The Journal of Negro History, Volume 3, 1918. Various

refers to "Avenia; or, A Tragical Poem on the Oppression of the Human Species," an antislavery work printed in Philadelphia in 1805.—Note in the Ford edition.

108

Ford edition of Jefferson's Writings, VIII, p. 351.

109

Ibid., V, p. 296.

110

Ibid., V, p. 296.

111

Ibid., VI, p. 349.

112

Ford edition of Jefferson's Writings, VII, p. 168.

113

Ibid., VII, p. 167.

114

Ibid., VIII, p. 340.

115

Ford edition of Jefferson's Writings, VIII, p. 104.

116

Ibid., VIII, p. 162.

117

Ford edition of Jefferson's Writings, VIII, pp. 161, 163.

118

Ibid., VIII, p. 119.

119

Ford edition of Jefferson's Writings, VIII, p. 492.

120

Ibid., IX, p. 477.

121

Ford edition of Jefferson's Writings, IX, p. 478.

122

Ibid., IX, p. 477.

123

Ibid., IX, p. 478.

124

Ibid., IX, p. 479.

125

Ford edition of Jefferson's Writings, IX, p. 515.

126

Ibid., X, p. 76.

127

Ibid., X, p. 76.

128

Ford edition of Jefferson's Writings, X, p. 157.

129

Ibid., X, p. 158.

130

Jefferson MSS. Rayner, 164.

131

Ford edition of Jefferson's Writings, I, p. 5.

132

Ibid., I, p. 51.

133

Ford edition of Jefferson's Writings, VII, p. 310.

134

Ibid., X, p. 200.

135

Ibid., X, p. 292.

136

Ibid., X, p. 293.

137

In 1817 Jefferson had written Thomas Humphreys:

I have not perceived the growth of this disposition (to emancipate the slaves and settle them elsewhere) in the rising generation, of which I once had sanguine hopes. No symptoms inform me that it will take place in my day. I leave it, therefore, to time, and not at all without hope that the day will come, equally desirable and welcome to us as to them. Perhaps the proposition now on the carpet at Washington to provide an establishment on the coast of Africa for voluntary emigrations of people of color may be the corner stone of this future edifice.—Ford edition of Jefferson's Writings, X, p. 77.

138

Ford edition of Jefferson's Writings, X, p. 344.

139

Ibid., X, p. 385.

140

The Philanthropist, July 28, 1837.

141

Ibid.

142

The Philanthropist, June 2, 1837.

143

Cincinnati Morning Herald, June 1, 1844.

144

The Leisure Hour, 1853, II, p. 54.

145

Tyson, Banneker, The Afric-American Astronomer, p. 10.

146

The Atlantic Monthly, XI, p. 80

147

In another particular this same sketch differs from several others, namely, in locating young Banneker at "an obscure and distant country school" with no mention of the oft-repeated assertion that the school was one attended by both white and colored children. The author of the last-mentioned sketch was evidently not sure of these two statements, and therefore did not include them. In fact, he appears not to have been quite sure of the propriety of submitting any sketch at all of this "free man of color" to the distinguished body constituting the Maryland Historical Society, for there was a clear note of apology in his opening declaration that "A few words may be necessary to explain why a memoir of a free man of color, formerly a resident of Maryland, is deemed of sufficient interest to be presented to the Historical Society." But he justified his effort on the grounds that "no questions relating to our country (are) of more interest than those connected with her colored population"; that that interest had "acquired an absorbing character"; that the presence of the colored population in States where slavery existed "modified their institutions in important particulars," and effected "in a greater or less degree the character of the dominant race"; and "for this reason alone," he said, "the memoir of a colored man, who had distinguished himself in an abstruse science, by birth a Marylander, claims consideration from those who have associated to collect and preserve facts and records relating to the men and deeds of the past."—J. H. B. Latrobe in Maryland Historical Society Publications, I, p. 8.

148

Ford edition of Jefferson's Writings, V, p. 379.

149

In the memoir of Banneker, above mentioned, read before the Maryland Historical Society in 1845, and in another memoir of Banneker, read before the same Society by Mr. J. Saurin Norris, in 1854, the estate purchased by Mollie Welsh is referred to as "a small farm near the present site of Baltimore," and "purchased at a merely nominal price." See Norris's Memoir, p. 3.

150

Norris Memoir, p. 4; Williams's History of the Negro Race, p. 386.

151

Tyson, Banneker, p. 10.

152

It is elsewhere given as 7,000, but the earlier record seems to be the correct one.

153

Atlantic Monthly, XI, p. 81.

154

Latrobe, Memoir, Maryland Historical Society Publications, I, p. 7.

155

Ibid., I, p. 7.

156

Banneker would frequently, in answering questions submitted to him, accompany the answers with questions of his own in rhyme. The following is an example of such a question submitted by him to another noted mathematician, his friend and neighbor, Mr. George Ellicott:

A cooper and Vintner sat down for a talk,

Both being so groggy, that neither could walk,

Says Cooper to Vintner, "I'm the first of my trade,

There's no kind of vessel, but what I have made,

And of any shape, Sir,—just what you will,—

And of any size, Sir,—from a ton to a gill!"

"Then," says the Vintner, "you're the man for me,—

Make me a vessel, if we can agree.

The top and the bottom diameter define,

To bear that proportion as fifteen to nine,

Thirty-five inches are just what I crave,

No more and no less, in the depth, will I have;

Just thirty-nine gallons this vessel must hold,—

Then I will reward you with silver or gold,—

Give me your promise, my honest old friend?"

"I'll make it tomorrow, that you may depend!"

So the next day the Cooper his work to discharge,

Soon made the new vessel, but made it too large;—

He took out some staves, which made it too