How did Thomas Jefferson's ideas about America compare with those of A Slave and James Forten?
To what extent were Jefferson's goals for Native Americans consistent with Meriwether Lewis's observations about the Shoshone? Did Jefferson and Lewis believe that Indians could participate fully and equally in American society? If so, how? If not, why not?
To what extent do the documents in this chapter suggest a broad agreement among Americans about the meaning of liberty during these years? To what extent do these documents suggest that Americans significantly disagreed about the meaning of liberty?
In what ways do the documents in this chapter provide evidence of the strength of democratic aspirations in the first quarter of the nineteenth century? To what extent did democratic values inform Jeffersonian ideas, A Slave's letter, Forten's protest, and relations with Native Americans? What values competed with democracy?