The Sins Of The Founding Fathers
Independence Day brings with it difficult questions and painful truths about the idealists who founded our country.
The death of George Floyd sparked nationwide protests that serve as a reminder of our rights to assemble, speak freely, and change our nation for the better. The tragedy also reopened old wounds from our nation’s past, leading to difficult questions about the very Founders who gave us those freedoms.
Public protest on racial issues is nothing new in the United States, but this time, the brutality in the Floyd video spurred action, as protests turned into riots. In an unprecedented eruption of violent unrest, we witnessed history being rewritten as protestors toppled, decapitated and defaced public monuments that some claimed were symbols of white supremacy.
Gone are the statues of Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and other Confederate leaders of the civil war. Some were destroyed by protestors, and others voluntarily removed by authorities hoping to ease tensions by eliminating reminders of slavery and past oppression.
The Confederates aren’t the only slave owners with statues being targeted, though. Many of our Founding Fathers held slaves as well, prompting vandalism to statues of George Washington and…
