The Founders and Slavery

[Michael McConnell]

I hope that Tom West and Paul Finkelman will continue this exchange
about Madison, Jefferson, and slavery; I am finding it informative.
But if I may broaden the topic a bit, I am interested in the
intellectual/ideological connections between attitudes toward slavery
and other political issues, such as attitudes toward the French
Revolution, toward the commercial republic, and toward broadening the
suffrage.  For obvious reasons, there were regional differences,
which partially explains Jefferson and Madison. But my impression is
that Jeffersonians in the North tended to be more pro-slavery than
Federalists in the North (such as Hamilton, Adams, and G. Morris). Do
Tom and Paul (and others) think this is a valid generalization, and
if so, what accounts for it?


-- Michael McConnell (U of Utah)