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Most of Founding Fathers were also slave owners. Could we stop bringing people of the past with their dubious morale into the modern times when we all are more

Most of Founding Fathers were also slave owners. Could we stop bringing people of the past with their dubious morale into the modern times when we all are more educated? Otherwise, we could equally use What Would Jesus Do principle. http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1269536/The-Founding-Fathers-and-Slavery http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1269536/The-Fou...

dragonwriter 13y ago
morale, morals, and education are three separate things that you seem to be confusing together.
jacoblyles 13y ago
Because people in history were different from us, we can learn nothing from them? This is one of the most anti-intellectual non-sequiturs I regularly see, and it makes me sad and fearful for our democracy.
pfortuny 13y ago
Being a good lawyer and a defensor of good principles does not imply living a good life. At all. Also, do not think they understood slavery exactly as you do. As a matter of fact, what they wrote probably paves the way to where we are today.
D9u 13y ago
How can people not see the parallels between the anti Snowden crowd and Nazis who were "just following orders" when they took part in the pogroms? Everyone who takes part in this latest abrogation of the US Bill of Rights is no better than the Nazi exterminators. Some will say that the authors of the US Constitution had no concept of electronic communications ergo we should not expect the 4th Amendment to extend to electronic communications, yet the wording of the 4th Amendment includes the communications methods of their day, which would be "papers and effects," and that the lawful search thereof must be accompanied by "Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." Others will say that the authors of the US Constitution had no concept of "terrorism," yet England viewed the revolutionaries as such. Perhaps if our government weren't meddling in the affairs of foreign nations, those foreign nationals would not feel a need to engage in "terrorist" acts? So, instead of using some fictitious son-of-the-invisible-sky-person principle, we could apply the "What would a Nazi do" principle.
pilsetnieks 13y ago
1/3 of that list are non-slaveholders and of the remaining 2/3 at least Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin seriously opposed slavery. Generally I'd say they were well ahead of their time.

dragonwriter 13y ago

morale, morals, and education are three separate things that you seem to be confusing together.

jacoblyles 13y ago

Because people in history were different from us, we can learn nothing from them? This is one of the most anti-intellectual non-sequiturs I regularly see, and it makes me sad and fearful for our democracy.

pfortuny 13y ago

Being a good lawyer and a defensor of good principles does not imply living a good life. At all. Also, do not think they understood slavery exactly as you do. As a matter of fact, what they wrote probably paves the way to where we are today.

D9u 13y ago

How can people not see the parallels between the anti Snowden crowd and Nazis who were "just following orders" when they took part in the pogroms? Everyone who takes part in this latest abrogation of the US Bill of Rights is no better than the Nazi exterminators. Some will say that the authors of the US Constitution had no concept of electronic communications ergo we should not expect the 4th Amendment to extend to electronic communications, yet the wording of the 4th Amendment includes the communications methods of their day, which would be "papers and effects," and that the lawful search thereof must be accompanied by "Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." Others will say that the authors of the US Constitution had no concept of "terrorism," yet England viewed the revolutionaries as such. Perhaps if our government weren't meddling in the affairs of foreign nations, those foreign nationals would not feel a need to engage in "terrorist" acts? So, instead of using some fictitious son-of-the-invisible-sky-person principle, we could apply the "What would a Nazi do" principle.

pilsetnieks 13y ago

1/3 of that list are non-slaveholders and of the remaining 2/3 at least Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin seriously opposed slavery. Generally I'd say they were well ahead of their time.