At the time Jefferson wrote this he was living in Paris as the United States Minister to France. In France at the time there was oppression and a true lack of liberty under King Louis and Marie Antoinette, et al. Jefferson saw it daily and I am sure he contrasted it to the United States, our Revolution, and the effects our Revolution had vis-a-vis Liberty within the "New World". You write in regard to what you see, hear, and experience daily. Less than two years later the French Revolution began and Jefferson sided with the revolutionaries even though he had many french friends in power in the French Government. Though there were no pacifications or pardons in the French Revolution, only the guillotine. To restate, I think Jefferson was thinking more about "Liberty" in general across all nations and all peoples and not just in regard to the United States which had already secured ours. One point made earlier by another poster is true. Both Jefferson and Washington knew in their heart of hearts that they were hypocrites in that upon their death beds both freed their slaves. Yet while they lived neither had the moral stamina/character to free them and endure the monetary effects that their beliefs demanded! Too bad perhaps if they and others had, from the very beginning; "We hold these truths to be self evident that man is endowed by his Creator with certain inalienable rights among which are Liberty.....etc., the more than 600,000 men who died during the Civil War deaths could have been avoided.