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The founding fathers were progressive. Although some of them may have owned slaves, they oppossed it, and they hoped that this country would find a way to flourish without depending on slavery.
They were walking contradictions. Thomas Jefferson may have opposed slavery on blacks, but he still saw us biologically inferior. A true racist. So F all of them!
And Benjamin Franklin ideal America was an all English/British descendant one. He wasn't fond of Germans or any non British person for that matter. Even looking at the ancestral lineage of our presidents, most of them were British; even with President Obama(his European side is mostly Welsh or English).
Last edited by Chicagoland60426; 03-22-2011 at 11:59 PM..
You have to consider the time they lived in. Racism was deeply entrenched in society back then, and the Founding Fathers were quite progressive for the 18th century world in which they lived.
There as many as twenty-seven million slaves today.
Don't hear much about that, do we?
Sadly, not nearly enough attention is on that. However, most of this slavery is illegal sex slavery and there ARE efforts to stop it. You couldn't say that about institutional slavery centuries ago here.
"The ground of liberty is to be gained by inches, and we must be contented to secure what we can get from time to time and eternally press forward for what is yet to get. It takes time to persuade men to do even what is for their own good."
Well, they didn't think up the idea of slavery. It was a worldwide problem then and that's all the knew.
You don't create a document like the Declaration of Independence which specifically stated "We hold these truths be self evident, all men are created equal" and then turn around and justify slavery and racism because "That's all they knew" sorry, it just won't work.
The real story here is the Founding Fathers where just as much merchants, planters, lawyers and businessmen as they were politicians and patriots. Slavery was as vital to Northern bankers, ship builders, ship owners, ship captains, sailors, rum makers, insurance companies and other businesses as it was for Southern plantation owners.
For all the talk about freedom and equality the Founding Fathers struck a bargain based on economic prosperity and convenience to allow slavery to continue as they created the Constitution and formed a new nation.
I disagree. I find their declarations of freedom and equality for all to be in direct opposition to their practice of holding humans in bondage. Nothing will justify that...many of them were hypocrites. I say "Eff them!", too.
"The ground of liberty is to be gained by inches, and we must be contented to secure what we can get from time to time and eternally press forward for what is yet to get. It takes time to persuade men to do even what is for their own good."
-Thomas Jefferson
I think that the leading founders opposed slave trade but did not want to make that an issue, perhaps knowing very well that there would be great opposition which could jeopardize the building of the union which was the priority at the time. They did insert the following clause in the constitution, however (Article I/Section 9):
"The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person."
And as expected, Slave Trade Act of 1807 was signed into law, several months before it could go into effect. This law gave the federal government the authority to ban slave trade and impose hefty fines for non-compliance.
Whether Jefferson personally supported the idea or worked under pressure is not clear, but he did sign the bill as the President without any opposition for a states' rights guy.
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