There’s no doubt that Washington and Jefferson should have realized that the practice of slavery was completely incompatible with the ideals they put forth in the Declaration of Independence and then, later, in the Constitution. But if they had not articulated those ideals so powerfully, it is likely that slavery would have been less frequently challenged, less often scorned—socially stronger. It must be remembered that the core ideas themselves—that all human beings are created equal, that social differentiation and social hierarchy are not written into the fabric of the universe—were
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