The Founders let half the country own slaves. Different kind of corruption than the money grubbing we see now. But they sold the ideals they wrote in the Declaration for the expedience of not having to deal with some states clearly not being into those ideals. I count that as the seed of the corruption we’ve had ever since. First expedience, then expedience and profit (how the continental railroads happened is really sleazy), and these days just profit.
Gotcha.