On Founding Fathers and Slavery

Otherbrother
Tue, 01 Feb 2022 17:54:50 +0000
wrath

Whoopi Goldberg says "the Holocaust isn’t about race"

Racialist theories go quite further back than Chamberlain, like Benjamin Franklin’s embarrassing youthful pamphlet where he berated Pennsylvania for allowing “swarthy” foreigners to immigrate, since they would clearly not be able to assimilate. His definition of whiteness was quite exacting, since only the English and Saxons qualified, Scandinavians, other Germans (and presumably Irish and Scottish) being so “swarthy” no self-respecting Englishwoman could be expected to marry one.

Franklin was one of the rare people who was actually able to re-examine his long-held beliefs and assumptions over his lifetime and slowly become a better person as a result. He went from being a slaver to an abolition advocate later in life. (The only one of the “founding fathers” to do so, as far as I’m aware) He was definitely not a “hero” in that regard and could have done more, and remained a flawed man, but the capacity for real change was still kinda impressive. Most people lose that when they get older.

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