[epow]

When the Founding Fathers said, "We, the people," they didn't mean me.

So, was she lying?

She wasn't lying, but technically her statement isn't entirely correct either. She used 226 years ago, 1776 as her reference date, but the phrase "We the people" is the opening phrase of the preamble to the U.S. Constitution, written 215 years ago in 1787. 226 years ago slavery was legal in every state, although Rhode Island had prohibited the importation of slaves 2 years earlier. OTOH, by the time the preamble to the Constitution was written, a total of 5 northern states (NY didn't abolish slavery until 1799) had abolished slavery, leaving 8 states where slavery was still legal. In those 8 states she would have been considered chattel property unless she had been freed by her owner, but presumably in the other 5 she would have been included in "We the people".

But on 2nd thought, even in the free states blacks were not considered equals with whites, so for all practical purposes her statement was right after all.

[epow]

I shouldn't try to post only from memory. The 5 states I mentioned above in #17 were the states which abolished slavery immediately upon enactment of the prohibition, the other northern states provided for a more gradual abolition of slavery. But that doesn't change the premise of #17, which is that Mrs. Rice may have been technically incorrect, but she was correct for all practical purposes and certainly not lying.