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Don’t Know Much About History: Rep. Bachmann Thinks Founding Fathers Ended Slavery

Posted January 25th 1:30pm by
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Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) has once again stunned people were one of her pearls of wisdom.

According to Bachmann, who will gave a fact-less Tea Party rebuttal to Tuesday’s State of the Union, the United States was founded on a platform of racial and ethnic tolerance, and the founding fathers were the ones responsible for ending slavery.

To think, all these years our history books have been teaching it all wrong.

Raw Story reports: Speaking at an event sponsored by Iowans For Tax Relief, Bachmann hailed the “different cultures, different backgrounds, different traditions” of the early European settlers in America, adding that the “color of their skin” or “language” or “economic status” didn’t preclude them from seeking happiness.

She continued to talk about our founding fathers who worked to end slavery once and for all. “But we also know that the very founders that wrote those documents worked tirelessly until slavery was no more in the United States,” Bachmann added, claiming “men like John Quincy Adams… would not rest until slavery was extinguished in the country.”

We don’t know how they taught history when Bachmann was in school but the folks at HyperVocal learned a bit of a different story.

Slavery was very popular in the United States long after the country’s founding in 1776, largely because of a compromise between the founding fathers that established African-Americans as three-fifths of a person. Several of them, including Thomas Jefferson, even owned slaves.

Despite Bachmann’s assessment that our forefathers were the ones to end slavery, it was not ended until 1865 (89 years after our country was founded) when the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified. It was that amendment that expressly forbade slavery.

Although he cannot be credited with the eradication of slavery — that was more Abraham Lincoln’s legacy — John Quincy Adams was known to be a strong opponent of slavery. Perhaps, this is where Rep. Bachmann became confused. Adams was a founding father and a National Republican, and we all know how much politicians love giving credit to their own party.

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Posted January 25th 1:30pm
  • Paul

    Wasn’t the Republican party founded in 1854? How could JQA be a republican? Wouldn’t he have been a Whig? Did Bachmann get that wrong too?

  • Slade Sohmer

    He actually was a member of multiple parties: Federalist, Democratic-Republican, National Republican and later the Whigs.

    After the breakdown of the Democratic-Republicans, he splintered off with Henry Clay to create the National Republicans, which later became the Whigs.

  • http://Website Scott

    I would hardly call JQA a “founding father”. He was only nine when the declaration was signed.

  • Tom Hardy

    John Qunicy Adams was NOT a founding father. His father, John Adams, was. John Adams was the Second President of the US. His eldest son, John Quincy was the Sixth President.

  • Rod

    So based on this, people now think that Rep. Bachmann believes that JQA was a founding father or that the founding fathers abolished slavery? If you’re biased to begin with, hate Republicans or just plain dumb I suppose you could.

    I think it’s pretty clear that she mixed two parts of the same thought together and made it a bit unclear. She first said “founders” when referring to the writing of the documents then said “forebearers” before referencing JQA. JQA is indeed one of our forbearers and spoke powerfully against slavery—even surmising that if a civil war ever broke out, the president could use his war powers to end slavery (Emancipation Proclamation).

    Unfortunately, she didn’t connect the dots between the two thoughts as clearly as she could have. The debate about slavery began with those involved in drafting our founding documents and continued until slavery was eventually abolished. It’s clear she understands the debate started from the very beginnings of the country—something many do not.

    Public speaking has never been an easy art form, I dare anyone to speak publicly as often as many of our elected officials do and avoid making gaffes that are far more glaring than this lack of clarity.

    Do I think she spoke unclearly? Yes. Do I think she believes JQA was a founding father who abolished slavery? Not any more than I believe President Obama thinks there are 57 states in our union.

    • Rod

      And certainly not as DUMB as Rep. Hank Johnson thinking that additional military troops stationed on the island of Guam would cause it to “tip over and capsize”. Now THAT is dumb.

      • Bardamu

        Michele Bachmann doesn’t deserve the benefit of the doubt ever – she misstates the truth constantly. What’s the point in twisting logic to try to bail her out this one time?

  • http://Website Larry Baker

    Your understanding of the famous “3/5 Compromise” is convoluted. First of all, it had nothing to say about the personhood of black or white slaves in the US, who had no rights in voting. Second of all, it was a way to protect them by restricting and lowering the census count toward apportioning slave-state representatives in the US House of Congress. The fact is that this “Three-fifths Compromise” was favored by slaves and abolitionists, as being better than one, over and against using a full count of the human population and non-slaveholding state and opposed by slave-owners and slaveholding states over and against a full count! It was a small step toward what would eventually be The 13th Amendment. In other words, the abolitionists and non-slaveholding states wanted it 0, where the slaveholders and slaveholding states wanted it 1 and rejected ½, so the compromise was 3/5. If the counting of each slave was 1, then Virginia would have had 14 of 87 representatives (16%) instead of 10 of 75 (13.33%) and South Carolina would have had 6 or 7 of 87 instead of 5 of 75.

  • Pingback: 2012 Prez Sweepstakes: Rep. Michele Bachmann Says "I'm In" | HyperVocal

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_MQTDEQU47GCGBOC2ZBKQLS2XHM Mark

    If you choose to live in a glass house, don’t throw stones. John Quincy Adams is not a Founding Father. Founding Father is reserved for those who were involved in either the Declaration of the Independence, the Revolutionary War or the Constitutional Convention and is generally limited to Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, Jay, Madison, Franklin and John Adams, NOT John Quincy Adams and sometimes James Monroe.

  • Pingback: Rep. Michele Bachmann Pledges to Take Away Your Porn | HyperVocal

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