely allowable, when I reflected on that distinguished and dignified station in which you stand; and the almost general prejudice and prepossession which is so prevalent in the world against those of my complexion. 

I suppose it is a truth too well attested to you to need a proof here that we are a race of beings who have long labored under the abuse and censure of the world, that we have long been looked upon with an eye of contempt and that we have long been considered rather as brutish than human and scarcely capable of mental endowments.

Sir, I hope I may safely admit, in consequence of that report which hath reached me, that you are a man far less inflexible in sentiments of this nature than many others; that you are measurably friendly and well disposed towards us, and that you are willing and ready to lend your aid and assistance to our relief from those many distresses and numerous calamities to which we are reduced.

Now, Sir, if this is founded in truth, I apprehend you will readily embrace every opportunity to eradicate that train of absurd and false ideas and oppinions which so generally prevail with respect to us, and that your sentiments are concurrent with mine, which are that one universal Father hath given being to us all, and that he hath not only made us all of one flesh, but that he hath also without partiality afforded us all with the Same Sensations, and enduced us all with the same faculties, and that however variable we may be in society or religion, however diversified in situation or color, we are all of the Same Family, and Stand in the Same Relation to him.

Sir, if these are sentiments of which you are fully persuaded, I hope you cannot but acknowledge that it is the indispensable duty of those who maintain for themselves the right of human nature, and who profess the obligations of Christianity, to extend their power and influence to the relief of every part of the human race from whatever burthen or oppression they may unjustly labour under, and this I apprehend a full conviction of the truth and obligation of these principles should lead all to.

Sir, I have long been convinced that if your love for yourselves and for those inesteemable laws which preserve to you the rights of human nature was founded on Sincerity, you could not but be solicitous that every Individual of whatsoever rank or distinction might with you equally enjoy the blessings thereof, neither could you rest satisfied, short of the most active diffusion of your exertions, in order to their promotion from any State of degradation to which the unjustifiable cruelty and barbarism of men may have reduced them.

Sir, I freely and Cheerfully acknowledge, that I am of the African race, and in that colour which is natural to them of the deepest dye; and it is under a Sense of the most profound gratitude to the Supreme Ruler of the universe, that I now confess to you, that I am not under that State of tyrannical thralldom and inhuman captivity, to  which too many of my brethren are doomed; but that I have abundantly tasted of the fruition of those blessings which proceed from that free and unequalled liberty with which you are favored and which I hope you will willingly allow you have received from the Hand of that Being from which proceedeth every good and perfect gift.

Sir, suffer me to recall to your mind that time 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; look back I intreat you on the variety of dangers to which you were exposed, reflecting on that time in which every human aid appeared unavailable, and in which every hope and fortitude wore the aspect of inability to the Conflict, and you cannot but be led to a Serious and grateful Sense of your miraculous and providential preservation.  You cannot but acknowledge, that the present freedom and tranquility which you enjoy you have mercifully received, and that it is the peculiar blessing of Heaven.

This, Sir, was a time in which you clearly saw into the injustice of a State of Slavery, and in which you had just apprehensions of the horrors of its condition, it was now, Sir, that your abhorrence thereof was so excited that you publickly held forth this true and invaluable doctrine, which is worthy to be recorded and remembered in all succeeding ages, “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that amongst those are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

Here, Sir, was a time in which your tender feelings for your selves engaged you thus to declare, you were then impressed with proper ideas of the great valuation of liberty, and the free possession of those blessings to which you were entitled by nature; but Sir how pitiable it is to reflect that although you were so fully convinced of the benevolence of the Father of mankind, and of his equal and impartial distribution of those rights and privileges which he had conferred upon them, that you should at the same time counteract his mercies, in detaining by fraud and violence so numerous a part of my brethren under groaning captivity and cruel oppression, that you should at the same time be found guilty of that most criminal act, which you professedly detested in others, with respect to yourselves.

Sir, I suppose that your knowledge of the situation of my brethren is too extensive to need a recital here; neither shall I presume to prescribe methods by which they may be relieved otherwise than by recommending to you, and all others to wean yourselves from those narrow prejudices which you have imbibed with respect to them, and as Job proposed to his friends “Put your Souls in their Souls’ stead,” thus shall your hearts be enlarged with kindness and benevolence towards them, and thus, shall you need neither the direction of myself or others in what manner to proceed herein.

And now, Sir, altho my sympathy and affection for my enlargement thus far, I ardently hope that your candour and generosity will please with you in my behalf, when I make known to you that it was not originally my design; but that having taken up my pen in order to direct to you as a present, a copy of an Almanack which I have calculated for the succeeding year, I was unexpectedly and unavoidably led thereto.

This calculation, Sir, is the production  of my arduous study, in this my advanced stage of life; for having long had unbounded desires to become acquainted with the secrets of nature, I have had to gratify my curiosity herein thro my own assiduous application to Astronomical Study, in which I need not to recount to you the many difficulties and disadvantages which I have had to encounter.

And altho I had almost declined to make my calculation for the ensuing year, in consequence of that time which I had allotted therefor being taken up at the Federal Territory by the request of Mr. Andrew Ellicott, yet finding myself under several engagements to printers of this state to whom I had communicated my design, on my return to my place of residence, I industriously apply’d myself thereto, which I hope I have accomplished with correctness and accuracy, a copy of which I have taken the liberty to direct to you, and which I humbly request you would favourably receive, and altho you may have the opportunity of perusing it after its publication, yet I chose to send it to you in manuscript previous thereto, that thereby you might not only have an earlier inspection, but that you might also view it in my own handwriting.

And now, Sir, I shall conclude and subscribe myself with the most profound respect,

Your most Obedient humble Servant

Benjamin Banneker

N.B. any communication to me may be had by a direction to Mr. Elias Ellicott merchant in Baltimore Town.

B.B.

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