Thomas Jefferson’s own work, accounts from his family, and several sources concerning his relationship with notions of slavery and equality, show the inconsistencies in Jefferson’s ideas about equality. This can be solved by classifying them into two spheres: the political and personal. Although it was useful to classify his paradoxes into two spheres of thought, it became evident that the contradictions were not absolutely confined to them. Even within the spheres of the political and personal, Jefferson’s ideas and actions concerning equality were not consistent.