Is slavery more complicated than we were lead to believe?

2/9/2021

"...that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” with strong words like these many wonder why did America not extend these rights to slaves? I would like to first take off the table that i would never justify slavery. I think it is one of the worst actions ever taken by the human race. I hope you will take away from this article that slavery was much more complicated than you have been lead to believe not that i am poorly motivated.
Oftentimes I have heard people say “yes, Thomas Jefferson did some great things. But he owned slaves, too bad he was a racist.”
But what most people do not know is that in an original draft of the united states declaration of independence Thomas Jefferson actually wrote a 168 word anti slavery clause. In the clause he blamed the king of England for contributing to the horrible problem of slavery (source 1). Many may ask why did this passage not make it in the final draft? We will never know the exact reason because there were no records kept on the debates but it is widely speculated that it would cause devices due to the fact that the colonies were already so divided on the issue. As you can see too our founding fathers it was never a question on weather or not we were going to get rid of slavery it was a question of when. Had they done it right away the southern states would have left the union which would have lead to the falling of the country and the states not ratifying the constitution
In addition to Jefferson, father of our country George Washington spoke very frequently to end the practice and how evil it was. While it was a great act of hypocrisy because he did own slaves for 56 years, he did make the decision to free all of his slaves in 1799. (source 2)
In addition to Jefferson's writings and Washington's words as soon as the new country of America was born Vermont became the first state to abolish slavery in 1777 (source 3). This law authored by Harvey Amani Whitfield states “no male person, born in this country, or brought from over sea, ought to beholden by law, to serve any person, as a servant, slave or apprentice, after he arrives to the age of twenty-one Years, nor female, in like manner, after she arrives to the age of eighteen years, unless they are bound by their own consent, after they arrive to such age, or bound by law, for the payment of debts, damages, fines, costs, or the like.” (source 4) only one year after America had declared its independence from Britain Vermont noticed the evil slavery was and used the new opportunity to put an end to it.
Early America understood the evil of slavery and knew they had to get rid of it. Even America's founders knew that you cannot have slaves in a free country. But they do not teach you this when they talk about slavery. It is important to know that the first step in solving a problem is recognizing there is one. And there is NO debate that early America and its founding fathers recognized slavery as a problem for the country.
Source 1 (https://www.history.com/
Source 2 (https://www.mountvernon.org
Source 3 (https://nmaahc.si.edu)
Source 4 (https://www.zinnedproject.org

2 Comments

Mason Porter Hughes

2/16/2021 06:01:26 pm

I believe this editorial presents the founders in a light far more favorable than they deserve. Yes, Jefferson supported manumission, but he refused to practice it. Even when he brought his slaves to France, where slavery was illegal, he expected them to return to Virginia as slaves. He could've emancipated his slaves at any time. He was also willing to compromise on slavery: he allowed the Southern states to preserve and protect slavery and did little to prevent its spread to new territories under his Presidency. Even if he wrote privately in favor of abolition, he was unwilling to make that view public. Washington was no better. He presided over the Constitutional Convention, which ensured that importation of slaves couldn't be outlawed until 1808. Furthermore, it created the electoral college, which ensured that slave states would always be overrepresented in the Presidential process. They even agreed on the 3/5 compromise, which ensured that Southern states would be overrepresented in congress despite having far less free people than free states. Washington is the man who used his slave's teeth to fashion his dentures. Jefferson is the man who slept with a woman he owned. The attempts by our historians to whitewash the history of these men on slavery are trying to hide a fundamental truth about the founding of this nation: it was designed to benefit white slaveowners.
This historical revisionism is a problem because it ignores the injustices that African-Americans face today. Minister Malcolm X addressed this revisionism when he said, "So we are all black people, so-called Negroes, second-class citizens, ex-slaves. You are nothing but an ex-slave. You don't like to be told that. But what else are you? You are ex-slaves. You didn't come here on the Mayflower. You came here on a slave ship -- in chains, like a horse, or a cow, or a chicken. And you were brought here by the people who came here on the Mayflower. You were brought here by the so-called Pilgrims, or Founding Fathers. They were the ones who brought you here."
As Americans, we like to ignore the truth about the founders of our country. We try to justify it. But neither a man who fashions his own teeth by ripping teeth from the mouths of his slaves, or a man who rapes an enslaved woman can be considered "abolitionists." They weren't. They had every opportunity to free their slaves, or pay them, but they didn't. They had every opportunity to attack slavery publicly, but they didn't. They condemned it privately and made no real attempts to change it.

Brynlin Pettit

3/2/2021 10:22:53 am

I appreciate your constructive critique of the founding fathers. I like how you both acknowledged their shortcomings and their strengths. Today, many people tend to place good-and-evil, black-and-white labels on others, when in reality, most people fall into the grey area in between. We all have weaknesses and strengths, and we live in a society where everyone is expected to only display their strengths. We often fail to recognize that our weaknesses are just as important as our strengths because those are what help us grow and learn to become better. Our country started out weak, but became strong as it learned from trial and error. We often fail to accept that others are just as complicated as ourselves, and, like us, they have flaws too. One simply can't be labeled "good" or "evil" based on what we learn in history books or what we see on the internet. These sources couldn't possibly capture the essence of any human being, with all of their complexities.
Historical figures, once respected, now receive much backlash, for reasons I understand, such as on the issue of slavery. Slavery is indeed immoral and wrong, and shouldn't be allowed to stand any more. However, we live in a very different time now and the values in our society have vastly changed. It was acceptable to treat other humans like animals back then, and many people, leaders and citizens, participated in that; however, things weren't so black-and-white back then and it was possible for one to be both slave-owner and anti-slave. Recall that before that, slavery had been around for hundreds of years, even among white people in Europe. Although it would have been ideal, it wouldn't have been realistic to abolish slavery with the snap of a finger and get everyone on board with it. Also, recall that the founding fathers believed that power came from the people, and many of the people during that time were not ready to give up slavery yet, for a number of reasons. The blame for slavery can't be dumped on the founding fathers because they weren't the only factors influencing it.
All things considered, one can only most accurately receive judgement from those who know them personally. Sadly, we cannot go back in time to find out who the founding fathers truly were, but we can still give them respect, which I believe they still deserve for their contributions to our country. They may not have been perfect, and our country may not have started out perfect, but they were the ones who stood against Great Britain and started the wave of change that carried our country to where it is now.

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