[jeffersondem]

“So your term “angry attack” can apply to Democrats who supported slavery, not to Founders who opposed it.”

The numbers suffice as rebuttal: 41 of 56.

[BroJoeK]

jeffersondem: "The numbers suffice as rebuttal: 41 of 56."

They don't, because they are limited & out of context.
For an accurate picture, we need the following:

1. A listing of all 149 Founders who signed the four major Founding documents -- 1774 Continental Congress, 1776 Declaration, 1777 Articles of Confederation and 1787 Constitution.

2. A listing of slaveholding Declaration signers.

3. A listing of slaveholding Constitution signers.

The results show that:

1. 1776 Declaration of Independence:
   92% of Southern delegates owned slaves.
   50% of Northern delegates owned slaves.
   71% of overall delegates owned slaves in 1776.

2. 1787 Constitution Convention:
   77% of Southern delegates owned slaves.
   17% of Northern delegates owned slaves.
   50% of overall delegates owned slaves in 1787.

Bottom line: in the years between 1776 and 1787 slave ownership fell 2/3 among Northern delegates and 16% among Southern delegates, about 30% overall.

So, you simply cannot dispute the fact that our Founders opposed slavery in theory in 1776 and by 1787 had begun putting their anti-slavery theory into practice, even in the South.

That is a far cry from Fire Eater attitudes in 1860.