Benjamin Banneker's 1791 Letter to Thomas Jefferson; Jefferson's Reply

First published in 1791, Benjamin Banneker's
almanacs were widely distributed publications.

Benjamin Banneker (b. 11/9/1731, Maryland – d. 10/9/1806) was an astronomer, mathematician, clockmaker, farmer, author of almanacs and one of the three city surveyors for Washington D.C. As a country, the U.S. was not quite 20 years old when Banneker was appointed city planner to the District of Columbia by U.S. President George Washington. Banneker's 1793 almanac contained what would be the earliest known policing plan for the new nation -- which had just won its freedom from Britain, titled "A Plan of Peace-office for the United States." Benjamin Banneker certainly had many successes and he did not allow the prosperity of his personal estate to dictate his politics.  An record of human rights activism in the British colonies and early nation could easily include his writings. A vocal anti-slavery activist, Banneker publicly deplored the treatment of Negroes in the United States of America, as illustrated in his letter to Thomas Jefferson -- penned August of 1791, nearly 10 years before Jefferson was elected to the U.S.  presidency.

BENJAMIN BANNEKER'S LETTER TO THOMAS JEFFERSON (August 1791)

I am fully sensible of that freedom, which I take with you in 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 world against those of my complexion.

I suppose it is truth too well attested . . . 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 . . . that you are a man 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.

. . . if this is founded in truth, I apprehend you will embrace every opportunity, to eradicate that train of absurd and false ideas and opinions, which so generally prevails 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 the same sensations and endowed 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 in the same family and stand in the same relation to him.

. . . 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 rights of human nature, and who possess the obligations of Christianity, to extend their power and influence to the relief of every part of the human race, from whatever burden or oppression they may unjustly labor under . . .

. . . I have long been convinced, that if your love . . . for those inestimable laws, which preserved to you the rights of human nature, was founded on sincerity, you could not but be solicitous, that every individual, of whatever rank or distinction, might with you equally enjoy the blessings thereof; neither could you rest satisfied short of the most active effusion of your exertions, in order to the promotion from any state of degradation, to which the unjustifiable cruelty and barbarism of men may have reduced them.

. . . I freely and cheerfully acknowledge, that I am of the African race, and that color 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 thraldom, 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 mercifully received, from the immediate hand of that Being, from whom proceedeth every good and perfect Gift.

 . . . suffer me to recall to your mind that time, in which the arms and tyranny of the British crown were exerted . . . in order to reduce you to a state of servitude: look back, I entreat you, on the variety of dangers to which you were exposed; reflect on that time, in which every human aid appeared unavailable, in which even 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 . . . is the peculiar blessing of Heaven.

This, Sir, was a time when you clearly saw into the injustice of a state of slavery, and in which you had just apprehensions of the horror of its condition. . . . your abhorrence thereof was so excited, that you publicly 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; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, and that among these are, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.'

.  . . tender feelings for yourselves had engaged you thus to declare, you were then impressed with proper ideas of the great violation of liberty, and the free possession of those blessings, to which you were entitled by nature; but, Sir, how pitiable is it 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 these rights and privileges, which he hath 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.

. . . 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 soul 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, although my sympathy and affection for my brethren hath caused my enlargement thus far, I ardently hope, that your candor and generosity will plead with you in my behalf, when I make known to you, that it was not originally my design; but having taken up my pen in order to direct to you, as a present, a copy of my Almanac, which I have calculated for the succeeding year, I was unexpectedly and unavoidably led thereto.

This calculation . . . is the product of my arduous study, in this most 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 through my own assiduous application to Astronomical Study, in which I need not recount to you the many difficulties and disadvantages which I have had to encounter.

And although I had almost declined to make my calculation for the ensuing year . . . 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 applied 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 will favorably receive; . . . I choose to send it to you in manuscript . . . that thereby you might not only have an earlier inspection, but that you might also view it in my own hand writing.

JEFFERSON'S REPLY TO BANNEKER (August 30, 1791, Philadelphia)

Sir --

-- I thank you sincerely for your letter of the 19th instant, and for the Almanac it contained. Nobody wishes more than I do to see such proofs as you exhibit, that nature has given to our black brethren talents equal to those of the other colours of men, and that the appearance of a want of them is owing only to the degraded condition of their existence both in Africa and America. I can add with truth that no one wishes more ardently to see a good system commenced for raising the condition both of their body and mind to what it ought to be, as fast as the imbecility of their present existence, and other circumstances which cannot be neglected, will admit. I have take the liberty of sending your Almanac to Monsieur de Condorcet, Secretary of Society; because I considered it a document to which your whole colour had a right for their justification against the doubts which have been entertained of them.

I am, with great esteem, sir, your most obedient servant,

THO. JEFFERSON

Africans in California under rule of Spain, Mexico and the United States

Photo: Pio de Jesus Pico, c. 1800s, the last governor of Alta California, Mexico.

On September 4, 1781, 44 non-natives settled at what they would describe as El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles (The Town of Our Lady the Queen of Angels), now known as Los Angeles, LA, or "City of Angels". At least 28 of those early settlers are reported as being of African descent. This settlement occurred during the time that the region now called Mexico was governed as a colony by Spain. Over a century before their arrival -- in 1570 -- an African slave revolt had occurred in the Veracruz region of Mexico, led by Gaspar Yanga. Prior to European travels to the Americas, the Olmec are among the oldest known civilization that resided and governed the territories now known as Mexico and California.

The Mexican War of Independence was an armed conflict which ended the rule of Spain in 1821. During the period that Los Angeles was part of Mexico (1821-1840), Blacks were an active part of Mexican society. Africans had been instrumental in the nation's successful war against Spanish colonization. 

Portrait of Vicente Guerrero (1782-1831), 19th c. snuffbox.

By 1829, Vincent Guerrero, Mexico's first Black president, issued a slavery abolition decree in Mexico. Of Afro-Mestizo descent, Vincente Guerrero was one of the leading revolutionary generals of the Mexican War of Independence in the early 19th century, and would serve as the second president of Mexico's First Federal Republic. By 1831, Emanuel Victoria served as California's first Black governor. Alta California's last governor, Pío de Jesus Pico, was also of mixed Black ancestry.

By 1850, the U.S. had won the Mexican-American War. This meant that Blacks residing in the California region could be subject to legal slavery again under U.S. colonial rule. The question of slavery extension under the United State's annexation of California became a central question. Based on the abolition of slavery in 1829 throughout Mexico, introducing slavery into California -- where African Americans in California had governed in key administrative roles under Mexico's governance -- would be difficult.

The editor of the Alta California, February 22, 1849, stated the case against introducing African slavery into California:

    “The majority—four-fifths, we believe—of the inhabitants of California are opposed to slavery. They believe it to be an evil and a wrong * * and while they would rigidly and faithfully protect the vested rights of the South, they deem it a high moral duty to prevent its extension and aid its extinction by every honorable means.”

In a vote of 150 to 56 approving entry of California into the union of states, the California bill was passed in the U.S. House on September 7, 1850. Two days later, the Senate concurred and the U.S. President provided his approval. California would enter the union of states as a non-slave state.

Estevanico aka Estaban: The North African Moor Enslaved on 1528 Spanish Expedition to Americas

Estevanico aka Estaban (b. 1490 - d. 1539)

Estevanico aka Estaban was a Berber-speaking Moor born in North Africa and is among the earliest individually named Africans known to the Americas. Estevanico was born in Morocco, North Africa, raised in a North African Muslim family. In 1513, at about the age of 23 years, he was captured in Africa by Portuguese slave traffickers. We do not know his native name, only the name he took when made to convert to the Christian Catholic religion by his captors. We will refer to him as Estevanico.

In the year 1513, the enslaved Estevanico was shipped to Portugal from his native home of Morocco. Morocco is that region where the North African empire of Hannibal was headquartered at Carthage, founded in 9th century BC. In fact, Portugal was previously part of the nation of the Moors from 711 AD to 1492. The African Moors ruled what is now known as Spain and Portugal for 700 years when a migration of North and West African Muslims (Moors) entered the region -- Jews, Christians and Arab Muslims later joined the prosperous Moors. The Moors lost the Iberian peninsula to the Christian Crusaders by 1492. Based on the years of Estevanico's birth and capture, the White Christian Crusaders that originally invaded the Iberia soon crossed over to Africa and began capturing African Moors and enslaving them in the region.

By 1520, Estevanico was sold from Portugal to a Spanish captain, Andres Dorantes de Carranza. Dorantes joined Spain's sojourn into what was for them "The New World." By this time, Spain was establishing colonies along the Gulf Coast of what is now known as the United States and Mexico regions, and within the Caribbean islands and South America.

September 1528, Estevanico sailed with Dorantes' crew from port San Lucar de Barrameda on a Spanish expedition. The Spanish expedition included a fleet of five ships containing about 600 men. Estevanico sailed on the Magdalena as it made its way across the Atlantic Ocean landing first on the island of Hispaniola (aka Española). Hispaniola now contains the independent nations of Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

After a month, the ship continued to Santiago, Cuba and then Trinidad.When Estevanico and the Spanish crew arrived in the region now known as Tampa Bay, Florida the Spanish expedition of colonizers numbering about 300 in number. The men split the crews into sea and land expeditions and faced both friendly and unfriendly indigenous people in the Florida region.

Estevanico and the ship's crew found themselves wrecked off the coast of Texas, the surviving among them numbering four. Those four men were three Europeans and the enslaved African, Estevanico -- thought to be the first non-Natives to this region. Estevanico's captivity continued among the surviving Spanish men -- which included Andres Dorantes and two others. The men made small ships from animal hides and eventually began to travel along the Gulf of Mexico Coast region. They ventured into the interior and are known to have traded with native peoples in the region to survive. This subsistence among the four men lasted about 8 years.

By July 1536, the four men arrived in New Spain, now known as the State of Sinaloa in northwest Mexico. Estevanico and the other three expedition survivors were received in Mexico City by the Spanish Viceroy of New Spain. Estevanico was granted his freedom at that time and was also noted by commentators as being received to the region's Avavares tribe as a medicine man. There may be a number of theories to explain why Estevanico was seen as a medicine man among the natives to the region.

Ancient Olmec sculpture

The region of Mexico is part of the earliest known civilization in the Americas, the Olmec kingdom whose remaining sculptures portray prominent negroid features. Additionally, the wisdom Estevanico exhibited to survive against these historical odds can also be contributed to knowledge obtained from his native African people of Morocco. He was already 23 years old when captured into European slavery.

What remains of the record states that by 1539 Estevanico led Fray Marcos of Nice into what is now known as the western region of the State of New Mexico, in the United States. He knew the region as well as many non-Natives because of his 8 years wondering and trading with native tribes after the Spanish expedition's shipwreck. Ultimately, Estevanico's demise arose when the natives saw Estevanico leading the expedition of white European men into the region. That year, in 1539, he was killed by the indigenous people at Hawikuh, New Mexico.