Benjamin Franklin is, by far, one of the most interesting figures in American history. He’s one of my favorite historical people to read about because every time he’s mentioned, you end up learning something fascinating about him.
I recently had a discussion with someone on Lemmy who absolutely hated Benjamin Franklin solely because he owned slaves early in his life.
Nothing else mattered to him. It didn’t matter that Franklin later became one of the earliest and most outspoken abolitionists in American history, serving as president of the Philadelphia Abolitionist Society for years and advocating publicly for the abolition of slavery.
I completely condemn the fact that Franklin owned slaves. Slavery is morally reprehensible and indefensible. At the same time, I don’t believe that should prevent us from recognizing Franklin as one of the most fascinating and consequential figures in American history. His life demonstrates that people can hold deeply immoral beliefs, later reject them, and spend years working to undo the injustice they once accepted.
Benjamin Franklin is, by far, one of the most interesting figures in American history. He’s one of my favorite historical people to read about because every time he’s mentioned, you end up learning something fascinating about him.
I recently had a discussion with someone on Lemmy who absolutely hated Benjamin Franklin solely because he owned slaves early in his life.
Nothing else mattered to him. It didn’t matter that Franklin later became one of the earliest and most outspoken abolitionists in American history, serving as president of the Philadelphia Abolitionist Society for years and advocating publicly for the abolition of slavery.
I completely condemn the fact that Franklin owned slaves. Slavery is morally reprehensible and indefensible. At the same time, I don’t believe that should prevent us from recognizing Franklin as one of the most fascinating and consequential figures in American history. His life demonstrates that people can hold deeply immoral beliefs, later reject them, and spend years working to undo the injustice they once accepted.
People can be great in some ways yet fallible or bad in others, particularly when looked at through the lense of time.
Follies and achievements should often be looked at with the perspective that we’ve had the opportunity to learn a lot from both.