realistically, it is necessary to view the early leaders in their own terms: as frail, fallible human beings. We could have admired them for many things: their courage and bravery in the military struggle against Britain; their creativity in forging a new government; and their service to a cause that captured the imagination of people around the world. However, it is impossible to admire the hypocritical Founding Fathers of this nation for betraying the very ideals to which they gave lip service. It is impossible to admire our early leaders for speaking eloquently at one moment for the brotherhood of man and in the next moment denying it to the black brothers and sisters who fought by their side and bled for their profit. It is forever impossible to admire the thousands of white settlers of America in light of the degrading treatment of the human spirit, for considering "the labor of a breeding woman as no object, and that a child raised every two years is of more profit than the crop of the best laboring man." (Jefferson, Thomas. "The American Nation." p. 352) The concern here is not for the harm that the Fathers did to the cause which they claimed to serve as for the harm that their moral legacy has left for every generation of their progeny. Didn't they realize the effect their actions would have on the growing nation? Didn't they know the black slave would not behave like a well trained dog forever? After reading the facts, one can only speculate that, no, neither did they realize nor did they care about the misfortune of the black race. They were profiting from the degradation of a whole race of people, and that was the driving force behind the cracking whip. Having created a flawed revolutionary doctrine and a Constitution that did not bestow the blessings of liberty to its posterity, the stage was set for every succeeding generation of Americans to apologize, compromise and criticize the principles of ...
