The Tribute to Slavery

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The tragedy of slavery, the failure to end it earlier, and the economic arguments against emancipation led to the inevitable Civil War with a high cost of human lives. The idea of sending freed African Americans elsewhere rather than creating a biracial society was a prevailing belief, despite the ability to imagine other creative ideas. While the economic aspect could have been solved, the issue of race overshadowed any imaginative solutions. The tragedy of slavery is even larger than the Native American tragedy.

Joseph Ellis, of Mt. Holyoke College and author of American Creation, talks about the triumphs and tragedies of the founding of the United States. His goal in the book and in this podcast is to tell a story for grownups rather than for children, where the Founders are neither saints nor evil white, patriarchal slave-holding demons. It is a nuanced story of triumph--a military victory over a seemingly unbeatable vastly more experienced army, the creation of the first geographically large republic, a nation without a state religion, a nation that creates a party system with a loyal opposition, a Constitution with the virtues of ambiguous sovereignty, and tragedy--the failure to resolve the slavery issue, and the tragic conflict with the Native Americans. Some of these outcomes were intended by the Founders, others emerged unintended.