Were the founding father's racist? Did racists help write the constitution?

1. 82

   2besureposted 14 years ago

   Were the founding father's racist?  Did racists help write the constitution?
   
   Many owned slaves and the southern delegates want to keep slaves at a status of 3/5ths of a person..

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2. 67

   Thunder Vixenposted 14 years ago

   Yes, many of them owned slaves. However back then that wasn't considered racist, we do now of course. I think the better question is whether or not they treated their slaves well or not. Many non-racist at that time really took good care of their slaves and treated them nicely. So from there I think it's a personal opinion whether you find them racist or not for that time period. Also slaves weren't slaves because they were black. They were slaves that were black. They were sold to America by Africans, either way these people would have been slaves and if it weren't for our new laws, many of the ancestors in our society still might be saves somewhere else... A lil food for thought. I don't think true racism started til they wanted to free the slaves.

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3. 73

   someonewhoknowsposted 14 years ago

   One individual or group of individuals cannot change what the majority believe within a short period of time unless they had the power to force such changes.The Idea of a dictator was not the answer . There is a saying " Time heals all wounds" Even those involved in the civil rights movement whites included died for what they believed in and it still took time for change to take hold.

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4. 60

   eastexplorerposted 14 years ago

   That's a complex question. It's hard for us to judge isn't it?! Slaves can be defined in modern terms as, "cheap labor". Slaves like Vixen said came from Africa, but were sold by white people, mainly.
   
   In that century Europe and China were the major, hubs of wealth and industry, they were more sophisticated and technologically evolved. They had guns, canons, weapons that were far superior to those of the African's. And as the saying goes "Don't bring a knife to a gun fight!" or in this case spears to a fight. So the people of Africa were literally forced to give up.
   
   The slaves that worked in America were there to literally do the dirty work, the work the founders didn't want to do. One must also remember when America was first colonized, there were many wealthy amongst the first settlers and they could afford to buy labor.
   
   So to really answer your question, I'm sure some of them must have been, but take into consideration slavery still exists in today's world, just under a different name.

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5. 71

   Mr. Happyposted 14 years ago

   Does anyone know anything about the black children of Thomas Jefferson

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6. 87

   I am DB Cooperposted 14 years ago

   By the modern definition of racism, absolutely they were. I'm trying not to judge them, because society was obviously much different back then, but the founding fathers held the view that blacks were an inferior race and therefore most did not have a moral objection to owning them as property. This is absolutely racism. If we look closely enough, we'll find racism in the upper levels of government long after the founding fathers. Even some of Lincoln's writings would be considered racist by our standards. The Nixon tapes revealed Richard Nixon and his aides were racist when they attributed certain broad inferior qualities to all people of African descent.

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7. 93

   Bibowenposted 14 years ago

   In short, we should not stand on their shoulders so that we can spit in their face. We have made considerable moral development since the time of the framers.  The concept of "racism" as it has developed did not exist then. It would have been hard for these people to envision a world without slavery since it was universal. In fact, it's generally a poor practice for a historian to take modern concepts and try to impose them on the past.
   
   There are views that we hold now that will be considered abominable in a couple centuries. I hope that future generations will judge us in the world we inhabited and not the standards of a future society.

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