What, but education, has advanced us beyond the condition of our indigenous neighbours?
By indigenous neighbors, Jefferson is referring to the Native Americans but it is not only them that he denies knowledge to, it is also African Americans. Throughout the document, the superiority of white men is mentioned and I had always though about it in relation to the slaves they had kept. However, they were not the only one affected by the cruelty of rich white men. Not only were the white men cruel to the natives, they also actively denied their right to an education as they did with African Americans. In today's society, we see the injustice directed towards descendants of slaves but we hardly see anything about Natives, and it is easy to forget their story when living in the present.