Although Thomas Jefferson’s contributions to the foundation of the country were profound, as the master of Monticello, Jefferson was a monster. Simultaneously with his writing the Declaration of Independence, which announced the self-evident truth that all men are created equal, he owned 175 slaves. Clearly the man was a creepy hypocrite. But Jefferson was also cruel. He sometimes punished slaves by selling them away from their family and friends, and for slaves and free blacks who ran afoul of the law, he advocated harsh, almost barbaric forms of punishment.

The following arguments gradually increase in difficulty. Use the method presented in this section to construct argument patterns. If a statement is redundant or plays no role in the argument, do not include it in the pattern.