Editing Benjamin Banneker (section)

===Political views===
Banneker's 1792 almanac contained an extract from an anonymous essay entitled "''On Negro Slavery, and the Slave Trade''" that the ''[[Columbian Magazine]]'' had published in 1790.<ref>(1) {{cite journal|url=https://archive.org/details/columbianmagazin41790phil/page/n21|title=On Negro Slavery, and the Slave Trade|journal=[[Columbian Magazine|The Columbian Magazine or Monthly Miscellany]]|date=January 1790|pages=18–19|location=Philadelphia|publisher=Printed for the Proprietors, by William Spotswood|access-date=August 31, 2019|via=[[Internet Archive]]}}<br>(2) [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00silv/page/175/mode/1up Bedini, 1972, p. 175.]</ref> After quoting a statement that David Rittenhouse had made (that Negroes "have been doomed to endless slavery by us — merely because ''their'' bodies have been disposed to reflect or absorb the rays of light in a way different from ''ours''"), the extract concluded:<blockquote>The time, it is hoped ''is not very remote'', when those ill-fated people, dwelling in this land of freedom, shall commence a participation with the white inhabitants, in the blessings of liberty; and experience the kindly protection of government, for the essential rights of human nature.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://memory.loc.gov/rbc/rbcmisc/ody/ody0214/0214033v.jpg|title=Banneker, 1791, p. 33.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190301160924/http://memory.loc.gov/rbc/rbcmisc/ody/ody0214/0214033v.jpg |archive-date=March 1, 2019 }}</ref></blockquote>

A Philadelphia edition of Banneker's 1793 almanac that Joseph Crukshank published contained copies of pleas for peace that the English anti-slavery poet [[William Cowper]] and others had authored,<ref>Banneker, 1792a(2), pp. [https://transcription.si.edu/view/8045/NMAAHC-2014_63_31_015 15], [https://transcription.si.edu/view/8045/NMAAHC-2014_63_31_019 19], [https://transcription.si.edu/view/8045/NMAAHC-2014_63_31_021 21].</ref> as well as anti-slavery speeches and writings from England and America. The latter included extracts from speeches that William Pitt, [[Matthew Montagu, 4th Baron Rokeby|Matthew Montagu]] and Charles James Fox had given to the British House of Commons in 1792 during the debate on a motion for the abolition of the British slave trade,<ref>(1) Banneker, 1792a(2), pp. [https://transcription.si.edu/view/8045/NMAAHC-2014_63_31_011 11], [https://transcription.si.edu/view/8045/NMAAHC-2014_63_31_013 13].<br />(2) {{cite book|author=Great Britain. Parliament|author-link=Parliament of Great Britain|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433075911671&view=1up&seq=11|title=The debate on a motion for the abolition of the slave-trade: in the House of Commons on Monday the second of April, 1792, reported in detail|year=1792|location=London|publisher=Printed by W. Woodfall|pages=[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433075911671&view=1up&seq=106 96 (M. Montegu)], [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433075911671&view=1up&seq=144 134]-[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433075911671&view=1up&seq=145 135 (Charles James Fox)], [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433075911671&view=1up&seq=160 142]-[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433075911671&view=1up&seq=161 143 (William Pitt)]|oclc=669400387|lccn=84221585|via=[[HathiTrust|HathiTrust Digital Library]]|access-date=November 12, 2020}}</ref> an extract from a 1789 poem by an English Quaker, Thomas Wilkinson,<ref>(1) Banneker 1792a(2), pp. [https://transcription.si.edu/view/8045/NMAAHC-2014_63_31_023 23], [https://transcription.si.edu/view/8045/NMAAHC-2014_63_31_025 25].<br />(2) {{cite book|last=Wilkinson
|first=Thomas, of [[Yanwath]]|title=An Appeal to England, On Behalf of the Abused Africans; A Poem|year=1789|location=London|publisher=Printed and sold by J. Phillips|oclc=83274510|lccn=27007950}}<br />(3) Discussion of Thomas Wilkinson's background, poems and influence ''in'' {{cite book|last=Manning|first=Peter J.|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Me4O_ktz_IQC&pg=PA241|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Me4O_ktz_IQC&pg=printsec|chapter=Chapter 11: "Will No One Tell Me What She Sings?": ''The Solitary Reaper'' and the Contexts of Criticism|title=Reading Romantics: Texts and Contexts|pages=241–254|year=1990|location=New York|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|isbn=0195057872|lccn=89038917|oclc=607351211|access-date=February 20, 2018|via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> and an extract from a query in Thomas Jefferson's 1787 ''[[Notes on the State of Virginia]]''.<ref>(1) Banneker, 1792a(2), pp. [https://transcription.si.edu/view/8045/NMAAHC-2014_63_31_015 15], [https://transcription.si.edu/view/8045/NMAAHC-2014_63_31_017 17], [https://transcription.si.edu/view/8045/NMAAHC-2014_63_31_019 19].<br />(2) {{cite book|last=Jefferson|first=Thomas|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-KlbAAAAQAAJ&pg=270|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-KlbAAAAQAAJ&pg=printsec|chapter=Query XVIII: Manners|title=Notes on the State of Virginia.: written by Thomas Jefferson: Illustrated with a Map, including the States of Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania|location=London|publisher=Printed for John Stockdale, Opposite Burlington-House, Piccadilly|year=1787|pages=270–273|access-date=February 20, 2018|oclc=24294019}}</ref><ref name="Bedini pp185-199"/>

[[File:Benjamin Rush Painting by Peale 1783.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.8|
<sup><div style="text-align: center;">[[Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library|Winterthur Museum]],<br />[[Winterthur, Delaware]]</div></sup>1783 [[Oil painting|oil portrait]] of Dr. Benjamin Rush by [[Charles Willson Peale]]]]
Crukshank's edition of Banneker's 1793 almanac also contained a copy of "A Plan of a ''Peace-Office'', for the United States".<ref name="1793 Almanac5">(1) Bedini, 1999, pp. [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/190/mode/1up 190]–[https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/191/mode/1up 191.]<br>(2) A Plan of a ''Peace-Office'', for the United States. ''In'' Banneker, 1792a(2), pp. [https://transcription.si.edu/view/8045/NMAAHC-2014_63_31_005 5], [https://transcription.si.edu/view/8045/NMAAHC-2014_63_31_007 7], [https://transcription.si.edu/view/8045/NMAAHC-2014_63_31_009 9].<br>(3) [https://books.google.com/books?id=LSkkCeq5R1AC&pg=PA116 Phillips, pp. 116–119.]</ref> Although the almanac did not identify the Plan's author, writers later attributed the work to [[Benjamin Rush|Dr. Benjamin Rush]], a signer of the 1776 Declaration of Independence.<ref>(1) [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112037299119;view=1up;seq=7 Whiteman, Maxwell (1969). BENJAMIN BANNEKER: Surveyor and Astronomer: 1731–1806: A biographical note] ''In'' [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112037299119;view=1up;seq=5 Whiteman, Maxwell (ed.)] "The plan for a "Peace Office" in the Government of the United States, which also appeared in this issue (Banneker's 1793 Philadelphia almanac) has been attributed to Banneker. According to Edwin Wolf 2nd, Librarian of the [[Library Company of Philadelphia]] from whose institution these copies have been made, the "Peace Office" is the work of Dr. [[Benjamin Rush]]."<br>(2) [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00silv/page/186/mode/1up Bedini, 1972, p. 186.] "Another important item included in the 1793 almanac was "A Plan of a Peace Office for the United States", which aroused considerable comment at the time. Many believed it to have been Banneker's own work. Even recently its authorship has been debated, but in 1947 it was identified beyond question as the work of Dr. [[Benjamin Rush]] in a volume of his own writings that appeared in that year." (Reference ([https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00silv/page/361/mode/1up Bedini, 1972, p. 361])): {{cite book|editor-first=Dagobert D.|editor-last=Runes|editor-link=Dagobert D. Runes|title=The Selected Writings of Benjamin Rush|pages=19–23|location=New York|publisher=[[Philosophical Library]]|year=1947}}) ([[E-book]] (partial text of book): {{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KQf4CAAAQBAJ&pg=PT29|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KQf4CAAAQBAJ&pg=printsec|chapter=A Plan of a Peace Office for the United States (1799)|editor-last=Runes|editor-first=Dagobert D.|editor-link=Dagobert D. Runes|title=The Selected Writings of Benjamin Rush|pages=29–33|oclc=928885110|isbn=9781504013062|publisher=[[Open Road Integrated Media]]|date=May 26, 2015|access-date=June 23, 2019|via=[[Google Books]]}} (Full text of book: {{cite web|editor-last=Runes|editor-first=Dagobert D.|editor-link=Dagobert D. Runes|url=https://archive.org/stream/selectedwritings030242mbp/selectedwritings030242mbp_djvu.txt|title=A Plan of a Peace Office for the United States (1799)|pages=19–23|access-date=April 6, 2020|location=New York|publisher=[[Philosophical Library]]|year=1947|via=[[Internet Archives]]}}<br>(3) [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00silv/page/187/mode/1up Bedini, 1972, p. 187.] "For some unexplained reason, it was published without identifying the author. Rush included the "Plan" in a collection of essays published five years later, with substantial additions to the text." (Reference ([https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00silv/page/361/mode/1up Bedini, 1972, p. 361])): {{cite book|author=Benjamin Rush|author-link=Benjamin Rush|title=Essays, Literal and Moral|location=Philadelphia|publisher=Thomas and William Bradford|year=1798|pages=183–188}}) ([[E-book]]: {{cite book|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/DKC0021/page/n188/mode/1up|url=https://archive.org/details/DKC0021/mode/1up|chapter=A plan of a Peace-Office for the United States|title=Essays, Literary, Moral and Philosophical.|last=Rush|first=Benjamin, M.D.|author-link=Benjamin Rush|orig-date=1798|pages=183–188|place=Philadelphia|publisher=Thomas and William Bradford|access-date=June 13, 2019|oclc=53177918|isbn=0912756225|lccn=88080672|via=[[Internet Archive]] Digital Library}})<br>(4) {{cite book|first=Charles H.|last=Wesley|editor-first=James L.|editor-last=Conyers, Jr.|year=1997|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bjWCBHygpQ0C&pg=PA99|chapter=Biographical Studies: Carter G. Woodson—As a Scholar|title=Charles H. Wesley: The Intellectual Tradition of a Black Historian|page=99|isbn=0815327544|lccn=96037837|oclc=36029629|publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]|access-date=April 14, 2020}}<br>(5) {{cite web|url=http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/signers/rush.html|title=Benjamin Rush: 1745-1813: Representing Pennsylvania at the Continental Congress|work=Signers of the Declaration of Independence|publisher=ushistory.org|access-date=February 7, 2018|archive-date=February 7, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180207213452/http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/signers/rush.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Plan proposed the appointment of a "[[Department of Peace|Secretary of Peace]]", described the Secretary's powers and advocated federal support and promotion of the [[Christianity|Christian religion]].<ref>Banneker, 1792a(2), pp. [https://transcription.si.edu/view/8045/NMAAHC-2014_63_31_005 5], [https://transcription.si.edu/view/8045/NMAAHC-2014_63_31_007 7].</ref>
====Correspondence with Thomas Jefferson====
[[File:T Jefferson by Charles Willson Peale 1791 2.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.8|alt=Thomas Jefferson|<sup><div style="text-align: center;">[[Independence National Historical Park]], [[Philadelphia]]</div></sup>1791 [[Oil painting|oil portrait]] of Thomas Jefferson by [[Charles Willson Peale]]]]
On August 19, 1791, after departing the federal capital area, Banneker wrote a letter to Thomas Jefferson, who in 1776 had drafted the United States Declaration of Independence and in 1791 was serving as [[United States Secretary of State]].<ref name=Cullen>(1) [https://archive.org/details/blackpresenceint00kap_ktt/page/140/mode/2up/search/Banneker Kaplan, pp. 140–141.]<br>(2) {{cite web|url=https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-22-02-0049|title="To Thomas Jefferson from Benjamin Banneker, 19 August 1791" (with editorial notes)|work=Founders Online: Thomas Jefferson|publisher=National Historical Publications & Records Commission: [[National Archives and Records Administration|National Archives]]|access-date=August 31, 2019}} (Original source: {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Uf5ZDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA49|title=The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 22: 6 August 1791 – 31 December 1791|editor-first=Charles T.|editor-last=Cullen|location=[[Princeton, New Jersey]]|publisher=[[Princeton University Press]]|year=1986|pages=49–54|isbn=9780691184654|oclc=1043555596|lccn=50007486|access-date=August 31, 2019|via=[[Google Books]])}}<br>(3) [https://books.google.com/books?id=2vEQAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA65 Allaben, pp. 65-69.]</ref><ref>(1) [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/155/mode/1up Bedini, 1999, pp. 155–163.]<br>(2) [https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2019amimp22848/?sp=13 Banneker, 1792b(1).]<br>(3) {{cite book|first=William|last=Andrews|editor-last1=Carretta|editor-first1=Vincent|year=2001|editor-last2=Gould|editor-first2=Phillip|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ka0fBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA218|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ka0fBgAAQBAJ&pg=printsec|chapter=Benjamin Banneker's Revision of Thomas Jefferson: Conscience vs. Science in the Early American Antislavery Debate|title=Genius in Bondage: Literature of the Early Black Atlantic|pages=218–241|location=[[Lexington, Kentucky]]|publisher=[[University Press of Kentucky|The University Press of Kentucky]]|oclc=903963319|isbn=9780813159461|lccn=2001002581|access-date=March 12, 2019}}<br>(4) {{cite book|last1=Freidel|first1=Frank|author-link1=Frank Freidel|last2=Sidey|first2=Hugh|author-link2=Hugh Sidey|chapter=Thomas Jefferson|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/presidentsofunit00fran/page/10/mode/2up|url=https://archive.org/details/presidentsofunit00fran/page/n2/mode/1up|title=The Presidents of the United States of America|year=2006|edition=17th|location=Washington, D.C.|publisher=[[White House Historical Association]]|pages=10–11|isbn=1857594096|lccn=2007295201|oclc=123955305|access-date=March 2, 2018|via=[[whitehouse.gov|WhiteHouse.gov]]}}</ref> Quoting language in the Declaration, the letter expressed a plea for justice for African Americans.

To support his plea, Banneker included within his letter a handwritten manuscript of an almanac for 1792 containing his ephemeris with his astronomical calculations. He retained handwritten copies of the letter and Jefferson's August 30, 1791, reply in a volume of manuscripts that became part of a journal.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2vEQAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA65|title=Magazine of Western History|date=June 30, 1893|via=Google Books}}</ref>

In late 1792, James Angell published a Baltimore edition of Banneker's 1793 almanac that contained copies of Banneker's letter and Jefferson's reply.<ref>(1) [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/189/mode/1up Bedini, 1999, pp. 189–190.]<br>(2) {{cite book|last=Banneker|first=Benjamin|year=1792|url=https://catalog.mwa.org/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=332704|title=Benjamin Banneker's almanac, for the year of our Lord, 1793; Being the first after BISSEXTILE, or LEAP-YEAR, and the Seventeenth Year of AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, which commenced July 4, 1776|location=Baltimore|publisher=Printed and sold, wholesale and retail, by [[William Goddard (U.S. patriot/publisher)|William Goddard]] and James Angell, at their printing-office, in Market-Street|lccn=98650590|oclc=1053084527|access-date=June 4, 2020|via=General catalog of the [[American Antiquarian Society]]|archive-date=June 5, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200605091352/https://catalog.mwa.org/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=332704|url-status=live}} Cited in [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/394/mode/1up Bedini, 1999, p. 394, Reference 6.]</ref> Soon afterwards, a Philadelphia printer distributed two sequential editions of a widely circulated pamphlet that also contained the letter and reply.<ref>(1) [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/191/mode/1up Bedini, 1999, p. 191.]<br>(2) [https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2019amimp22848/?sp=11 Banneker, 1792b.]<br>(3) [https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2019amimp22848/?sp=13 Banneker, 1792b(1).]<br>(4) [https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2019amimp22848/?sp=21 Banneker, 1792b(2).]</ref>

''The Universal Asylum, and Columbian Magazine'' also published Banneker's letter and Jefferson's reply in Philadelphia in late 1792.<ref name=Asylum>(1) [https://archive.org/details/universalasylum21792phil/page/222 A Society of Gentlemen]<br>(2) [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00silv/page/158/mode/1up Bedini, 1972, p. 158.]</ref> The ''Magazine''{{'s}} editors (A Society of Gentlemen) titled the letter as being "from the famous self-taught astronomer, Benjamin Banneker, a black man".<ref name=Asylum/>

In his letter, Banneker accused Jefferson of criminally using fraud and violence to oppress his slaves.<ref name="Cullen" /><ref>(1) [https://books.google.com/books?id=2vEQAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA67 Allaben, p. 67.]<br>(2) [https://web.archive.org/web/20110607132841/http://etext.virginia.edu/images/modeng/public/BanLett/B24073g.jpg Banneker, 1792b(1), p. 8.]<br>(3) Bedini, 1999, pp. [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/160/mode/1up 160], [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/162/mode/1up 162]<br>(4) [https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2019amimp22848/?sp=18&r=-0.656,-0.065,2.312,1.12,0 Banneker, 1792b(1), p. 8].</ref><ref>(1) Bedini, 1999, pp. [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/160/mode/1up 160], [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/163/mode/1up/ 163.]<br>(2) [https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2019amimp22848/?sp=20 Banneker, 1792b(1), p. 10.]</ref>

Jefferson's reply did not directly respond to Banneker's accusations, but instead expressed his support for the advancement of his "black brethren". His reply, which writers have characterized as "courteous", but "ambiguous" and "noncommittal",<ref name=flawed>{{cite news|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/74059227.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Oct+31%2C+1992&author=&desc=A+Great+Man%2C+but+Flawed|title=A Great Man, but Flawed|work=OP/ED|publisher=[[The Washington Post]]|date=October 31, 1992|page=A.21|access-date=May 17, 2010|quote=Wefald writes that when Jefferson received a letter and almanac from Benjamin Banneker, Jefferson was "honest enough to change his position." [However,] Jefferson did not say that he had changed his opinion of the intellectual abilities of blacks.... Jefferson merely said: "No body wishes more than I do to see such proofs as you exhibit... Closely read, Jefferson's letter is only an indication that he "wishes to see such proofs", but there is no definite indication that he changed his mind. On Banneker's abilities Jefferson was ambivalent.|archive-date=November 2, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121102075043/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/74059227.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Oct+31,+1992&author=&desc=A+Great+Man,+but+Flawed|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20200610193716/https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/banneker-benjamin-1731-1806/ Johnson]."Banneker sent a manuscript copy of his work to Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson along with a plea against the continuance of black slavery and received a courteous, if evasive, reply."</ref><ref name=Asim>{{cite journal|first=Jabari|last=Asim|date=October 12, 2018|url=https://yalereview.yale.edu/getting-it-twisted|title=Getting It Twisted|journal=[[The Yale Review]]|volume=106|issue=4|pages=47–59|doi=10.1111/yrev.13405|lccn=08008158|oclc=192042624|issn=0044-0124|location=[[New Haven, Connecticut]]|publisher=[[Yale University]]|s2cid=149788609|access-date=July 18, 2020|quote=<br>Jefferson’s letter in reply was tepid and noncommittal:|archive-date=June 26, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200626171228/https://yalereview.yale.edu/getting-it-twisted|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=shane>{{cite news|first=Scott|last=Shane|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1999-02-28-9902270086-story.html|title=Two letters offer intriguing look at issue of race; Exchange: Maryland's Benjamin Banneker, son of a freed slave, elicits from Thomas Jefferson, a slave owner, a polite but vague observation on the status of blacks|date=February 28, 2020|work=[[The Baltimore Sun]]|access-date=June 29, 2020|quote=<br>Jefferson replied promptly and politely – but ambiguously on the subject of slavery:}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/mcc.028/|title=Letter, Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Banneker expressing his belief that blacks possess talents equal to those of "other colours of men," 30 August 1791.|format=1 [[Digitization|digitized]] image and explanatory notes|work=Manuscript/Mixed Material|publisher=[[Library of Congress]]|access-date=June 29, 2020|quote=In a polite response to Banneker's August 1791 letter, Jefferson expressed his ambivalent feelings about slavery"|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200629014327/https://www.loc.gov/item/mcc.028/|archive-date=June 29, 2020|url-status=live}} ''In'' {{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/jeffrep.html#079|title=Exhibition: Thomas Jefferson: Creating A Virginia Republic: Benjamin Banneker: Talents equal to those of the other colors of men|date=April 24, 2000 |publisher=[[Library of Congress]]|access-date=February 28, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210205063345/https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/jeffrep.html#079|archive-date=February 5, 2021|url-status=live}}</ref> stated:

<blockquote>Philadelphia Aug. 30. 1791.<br>Sir,<br>I thank you sincerely for your letter of the 19th. instant and for the Almanac it contained. no body wishes more than I do to see such proofs as you exhibit, that nature has given to our black brethren, talents equal to those of the other colours of men, & that the appearance of a want of them is owing merely to the degraded condition of their existence both in Africa & America. I can add with truth that no body wishes more ardently to see a good system commenced for raising the condition both of their body & mind to what it ought to be, as fast as the imbecillity of their present existence, and other circumstance which cannot be neglected, will admit. I have taken the liberty of sending your almanac to Monsieur de Condorcet, Secretary of the [[French Academy of Sciences|Academy of sciences at Paris]], and member of the Philanthropic society because I considered it as a document to which your whole colour had a right for their justification against the doubts which have been entertained of them. I am with great esteem, Sir,<br>Your most obedt. humble servt.<br>Th: Jefferson<ref name="Jefferson letter1">(1) {{cite web|last=Jefferson|first=Thomas|url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/mtj1.014_1009_1009/?st=text|format=[[Digitization|Digitized]] image and transcript|title=Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Banneker, August 30, 1791|date=July 30, 1791|work=Manuscript/Mixed Material|publisher=[[Library of Congress]]|access-date=April 13, 2020}}<br>(2) {{cite web|url=http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-22-02-0091|title="From Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Banneker, 30 August 1791" (with editorial notes)|work=Founders Online: Thomas Jefferson|publisher=National Historical Publications & Records Commission: [[National Archives and Records Administration|National Archives]]|access-date=December 11, 2020|archive-date=August 31, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190831193223/https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-22-02-0091|url-status=live}} (Original source: {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Uf5ZDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA97|title=The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 22: 6 August 1791 – 31 December 1791|editor-first=Charles T.|editor-last=Cullen|location=[[Princeton, New Jersey]]|publisher=[[Princeton University Press]]|year=1986|pages=97–98|isbn=9780691184654|oclc=1043555596|lccn=50007486|access-date=2019-08-31}})<br>(3) [https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2019amimp22848/?sp=21 Banneker, 1792b(2).]<br>(4) Allaben pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=2vEQAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA68 68]–[https://books.google.com/books?id=2vEQAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA69 69.]<br>(5) Bedini, 1999, pp. [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/164/mode/1up/ 164]–[https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/165/mode/1up/ 165.]</ref></blockquote>[[Marquis de Condorcet|Marie-Jean-Antoine-Nicolas de Caritat, Marquis de Condorcet]], to whom Jefferson sent Banneker's almanac, was a noted French mathematician and abolitionist who was a member of the French [[Society of the Friends of the Blacks|Société des Amis des Noirs (Society of the Friends of the Blacks)]].<ref name=Glawe/><ref>(1) [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/167/mode/1up Bedini, 1972, pp. 167.]<br>(2) {{cite encyclopedia|first=Harry Burrows|last=Acton|url=http://www.britannica.com/biography/Marie-Jean-Antoine-Nicolas-de-Caritat-marquis-de-Condorcet|title=Marie-Jean-Antoine-Nicolas de Caritat, marquis de Condorcet|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]|year=2016|access-date=February 28, 2016|archive-date=January 2, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160102005007/http://www.britannica.com/biography/Marie-Jean-Antoine-Nicolas-de-Caritat-marquis-de-Condorcet|url-status=live}}<br>(3) {{cite web|first=David M.|last=Hart|url=http://oll.libertyfund.org/pages/condorcet-1743-1794|title=Marie-Jean-Antoine-Nicolas Caritat, marquis de Condorcet (1743–1794)|work=Online Library of Liberty|publisher=[[Liberty Fund|Liberty Fund, Inc.]]|date=April 10, 2014|access-date=February 28, 2016|archive-date=September 6, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906053030/http://oll.libertyfund.org/pages/condorcet-1743-1794|url-status=live}}</ref> It appears that the Academy of Sciences itself did not receive the almanac.<ref name="Bedini pp185-199"/>

When writing his letter, Banneker informed Jefferson that his 1791 work with Andrew Ellicott on the District boundary survey had affected his work on his 1792 ephemeris and almanac.<ref name="Cullen" /><ref name="allotted">(1) Allaben, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=2vEQAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA67 67]–[https://books.google.com/books?id=2vEQAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA68 68.]<br>"..., but that having taken up my pen in order to direct to you as a present a copy of my Almanac which I have calculated for the Succeeding year, ..... and altho I had almost declined to make my calculation for the ensuing year, in consequence of that time which I had allotted therefor being taking up at the Federal Territory by the request of Mr. Andrew Ellicott, yet finding my Self underal several engagements to printers of this State to whom I have communicated my design, on my return to my place of residence, I industrially applied my Self thereto, ...."<br>(2) Banneker, 1792b, pp. [https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2019amimp22848/?sp=19 9]–[https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2019amimp22848/?sp=20 10]. "And altho I had almost declined to make my calculation for the ensuing year, in consequence of that time which I had allotted therefor being taking up at the Federal Territory by the request of Mr. Andrew Ellicott,  ....".</ref> 

On the same day that he replied to Banneker (August 30, 1791), Jefferson sent a letter to the Marquis de Condorcet that contained the following paragraph relating to Banneker's race, abilities, almanac and work with Andrew Ellicott:<blockquote>I am happy to be able to inform you that we have now in the United States a negro, the son of a black man born in Africa, and of a black woman born in the United States, who is a very respectable mathematician. I procured him to be employed under one of our chief directors in laying out the new federal city on the Patowmac, & in the intervals of his leisure, while on that work, he made an Almanac for the next year, which he sent me in his own hand writing, & which I inclose to you. I have seen very elegant solutions of Geometrical problems by him. Add to this that he is a very worthy & respectable member of society. He is a free man. I shall be delighted to see these instances of moral eminence so multiplied as to prove that the want of talents observed in them is merely the effect of their degraded condition, and not proceeding from any difference in the structure of the parts on which intellect depends.<ref name=Condorcet>{{cite book|last=Jefferson|first=Thomas|title=Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Marquis de Condorcet|pages=[http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/images/vc004808.jpg pp. 1]– [http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/images/vc004807.jpg 2]|date=August 30, 1791}} Two [[Digitization|digitized]] images of letter ''in'' {{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures|title=American Treasures of the Library of Congress|date=August 2007 |publisher=[[Library of Congress]]|access-date=February 28, 2021}}</ref><ref>(1) {{cite web|url=https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-22-02-0092|title="From Thomas Jefferson to Condorcet, 30 August 1791" (with editorial notes)|work=Founders Online: Thomas Jefferson|publisher=National Historical Publications & Records Commission: [[National Archives and Records Administration|National Archives]]|access-date=2019-08-31|archive-date=August 31, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190831202119/https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-22-02-0092|url-status=live}} (Original source: {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Uf5ZDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA98|title=The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 22: 6 August 1791 – 31 December 1791|editor-first=Charles T.|editor-last=Cullen|location=[[Princeton, New Jersey]]|publisher=[[Princeton University Press]]|year=1986|pages=98–99|isbn=9780691184654|oclc=1043555596|lccn=50007486|access-date=2019-08-31}}<br />(2) {{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/mtjbib005580/|title=Thomas Jefferson to Marquis de Condorcet|date=August 30, 1791|work=Manuscript/Mixed Material|format=2 [[Digitization|digitized]] images and transcripts|pages=[https://www.loc.gov/resource/mtj1.014_1010_1011/?sp=1&st=text pp. 1]–[https://www.loc.gov/resource/mtj1.014_1010_1011/?sp=2&st=text 2]|publisher=[[Library of Congress]]|access-date=February 28, 2021}}<br />(3) [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/165/mode/1uphttps://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/166/mode/1up Bedini, 1999, p. 166.]</ref></blockquote>

In 1809, three years after Banneker's death, Jefferson expressed a different opinion of Banneker in a letter to [[Joel Barlow]] that criticized a "diatribe" that a French abolitionist, [[Henri Grégoire]], had written in 1808<ref>(1) {{cite book|last=Grégoire|first=Henri|author-link=Henri Grégoire|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1ngRAAAAIAAJ&pg=printsec|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1ngRAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA211|title=De la littérature des nègres, ou Recherches sur leurs facultés intellectuelles, leurs qualités morales et leur littérature, suivies de Notices sur la vie et les ouvrages des Nègres qui se sont distingués dans les Sciences, les Lettres et les Arts|chapter=Bannaker (Benjamin)|language=fr|publisher=Chez Maradan, Libraire|location=Paris|year=1808|pages=211–212|oclc=14928892|lccn=25020330|access-date=June 13, 2019|via=[[Google Books]]}}<br>(2) Partial English translation: {{cite book|last=Grégoire|first=Henri|author-link=Henri Grégoire|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/anenquiryconcer00wardgoog/page/n205|url=https://archive.org/details/anenquiryconcer00wardgoog/page/n9/mode/1up|title=An enquiry concerning the intellectual and moral faculties, and literature of negroes; followed with an account of the life and works of fifteen negroes & mulattoes, distinguished in science, literature and the arts; Translated by D.B. Warden|chapter=Bannaker|location=[[Brooklyn, New York]]|publisher=Thomas Kirk|year=1810|pages=187–188|oclc=25657539|lccn=68001371|via=[[Internet Archive]]|access-date=November 26, 2015}}<br>(3) Complete English translation: {{cite book|first=Henri|last=Grégoire|author-link=Henri Grégoire|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JOonnbofOgwC&pg=PA88|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JOonnbofOgwC&pg=printsec|chapter=Banneker|title=On the Cultural Achievements of Negroes: Translated with notes and an introduction by Thomas Cassirer & Jean-François Brière|year=1996|pages=88–89|location=[[Amherst, Massachusetts]]|publisher=[[University of Massachusetts Press]]|isbn=0585142300|lccn=95047293|oclc=44961624|access-date=May 31, 2016|archive-date=January 30, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170130223810/https://books.google.com/books?id=JOonnbofOgwC&pg=PA88|url-status=live}}<br>(4) Bedini, 1999, pp. [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/296/mode/1up 296]–[https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/297/mode/1up 297.]</ref> saying that while "we know ourselves of Banneker. we know he had [[spherical trigonometry]] enough to make almanacs, but not without the suspicion of aid from Ellicot, who was his neighbor & friend, & never missed an opportunity of puffing him. I have a long letter from Banneker which shews him to have had a mind of very common stature indeed".<ref name="Barlow">{{cite web|last=Jefferson|first=Thomas|date=October 8, 1809|url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/mtj1.044_0296_0297/?st=gallery|title=Thomas Jefferson to Joel Barlow, October 8, 1809|format=2 [[Digitization|digitized]] images|work=The Thomas Jefferson Papers at the Library of Congress: Manuscript/Mixed Material|location=Washington, D.C.|publisher=[[Library of Congress]]|access-date=May 12, 2020}}</ref><ref>(1) {{cite book |last=Jefferson |first=Thomas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fWIFAAAAQAAJ&pg=printsec |title=The Writings of Thomas Jefferson; being his Autobiography, Correspondence, Reports, Messages, Addresses, and Other Writings, Official and Private. Published by the order of the Joint Committee of Congress on the Library, from the original manuscripts, deposited in the Department of State. |date=October 8, 1809 |publisher=Taylor & Maury |editor=Washington |editor-first=H.A. |volume=5 |location=Washington, D.C. |pages=475–476 |chapter=Correspondence: To Mr Barlow |lccn=06007150 |oclc=924409 |access-date=2019-06-13 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fWIFAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA476 |via=[[Google Books]]}}<br />(2) {{cite web |title=Thomas Jefferson to Joel Barlow, 8 October 1809 (with editorial notes) |url=https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-01-02-0461 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190831231259/https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-01-02-0461 |archive-date=August 31, 2019 |access-date=2019-08-31 |work=Founders Online: Thomas Jefferson |publisher=National Historical Publications & Records Commission: [[National Archives and Records Administration|National Archives]]}} (Original source: {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U_5ZDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA588 |title=The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Retirement Series, vol. 1, 4 March 1809 to 15 November 1809 |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |year=2004 |isbn=9780691184593 |editor-last=Looney |editor-first=J. Jefferson |location=[[Princeton, New Jersey]] |pages=588–590 |lccn=2004048327 |oclc=1045069067 |access-date=2019-08-31 |via=[[Google Books]]}})<br />(3) [[iarchive:lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/297/mode/1up|Bedini, 1999, p. 297.]]</ref>