Compare/Contrast Essay Thomas Jefferson/William Apess

He had been associated with them during his boyhood in Albemarle County and his college days in Williamsburg. He had heard his father's tales of journeys into the wilderness and his interactions with the Indians, but no Native Americans roamed the forest near Jefferson's boyhood home. The only Indians he saw, as a boy, were "civilized". They were romantic characters to the young lad when they stopped at the Jefferson home on their way to Williamsburg.
             Peter Jefferson's (Thomas Jefferson's father) house was a popular way station for the friendly Cherokees whose embassies were bound for Williamsburg. Jefferson long after reflected on his early attachment to Indians, writing John Adams of his presence in the warrior-orator Outasette's camp on the eve of that Indian's journey to England: "The moon was in full splendor.His sounding voice, distinct articulation, animated action, and the solemn silence of his people at their several fires, filled me with awe and veneration, although I did not understand a word he uttered," Jefferson was impressed by the Indian's use of words to make a noble display of his humanity, to move others. (Burnstein, 43).
             Jefferson further expounded on the Indians' ability to speak in his Notes on the State of Virginia: I may challenge the whole orations of Demosthenes and Cicero, and of many more prominent orators, if Europe has furnished any more eminent, to produce a single passage, superior to the speech of Logan, a Mingo chief, to Lord Dunmore when Governor of this State. (Chinard, 64).
             Referencing and comparing Native Americans to classical cultures was a theme that runs throughout Jefferson's musings on Indians. "Aboriginal Homeric concepts of human behavior had early become real and concrete to him in the simple dignity of American Indians." (Lehmann, 67).
             Perhaps this comparison with Europe's heroic era was to support his defense of all things American. It was then contended, by France's Count Buffon, that all flora, fauna, and men of the New World were degenerate.