Historical Ethical Standards of Society

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ROARING APPLAUSE!

Best moral code out there, IMHO.

 

My sentiments exactly!

/joins in applause.

 

That actually does seem to be the best code. That what you do is what you think everyone should do...

 

Well, no, not really. A church in the South, like say, Virginia or Georgia, yes. But not a large number of the churches in PA, NY or MA even during the Revolution would think that slavery was "normal." Look at the major Founders who opposed slavery: Franklin, Hamilton and Adams - all three favorite sons from the states mentioned above, and all three fought against slavery "tooth and nail." While Jefferson, Washington and Madison gave lip service to the opposition to slavery, while they continued to own slaves themselves. The issue of slavery was sectional and not complete in America at the end of the 18th century.

But to Jeffersonians the entire human race had been in slavery before the Revolution - in a manner of speaking. And for thousands of years many did live as "slaves" to some type of an aristocracy. Whether it was the Pharaoh of Egypt, or delusional emperors in Rome; assorted kings, petty noblemen or "enlightened" despots.

Even before the Revolution, the strict system of patronage bound the masses to the aristocracy. For the most part, huge sections of the population suffered in serivitude, bound to the few. What were indentured servants? Or those who filled the debtor's prisons? The revolutions in America and France, even the English Revolution more than a century before, had its roots in the blantant exploitation of the masses. Marx saw this as largely economic. Yet, it can be seen that notion of the "hiearchy," based upon some heavenly model, with some fat partiarch at top of the heap, helped to ensalve the masses as much as any economic system, or the "point of the sword" of some despot. Many of those sword carrying despots saw themselves as "Gods on earth," or their royal privileges given by the concept of divine right, bestowed upon them by the Church (as long as it got its share of the action). The vast tide of humanity throughout history has always had to fight to be free.

But even with the end of the American Civil War, and the freedom from slavery, women still continued, as a gender, to be exploited in similar fashion. They did not even get the right to vote till more than 50 years after the Civil War. EVEN then black women were asked to march at the "back of the parade" - really, no joke. Liberty, freedom, self determination, however one chooses to express it, is an ongoing project; like a work of art it is never completely finished, but simply abandoned.

This is Jefferson's last letter, declining the invitation on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the signing of the DoI. He and John Adams were both still alive, but too ill to attend. They both passed away on that same day, July 4th, 1826.

[ April 04, 2006, 17:09: Message edited by: Chandos the Red ]

 

Cheers Rally, that version is more encompassing of the general ethos.