Benjamin Banneker, a free, educated African American, was a man of letters, a man of science, and a man of convictions. It is therefore not surprising-at least in contemporary thought and practice-that such a man would write a letter to Thomas Jefferson who was, at the time, Secretary of State.

             The date of the letter was August 19, 1791, and coincided with the completion of Banneker"s annual almanac, at that time on its way to the printer for pre-1792 release. What is was specifically, however, that impelled Banneker to write at that moment can only be guessed at: that there was an external impetus, as well as Banneker"s status as a free African American cognizant of the suffering of his people, can be inferred from the early part of his letter. Banneker writes:.

             I hope I may safely admit, in consequence of that report which hath reached me, that you are a man far less inflexible in sentiment of this nature, than many others; that you are measurably friendly, and well disposed towards us; and that you are willing and read to lend your aid and assistance to our relief, from those many distresses, and numerous calamities, to which we are reduced (Banneker 1791).

             What has Banneker heard? Is it some evil action of another of the Founding Fathers regarding slaves that has reached his ears? Or alternatively, has he discovered that the otherwise high-minded Jefferson himself owns slaves? It the latter, then Banneker is being truly clever when he uses Jefferson"s much-heralded high-mindedness as the very excuse for his writing the letter, or at least, the intellectual excuse. The physical excuse is the desire to send Jefferson a copy of the almanac; that this was to convince Jefferson of the intellectual capacity of an African American can certainly be supposed.

             The next brilliant use of rhetoric Banneker makes is in assuming that of course Jefferson would agree-does agree-with the concept that African Americans, as Banneker noted at the outset, are not the brutes much of the population assumes them to be, but are, instead, being capable of the same sorts of mental endowments as European Americans.