What’s Wrong With The 1619 Project?
In August of 2019, the New York Times released The 1619 Project. Its goal is to redefine the American experiment as rooted not in liberty but in slavery. In this video, Wilfred Reilly, Associate Professor of Political Science at Kentucky State University, reacts to The 1619 Project’s major claims.
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Script:.
Have you become aware of The 1619 Project? It was released by the New York Times in August of 2019. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 2020.
Its thesis: The United States was established in 1619, when the very first servant was brought to North America.
Wait– that brings up some questions …
What happened to 1776? To July 4th? The Declaration of Independence? George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison?
According to The 1619 Project, the Founding Fathers pushed for all that “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” stuff to safeguard their servant holdings. Self-reliance from England? That was simply a smoke screen.
To them, whatever that’s incorrect with America is tied to her “original sin” of slavery: from partition to traffic congestion (yes– traffic congestion!). For The 1619 Project authors, racism is not a part of the American experience; it is the American experience.
Is this true? Let’s look at three of the project’s major claims:.
1. Maintaining slavery was the real cause of the American Revolution.
If you asked the Founders why they no longer wanted to be a British nest, they would have provided you a long list of reasons: Taxation without representation, disputes over debts from the Indian and french War, and the Stamp Act would be simply a few.
Most likely crucial was the burning desire to be totally free– to chart their own fate as a sovereign country. Safeguarding slavery? Slavery was not under hazard from the British. In fact, Britain didn’t free the slaves in its abroad colonies up until 1833– 57 years later, after the Declaration of Independence.
Yes, the subject of slavery was fiercely disputed at the Constitutional Convention, but that was after the war was won.
2. Slavery made America rich.
Slavery made some Americans rich– true enough. Eli Yale, for example, made a fortune in the slave trade. He donated cash and land for the university that is called after him. The organization of slavery didn’t make America rich. The slave system badly slowed the economic development of half the country.
As financial expert Thomas Sowell points out, in 1860, just one year before the Civil War started, the South had only one-sixth as many factories as the North. Almost 90% of the nation’s experienced, well-paid workers and professionals were based in the North.
And the cost of eliminating slavery was massive– not merely in terms of dollars (Lincoln obtained billions to spend for it), however likewise in regards to human life: 360,000 Union soldiers passed away in order to free 4 million slaves. That works out to about one soldier in blue for each ten slaves freed. It’s tough to look at that butcher’s costs and conclude that the country made a profit from slavery.
And lots of things have actually taken place since 1865. In the practically 200 years because the Civil War, the population of the country has actually grown nearly 900% and our nationwide GDP has increased 12,000%. Slavery did not make America abundant.
3. Bigotry is an unchangeable part of America.
This argument is more philosophical than scholarly, however it undergirds the entire 1619 Project. It’s also pernicious because it recommends that the United States is a naturally racist nation that can’t overcome its defects. Yet that’s exactly what it’s done.
Today, America is the most successful multi-racial country in history, the only white bulk country to choose a black President– twice. Obviously, development has not always been smooth. There have actually been awful problems. To compare American attitudes about race today to America a hundred years ago, let alone to 1619, is unreasonable.
For the total script go to https://www.prageru.com/video/whats-wrong-with-the-1619-project.
source
Its objective is to redefine the American experiment as rooted not in liberty however in slavery. Slavery made some Americans abundant– real enough. The institution of slavery didn’t make America abundant. And the cost of abolishing slavery was enormous– not merely in terms of dollars (Lincoln obtained billions to pay for it), however likewise in terms of human life: 360,000 Union soldiers died in order to complimentary 4 million servants. Slavery did not make America rich.
