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Letting South Carolina join the Constituion under the condition of enshrining slavery into it would be an example of the ends justify the means. The conjoined

Letting South Carolina join the Constituion under the condition of enshrining slavery into it would be an example of the ends justify the means. The conjoined colonies wouldn't have had any strategic advantage in their plans against Britain, without the South Carolina colony. There were probably plenty of other less timeless decisions he had to make.

allemagne 10y ago
I don't think the ends of splitting from Britain in any way justified the decision of allowing slavery to occur.
- elastic_church 10y ago
  I don't either, he saw the writing on the wall of how those people rationalized their practice of dehumanizing individuals with religion and abstractions and the enterprisers that would take advantage of it
- SiVal 10y ago
  Slavery was already occurring, so NOT splitting from Britain was ALSO a decision to allow it to occur. Many wanted the split from Britain to cause slavery to end. Nobody was proposing that it begin. Southern colonies insisted that they were going to continue slavery. If the north agreed to leave slavery unchanged, they would go along with the split, allowing other changes, and they would keep slavery. If not, they would not cooperate, there would be no split, no other changes, and they would keep slavery. Either way, slavery would remain unchanged. The decision to leave slavery unchanged did not "allow slavery to occur".
- Spooky23 10y ago
  It wasn't an a or b proposition, and the notion that it was is revisionist bunk. Slavery was more important to the southern economy, but slavery existed in New York as fully legal until phaseout began in 1799. It wasn't eliminated until the 1820s. Monied interests in most states/colonies would have have permitted the loss of their property without compensation.
- paulddraper 10y ago
  > the decision of allowing slavery to occur There was no such decision to be made (or at least no such decision on the table). The decision was whether to have slavery-permitting states in the US, or slavery-permitting states outside the US.
gragas 10y ago
I've always found it odd that some people don't consider tough decisions like those admirable. To me, the point is George Washington was able to make tough decisions---which unarguably harmed many people---in order that the nation succeed in the future. I think reasoning along the lines of "this decision negatively affects X group in an immediately unjust way, therefore it shouldn't be done" is naïve and conceited. People who use this type of reasoning are either knowingly playing the "I'm more moral than you" card and incidentally causing a net worse situation in the future, or they are just naïve and don't understand that local immorality can lead to net positives in the future.
- AnimalMuppet 10y ago
  Or they've seen too many times when "it's for the greater good" is used to justify something that turns out to be more evil than the good that comes from it. I'm not arguing that hard decisions aren't necessary. I'm saying that aren't as necessary as sometimes claimed, and should be viewed with some skepticism.
  - 234dd57d2c8dba 10y ago
    What's the hardest decision you've ever made?
    - jessaustin 10y ago
      Presumably, the decision whether to set up a new cryptic-hexadecimal greenbean account in order to ask a silly question on HN...

allemagne 10y ago

I don't think the ends of splitting from Britain in any way justified the decision of allowing slavery to occur.

elastic_church 10y ago
I don't either, he saw the writing on the wall of how those people rationalized their practice of dehumanizing individuals with religion and abstractions and the enterprisers that would take advantage of it
SiVal 10y ago
Slavery was already occurring, so NOT splitting from Britain was ALSO a decision to allow it to occur. Many wanted the split from Britain to cause slavery to end. Nobody was proposing that it begin. Southern colonies insisted that they were going to continue slavery. If the north agreed to leave slavery unchanged, they would go along with the split, allowing other changes, and they would keep slavery. If not, they would not cooperate, there would be no split, no other changes, and they would keep slavery. Either way, slavery would remain unchanged. The decision to leave slavery unchanged did not "allow slavery to occur".
Spooky23 10y ago
It wasn't an a or b proposition, and the notion that it was is revisionist bunk. Slavery was more important to the southern economy, but slavery existed in New York as fully legal until phaseout began in 1799. It wasn't eliminated until the 1820s. Monied interests in most states/colonies would have have permitted the loss of their property without compensation.
paulddraper 10y ago
> the decision of allowing slavery to occur There was no such decision to be made (or at least no such decision on the table). The decision was whether to have slavery-permitting states in the US, or slavery-permitting states outside the US.

gragas 10y ago

I've always found it odd that some people don't consider tough decisions like those admirable. To me, the point is George Washington was able to make tough decisions---which unarguably harmed many people---in order that the nation succeed in the future. I think reasoning along the lines of "this decision negatively affects X group in an immediately unjust way, therefore it shouldn't be done" is naïve and conceited. People who use this type of reasoning are either knowingly playing the "I'm more moral than you" card and incidentally causing a net worse situation in the future, or they are just naïve and don't understand that local immorality can lead to net positives in the future.

AnimalMuppet 10y ago
Or they've seen too many times when "it's for the greater good" is used to justify something that turns out to be more evil than the good that comes from it. I'm not arguing that hard decisions aren't necessary. I'm saying that aren't as necessary as sometimes claimed, and should be viewed with some skepticism.
- 234dd57d2c8dba 10y ago
  What's the hardest decision you've ever made?
  - jessaustin 10y ago
    Presumably, the decision whether to set up a new cryptic-hexadecimal greenbean account in order to ask a silly question on HN...