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 

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