At different moments, the Virginia colonists had tried to limit the extent of the slave trade, but the British crown had blocked those efforts. But Virginians also knew that their slave system was reproducing itself naturally.
They could eliminate the slave trade without eliminating slavery. That was not true in the West Indies or Brazil.
The deeper reason for the deletion of this passage was that the members of the Continental Congress were morally embarrassed about the colonies' willing involvement in the system of chattel slavery. To make any claim of this nature would open them to charges of rank hypocrisy that were best left unstated.
If the founding fathers, including Thomas Jefferson, thought slavery was morally corrupt, how did they reconcile owning slaves themselves, and how was it still built into American law?
At different moments, the Virginia colonists had tried to limit the extent of the slave trade, but the British crown had blocked those efforts. But Virginians also knew that their slave system was reproducing itself naturally.
They could eliminate the slave trade without eliminating slavery. That was not true in the West Indies or Brazil.
The deeper reason for the deletion of this passage was that the members of the Continental Congress were morally embarrassed about the colonies' willing involvement in the system of chattel slavery. To make any claim of this nature would open them to charges of rank hypocrisy that were best left unstated.
If the founding fathers, including Thomas Jefferson, thought slavery was morally corrupt, how did they reconcile owning slaves themselves, and how was it still built into American law?
