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Walter Lynn's avatar

I saw a recent commentary over the 4th that is not in history books. Jefferson was in a financial bind and because of Virginia law could not free his slaves. History has a filter and does not provide the rest of the story.

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Jared's avatar

Thomas Jefferson in his original draft also had a long paragraph decrying slavery. Furthermore, his draft of a law in Virginia became the basis for the NW Ordinance, which prohibited slavery in the new territories. This prohibition came from Jefferson’s prior draft.

Furthermore, how does one suddenly free thousands of slaves and make them free, self-governing citizens. They formed greater than half the population of some states. Our Founders were adults who recognized that overnight emancipation, though morally laudatory, would be a practical disaster that would carry its own suffering.

No Founder spoke positively of slavery. It wasn’t until 30 years or so later when John C Calhoun imported German Enlightenment philosophy that the notion of slavery as a positive good was born.

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