https://www.thenation.com/article/time-americans-reckon-true-history-racial-oppression-country/
http://werehistory.org/racist-principles/
At the time of the Constitutional Convention, six of the original thirteen colonies were slave-owning colonies: Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. According to Thomas Ladenburg, author of "Making the Constitution," 25 of the 55 delegates owned slaves, including some very prominent Founding Fathers. Though the majority of delegates did not support the practice, slavery was not prohibited in the constitution for fear that would deter the six slave-owning colonies from signing on. Two years later, the issue of slavery was instrumental in the creation of distinct "states rights" and "federal rights" enumerated in the tenth amendment.
George Washington, America's first president, was one of the slave-holding delegates from Virginia. When his father died, 11-year-old Washington inherited a 280-acre farm and 10 slaves. By the time of his death in 1799 there were 318 slaves living on his Mount Vernon plantation. Though he continued to buy and sell slaves during his lifetime, Washington's ideas on the practice of slavery evolved over time. As a young man, Washington saw slave ownership as a matter of course in the ownership of a large plantation. After traveling widely during his time in the Continental Army he came to believe that slavery should be abolished in small increments. In his will, he left directions for roughly a third of his slaves to be freed. He was unable to free the rest because they belonged to a family estate that required them to be passed along to other family members.
The Third President
Thomas Jefferson, a founding father and an outspoken opponent of slavery, was another slave-holding writer of the Constitution ( This statement is not true, Jefferson was in France when the Constitutional Convention was held in Philadelphia.)
Approximately 130 slaves lived on his Montebello plantation at any given time. Like Washington, many of his slaves were first acquired as an inheritance. Unlike George Washington, Thomas Jefferson did not choose to emancipate his slaves upon his death (Jefferson did not own his slaves, they were pledged collateral to secure his indebtedness.) Despite his own ardent views that slavery was immoral, Jefferson believed that slavery had to be done away with bit by bit in order to prevent trouble between the races. He advocated slowly freeing the slaves and removing them from American soil to prevent a race war similar to the revolts in Haiti. During his lifetime, only two of his slaves were voluntarily given their freedom. At least three other slaves escaped to freedom without being pursued. The slaves who escaped to freedom were all descendants of a slave named Sally Hemmings who is generally believed to have been Thomas Jefferson's mistress. ( There is no definitive proof that Sally Hemmings was, in fact, Jefferson's mistress.)
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