Why is it that the Southerner of 1850's is reviled as racist yet the founding fathers, almost all of whom were slave owners, get a pass because they were who they were? Why is William Penn looked at as an anti slavery person when it is well documented that he was the biggest slave owner in Pennsylvania and got out of that business, not because he was so pious, but because it was cheaper to pay 10 cents a day for labor than to own slaves and put up with having to care fo0r them during the non planting seasons.
No, my friends, I submit to you the true racist were those who said things like:
http://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/arp/arp.html#arp347page 348 from a letter to Bill from a Northerner
"It is certainly a great curse to have so many illiterate, low-lived negroes in your State;"
And Bill's answer to this man.
No, no, my friend. If slavery was a sin at all, which I deny, it was not our sin, nor that of our fathers, nor were we cursed with so many illiterate, low-lived negroes as you suppose. Our slaves were not educated in books as they were in manners and morals and industry, and, mark you, there was not a heinous crime committed by them from the Potomac to the Rio Grande.No, no, my friend.
That is just one of thousands of examples from the words of the 1850's-1870's along with the Slaves own views taken from the 1930's, where over 70% spoke well of those who were their masters.
Am I saying these things to make a cause for slavery, no I'm not, It was a horrible practice. But it was not racism, save by those today who live the life they do today because of the way this country was built. The Black man had a great deal to do with the sucessful building of the country that we now call the United States.
Thats how I see it, what about you?
