The Founding Fathers and Slavery
William W. Freehling presents his view of the Founding Fathers and slavery in the article "The Founding Fathers and Slavery." He contends that America's Founding Fathers were antislavery but gives viewpoints of other historians to the contrary. The first sentence of the article states, "Only a few years ago... no man needed to defend the Founding Fathers on slavery." This implies that there was a change in the interpretation of the Founding Fathers position on slavery and indeed there was. Freehling lists the men who hold this more recent opinion, he says, "Scholars such as Robert McColley, Staughton Lynd, William Cohen, and Winthrop Jordan have assaulted every aspect of the old interpretation." The more recent opinion that the Founding Fathers were not antislavery is supported by the notion that the Declaration of Independence was a white man's document and was not intended for the freedom of slaves. The fact that Thomas Jefferson bought and sold slaves and "ordered lashes well laid on" also supports the newer viewpoint. The founding fathers are defended by Freehling however. He says, "The impact of the Founding Fathers on slavery... mu
The first law attempting to control slavery was a congregational ordinance written by Thomas Jefferson in 1784. This law would have made slavery illegal in all Western territories after 1800. Unfortunately this law did not pass, but it was a start. Three years later the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 was passed which made slavery illegal in the upper Western territories. Freehling says, "The new law left bondage free to invade the Southwest. But without the Northwest Ordinance slavery might have crept into Illinois and Indiana as well." Another important event which restricted slavery to the South was the abolition of the African slave trade. In 1808, a law was passed making it illegal to import slaves from Africa into America. This law did not completely end the importation of slaves because some were still imported illegally, but for the most part the number of slaves declined since this law was passed. st be seen in the long run not in terms of what changed in the late eighteenth century but in terms of how the Revolutionary experience changed the whole of American antebellum history. Any such view must place Thomas Jefferson and his contemporaries... back into the creepin
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 796
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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