Posted on 04/04/2018 11:02:03 AM PDT by Liberty7732
In a TMZ interview with Larry King recently, it was said that the Second Amendment was created by “Southern senators so they could ward off slaves uprising.” Not exactly. Yes there was slavery in the colonies and it was not confined to the South. Yes there were pro-slavery states pressuring convention delegates.
However, not everyone was pro-slavery and the right to bear arms was not something foisted upon the nation by those who wanted to continue the abominable trade. The oversimplification in the Larry King interview of this complex history presents a sad distortion and denies many honorable and brave people of color their proper station in history.
It doesn’t take extensive research to discover that the very first man to give his life in our battle for independence was a freed slave by the name of Crispus Attucks. Crispus Attucks not only gave his life so we could be free, but was one of the most honored patriots of this time. The Boston Globe reported that Attucks’ funeral was the most attended funeral in the history of Boston. This armed, freed slave fought for our freedom.
American history also reveals battalions of freed slaves that fought for our independence. Peter Salem was one such hero. As a freed slave, Salem is credited with having killed Major Pitcairn, the British officer leading the charge that finally took Bunker Hill at great cost. Salem would receive many honors for this feat, even the praise of General George Washington. This armed, freed slave fought for our freedom.
Americans should learn of heroism of free black man Ned Hector, and of George Middleton, another free black man and colonel in a Massachusetts Militia. Middleton was a hero among those who fought in our war for independence. Upon his retirement from duty in 1796, Middleton started the “African Benevolent Society,” a charitable organization to care for the needs of the widows and orphans of those black soldiers who fought in our war for Liberty. All those armed, freed slaves, fought for our Liberty.
James Forten the son of free blacks, at 14 years old, heard the public reading the Declaration of Independence in the streets of Philadelphia. Forten then joined the Navy to fight against the British oppression of the American colonists. He was taken captive and given the option of living with a captain of the British Navy as a slave companion of the captain’s son. Forten was told he would have comfort and provision like he had never known in America, if he would only agree to stop fighting and return to his life as a slave in Britain. Forten, as a young man, responded: “I have been taken prisoner for the liberties of my country, and never will prove a traitor to her interest!” He ended up spending seven months on a British prison ship for his devotion to freedom and liberty. This armed, free black man, fought for our freedom.
Let us not forget Prince Whipple, the freed black man who fought alongside General Washington and is seen in the very famous painting of Washington crossing the frozen Delaware River. This armed, free black man, fought for our freedom.
These are but just a few examples of the many armed freed slaves who fought for the new America. Several of our States had a provision, that gave permanent freedom to all slaves wanting to fight for liberty and independence. This history means there are some free men who gave their only free breath so America could be free and Americans do not even know their names. But somewhere between 3,000 and 5,000 black men fought for liberty during the War of Independence.
I could write extensively of the reams of documented conversations in which the American founders held the right to bear arms out to be an essential right to protect a nation from government tyranny and oppression, not a means to subjugate slaves. In fact, the man known as the Father of the Bill of Rights, George Mason from the southern colony of Virginia, notably created the Fairfax Resolves of July 1774 which declared that slavery should be done away with. This matched the strong sentiments he expressed in an essay in 1773:
“That slow poison…is daily contaminating the minds and morals or our people. Every gentleman here is born a petty tyrant. Practiced in acts of despotism and cruelty, we become callous to the dictates of humanity, and all the finer feelings of the soul. Taught to regard a part of our own species in the most abject and contemptible degree below us, we lose that idea of dignity of man which the hand of nature has implanted in us for great and useful purposes.”
One cannot look at the strong abolitionist sentiment in many of the founders’ writings and accept such a simple broad-brush of history as put forth by King and others like him. Many in our founding, both black and white, fought against the evils of slavery. Many fought for it. Eventually good triumphed over evil. To trot out racial division every time we want to win an argument, not only dishonors all of those who sowed seeds and spilled blood to move us closer to liberty for all, it threatens to grow an irrational hatred that serves the best interests of no-one.
We need a renewed vigor for truth in history in America. We need to learn about the liberty we possess that so many before us fought to secure. We cannot preserve our freedoms while denying the history that won them. Those who do not know their history are doomed to repeat its mistakes.
Where’s Tubman when we need her?
Someone needs to loosen Larry’s suspenders, because they’re choking his “little brain!” The one beneath the “floorboards!”
Did she pack heat under her shawl?
Excellent article.
The pi$$er with King and those of his ilk is that they can say whatever they want, no matter how inaccurate or provocative, knowing that they will never be held to account by their fellow travelers in the dominant media.
And he is from a country that disarmed its people because the ruling class was afraid of revolution by the ordinary people. This is the same reason Democrats and Politicians want to confiscate our firearms. They are afraid of the people.
King is confused. The purpose of the second amendment is to defend liberty for all. Planned Parenthood was founded specifically to kill off the black race.
The history in this article is not taught in our schools. It should be.
This.
Larry King reminds me of an old hard-shell liberal fundamentalist; someone that often does not know anything about which he speaks.
In other words, not someone to take seriously.
Yeah, that's the ticket, only give the few tens of millions who work for government the select corporate turds who shill for them the right to bear arms.
So IOW, Larry is saying that while the Founders thought all free non-slaves should be able to defend themselves, he feels that only the true "elite" should be able to defend themselves from the little people be those little people white, black, brown, yellow, or some trans color in between.
Great lady. I’ve always been fascinated by her since the 60s tv show Profiles in Courage.
She was a VERY tough babe. She threatened to kill slaves who started chickening out on the journey to freedom.
The 2nd amendment has nothing to do with slavery nor Harriet Tubman.
This obsession with slavery is detrimental.
Learn something new here every day.
Interesting article, thanks for posting.
That some blacks fought is historical fact but the inference and idea that freed blacks were instrumental in the revolution, our liberty and our founding is complete BS. Not only that if you think that the majority of blacks share some sort of kinship with you, and view the founding of this nation or our history in some sort of American brotherhood with whites you are mistaken and obviously not paying attention.
A reasonable decision. Allowing them to chicken out would endanger everyone else. Her whole effort depended upon not attracting attention.
I suspect she would have done it, too. Remarkable woman.
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