RBJ, I know Anita well enough to know she is not a racist. Nor did I see in her post anything that approached a "racist" statement. She made statements of generally accepted truths. One point that Anita made that is not always well explained, was her comment about his behavior in regard to the Native Americans. In a historical source regarding other colonies, it was noted that both George Washington, Thomas Jeffferson, Ben Franklin, and other founding fathers invested in land development schemes that were intended to deprive the Native Americans of their lands before they chose to sell them and move. By buying shares in companies that held the "rights" to the land that was still in use by the Natives, these Founding Fathers intended to make money after squatters moved onto those lands and destroyed them for use by the Native Americans, which then led to the land being purchases because there were already settlers on the land. I think when we put historical figures on a pedestal and try to use our estimations of their morality or lack of it, we do them a disservice. The Founding Fathers were human beings. They did some great things in their lives, but all that they did was not great! Anne Anne Pemberton [log in to unmask] http://www.erols.com/apembert http://www.educationalsynthesis.org ______________________________________ To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html