Answer: Yes.
In 1781, Jefferson, in his Notes on Virginia, wrote that
blacks were decidedly inferior to whites, but that offspring would benefit from
being mixed with whites. A first generation coupling, Jefferson thought, would
be bad for the white but good for the black: "The improvement of the blacks in
body and mind, in the first instance of their mixture with the whites, has been
observed by everyone." From that point on, everything depended on which way
the next offspring mated. Thirty years later--in 1814-- he wrote: "The
amalgamation of whites with blacks produces a degradation to which no lover of
his country, no lover of excellence in the human character, can innocently
consent."
And, in 1809 Jefferson wrote about equality, after receiving Gregorie's volume
of Literature of Negroes: "Be assured that no person living wishes more
sincerely than I do, to see a complete refutation of the doubts I have myself
entertained and expressed on the grade of understanding allotted to them by
nature, and to find that in this respect they are on a par with ourselves... My
doubts were the result of personal observation on the limited sphere of my own
State, where the opportunities for the development of their genius were not
favorable, and those of exercising it still less so. I expressed them therefore
with great hesitation; but whatever their degree of talent it is no measure of
their rights. On this subject they are gaining daily in the opinions of
nations, and hopeful advances are making towards their re-establishment on an
equal footing with the other colors of humanity." [25 Feb 1809, Thomas Jefferson to Henri George]
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