Jefferson did not give up all his slaves on his death. Also, there is nothing noble in waiting until you are dead to do something good. It's better than nothing, but come on.

Yes, of course Jefferson wrote about slavery being evil - most of them did, because it was. He still owned humans as objects and raped them. Some would say being aware of your sins and still committing them is what makes a person evil. I think it's a more common human fallibility than that, but it certainly isn't good.

You could call a man who wrote more passionately and eloquently about freedom and the inherent right to self-determination than most before or since, while also daily intentionally robbing others of said rights and holding up a system that would do the same to thousands of people a complicated man. Or you could call him an asshole and move on.

You can like the Declaration of Independence while also not letting off the hook its amalgamater (whole sections are just reworded Madison stuff, Jefferson's skills lied less in blank canvas creation and more in synthesis [not a value judgement]. Separating a creator from their creation goes both ways. An asshole creator doesn't make a good movie bad, and you can like a good thing while admitting a terrible person made it. Humanity and history is complicated, and we will be better the less we force things into boxes that won't fit.

Good things can be made by bad people, evil can be born from good, and we should stop imbuing the connection between (lowercase) creator and creation with so much significance, since it is severed once the creation is shared with an audience.