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throwaway-blazeyesterday at 5:19 PM6 repliesview on HN

Maybe worth mentioning that the founding fathers in the US believed only property owners should vote.


Replies

airstriketoday at 12:32 AM

It's important to consider context when talking about people's moral positions over time.

We don't judge the founding fathers' morals by the same metrics we judge our contemporaries. That much should be obvious.

dragonwriteryesterday at 9:59 PM

The founding fathers, the framers (a different and later group, though the two overlap and are often conflated) and original states had a variety of (and evolving in some cases between the Founding and the Constitution) opinions on the issue; some (Thomas Paine and Ben Franklin, notably, the latter also the primary author of PA’s 1776 Constitution which also adopted this position at the state level) were in favor of universal male suffrage.

otterleyyesterday at 9:48 PM

They also didn't forbid slavery. It doesn't mean they were right.

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Yokohiiiyesterday at 8:46 PM

Franklin also practiced air bathing instead of hygiene.

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summarybotyesterday at 8:09 PM

Let's make everyone a property owner by default at birth

nullstyleyesterday at 6:05 PM

Not the most important(IMO) of our founding fathers, Thomas Paine.