Notes on the State of Virginia 623example, can be explained by his careful scientific
explanations, his “experiences,” so to speak. In other
words, nature is still well within the boundary of
reason and harmony. At the same time, in the pos-
sibility of a “great convulsion of nature” that heaves
the bed of the ocean to the heights of the Andes,
Jefferson hesitates to make such an inference. For
him, nature is harmonious and well-balanced, and
for such radical change to take place is utterly
unthinkable.
Perhaps a good example of the contradictory
attitudes toward nature can be seen from his experi-
ence on a natural bridge, an incident he mentions
in query five. He describes the bridge as “the most
sublime of Nature’s works.” The sublime is an
interesting concept that is brought up in the 18th
century. “Sublime” usually indicates fear and horror,
a feeling or a phenomenon too great to be named.
Jefferson tells us that “you involuntarily fall on your
hands and feet, creep to the parapet and peep over
it. Looking down from this height, gave me a violent
head ache.” Yet, when he is below it, he changes his
tone: “so beautiful an arch, so elevated, so light, and
spring as it were up to heaven.” As much as he wants
to acknowledge the mystery of nature’s many faces,
he balances them with a reserved picture of elegance
and beauty. Jefferson seems to urge us to step away
from the violent side of nature and focus more on its
“reasonable” and “pleasant” side. He seems to warn
us that what rushes into our senses—nature’s sub-
lime—is not necessarily the essence of nature; and if
we are able to look further and pay more attention,
we might just find the true nature of nature.
Huang-hua Chen
race in Notes on the State of Virginia
In a response to Buffon’s claim that the aboriginal
people of North America are generally inferior to
the people living in Europe, both in mind and body,
Thomas Jefferson defends the Indians with scien-
tific proofs. To Buffon, because of the warmer cli-
mate on this side of the Atlantic, Native Americans
are feeble, of small stature, and lack character. After
commenting on their physical attributes, he goes on
to suggest that they have no community, no moral-
ity, no love, and only harsh rule. Buffon’s opinion is
not uncommon to an 18th-century European, but
it is also fabrication at best. Jefferson refutes these
opinions, and he backs himself by using his own
experiences with Native Americans. In query six, he
continues to present evidence where Native Ameri-
cans are not that different from the white settlers
of the time. He mentions that their affections are
genuine, and they are honorable and brave in battle.
He even wonders at his neighboring Indian monu-
ments and produces a detailed account of them in
query 11.
What may be of curiosity to us, though, is the
way in which Jefferson ends that particular section
of the query. Having established his argument, he
then diverges to talk about how it is incorrect to
assume that the Indians lack intelligence. Given
enough time and the use of letters, the Indians
might be able to produce great works of literature
as well. He refutes Buffon’s idea that the western
side of the Atlantic can produce only inferior prod-
ucts, because, with only a little time, America has
produced Washington and Franklin and the like. It
is here that one starts to detect the hidden agenda
of Jefferson’s seeming racial equality, because both
Native Americans and white settlers are susceptible
to the constant scrutiny and doubt of the Euro-
peans. In other words, by identifying with Native
Americans, Jefferson is also making a case for the
capability of the emergent American culture. Jeffer-
son is not alone in the 18th century. Rousseau, for
example, has a similar idea of “noble savages,” which
suggests that because of the lack of a contaminating
civilization, they are without pretense and corrup-
tion. Using this notion, Jefferson tries to counter the
prejudices of the old monarchial Europe.
However, Jefferson also has prejudices of his
own, and again they partially derive from the 18th-
century world view. While he talks of the emanci-
pation of African-American slaves, he would also
suggest that the best way to achieve it is through
re-allotting them elsewhere instead of incorporat-
ing them in the colonies. Jefferson worries that an
American society with both races will result only in
more conflict because of racial tensions. Other than
political reasons, however, Jefferson brings up other
aspects, which he calls physical and moral. In query
14, he mentions that the difference between blacks
and whites is “fixed” and goes to explain what he sees