Quote:
Originally Posted by Anteater
Trump made a good point about the founding fathers, at least in regards to the far left's repeated attempts to rewrite history for the past few administrations. None of them were perfect people (and shouldn't be revered). Doesn't mean people should be wrecking Jefferson statues just because Antifa despise him for owning slaves.
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I'm certainly game to dive into the topic but a huge reason that the ire is not target a the Founding Fathers is that slavery was a fully legal institution during their time. Doesn't remove the stain on their legacy, but it's ahistorical to hold past figures to the same moral standards we have today.
The leaders of the Confederacy on the other hand, waged war against their lawfully elected representatives, murdered their fellow Americans in a war of choice, and actively battled to preserve human bondage.
Jefferson, Washington, et. al. were complex men with flaws, but they're on the right side of history, with regard to civic values. Davis, Lee, et. al. are not only on the wrong side of history, but they fought to preserve a system that the majority of the country had determined was a moral abomination.
That's the key difference between target Confederate slaveholders and Revolutionary-era slaveholders and the left's greater disdain for the former.
I think 20-30 years from now we'll have monument 'asterisks' making all parts of their history, and good and bad, upfront.