Welcome to Silver and Shadow

"Look at that sea, girls--all silver and shadow and vision of things not seen. We couldn't enjoy its loveliness any more if we had millions of dollars and ropes of diamonds." -L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

This is a blog I will be using for topics other than food. Politics, religion, spirituality, humor, green living, anything that I want to talk about that doesn't fall under the food/cooking category.



Monday, March 7, 2022

white History: James Monroe

 

(Source)

James Monroe

Born: April 28, 1758

Died: July 4, 1831

Slaves Owned: 75+

 Known For: Being the 5th president, being involved with a slave rebellion attempt(spoiler alert, he wasn't trying to free them), helped found the country of Liberia, signing the Louisiana Purchase.

James Monroe was another president who claimed to hate slavery. Unlike the other presidents who claimed this, he actually did something about it. Unfortunately, it was something that was just as white supremacist as reinforcing slavery. While being a slaveowner himself, he worked with a group of people that colonized a section of African and founded the nation of Liberia. The capital, Monrovia, is actually named after him. His attitude was such that he did not want a United States with Black people in it, so he wanted to ship them all to Liberia to be rid of them. Yes, it ends slavery, but it's generally a terrible attitude to have, so I cannot credit him with anything. Particularly since he still profited from it, and had taken part in quelling an attempted slave rebellion.

Here are more sources to learn about James Monroe:

Wikipedia

James Monroe's household and slavery. 

A White House history article about Monroe and slavery.

University of Virginia's section on President Monroe. 

The official White House website entry.

 

No comments:

Post a Comment