ElatedVenusaur posted... An important thing to keep in mind: even the Founders who were against slavery really didnt grasp just how evil it was. They didnt see black people as people, so the stakes seemed much lower to them. It was easy for them to prioritize their collective interest in presenting a united front against the British.
That was also true of basically all of the abolitionists John Brown being the most notable exception. White America was almost united in seeing black people as less. You could argue convincingly thats still a widespread view.
I wouldn't agree that they didn't see black people as people, save perhaps the more malevolent slave masters, though they generally did think of them as less intellectually capable than whites. I do think there was a certain level of disconnected compartmentalization with the founders who spoke against slavery, but still owned slaves.
Like Jefferson who wrote about how terrible slavery was and proposed legislation against it, but still owned his own slaves. I suspect, in his case, if he had not been in such significant financial debt, he may have emancipated them upon his death as Washington did. But that is just speculation on my part.