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Quote#Hope

Whatever be their degree of talent it is no measure of their rights.…

Quote byThomas Jefferson · 1743–1826

Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Second Presidential Administration (1805-1809), Letter to Henri Grégoire (25 February 1809), as quoted in The Works of Thomas Jefferson in Twelve Volumes. Federal Edition. Collected and Edited by Paul Leicester Ford. Also quoted in The Science and Politics of Racial Research by William H. Tucker (19.

English (original)

whatever be their degree of talent it is no measure of their rights. Because Sir Isaac Newton was superior to others in understanding, he was not therefore lord of the person or property of others. On this subject they are gaining daily in the opinions of nations, and hopeful advances are making towards their reestablishment on an equal footing with the other colors of the human family

— Thomas Jefferson

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