Hypocrisy
When the colonists decided to form their own nation one of the fundamental principles was equality, however; the founding fathers were hypocritical in the way they lived their lives as the majority of them preached equality yet owned slaves. In 1690 John Locke published Two Treatises of Government in which he describes his philosophies on how government should be formed and what happens when government takes too much power. Locke describes how equality and freedom are key parts of government by saying, “The state of nature is also a state of equality… if a man in the state of nature is free, why will he give up his freedom? … Each man joins in society with others to preserve life, liberty, and property” (Locke). When the founding …show more content…
This is a metaphor for the slave like control that the British exerted upon America which caused them to want to break away and have their own independent country. After suffering from this metaphorical slavery, the colonists were determined to focus on equality when they got to write their own constitution although they weren’t quite sure how it would look. The Boston massacre was the first time that the colonies united together against the British and so it inspired them to join together and form their own country, something they would accomplish six years later. Benjamin Banneker wrote Thomas Jefferson a letter in 1791 calling him out on his hypocritical behavior by saying, “You publicly held forth this invaluable doctrine… that all men are created equal… Sir, how pitiable is it to reflect… that you should at the same time counteract his mercies in detaining by fraud and violence so numerous a part of my brethren, under groaning captivity and cruel oppression” (Banneker). Banneker was directly questioning Jefferson’s opinions, as Jefferson owned over 200 slaves himself. His letter fell on deaf ears as Jefferson responded by explaining that no one wants equality more than him but that he didn’t believe African Americans were at the same mental and physical condition to be
When the colonists decided to form their own nation one of the fundamental principles was equality, however; the founding fathers were hypocritical in the way they lived their lives as the majority of them preached equality yet owned slaves. In 1690 John Locke published Two Treatises of Government in which he describes his philosophies on how government should be formed and what happens when government takes too much power. Locke describes how equality and freedom are key parts of government by saying, “The state of nature is also a state of equality… if a man in the state of nature is free, why will he give up his freedom? … Each man joins in society with others to preserve life, liberty, and property” (Locke). When the founding …show more content…
This is a metaphor for the slave like control that the British exerted upon America which caused them to want to break away and have their own independent country. After suffering from this metaphorical slavery, the colonists were determined to focus on equality when they got to write their own constitution although they weren’t quite sure how it would look. The Boston massacre was the first time that the colonies united together against the British and so it inspired them to join together and form their own country, something they would accomplish six years later. Benjamin Banneker wrote Thomas Jefferson a letter in 1791 calling him out on his hypocritical behavior by saying, “You publicly held forth this invaluable doctrine… that all men are created equal… Sir, how pitiable is it to reflect… that you should at the same time counteract his mercies in detaining by fraud and violence so numerous a part of my brethren, under groaning captivity and cruel oppression” (Banneker). Banneker was directly questioning Jefferson’s opinions, as Jefferson owned over 200 slaves himself. His letter fell on deaf ears as Jefferson responded by explaining that no one wants equality more than him but that he didn’t believe African Americans were at the same mental and physical condition to be