Interesting.
I never thought about the comparison to Jefferson but the passage could almost be lifted straight from his Notes on the State of Virginia and as I recall he did in fact make an effort to outlaw it in Virginia, didn't he?
Not that I know of. He wrote letters condemning the practice (and warning of its dire effects) but never — so far as I can tell — lifted a finger to support abolition.
His admirers say he didn't take public action because he thought it would do more harm than good.
Detractors say he was a pure and simple hypocrite and political opportunist unwilling to take a stand that would have cost him political capital.
FWIW, I think he was deeply conflicted. He never was able to reconcile his role as the author of the Declaration — and a theoretical belief in equality — with his practical enjoyment with being at the top of the societal system. In addition, he was always scraping for money, and his slaves constituted a huge amount of his wealth.
Jefferson is the great Rorschach test of American politics: Whatever you already believe, you can see in him.
I wish to correct an earlier statement. I said Jefferson did not lift a finger to abolish slavery. That is not strictly true. He did draft a plan for the Northwest Territories that would prohibit slavery
a number of years later. Realistically, had slavery been introduced, would it have been abolished anytime soon?
In addition, as Gary Wills has pointed out, Jefferson and his party had a vested interest in slavery because of the three-fifths provision of the Constitution. Without that provision, John Adams would have had a second term because the states Jefferson carried would not have had enough electoral votes to take him to the White House.