Historians Trash DeSantis' Understanding of U.S. History—'Beyond Ignorance'

[Chris]

I cite this story to demonstrate how the left distorts what people say.

Historians Trash DeSantis' Understanding of U.S. History—'Beyond Ignorance'

Speaking on Tuesday the Florida Governor claimed it was the "American revolution that caused people to question slavery."

He added: "Nobody had questioned it before we decided as Americans that we are endowered by our creator with inalienable rights and that we are all created equal. Then that birthed abolition movements."...

This is true. This is what DeSantis said and what he said was true. Anyone who has read any history of the founding would know this. When the founders cited Locke's, actually Christianity's notion that all men were created equal, they were confronted with the contradiction of slavery and many like Jefferson acknowledged it was wrong and debated it (3/5ths compromise) but didn't know how to solve it.

Now for the leftist twisting:

However, speaking to Newsweek four prominent American historians rejected his argument, with one branding it "completely incorrect."

Reacting to DeSantis's comments Professor Karin Wulf, who specializes in eighteenth-century British America at Brown University, said: "On at least three levels this is wrong.

"The idea of natural rights didn't originate with the American revolutionaries; they were reflecting ideas that were widespread among political thinkers, perhaps most obviously the 17th century English political philosopher John Locke. The United States as a government did not act against slavery in any form until 1807 (prohibition of the Atlantic slave trade) and acted in key ways to protect it right up to the Civil War (the fugitive slave act).

For a historian not to acknowledge the influence of Christianity here is egregious.

But for this historian to twist what DeSantis said about questioning slavery into a claim about acting on it is just plain stupidity.

[Chris]

A rather thoroughgoing history of the founders on slavery can be found in several chapters of C. Bradley Thompson's 2022 America's Revolutionary Mind: A Moral History of the American Revolution and the Declaration That Defined It.

[Section31]

Leftists distort history to fit their narrative.

They lie incessantly.

[RichardMZhlubb]

The fundamental problem with DeSantis’s comment is that it does not consider slaves to be “people.” When he says that “nobody” questioned slavery, it’s saying that the objections of the slaves themselves are not worth considering.

[Mister D]

The fundamental problem with DeSantis’s comment is that it does not consider slaves to be “people.” When he says that “nobody” questioned slavery, it’s saying that the objections of the slaves themselves are not worth considering.

They came from societies that practiced slavery. That's how they wound up as slaves in the first place. DeSantis is correct in so far as this near universal institution was first questioned and eventually eliminated in the West. You should make sure your non-white children get a real education.

[Chris]

The fundamental problem with DeSantis’s comment is that it does not consider slaves to be “people.” When he says that “nobody” questioned slavery, it’s saying that the objections of the slaves themselves are not worth considering.

Yes, slaves objected to being slaves but you'll have to point out where they objected to the institution of slavery.

Like the liberal media and historians you change the question being addressed.

[Mister D]

Yes, slaves objected to being slaves but you'll have to point out where they objected to the institution of slavery.

Like the liberal media and historians you change the question being addressed.

Some did. That the institution was often accepted by both slave and master throughout the ages is something that tweaks our "modern" sensibilities.

[Chris]

Some did. That the institution was often accepted by both slave and master throughout the ages is something that tweaks our "modern" sensibilities.

I can think of none. I mean, this would have to be during colonial times. Yes, there were slave revolts and riots, but slaves who spoke out against the institution? No names stand out in the many histories I've looked at.

[RichardMZhlubb]

I can think of none. I mean, this would have to be during colonial times. Yes, there were slave revolts and riots, but slaves who spoke out against the institution? No names stand out in the many histories I've looked at.

You've never heard of Cato (Jemmy), who led the most violent colonial slave rebellion (the Stono Rebellion) and who is alleged to have explicitly spoken out against slavery as some of his last words before he was killed?

[FindersKeepers]

The fundamental problem with DeSantis’s comment is that it does not consider slaves to be “people.” When he says that “nobody” questioned slavery, it’s saying that the objections of the slaves themselves are not worth considering.

Our Founders were highly enlightened men but they were still products of their time. Slavery had been a thing for thousands of years and while many throughout the ages questioned it as being inhumane, no one really moved beyond that point.

It wasn't so much a racial thing at that time. Blacks also own slaves, and many indentured servants were white. Life for both was bondage. And, throughout the ages before that, all manner of people were enslaved. It was more about power and productivity.

DeSantis, of whom I'm not a big fan, didn't say anything out of line here. When he said "nobody," he was just generalizing as most folks do. There's no reason to read more into it.

Slavery is over. Let's move forward now.