Notes on Virginia

Jefferson’s Notes on Virginia were vehemently different than what I expected. Initially I was concerned about it being a very dry read and struggling to get through it. Consequently I was quite intrigued by Query 11 concerning the Native Americans. Throughout the passage he seemed to focus on a few key points including language, skin color, and government. His concern and focus on language between the Indian tribes was interesting. He continually spoke of the tribes not being able to communicate properly with one another, or “losing their language”. But who really lost the Indian language? The numbers of the people in the tribes were being lost, not because they wanted to, but because they were being forced.
Another interesting passage on page 222 spoke of the Mattaponies tribe and that “they have more negro than Indian blood in them”. I found this focus on color interesting. All of the early English writers are constantly comparing skin color. On the other hand, the color contrast normally moves from dark to light, not from light to dark. The feeling towards Jefferson and he treatment of slaves is undecided on many accounts, although he does contradict himself constantly. I think Jefferson regularly remarks on the skin color comment because he finds himself superior and higher class, but yet he wants to make sure he recognizes Native Americans and African slaves just to say he has.
He also discusses government and heavily alludes to the fact that although there may be language barriers between all of the Indian tribes, there still exists an organized system/government of some type. And on the other hand he mentions that if the government is too stiff, it can be quite detrimental. This totally contradicts the English style of government that Jefferson is primarily involved in and glorifies the Native American unity to a certain extent. How can the Indian form of “government” (or lack thereof) be better than the English system? I think this goes back to the story of how proper civilization and doing things “correctly” can cause the people of that society to lose sight as to what is really just, such as family and keeping tradition alive.