Should we have monuments dedicated to those founding fathers who owned slaves?

[el_bryanto]

By the same token, should we have states, roads, schools, airports and the like named after them?

Bryant

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[Liberal Veteran]

1. Wrong question IMO.

The question really should be whether we should have monuments to people who betrayed their country in the name of keeping slavery legal.

If we are going to start tearing monuments for people who don't fit our current standards of perfection, we probably won't have any monuments at all.

What about founding fathers who fought native Americans?
What about those who didn't think women belonged in politics or should be able vote?

How far down the rabbit hole do we go?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

2. I'd much rather see monuments to writers, artists, and scientists than politicians of any stripe.

[still_one]

3. Those founding fathers are NOT being honored for slavery, they are being honored for forwarding the

principles of Democracy, but you knew that.

You are trying to setup a false equivalency between the confederate flag and the founding fathers.

The confederate flag represented states rights to discriminate. A statue of Thomas Jefferson is to honor his endeavors forwarding democracy

[el_bryanto]

6. I wouldn't assume that I have one position or another

I am responding to another post.

Bryant

[still_one]

8. Valid point. I am aware of the thread you are referring to also

[NV Whino]

4. Gonna have a lot of empty pedestals if you do.

[mwrguy]

5. Tear them down

[mackdaddy]

7. What about other atrocities other than slavery?

Like wiping out Native Americans, or violating every treaty ever signed.

What about lying us into various wars?

We have a very checkered past as a people in general. I say leave them all up, but don't whitewash the truth either.

No one is either all good, or all evil.

[HereSince1628]

9. We should make sure people better know the lives of our 'heroes'

It's usually deemed bad historical practice to judge the ethics of those in the past by today's ethical standards.
Ethics are acquired and aren't fixed but floating rules with temporal variation.

A person acting with their time and culture could be law abinding and moral, yet engage in practices that today are illegal and immoral.

At the same time purging culture of it's past, tearing down past thinkers and leaders who disagree with contemporary politics is a practice of tyrants and totalitarian states used to remove vestiges of alternate social options and to suppress progress.

With more complete information, everyone can make their own informed decisions on whether and within what limits they wish to respect a founder.