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this post was submitted on 09 May 2024
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Three of the seven Founding Fathers were slave-owners.
One was restricted by law from freeing them due to the massive debts he ran up funding the Revolution (Washington) but came to believe that slavery was an unambiguous evil by the end of his life, making plans to free his slaves lawfully (which is a bit of a dick move considering the state of the law at the time, but 'we are creatures of habit, not originality').
One was a dickhead, but one who thought slavery was bad and should die out (Jefferson).
Only one was an unrepentant slaver (Madison).
The other four were staunch abolitionists.
That was true for the Puritans who founded Mass and Connecticut. But for most of what would become the US, the exact opposite was the truth. Europe quite explicitly was NOT progressive and deeply philosophical about religion at the time - the Puritans on the Mayflower were fleeing, specifically, the Netherlands, which was a rare bastion of religious tolerance in Europe. Maryland was founded as a refuge for Catholics where all Trinitarians would have equal rights - far more radical than most of Europe. Pennsylvania was explicitly founded on religious tolerance by a Quaker. Rhode Island instituted freedom for non-Trinitarian Christians in the 17th century. European Jews fled to New York (after it was no longer New Amsterdam) specifically BECAUSE it was more tolerant than Europe. New Jersey, North Carolina, and South Carolina were religiously diverse from the outset.
Most of the Founding Fathers were deists or highly deist influenced, and all believed in freedom of religion.
Hagiography of the early days of America is dumb. But demonization doesn't provide a clear view simply by being the reverse.
Thank you!
Sure, but there were many more people than the "seven founding fathers," and indeed many people include those who signed the Declaration of Independence and those who approved or were there for the Constitution, as being also "founding fathers." At the end of the day, most of them WEREN'T abolitionists or else we wouldn't have had slaves.
When most people say the Founding Fathers, they mean the big seven.
The sticking point for the Constitution (as early drafts did repudiate slavery) was the Southern delegates - though slavery had not yet fully developed as a core part of the region's identity, a lot of money was still tied up in the disgusting trade. Even so, the assumption was that slavery would die out in the South the same way it had done elsewhere - a trend which was reversed by the invention of the cotton gin.