It is very interesting to see people today try to redefine the events of the past through a lens of “modern sensibility.” This is one of the great challenges in studying and understanding history.
If one tries to understand the past in a fair and unbiased manner, one can be accused of being a sympathizer or a racist. Everything is so political these days.
I hear many “activists” talk about how our country is founded upon a lie, that freedom means nothing because slavery existed at the time of our founding, and that capitalism (the engine of democracy and freedom) should be abolished.
Hogwash.
Our enemies giggle with glee at how easily people can be manipulated and enlisted as agents in the fall of the mighty United States of America, one of the few entities that holds back evil in the world.
Let’s talk honestly about slavery. Yes, I said it. Slavery. Masters. Plantations. A dark time in our history but one that must be faced. It was the primary reason we fought a Civil War.
Have you ever stopped to think that this nation fought a war with itself to end slavery? In fact, name another country other than the United States that did such a thing. It’s OK. I’ll wait.
Nope. No other nation in recorded history has ever done such a thing. If that does not convince you of our country’s innate goodness, I don’t know what can.
From the day the first slave set foot in North America, slavery was a terrible burden to us. Many understood the moral depravity of it but the economics of the practice made some quite wealthy. And these wealthy people were highly influential in politics of the day.
While divided on the topic of slavery, colonists in the 1770s came together in a unified desire to throw off the yoke of English oppression, taxation and abuse. To the colonial mind, the king was the biggest threat and all other issues were secondary.
Yep, you heard it activists. Slavery was not the numero uno issue back then.
To form a unified front against the British king and form a nation, they had to work around the whole issue of slavery. Of course, that would have to be dealt with 90 years later. That is where the three-fifths clause came into being in the Constitution, among other things.
States were then admitted to our union based on whether they were slave or free. We always tried to maintain a balance. Of course, that was one of the flashpoints in the chain of events that led to secession and the Civil War.
But activists today tend to see these events only from their standpoint. “Well, they should not have formed a nation if everyone was not free.” That is naïve and shows a complete lack of understanding of history.
Without the compromises that were made, there would have been no nation. A divided group of little colonies would never have fought off the mighty British Empire.
“Well, what about the founding fathers? They were dirty rotten slave owners! They should be cancelled!” Yep, activists, you are correct. Many founding fathers did own slaves. And, I don’t think that fact was ever hidden from anyone. I remember learning about it in school as a child.
Again, let’s think about who the influential people were that I mentioned earlier. They were usually big farmers and land owners. If you lived in Virginia, you probably owned a few slaves — Mr. Washington and Mr. Jefferson, to name a couple.
If these influential men gave up their slaves, called out all of their neighbors for owning slaves, and actively campaigned for abolition, how far do you think that would have gone? Nowhere. Again, slavery was not the issue. The king was.
George Washington was a remarkable man. Soldier, statesman, and possibly the wisest person our nation has ever had as president. Did you know he set the standard for peacefully laying aside his power after two terms? It wasn’t until Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the 1930s and ’40s decided to break that tradition and run for four terms. A Democrat, by the way.
Let’s be careful not to redefine history and lose perspective as well as understanding. There are forces at work today that are seeking to destabilize our great country by seeding minds through digital media with the lies of progressive socialism.
Through the largess of freedom, socialism sneaks in and takes over, supplanting freedom and eliminating it. Redefining history is a method by which this is accomplished.
Steve Lunetta is a resident of Santa Clarita and looks great in a powdered wig.
