Jefferson and Native Americans

"I beleive the Indian then to be in body and mind equal to the whiteman."

- Thomas Jefferson, 1785

Views ... Lewis & Clark ... Images, Objects and Art ... Indian Removal

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Jefferson's Ideas about and encounters with Native Americans Thomas Jefferson viewed Indigenous North American Peoples as subjects of intellectual curiosity, as enemies in war, as partners in peace, and as people to be assimilated into white Anglo-American culture.
Livestream: Jefferson's American Indian Policy This recorded livestream between Professor David Wilkins (Lumbee Nation) and Monticello's Brandon Dillard (Cherokee Nation) explores Jefferson's role in developing early U.S. policies towards Native Americans and how these complex legal decisions shaped later history.
Jefferson's Excavation of a Native American Burial Mound Jefferson's fascination with the culture of the Indigenous People of Virginia resulted in his excavation of a Monacan burial mound along the Rivanna River.

Lewis & Clark

"In all your intercourse with the natives treat them in the most friendly & conciliatory manner which their own conduct will admit; allay all jealousies as to the object of your journey, satisfy them of it’s innocence."

—Thomas Jefferson, 1803

Video: Native Americans and the Lewis and Clark Expedition Monticello's Brandon Dillard (Cherokee Nation) discusses the peaceful intent of the Expedition, the hostilities that foreshadowed a century of warfare in the wake of white settlement, and the strength and resilience of indigenous peoples and cultures who endured.
Framing the West at Monticello With the arrival of several boxes and barrels sent back by Lewis and Clark from their journey, Jefferson greatly expanded the representation of North America with a dramatic display of Native American objects and animal skins, horns, and bones in his home.
Podcast: Fort Mandan In this podcast episode, Monticello's Olivia Brown and Kyle Chattleton focus the Lewis and Clark Expedition's wintering over on the banks of the Missouri River and their interactions with the nearby Mandan and Hidatsa communities.

Sacajawea Monticello's Olivia Brown looks at the myths and realities of the life of this famous Native American woman who played an unlikely but critical role in the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
The Lewis and Clark Expedition with Thomas Jefferson In this recorded livestream, Thomas Jefferson (interpreted by Bill Barker) discusses the purpose of the expedition, its discoveries, and the Indigenous Peoples forever altered by it.
Instructions for Meriwether Lewis, 20 June 1803 Read Jefferson's instructions to Meriwether Lewis regarding the Corps of Discovery's mission when encountering Native Americans.

Images, Objects, and Art

"I am in fact preparing a kind of Indian Hall"

—Thomas Jefferson, 1806

 

The "Indian Hall" at Monticello Jefferson's original Native American collections are lost to time. Native American artists created new pieces for what Jefferson termed his "Indian Hall" based on historical documents and the Lewis & Clark collection at Harvard's Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology.
Video: Silhouettes of Native Americans at Monticello Four silhouettes of Native American leaders given to Jefferson by Charles Willson Peale are on display in the library at Monticello. Learn more in this video, featuring Monticello's Laura-Michal Balderson.
Chief of the Sack Nation According to family tradition, this "Portrait of a young chief of the Sack Nation of Indians" was part of Jefferson's collection at Monticello.

Indigenous Peoples Removal

"Should they force us to war, it is to be considered whether we should ever cease it till the tribe be driven beyond the Mississippi as an example."

—Thomas Jefferson, 1802

How will their history terminate? Jefferson's 1803 letter to General Superintendent of Indian Affairs Benjamin Hawkins cogently sums up his paternalistic view that Native Americans had only one option: to assimilate into white culture.
A Secret Plan In a confidential letter from 1803 to Governor of the Indiana Territory William Henry Harrison, Jefferson outlined his scheme to wrest control of Indigenous lands through purchase, driving Native Americans into debt, and war.
War or Peace? Jefferson's 1807 letter to Secretary of War Henry Dearborn envisioned a war of annihilation against Native Americans who did not submit to U.S. power.

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Jefferson's West: A Journey with Lewis and Clark

James P. Ronda, H.G. Barnard Professor in Western History at the University of Tulsa, retells this compelling part of the American story by contrasting the expectations of Thomas Jefferson had for the expedition with what Captains Clark and Lewis actually experienced during their journey.

Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham gives us a complete vision of Thomas Jefferson the man, from birth to his last days and through the Revolutionary War to his years as President.

Further Sources

1. Thomas Jefferson Portal

- When viewing an individual title, please click “View Description” to see more detail.    

2. Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia

3. Founders Online

4. Thomas Jefferson’s Libraries Project

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