#founding fathers

James Madison and his boyfriend, Thomas Jefferson, wrote the Constitution because the Articles were dumb.

fandomsandfeminism:

Fuck ‘Em

Listen to me, Tumblr, because apparently somewhere along the line a whole bunch of yall decided that we should just accept that whatever rich white people do as morally excusable if it happened a long enough time ago: owning slaves was evil. 

Slavery was evil. Slave owners were evil. Even if it was legal, even if they inherited their slaves, even if they weren’t as physically abusive as they could have been- all slave owners were evil.

Abolitionists existed in America before, during, and after the American Revolution. Folks KNEW. Folks knew thatowning other human beings was evil. It wasn’t fucking an unheard of idea that you shouldn’t OWN PEOPLE.

Thomas Jefferson spent years raping a slave girl and then kept the resulting children as slaves. George Washington used the teeth of slaves to make his own dentures. This is not “product of their time” wishy washy nonsense. This is not “Well, EVERYONE was doing it” like drinking their cocaine and canning their food with lead. 

So yes, when you see someone pulling down a statue of Robert E Lee, or that sucking slave trader in Bristol, or Columbus, or Thomas Jefferson, and when you ask “who’s next? GEORGE WASHINGTON?” The answer should be - YES, FUCK EM. 

Slavery, especially Atlantic chattel slavery as we saw it here in the Americas, was morally repugnant, start to finish, and without question an institution of untold horror and human suffering, and ANY ONE who directly and knowingly benefited from it was a bad person. We don’t need fucking STATUES of them because they can not and should not represent the values we wish to celebrate.

There were no good slave owners.

ourrevolution-deactivated202202:

“This country was founded by a group of slave owners who told us that all men are created equal. To my mind, that is what’s known as being stunningly and embarrassingly full of shit.” - George Carlin

…PolitiFact going through history to fact check this guy was like that time CNN went through history to dig up dirt on Bernie, and all they found were videos of him planting trees, and telling kids that racism is bad.

John and Abigail Adams go up to the counter, and John orders a chai latte after his wife agrees that it would be a good idea. 

Thomas Jefferson writes a Declaration denouncing frozen coffee drinks as a matter of principle, convincing the rest of the Starbucks that they are morally wrong, and then goes up to the counter and orders a mocha frappe with extra whipped cream.  

George Washington goes up to the counter and orders a black coffee. He drinks it, and then goes back for another one. After he finishes the second coffee, the barista and the rest of the patrons beg him to get another one but instead he leaves the establishment.

Alexander Hamilton walks up to the counter and orders a tall mocha. He ends up finding so many things to his dissatisfaction that he writes 51 formal complaints to the company, including one about himself for forgetting to leave a tip.

”Burr, to this day, knows nothing of this.”

(Spoiler: It was Hamilton’s fault.)

August 1805

Colonel Burr is another, whom I was desirous of making a Brigadier General. I proposed it to Washington, who said he “had reason to believe that Burr would make a good officer: But the question was whether he would not be too good at Intrigue.” I have reason to believe that Washington proposed it to Hamilton and that he prevented it… .

Burr visited me at Philadelphia, as he always did When he came near me, and asked me whether I had authorized Hamilton to propose to him an appointment in the Army? 

As I never had mentioned or suggested the idea to Hamilton, I answered no. 

Burr said that Hamilton had frequently of late asked him, what he thought of an appointment, and whether he could cordially cooperate with Washington. Burr said he answered that he despised Washington, as a man of no talents and one who could not spell a sentence of common English. 

I reproved Burr for this folly and said his prejudices made him very unreasonable, for to my certain knowledge Washington was not so illiterate. 

Burr said he was determined the first time he saw me, to ask me whether Hamilton had been moved by me, or whether his questions to him were insidious.

I explained nothing to Burr, and he knows not to this day that I ever mentioned him or thought of him for an appointment. My conclusion is, however, that Washington had mentioned it to Hamilton, but his jealousy of Burr would not allow him to consent.

June 1807

Burr, I never considered as my personal enemy. He would not have been my political enemy, if Hamilton would have permitted Washington to allow me to nominate him to the Senate as a Brigadier in the Army.

But Burr must and would be Something … Burr became my political enemy and Jefferson’s political friend, not from any affection to him or disaffection to me, but merely to make way for himself to mount the ladder of ambition. The most efficacious enemy and friend to be sure he was. By intriguing with Clintons and Livingstons against Hamilton, he turned the state of New York and consequently the balance of the continent.

But what has been Burr’s reward? It is doubtful whether Hamilton, Andrew Brown, or Alexander [James(?)] Callender are so signal monuments of divine vengeance, and whether their destiny is not to be preferred to his. At the same time that I say this, I am not insensible of the possibility that he may yet be President of the United States.

November 1807

I ought to have said no to the appointment of Washington, Hamilton, and some others, and yes to the appointment of Burr, Muhlenburg, and some others. I ought to have appointed Lincoln and Gates and Knox and Clinton, etc. But if I had said yes and no in this manner, the Senate would have contradicted me in every instance.

June 1809

If I had been allowed to follow my own ideas, Hamilton and Burr, in my opinion, with submission to Divine Providence, would have been alive at this hour.

February 1815

I proposed to General Washington in a conference between him and me; and through him to the Triumvirate [Washington, Hamilton, and Thomas Pinckney], to nominate Col. Burr for a Brigadier General. 

Washington’s answer to me was, “By all that I have known and heard, Colonel Burr is a brave and able officer. But the question is whether he has not equal talents at intrigue?” 

How shall I describe to you my sensations and reflections at that moment? He had compelled me, to promote over the heads of Lincoln, Gates, Clinton, Knox, and others, and even over Pinckney, one of his own Triumvirate, the most restless, impatient, artful, indefatigable, and unprincipled intriguer in the United States, if not in the world, to be Second in Command under himself, and now dreaded an intriguer in a poor Brigadier. 

He did, however, propose it to the Triumvirate, at least to Hamilton. But I was not permitted to nominate Burr. If I had been, what would have been the consequence? Shall I say that Hamilton would have been now alive? And Hamilton and Burr now at the head of our affairs? What then?!!! If I had nominated Burr, without the consent of the Triumvirate, a negative in Senate was certain. Burr, to this day, knows nothing of this.

klbmsw:

It’s true, look it up yourself.

Save a country, kill some ignorance.