"Bro this is literally slavery 😭" - Slaveowning Founding Fathers
"Bro this is literally slavery 😭" - Slaveowning Founding Fathers
18 comments
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Literally corporations complaining about regulations while expanding their control of employee's lives.
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Bro, it's so cool that they compromised and met both sides needs. We need more of that today, instead the loony lefties are trying to push for their extremist shit.
Imagine how much worse it would have been for slaves in the US if they were still under British rule? It's a good thing they were able to set aside their problems and only focus on defeating the British. That allowed them to peacefully work it out as soon as the war was over and avoided any problems with ending slavery.
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The war of Independence delayed the banning of slavery by a generation.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/End_of_slavery_in_the_United_States
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18 comments
Explanation: During the American Revolution, and in the lead-up to it, the American colonists' position wherein American colonists were denied representation in the British government was often compared (by said colonists) to slavery.
The thing is, uh, many of them were literal slavers themselves, running, for that matter, one of the worst systems of slavery in human history at that - the European instituted form of chattel slavery in the Americas. No mean feat, considering the already-low bar for slavery as a system.
Of the Founding Fathers as they're generally recognized, four of the seven became abolitionists, either before or during the American Revolution (John Jay, Ben Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams). One turned against slavery as an institution, but did not come out publicly in favor of abolition before his death (Washington). One had negative feelings on slavery, but also negative feelings on Black people and the idea of not living in ridiculous luxury (Jefferson). One was an unrepentant slaver (Madison).
History is full of great triumphs alongside great atrocities. From a 21st century viewpoint, their hypocrisy is both terrible and obvious. Does that downplay or nullify the major achievements that were started and then built on, even while they were hypocrites?
Can't wait to hear how our society is judged in a few centuries. I mean we could probably do some of that now, and even begin to improve if we wanted.
I'm never sure of what the goal is in this topic. If it's educational and a reminder that we should always question our actions and morality, that's fine. But it's often phrased in a way to try and discredit the Founders, which seems dishonest.
There's a scene in the series John Adams where Franklin and Adams are reading over Jefferson's draft of the DoI, and the topic of emancipation is brought up. Franklin suggests that while it's an important topic to be raised eventually, trying to wrap it in with seeking independence from Britain would defeat the purpose of creating the needed solidarity among the colonies (as some were far more dependent and pro-slavery). I'm sure it's dramatized, but might be based on some writings of theirs.
We ought to discuss how often the ball of freedom for every person was dropped over time, from that period to the Civil War/Reconstruction to Jim Crow and even still now. We've never gotten past it fully as a nation, and seem to be regressing (again). A mention again on how we're going to be looked at by our descendants for what we're doing right now, it's not a great image in a lot of ways.
I mean, I noted that over half the Founding Fathers were outright abolitionists, and that Washington was of a similar thinking.
The hypocrisy is hard to deny for the slave-owners, however (Washington included), and Jefferson and Madison were unambiguously pieces of shit for their positions on slavery in a time when slavery was becoming increasingly contentious.
I get what you're saying, but... it's hard to get over the fact that Jefferson owned slaves, raped at least one of them, then enslaved the kids that resulted. Just saying that nobody's perfect doesn't really help us understand how someone could enslave their own kids.
This is a valid concern. My answer is: I think that the complexities and ambiguities of real history are far more instructive than the good/bad dichotomies of simplified legends. The American revolutionaries were bad people in a lot of ways, but they still managed to achieve something impressive. Therefore we, who are also deeply flawed, can also aspire to do good things.
How dare you give a subtle, nuanced, accurate take on history!