[af_vet_rr]

What if 11 states wanted to secede are you going to impose YOUR will on them? Oh, wait that already happened.

If I was around back then and they were going to secede, but they were going to free their slaves in the process, I'd have been okay with secession. I would have voted against it, and I would have thought it was dumb as hell given their economy and lack of serious industrial capacity, and with Mexico on the border, but I would have been okay with it, assuming that the vast majority of the state supported it. I would have even stayed in Texas for a while. I would have been very concerned about England, France, Spain, and then Mexico messing around with the South.

The biggest problem is that the founding fathers were hypocrites when it came to slavery, or too fearful of upsetting southerners and didn't have the balls to carry their "All men are created equal" beliefs from the Declaration of Independence into the Constitution.

Had the slaves been freed when the United States was founded, you wouldn't have had the Democrats pushing the South into secession in order to keep their slaves.

These days, my view on secession is the same as Rick Perry's view on secession: I have never advocated for secession and never will.

It's one of the very few things I agree with Perry on, and I do give him credit for issuing such a strongly worded statement after the MSM tried to portray him as favoring secession.

[RegulatorCountry]

“The biggest problem is that the founding fathers were hypocrites when it came to slavery, or too fearful of upsetting southerners and didn’t have the balls to carry their “All men are created equal” beliefs from the Declaration of Independence into the Constitution.”

I’ve seen enough of your replies over the years to have thought better of you. This shoots right past ignorance and into willful stupidity. George Mason. Read a little, maybe learn something. The incompatibility of the institution of slavery was well recognized by our Founders. Extricating themselves from it proved far more complicated than recognizing the problem, however. Political wrangling and alliances between northern and southern states guaranteed the perpetuation of it at the Convention.

Mason, brilliant man that he was, predicted war over the matter, and the destruction of the new nation. For all intents and purposes, he was right. He was bitterly opposed to the practice but held slaves all his life, and manumitted none of them in his will. Why was that, do you suppose? Hypocrite? No, you’re nowhere near his moral or intellectual equal, and yet you deign to stand in judgment. Phffft.

As I said, read a little. Here’s a start, since you appear to need a push:

http://www.gunstonhall.org/georgemason/slavery/views_on_slavery.html

[okie01]

The biggest problem is that the founding fathers were hypocrites when it came to slavery, or too fearful of upsetting southerners and didn't have the balls to carry their "All men are created equal" beliefs from the Declaration of Independence into the Constitution.

Talk about Monday morning quarterbacking.

On balance, that might be one of the most ignorant posts ever on Free Republic. Note: I did not say stupid; I said ignorant.

Had you been in the shoes of George Mason or Roger Sherman, there would be no United States of America today.

Please read Miracle In Philadelhia before commenting further on the Founders and the Constitution.

I apologize in advance for any adverse reaction my strong response may garner. But this is a very important issue with regard to our Founders and the founding document.