Founding Fathers View on Slavery

During the earlier years of the United States, there was a group of leaders who led the new country all the way through the American Revolution and into the 19th century. This class of men, known today as the “Founding Fathers”, had a substantial impact on the early growth and development of the United States. However, the Founding Fathers were conflicted regarding many of the defining problems of the time period, including slavery and how to approach this horrific matter. Some men saw the African-Americans as males who were almost if not entirely equal with the white race. On the other hand, some viewed the African-Americans as in superior to white men. The majority of the Founding Fathers agreed, nonetheless, that slavery was inappropriate in the country in which they were instrumental in founding and creating. Possibly the most significant disagreement among the Founding Fathers in regards to slavery was how to get rid of slavery for good in a peaceful method.

As a whole, the Founding Fathers were against the idea of slavery. (Document C) However, there was debate among the Founding Fathers concerning the topic of equality between African-Americans and the whites. White supremacy was a widespread belief in the beginning years of America, as this was a period of time when the color of a mans skin could arguably be considered as a flaw to society. (Document A) In vision of the Founding Fathers’ views on the natural rights of men, they were really not at ease with the thought of oppressing others humans, but some didn’t consider the African-Americans to be in the same rank in society as white men, (Document B) or to possess similar rights as white men. A great model of this attitude of dominance is innate in the Three-Fifths Compromise, which stated that the African-American male is equivalent to merely three-fifths of a white man. (Document