Paradox of Liberty Virtual Exhibition
Explore the paradox of the American Revolution—the fight for liberty in an era of pervasive slavery—through the lens of Monticello in this new virtual exhibition. Explore the exhibition »
How could the author of the Declaration of the Independence own slaves? How could twenty percent of the population of the new United States, founded on the principles of liberty and equality, live in bondage? What was life like for enslaved people in the early republic? This online exhibition uses Monticello as a lens through which to examine these questions.
Thomas Jefferson: Liberty and Slavery
Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence, yet, over the course of his life, he owned 600 people. His way of life always depended on the labor of people he held in slavery.
African Slavery in Colonial British North America
Directly or indirectly, the economies of all 13 British colonies in North America depended on slavery.
Life on the Monticello Plantation
At any one time, about 130 enslaved men, women, and children lived and worked at Monticello.
Enslaved Families of Monticello
Like others across the South, Monticello’s enslaved families resisted slavery’s dehumanizing effects by creating lives that flourished independent of Jefferson.
After Monticello
The people of Monticello and their descendants strove to make Jefferson’s ideals a reality.