It’s so simple to recognize errors of others through the perspective of our own culture; it’s even easier when the errors occurred in the past. Most people in America today find irony in the fact that several of our freedom-loving founding fathers were also slave owners—maybe not laugh-out-loud humor, more of a head-shaking sort of thing. But, the fact remains that it’s hard to understand why they didn’t take a break from writing all those lovely words, and grant freedom to their slaves. Grant is probably not even the right word. They should’ve acknowledged the horrible thing they’d been doing, divided up their property among the slaves, and asked forgiveness. But they definitely didn’t do that.
The truth is that slaves were property; they were a part of a man’s wealth. Slaves were no different than a house, a horse, or a diamond is today. Slaves were security and wealth. Asking an estate to simply release its property without benefit, indeed with a substantial loss, would seem absolutely crazy—then, and now. Think of the example of a family of five living a four-bedroom house on the same night someone dies while sleeping in a box on the street—we wouldn’t expect the family with the home to live in something smaller just to give the beggar a few more years. The providers of the family no doubt came from families that worked hard to invest in their children’s future, and the providers themselves probably worked just as hard. So, what they own, they paid for. How they got the money is irrelevant, it’s theirs to spend, keep, or pass on. Of course, they can also give it away freely. If they choose to help others, that’s their right—but it remains their choice. The situation of others just doesn’t come into it; it is up to each individual to decide what to do with his or her property.
Which brings the topic back to slave owners. They spent their capital to purchase slaves, and without them their businesses and household couldn’t function as needed to provide a return on their investment. Judging them from our place today, reviling them for not simply giving their money away—even though it would’ve been the right thing to do—is ridiculous. It would be like someone two hundred years from now judging our priorities today.