Transcript

Stephen McDowell: America's Providential History explores the hand of God

>> Stephen McDowell: Welcome to America's Providential History podcast where we talk about the real story of America and explore the hand of God in our history. Now here's your host, Steven McDowell. Hello. I'm glad you're joining us for this edition of America's Providential History. In the last few podcasts we began to look at the faith of the presidents and we started with our first president, George Washington. And we looked at ah, testimony from his family, his friends and others, his own profession of his faith and the fruit that came out of his life. Jesus said, you'll know them by their fruit. We also began to answer a couple of objections people bring up and say, well Washington, how could he be a Christian? He was a Mason and he also owned slaves. And that would discount him from, from a true living Christian, faith. By the way, this is something people bring up about the founding generation, Founding Fathers in general, these issues. Of course the issue of slavery is one thing that people have brought up in 1619 project and things like this. They make the proposition that the fundamental sin that America was founded upon is slavery and therefore the nation's evil to do with the Founding Fathers can't listen to them because they embraced this evil institution.

George Washington was an early pioneer to end slavery in Virginia and the United States

So I wanted to just give a few comments, remarks about this in today's podcast on the general issue of slavery and the Founding Fathers. Just an introduction to that and George Washington, in particular because while Washington did own slaves, he was an early pioneer to end slavery in Virginia and the United States. Washington was against slavery. In fact, he signed the first federal anti slavery piece of legislation in 1789, the Northwest Ordinance which prohibited slavery in, the Northwest when new states were going to come in and what was then what became Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin, when these new states came in, it was under the provision of the Northwest Ordinance. One of those pieces of the Northwest Ordinance was slavery was forbidden in that territory. And Washington gladly signed that. He wrote in 1786, I can only say that there is not a man living who wishes more sincerely than I do to see a plan adopted for the abolition of slavery. Now Washington's view of slavery was in line with the majority of the Founding Fathers. We have to recognize America did not invent slavery. Slavery had existed in the world since the fall of man. Every people, every race, every nation had slavery in one, form or another. And with the colonization of the Western hemisphere, slavery came with it because it existed throughout Europe, throughout Africa and Asia and everywhere else. And so America did Not invent it. In fact, as we'll see, it was the United States of America that was the very first people to begin to take steps to end slavery. Way before William Wilberforce in England outlawed it in a lawful manner. The American colonies began to take steps to end slavery and actually did in a number of the states way before England, outlawed it. See the majority, the Founding Fathers believed slavery was fundamentally wrong. It was an evil institution that needed to be abolished contrary to the principles that Christ came to liberate man because Christ wants all men to live in liberty, to live free, to do all they can, to live in liberty. And the Founding fathers being biblical men, understood that Christ wants us to live in liberty. And so they saw it was wrong. And when they had an opportunity to do so, they took steps to end it. Charles Carroll, signer of the Declaration from Maryland, expressed the majority view of the Founders when he said slavery is admitted by all to be a great evil. George Washington wrote that there is not a man living who wishes more sincerely than I do to see a plan adopted for the abolition of slaves. But as I said, slavery had been around since time began, present in almost every nation in history. And so the Founders believed that such an entrenched social problem must be overcome gradually. Some of the Founders did own slaves and yet they same people were leaders in anti slavery organizations which were working to change the laws as well as to educate and prepare slaves to be able to live free, live in liberty. During the drafting of the Declaration of independence in 1776, Jefferson, in his original draft condemned slavery outright. And that was one of the grievances he had against the king that he propagated this evil institution, in the colonies. In fact, ah, a number of the colonies just years prior to independence had written provisions to, in the slave trade, even in slavery. And the king vetoed him, said no, you can't do that. And so Jefferson in his original draft put that in there. But it was at the time potentially too divisive to deal with there. At that moment. They needed to keep a united front, all hang together or they never would succeed in gaining independence. And certainly they couldn't do anything about it if they were subjugated to the king who had imposed slave trade on them and on them and other British colonies. So the founders also avoided this issue of slavery in the articles of Confederation 1777. Since most considered it really is under the jurisdiction of the states. It was not a national issue. The national issues are very limited in what the national government should do said this was a state issue. But many states and individuals in fact had already been acting upon their anti slavery beliefs. Some of the first anti slavery laws in history were enacted in colonial NewSong England, prior to independence. And as I mentioned Virginia in 1774 passed legislation ending the slave trade which was vetoed. Now there had always been free blacks in America and these free blacks owned property, they voted, had the same rights as other citizens. Black slaves who fought during the Revolutionary War won their freedom in every state except South Carolina and Georgia. Many of the founders started and served in anti slavery societies. So with independence came the freedom for the states to enact new laws. And by 1804 eight northern states had abolished or seven northern states had abolished slavery. And before the Civil War others in the north would have abolished slavery as well. In the south, many individuals included George Washington who owned slaves, set them free. Their manumission was a way that some of these southern states where the laws made it difficult then to, to they worked to change the law of the whole state and there are too many people opposed to it. But to take steps based upon their conviction of wanting all men to live free. Many of them set their slaves free, George Washington being one of those in his will. So the issue of slavery was considered at the Constitutional Convention. Again though most delegates were opposed to slavery, they compromised on the issue when representatives from Georgia and South Carolina threatened to walk out if they carried this forward. So the delegates realized slavery would continue in those states with or without the Union. So they saw a strong union in all the colonies was the best means of securing their liberty, which of course was by no means guaranteed. Even after we won the war we were on shaky ground. and that's why we're having this Constitutional Convention to try to shore up the Union and the strength of the Union. So they, they didn't agree to abolish slavery in the new constitution which went into effect in 1789. Some of them wanted to do that. But they did take the forward step of giving the Congress the power to end the slave trade after 20 years. And that's exactly did occur, that they, they acted upon that Constitutional convention provision in the Constitution and the slave trade was ended. In fact no other nation in Europe or elsewhere degree to such political action when they agreed to it in 1787. So America was leading the way in the national Constitution. We're going to end the slave trade and the state constitutions which many of them within 1020 years of their independence ended slavery. And again, this was before any other people, any other nation was doing this in the world. But even so, even after taking these steps there, some people warned of the dangers of allowing this evil to continue. George Mason of Virginia told the delegates, every master of slaves is born a petty tyrant. They bring the judgment of heaven upon a country. As nations cannot be rewarded or punished in the next world, they must be in this by an inevitable chain of causes and effects. Providence punishes national sins by national calamities. Now, some people have brought up, well, you know, this provision in the Constitution for counting slaves is just three fence of a person, you know, declares the founders view that they didn't have the equal rights of all men. But that's not what this provision meant at all. It was actually a provision that lessened the power of the slave states because the southern states, where most of the slaves were at this time, they wanted to count every one of them, ah, for representation purposes. And if they did, they'd had a lot more representatives in congress giving them a lot more power. The anti slavery states and people said no, you can't do that. We don't want to give you that much power. And so it was a political compromise between the north and the South. The three fifths provision applied only to slaves and not free blacks who voted and had the same rights as whites. And in some southern states this meant they were able to own slaves. And while the southern states wanted to count the slaves in their population to determine the number of congressmen from their states, slavery opponents pushed to keep the southern states from having more representatives and hence more power in Congress. The former slave and famous abolitionist Frederick Douglass, who first thought the Constitution was pro slavery, saw the liberating nature of the Constitution. After he escaped slavery and studied the document, he wrote, the constitution is a glorious liberty document. Read its preamble. Consider its purposes. Is slavery among them? Is it at the gateway or is it in the temple? It is neither. If the constitution were intended to be by its framers and adopters, a slave holding instrument, why neither slavery, slave holding nor slave can anywhere be found in it. Now take the Constitution according to its plain reading, and I defy the presentation of a single pro slavery clause in it. On the other hand, it will be found to contain principles and purposes entirely hostile to the existence of slavery. And so these men who gave us the declaration and constitution in our founding covenants, the principles of liberty and God given inalienable rights of life, liberty and property, once we were Birthed as a nation, those principles began to bring positive change in every area, bring flourishing in every area, including containing the seed of ending slavery. And steps were taken. as I said, a number of most of the northern states abolished slavery. The slave trade was abolished. The Northwest Ordinance, ah, was signed.

The founding fathers of America took greater steps to end slavery than anyone else

And so the founding fathers of America took greater steps to end slavery than any other group of people up until that time in history. Now could they have they had done more or done it faster? Well, certainly, but they could have. But to say they did nothing is to misunderstand, the truth of what happened. Because they were doing more than anybody else, any other nation, any other group of people, at the time. And so Congress passed as I said, and Washington signed the Northwest Ordinance in 1789 which prohibited slavery in the new states. They also banned the exportation of slaves from any State in 1794. So all intentions of that generation were united in their goal to abolish slavery. I believe God wanted to show the world how a Christian nation would deal with such a major social problem. And so this Christian nation of America, once we gained our independence and had the ability to take steps and take action, we did. We began to take these steps and do things unlike any other nation had in history. But we fail to completely end slavery, on our own, I guess you could say, within, you know, within gradual social or legal means. and so God had to intervene and he did by much many generations later by having a civil war, we fought a war and hundreds of thousands of Americans died. And one positive outcome from the death of so many was the complete ending of slavery in all the states, not just the northern states had already ended it before anybody else had, but all the states had done that through that way. And we might have avoided that had everyone continued the steps that were initiated by the founding fathers of America. This included George Washington, who as I said, his view of slavery was in line with the majority of the founding fathers. They believed slavery was fundamentally wrong and should be abolished. That blacks had the same God given inalienable rights as all people. And they not only believe this, but as I've said, they acted on it. Many of the founders initiated anti slavery societies after securing our country's independence. Many work to end slavery in the states. Some anti slavery actions before independence were thwarted by the British government as I mentioned. And so it was really only after independence that we could fully take steps to end this social evil. And about 1/2 the steps abolished slavery within a few Decades of independence. Certainly less than 50% of the signers of the declaration the constitution owned slaves. And many who did emancipated them. More than 70% were anti slavery. George Washington was one who had slaves, but he was anti slavery. Now, Washington became a slave owner at age 11 when his father died and he inherited slaves. It's like America didn't invent slavery. We inherited it from all the nations and empires before us. It wasn't our initiation. By the way, lots and lots of countries had way more slaves than America did. That's certainly true of western, hemisphere where the colonization occurred there. Of the 12 million slaves estimated that came from Africa for 200 years, ah, 200 year period from during the 1617 to the 1800s, only about 500,000 came to, to the United States, 4 million to Brazil, millions to other, South American nations and the Caribbean nation. So America didn't invent slavery. We inherited slavery from those who had gone before us. And we're the ones, as we've said, that took more steps than anybody else to end this evil practice. So, Washington inherited slaves that his father had, and he would, inherit others later from other family members. So it's interesting, you know, he was surrounded by slavery in many ways, but nonetheless, he developed a conviction that slavery was wrong and should be abolished. So we must remember that the founders inherited slavery in America. They did not create it. They took great steps to end this evil institution. Now, while more could have been done, could have been done, they probably did more to eliminate slavery than any other group of leaders up until that time in history. So even though Washington owned slaves, he wanted the states to end the evil practice before independence. He expressed his opinion in the Fairfax county resolutions of July 18, 1774. He was the chair of that committee. He wrote, no slaves ought to be imported into any of the British colonies on this continent. And we take this opportunity of declaring our most earnest wishes to see an entire stop forever put to such a wicked, cruel and unnatural trade. Washington later wrote to his nephew, Lawrence Lewis, I wish from my soul that the legislature of this state could see the policy of a gradual abolition of slavery. Washington worked throughout his life to get Virginia to end the slave trade, to abolish slavery, and to change the laws to allow slave owners to free their slaves. But Washington had only limited success. Now, laws were passed in the slave trade, but Virginia's laws were not modified to allow really easy freedom for slaves. nevertheless, Washington found a way to get around the laws as he made a provision in his will to free his slaves. Now, while Washington and other prominent founding fathers from virginia, like Jefferson, George mason, Patrick Henry, and lee, and Henry lee, they worked to end slavery in their state. Many in the state legislature in Virginia weren't convinced. So since Virginia law did not allow Washington to emancipate his slaves, the only legal means at his disposal to alter the status of his slaves was to sell them. And this was a practice he vehemently opposed. He explained, were it not that I am principled against selling negroes, I, would not in 12 months from this date be possessed of one as a slave. So certainly he could have gotten rid of his slaves. But. But it was contrary to his. His grow, his conviction that he obtained that. I'm against it. I'm not going to do that. Washington bought some 50 slaves before the revolution, Though he purchased none afterwards. And by then he had decided to no longer participate in the slave trade nor buy or sell slaves. He wrote, I never mean to possess another slave by purchase, it being among my first wishes to see some plan adopted by which slavery in this country may be abolished by slow, sure, and imperceptible degrees. Well, Washington demonstrated his firm conviction against slavery in many ways. He worked to change the state laws. He signed federal legislation as president, as we mentioned, and he refused to sell slaves, even though it was a financial heart to keep them. In fact, he had many more slaves than was financially profitable. He wrote, a full half than can be employed to any advantage in the farming system. So while he would have reaped great economic benefit, he refused to sell any slaves. He wrote, to sell the over plus, I cannot because I am principled against this kind of traffic in the human species. To hire them out is almost as bad, because they could not be disposed of in families to any advantage. And to break up the families, I have an aversion. Washington not only refused to sell slaves, he refused to break up families. He also felt responsible by taking care of his slaves until there was, as he wrote, a plan adopted by which slavery in this country may be abolished. This was his heart, his desire. This is what he spoke of, and took action to try to do something about it. And a general plan did not materialize in Virginia as it did in many other states, as I mentioned. But Washington found a loophole that allowed him to get around the state law. That is, he emancipated his slaves at his death. His last will and testament not only gave his slaves their freedom, but also made provision for them as they began to live as free citizens, certainly Washington suffered no racial bigotry. He allowed free blacks to enlist in the army, thus creating the first, interracial army in America. And this didn't occur again until the Korean war. In the 1950-53, Washington approved Benjamin Banneker, who was a free black, as a surveyor, to layout Washington D.C. he supported Phillis Wheatley, a black poet. And there are numerous examples of his respect for many blacks who in return respected him greatly. In fact, some of his former slaves voluntarily maintained his tomb for days decades after his death. So George Washington, he, was part of this institution that had plagued man from the time that man disobeyed God and fell, where men have enslaved one another over the centuries. And Washington grappled with this. What can we do as our founders did. So our founders, who most were anti slavery, even those that had inherited slaves like Washington and developed this conviction, they began to take action, to take steps. All right, what can I do?

George Washington exemplifies Christian faith in dealing with difficult issues like slavery

So many of the states ended slavery. the nation at large ended the slave trade under the provision of the Constitution. Washington and others in Virginia worked to try to change the law here. But they couldn't get a m majority of those in leadership to agree with them. But they nonetheless, took action themselves, like Washington emancipating his slaves. And many other Virginians did that as well. And so George Washington gives us an example of how did these Christian founding fathers deal with this evil that had plagued man since the very beginning. They led the way, they showed the way, and others God began to raise up to do the same. Like William Wilberforce, who worked with a bunch of pastors in England over decades and decades. They worked in the slave trade. First in England, early 1800s, in Slavery in England, 1833. so as a nation at large, England did it. But it had already been done in so many of the states, in America. And it was only after a bloody war where hundreds of thousands gave their lives that, complete abolition of slavery incurred in the nation at large. And so Washington, in all of the difficulties he faced and in the condition of the age in which he lived, he actually exemplified his conviction, his Christian faith and character in dealing with difficult, issues, like slavery. Well, if you'd like to read more, I'd point you to my book, Apostle of the World, Changing Leadership of George Washington. It has a brief just overview of Washington and slavery and our book, America's Providential History. We take, a look at the issue of slavery. We take a look at the War between the States, the Civil War, and what was God doing, ah, during this very difficult time in our history? You can go to our website, providencefoundation.com and there's some free articles that you can read. One is on the Bible, slavery and the founders of America, that looks at this, issue, and evaluates it from a biblical perspective and from the perspective of what our founders actually, did. And so I invite you to look at those, resources that can, maybe help answer some more of your questions. So I, hope this began to give you a deeper look or a broader look at this issue of slavery and the Founding Fathers that, contrary to what modern secularists and those who do not like, the principles of liberty upon which America are founded, they are trying to do everything they can to undermine and attack this nation. And they do it by presenting falsehoods. They are not giving the complete information about the founding of America and how, how it was the early Founding Fathers that took steps to end slavery. And because of their example, that form of slavery that existed, in the early years of our nation, has been rejected by most nations, of the world today, of course, there are many forms of slavery that still exist. And the answer to liberating men, as it always has been and as was with the founding of America, rests in the truths of Christianity. It's the truth of the Christian faith, that living faith that invades men's hearts and minds. Where we're liberated, we begin to see God wants all men to live free. It's for freedom. Christ came to set us free. Jesus declared, the spirit of the Lord is upon me to proclaim liberty to the captives. That's Christ's desire to liberate men internally from the bondage of sin, but also externally from the fruit of sin. When men act contrary to God's word, they do all manner of evil, enslave one another, among other things. And it's only the Christian faith that has the solution to that. Well, thanks for joining us this week. Hope you can come back, next week and listen as we carry on, taking a look at the faith of the presidents. We've taken a lot of time on George Washington, learned a lot of lessons, and we'll begin to take a look at some of the early, other early presidents, Jon Adams and Thomas Jefferson and others, and begin to examine their faith in future podcasts. So I hope you, you can enjoy. Join us then. God bless.