Slavery and the Founding Fathers

        M. Richard Maxson

       The current push in America by the Progressive Left is to discredit the founders of this nation by presenting them as racist, white men who because of the flaw of slavery were unfit to design the moral compass of the new country. This theory is being used to discredit everything that they stood for and most especially, the Constitution and the laws of the nation.

      This was most recently exemplified During Democrat Sen. Bernie Sanders' campaign visit to Liberty University. Most were shocked when he told the students that our nation was created on racist principles and therefore illegitimate. Students at a Christian-based university do not often hear the founders-as-racists argument. This is the Progressive, anti-American narrative that is featured at most universities, as well as primary and secondary schools in this country. These hate-America teachings are based on the fact

that slavery is a part of our history. What is left untaught is: Slavery was a routine part of human history. At that point in history the Muslims of Africa were the world's largest exporter of slaves and it still exists today! 

      Our Founding Fathers struggled mightily over the issue of slavery. In the north it was winding down but in the south it was vital for their commerce. Without the compromises that were made, the United States of America would not have been formed as it was and at the time that it was. In politics there are times when men must hold their nose and reconcile with the reality of the times.

      

      It was not what the Founding Fathers would have preferred as they so eloquently expressed to their peers.

George Washington said, 

"I can only say that there is not a man living who wishes more sincerely than I do, to see a plan adopted for the abolition of it."  

Thomas Jefferson, John Jay, Patrick Henry and others were highly critical of slavery, describing it as a "disease of ignorance," "an inconsistency not to be excused" and a "lamentable evil."

 George Mason said, "The augmentation of slaves weakens the states; and such a trade is diabolical in itself, and disgraceful to mankind."

James Madison, in a speech at the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, declared, "We have seen the mere distinction of color made in the most enlightened period of time, a ground of the most oppressive dominion ever exercised by man over man."

Benjamin Rush said: "Domestic slavery is repugnant to the

principles of Christianity. ... It is rebellion against the authority of a common Father."

      In their effort to create a union, the delegates at the Constitutional Convention had to negotiate many contentious, deal-breaking issues. Slavery was chief among them. Southern states made clear that they would not vote to ratify a constitution that abolished slavery or ended the slave trade.

     Northern delegates wanted to end slave trading and did not want slaves counted at all for congressional apportionment. Southern delegates wanted slaves counted as whole people. That would have given the pro-slavery states greater political power in the House of Representatives, tilting the power structure of the nation to the South

      Convention delegate James Wilson offered a compromise whereby each slave would be counted as three-fifths of a person for the purposes of determining the number of representatives a state would have in the House. This rule applied only to slaves. Freemen, whether black or white, would be counted as whole people. Another compromise was to set 1808 as the year to abolish the slave trade.

      The Three-Fifths Compromise was not a statement about human worth; it was an to reduce the pro-slavery representation in Congress. By including only three-fifths of the total number of slaves in congressional calculations, Southern states were actually being denied a greater number of representatives in Congress and hence electoral votes for selecting a president.

      Ignorance of our history and Leftist propaganda coupled with an inability to think critically, has provided considerable ammunition for those who want to divide us in pursuit of their Socialist agenda. Their agenda is to undermine the legitimacy of our Constitution in order to gain greater control over our lives.

      Their main targets are the nation's youths. The teaching

establishment, at our public schools and colleges, is being used to undermine American values. Contempt for America and its founding ideals are now being indoctrinated into America's youth from grade school on.* If shown any of the iconic paintings of the Founders such as signing the Declaration of Independence or deliberating at the Constitutional Convention -- rather than seeing great people creating a great nation, most young Americans now only see racist, sexist, rich, slave-owning white males. Allowing these untruths to continue erodes the core principals of our country that can only lead to the end of this great Republic.

*See Congressional record - Communist Goals in the US.