Americans can learn a lot from their founding fathers
What you need to know:
- As Jefferson was declaring life and liberty for all, his slaves were tending his fields, cooking his meals, cleaning his clothes, nursing his children and caring for the horses in the stable.
- According to estimates, one-third of the signers of the Declaration owned slaves. George Washington, our first president, had 310 slaves at the time of his death.
- That brings us to the Second Amendment. The amendment, which allows Americans to own guns, was written by James Madison to ensure the slave system, according to a thesis by Prof Carl Bogus.
As America celebrates the July 4 weekend and its Independence Day, it is important to reflect on the reality of slavery in the nation’s founding and its impact on recent troubling events.
Our founding fathers are often portrayed as gallant and smart. After all, they risked their lives by signing a declaration that separated America from Britain. King George sent more soldiers to the US than any other overseas territories. America won the war – thanks in part to French help.
But there’s much more to the story. An undertow of racism, hidden in 1776, shaped our country and remains alive: Witness the recent shootings at a Charleston church and Confederate flags flying in 2015.
At the root is slavery. When delegates from the colonies were meeting in Philadelphia in the 1770s, one in five of Americans was a slave. Thomas Jefferson, who authored the Declaration of Independence, had an estimated 200.
As Jefferson was declaring life and liberty for all, his slaves were tending his fields, cooking his meals, cleaning his clothes, nursing his children and caring for the horses in the stable.
According to estimates, one-third of the signers of the Declaration owned slaves. George Washington, our first president, had 310 slaves at the time of his death.
Virginia, Jefferson’s home state and Washington, had over 100,000 slaves in 1750. In some southern states, slaves outnumbered whites.
That brings us to the Second Amendment. The amendment, which allows Americans to own guns, was written by James Madison to ensure the slave system, according to a thesis by Prof Carl Bogus.
There was concern by southern states that the federal government would disarm state militias, Bogus argues. Those militias — and the Second Amendment — were used to put down slave rebellions. This is an important twist to what is taught in US schools — that guns are guaranteed in the Constitution to protect citizens against a rogue government.
The US was not all wrong on slavery. In fact, the northern states began to outlaw slavery at the country’s founding. But the South, despite the invention of cotton gin, held out until defeated about 60 years later.
After the war, the legacy continued. Hate groups hunted freed slaves as they fled north.
I am old enough to remember two bathrooms in doctors’ offices — one for “coloured” and the other for “whites” in the 1970s.
But far worse was the economic slavery that greeted blacks. African Americans live in segregated communities in most cities. They fill jails and occupy the lowest paying jobs.
So our founding offers a lesson on July 4: No society is perfect. We are inheritors of our past. All we can do is try to get our history right.
