Believing blacks were animal-like masked the contradiction of slavery with equality.

Evidence

With such careful effort, the metaphors representing people of African descent as inferior became so deeply internalized that by the time of the U.S. Declaration of Independence in 1776, few whites saw much contradiction between the widespread ownership of black human beings and the stirring statement that “All men are created equal.” Blacks, after all, were closer to farm animals than to humans in the minds of many white people. … However, the reference to the slave trade was removed at the demand of delegates from the Southern states, who refused to sign the Declaration otherwise. Of course, the contradictions in Jefferson’s position on this point are legendary, given that he too owned slaves, and wrote about Africans as inferior beings. Slavery was central to the economy of the Southern states, and it is not surprising, therefore, that 11 years after the Declaration, slavery was carefully protected in the U.S. Constitution of 1787, though the word “slavery” was never used. — Rebecca A. Martusewicz, Jeff Edmundson, and John Lupinacci, EcoJustice Education, 1167

Categorization

• XREF: Resonates with the ch12/ch25 claim that racism depends on the prior devaluation of animals — blacks seen as closer to farm animals anchored white acceptance of ‘all men created equal’. — connects to: Abolitionist proponents of equal rights still believed Blacks were inferior — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning: The…, 609; Slavery contradicted America’s founding ideology of equality from its birth — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 928; Even white abolitionists could not imagine black people as equals — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 53 (+5 more)
• recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source

Broader Connections

• Abolitionist proponents of equal rights still believed Blacks were inferior #corroborates (0.92) — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 609
• Placing humans in the animal kingdom enabled scientific racism justifying slavery and conquest. #corroborates (0.90)
• A founding equality creed makes racism a psychological contradiction for citizens #expands (0.85) — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 2126
• Slavery contradicted America’s founding ideology of equality from its birth #expands (0.80) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 928
• Even white abolitionists could not imagine black people as equals #corroborates (0.80) — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 53
• Slavery’s coexistence with proclaimed equality was America’s founding contradiction. #expands (0.78) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 927
• Humanism’s progress demoted animals to the inhuman, like racism after slavery. #responds-to (0.75) — Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation, 434
• Rising racism in slave codes progressively degraded free blacks to near-slave status #exemplifies (0.72) — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 474