(cont'd from yesterday's post)
Yes, some of the American founders owned slaves as well. The author of the Declaration himself, Thomas Jefferson, was passionate about freedom and probably meant every word he wrote. He gave words to the principles of freedom, but he didn't live up to them as the owner of up to 600 slaves.
We don't give him or the others a free pass on his hypocrisy. He knew it wasn't right and worried about it (image), but he couldn't summon the strength of character to walk away from the privilege he was born into according to the norms of his day.
But he and the other founders did have the courage to call out the right principles for their new nation. They gave us something to work toward. America and the world got better because of that.
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