That a brilliant man like Jefferson could buy into racism is disturbing to say the least.
It is interesting that the scientists of the day saw exactly what they were looking for which reminds me a lot of Popper's analysis of the would-be scientists of his day (Freud and Marx.) And of course of today's Anthropogenic Global Warming scandal.
It doesn't exactly build confidence in scientific observations which lack the ability to be falsified - i.e. theories with great explanatory power but which cannot be put to rigorous tests.
Indeed, it is troubling.
That Jefferson could buy into racism must have something to do with "the human condition," and not so much the quality of his intelligence....
Thank you ever so much for sharing your thoughts, dearest sister in Christ!